Into The Dragon's World - Brittany White Page 0,4

caught me alone at the library and, well…” She pointed to her bandages. “This happened.”

“Casey, I had the kitchen make you a hamburger and—” Jasmine stepped through the door and froze, looking from Casey to Brady. “Oh, hi, Boss.”

“What’s going on, Jasmine?” Brady sat on the edge of his desk. “Why did I come up to my office to find...this?”

“I have a name, you know.” Casey straightened her back.

“I didn’t know what else to do,” Jasmine said. Her tone sounded apologetic, but Casey could hear the steel underneath it. Jasmine didn’t like being told what to do, even when it was her boss telling her. “I’m off the clock in a couple of hours. She’s going home with me.”

“And what’s she supposed to do until then?” Brady asked.

“She will go downstairs and have the stiffest drink she can find,” Casey said as she stood up and stumbled, still slightly woozy. Jasmine caught her arm and helped her to the door.

Casey paused a moment and turned back to Brady. Damn, but he was a good-looking man. Too bad he seemed like such an ass.

“Thank you for all your help, Mr. Markonian. It’s truly been a pleasure and an honor to make your acquaintance.” She rolled her eyes just in case the sarcasm in her tone hadn’t sunk in. With a smirking smile, she gave him a half-hearted salute and allowed Jasmine to lead her out the door and down to the bar. She sat as Jasmine left to get her a drink. The bartender glanced at her and smiled politely, then turned on his real smile for a blonde just over her shoulder.

The attitude on that guy, she thought, shaking her head. Brady, was it? He seemed like a Brady. Made sense, though. Handsome. Rich. Owner of a club. Of course he had to be a jerk. It was in the rule book of life.

What she couldn’t understand was that shock of desire she’d felt for him. At twenty-five, she’d come to the conclusion that sex just wasn’t worth the effort. Sure, it could be fun with the right person—or so she’d heard—but in the long run, it just confused everything. For the last four years, she had been about as sexual as a potato. There were just too many other things in her life that needed her attention. Puffing up a guy’s ego was not one of them.

But this guy...okay, yes, looking into his eyes made her heart stutter. And watching his mouth move as he spoke triggered many, many fantasies. And of course, imagining what might be hiding beneath that tailored suit would be one of her new hobbies. But men like that didn’t notice women like her. They noticed women who were more on their level, women with big boobs and big bank accounts and big hair.

Casey took a deep breath and sighed. Despite all that, he didn’t deserve her rudeness. He could have fired Jasmine on the spot and kicked them both out of his office. And anyway, it wasn’t like her to be so bitchy. If she didn’t do something to fix things, she’d be up all night obsessing about it.

Jasmine came back with a beer and set it down in front of Casey. “Here you go. On the house.”

Casey smiled faintly, distracted, and took a quick swig. “You said your boss was a nice guy?”

“Yeah.” Jasmine nodded, shrugging. “He’s really good to the shifter community. One time, he paid a waitress’s rent for a whole year while she was fighting her ex for custody.”

“He did?”

“And then there was the time…” Jasmine laughed quietly at the memory. “There was the time when he arranged vacations in Hawaii for all of the staff, all expenses paid. You should have seen the fights we got into to see who would go first.”

“That was nice of him,” Casey said, nodding her head. She hopped down from the bar stool. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Where are you going?”

Casey smiled. “I’m going to see a man about an apology.”

4

Brady

It wasn’t like anything exciting was going to happen.

Famous last words.

It had been a long night. A water main broke in the men’s bathroom, flooding the floor, and three of his servers had called off due to illness. Everyone was working double-time to make up the difference and he hadn’t had a chance to catch his breath. And he had really thought he could go home early. He should have realized that this was his home, like it or not.

All he