“Doctor Roberts, how lovely it is to see you again so soon. My brother, Granite, mentioned something about you being here today.” It was the shifter she had met yesterday.

"Nice to see you again, Shale." She couldn't help but smile. He was charming.

“We’re over there if you need us.” George gestured to a table in the corner. Ice was already taking a seat.

“Okay,” Meghan said.

Shale hooked his arm with hers. Just like all the other shifters, he was huge. “Come and sit with me.”

“Leave the human.” Tide had that hard, gruff edge to his voice. “We’re not staying long.” She wasn’t sure whether he directed the last to her or to Shale. It was probably to both of them.

“It’s just lunch, Tide.” Shale had sandy blond hair and the most incredible golden brown eyes. His lashes were obscenely long.

“Don’t you have to be somewhere? Preparing for a certain mission maybe?” Tide asked, looking angry.

“Everything is taken care of.” Shale grinned. “Thanks for all the hard work, by the way.”

“Yeah, no need to thank me, just stay focused and do a good job. That’s all I ask.”

“Don’t worry about it. I won’t fuck it up. I’ll—”

“There you are.” The same woman from the hall earlier, gripped Tide’s arm. “I saved you a seat.” She winked at Tide, flicking her long black hair over her shoulder. “Or we could skip lunch and …”

“We need to leave soon,” Meghan blurted. Shit! She didn’t want to come across as jealous. “I can’t be late for the next meeting.” She locked eyes with Tide as she spoke.

“I need to stay with the human.” He kept his eyes on her even though he was addressing the shifter lady.

Meghan bristled. The human! The human? Like she was some sort of burden.

“I’ll stay with Doctor Roberts,” Shale said. She smiled at Shale. At least he was polite.

"Not happening," Tide's voice was still gruff. Then he smiled, looking at the woman at his side. "Why don't you join us?" Without waiting for a response ‒ of course, a guy like Tide would automatically assume her answer would be yes ‒ he turned to them. "This is Topaz. Topaz, this is Doctor Roberts. She's helping us with our silver affliction."

“Oh, that’s great.” Topaz didn’t even look her way. Her focus was solely directed at Tide.

“Let me get that for you.” Shale pulled out her chair, gesturing for her to sit.

“Thank you.” A total gentleman, unlike other people she knew.

Topaz plunked herself in Tide’s lap. How inappropriate. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Don’t look! It didn’t matter anyway. Meghan was so not interested in Tide. Sure, he was attractive but that was where it ended.

Someone gripped her shoulders from behind. “You’re welcome to join us,” George said.

“I’m fine. We’re leaving soon, so eat up.” She was amazed at how normal her voice sounded, even though Topaz was kissing Tide’s neck. Kissy, kissy kissy. What the hell?

“You sure?” George widened his eyes. Her friend knew her well. He knew that this would be rubbing her the wrong way.

“Yes, of course,” she lied. All out lied and did it with a straight face. She wasn’t sure about anything right now. Only that she hated Tide. Hated. Him. He was clearly a jackass and a slut.

Shale handed her a menu. “I would recommend the steak and salad.”

“Hey,” Tide gripped Topaz’s shoulder and attempted to pry her off of him, “I’m working right now.”

Meghan snapped her eyes back to the menu in her hand. “Mmmmmm …” She pretended to study it. “Sounds great.” She put it down in front of her, noticing how Topaz was pouting. Did women really act this way?

“You’ll have to come back real soon for a visit.” She touched the tip of his nose and winked again.

“Sure.” Tide picked her up and put her down on the chair next to him.

“How about tonight?” Topaz had her back to Meghan, blocking Tide off completely.

“Did you get everything you needed today?” Shale asked her, forcing her attention back to him. “Did you meet my nephews?” he continued. Unfortunately, she missed Tide’s answer. No! It was for the best. What he did was his own business. She didn’t care either way.

"Yes," she blurted when she realized that Shale was waiting for an answer. "I got everything I needed. The twins were adorable. Thank you. So you're going on a mission?"

“Yeah, I’ll be gone for a while. I take it there’s no one waiting for you at home.” She noticed how his nostrils flared.

“No, my work keeps me very busy. I don’t have time to date.”

“Surely you must make time on occasion, I mean, you and Tide?” He raised his brows.

“That was a mistake. A huge mistake.”

Shale chuckled. “I’m glad to hear it. Maybe we could—”

“Let’s go and get lunch.” Tide stood up. “I’ll bring your food, Meghan. You said you wanted the steak.”

“It’s Doctor Roberts.” She looked up at his imposing form.

His jaw clenched. “Doctor.”

Shale stood up as well. “I would be happy to get your lunch, Doctor Roberts. May I call you Meghan?”

“Let me do my job,” Tide growled at Shale, hands fisting at his side. “You do yours and I’ll do mine. Doctor Roberts happens to be my responsibility.”

“Sure.” Shale shrugged. “Knock yourself out.”

Topaz stood up, clinging to Tide like her life depended on it. “I’ll go with you,” she gushed and actually fluttered her eyelashes at him. It was sickening.

Meghan held back a sigh. Although Tide seemed jealous of Shale she knew it wasn’t the case. Like he had stated, he was just doing his job. “I can get my own food.” She stood up, Shale fell in beside her and they headed for the counter, standing in a line. Why oh why had she thought this would be a good idea? Tide and Topaz were ahead of them. The tall, willowy dragon shifter whispered something in his ear. He said something back and she laughed. Then she nuzzled into his neck. Tide didn’t do anything to encourage her, but he also didn’t do anything to stop her either.

She shouldn’t care either way. It would be best if she tried not to look. “So, you’re a prince?” she blurted, glancing at Shale. What a stupid thing to ask. Of course he was, he had a golden chest. Granite was his brother, so it stood to reason. She needed to take her attention off of Tide and Topaz. So what if she and Tide had spent the night together. It was ancient history. Like she said, a mistake. Him groping her yesterday had been to prove a point. Tide clearly wasn’t interested in her and even if he was, she didn’t want a guy like him anywhere near her anyway.

Shale ran a hand over the marking on his chest, drawing her eye. “Yeah, I’m a prince. Can I come and visit you later? Maybe we can have dinner together?”

Tide turned sharply, forcing Octopus Arms to let go of him. Topaz gave her a dirty look and folded her arms. Tide narrowed his eyes. “Doctor Roberts,” he emphasized the words, “has to work late. We’re up early. Not that it’s any of your business but the human is meeting with Blaze and needs to be fresh and on top of her game so—”

No damned way. He wasn’t telling her what she could and couldn’t do, was he?

“Actually …”

“Actually nothing. You can’t join Doctor Roberts for dinner. Not tonight. Not ever.”

Tide had no right. “Actually, that sounds great.”

Shale grinned broadly. “What time should—”

“Are you hard of hearing?” Tide’s eyes were narrowed. His frown was so deep it might end up being permanent. Those muscles on the sides of his neck roped. Come to think of it, his biceps looked huge too. He took a step towards Shale.

Shale clenched his teeth and took a step towards Tide. His soft brown eyes seemed to darken. “I think Doctor Roberts can speak for herself. She may be your responsibility but you’re not her keeper.”

“No, she can’t speak for herself and yes, technically, I am her keeper.”

No way! “Yes, I can speak for myself and you are most definitely not my keeper.” Tide was too much. Making his own arrangements to see Topaz while, at the same time, banning her from seeing Shale. Treating her like a child. Double standards!

“Excuse us a moment.” Tide gripped her hand firmly in his much larger one.

“I don’t need a moment,” she spoke under her breath.

“Oh yes, you do.” He marched towards the exit, pulling her along with him.

“Why do you insist on trying to rule my life?”

“We’ll talk in a moment.” He kept on walking, even picked up the pace, which forced her to jog to keep up.

Once they were outside in the hallway, which was also pretty busy with people coming and going, he kept on moving, stopping at every door they encountered. It was only when they reached the fourth door that he paused and sniffed. Then he knocked, cocking his head and narrowing his eyes. He pushed the door open and ushered her inside, closing it behind them. “Shale wants inside your pants. It’s as simple as that.”

"So much for the preamble. Why don't we just get down to the nitty-gritty?"

“Exactly. We don’t have much time here. Shale wants to fuck you and it’s not going to happen on my watch. We spoke about this.”

“You spoke about this. I disagreed. Shale wants to have dinner with me. That’s all, just dinner.” There was a squeak to her voice. It was of utter disbelief. She couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing.

“That’s bullshit. Just like cleaning the stain off my shirt was bullshit. Just like those leftovers you promised me were bullshit.” He got right up in her face. His eyes looked even brighter. Damn him, even more beautiful.

“No.” She shook her head. “He’s a nice guy. A sweet guy. Unlike you.” She put her hands on her hips. Take that, asshole!

Tide laughed. “Unlike me,” he muttered. “Yeah, okay, sure. At least I’m honest about what I want and what I don’t want. Trust me, Shale does not want to make small talk, he doesn’t want dinner and candles and all that other bullshit. He wants inside that tight pussy.”

She did that whole choking on her spit thing again. It had never happened to her before meeting Tide. She had a feeling it would happen again several times before her time in the dragon lands was done. “You’re a pig and a male slut. You have no leg to stand on, as far as I’m concerned. None whatsoever. Just because you have a dirty mind, doesn’t mean that every other man out there does.”

“Oh yes, they do. We all do.” He shrugged. “I’ll admit wholeheartedly, I have a seriously dirty fucking mind.” He gave a half-smile, it was feral looking, like he was thinking up a couple of dirty things right now.

Something clenched deep inside her lower belly. Meghan didn’t like how his words affected her. “There! Exactly. I told you. You get to go and have as much fun as you want while expecting me to—”

“Oh …” He smiled. No, make that grinned. Tide all out grinned. “So that’s what this is all about ‒ you’re jealous. I should have known.”

What a prick! Her hate went up a couple of notches. If that was even possible. “Jealous! Like hell I’m jealous, you are such an asshole. Did I mention how big your ego is?”

"Several times." He was still grinning. "But this isn't my ego talking. It's a straight fact. You don't like the idea of Topaz and I together, so you're agreeing to meet with Shale to get back at me or to prove some or other point. Is it an attempt to make me jealous? Because, if it is, you're barking up the wrong tree."

“That’s not what it is at all. Not even close. I think it’s plain wrong that you get to do whatever it is that you want while expecting me to sit at home alone. It’s a double standard and I won’t stand for it. For the record, I think you’re jealous.”

Tide chuckled. “No fucking way. It’s not a double standard because my life is not on the line here, yours is.”

“I don’t agree. Shale has been nothing but kind. So what if I was to date him? It would be exclusive, so there would be no fighting amongst the guys.” Although Shale was sweet and attractive, she only saw him as a friend. Tide didn’t need to know that.

His eyes turned stormy. “You have no idea what you are talking about. Anyway, I thought your focus was on your work?”

"It is, at least during office hours. What I do after that is my business. In fact, do me a favor and go and see whats-her-name tonight. Please. I beg of you. Just don't get in the way of my dinner with Shale. You'll be off duty anyway so—"

“It’s not fucking happening,” Tide growled.

She swallowed thickly, a little afraid of how his eyes blazed. His muscles were all roped and thick. His chest was practically against hers. The lower part of his chest, at any rate, he was just that tall in comparison to her. He wasn't going to hurt her though. Meghan could be confident of that fact. Especially after how he protected her when he thought Granite was a threat. "Yes, it is happening."

He groaned, the sound laced with frustration. Tide turned and walked to the other side of the room. He squeezed the back of his neck and just stood there, the seconds ticking by.

Meghan wanted to talk. To say something. Anything. But she forced herself to stay silent. The ball was in his court. “Fine,” he said when he finally turned. “I’ll stay away from all females. No rutting. If that’s what it takes, then I’m fine with that.” He rolled his eyes. “No double standards.”

“You think that’s what this is about?”

“You’re uppity because I get to do as I please while you need to live by certain rules, despite the fact that I’ve explained that those rules are for your own good.”

“I wouldn’t call it uppity, I’d call it justified but yes, it’s the reason I was unhappy to sign that non-fraternization policy in the first place. Double standards. I can’t stand them.”

“What if the same rules were to apply to both of us?” he asked.

“So, neither of us gets to have sex?” She raised her brows.

“Exactly. No sex for either of us. If that’s what it takes to do my job and keep you safe, then so fucking be it.”

“Don’t sound so hard done by.” It wasn’t like she had planned to have sex with anyone anyway. She liked the idea of Tide suffering. She’d get a kick out of it. In fact, she had to work hard to keep from laughing her ass off. She pursed her lips for a few seconds instead, pretending to think it over.

“Do we have a deal?” Tide folded his arms.

“Yes, fine, we have a deal.”

Tide held out his hand. She tried to take it but he gripped her by the wrist and gave her whole arm a big shake. “It’s done.” He huffed out a breath. “You’re a pain in the ass for such a tiny human.”

“Oh, and stop referring to me as ‘the human.' You …" Flip. She felt her cheeks heat. “Should also stop referring to that night.”

“What night?” He narrowed his eyes and his lips twitched. The bastard wanted to laugh.

“You know very well which night. Stop referring to it and for the love of god, stop referring to … parts of my anatomy.”

“What parts?” He smiled. “Oh, yeah, you mean your pussy.”

“Stop it,” she whispered.

“I told you, not talking about it won’t make it magically unhappen. We fucked, multiple times and you enjoyed the hell out of it. So did I, human, so did I. Very fucking much!” He turned and walked out of the room, holding the door open for her.

Meghan picked her jaw up off of the floor, pulled back her shoulders and walked out. She wasn’t sure if she’d just made things better or worse.