Claire Marsh almost never had a dull moment at work, but pinning down a dragon was just a bit more excitement than she’d bargained for.
“No way! I’m not letting you near me with that thing!” Seth bellowed.
Claire let out a patient sigh. Seth Morley, a tall, muscular dragon shifter with striking blue eyes, was not feeling so patient.
“This wasn’t in the contract. Get that thing away from me.”
Claire smiled warmly, even though she didn’t feel so friendly right now. This job paid well, and she needed to remain professional. As professional as possible, at least, when dealing with a crybaby of a dragon.
“This ‘thing’ is a foundation brush, and it’s not going to hurt you. The stage lights are bright, and they’ll wash you out if you don’t get some stage makeup on.”
“Makeup is for girls.”
“And for people going on camera under bright stage lights. Now sit still.”
Seth started to protest again, but at that moment, his friend Evan Wellman, also a dragon shifter, walked into the room with full makeup on. Claire had done Evan’s makeup earlier, and found him to be a much more cooperative client than Seth. Evan hadn’t been thrilled about the makeup, either, but at least he’d sat still and grudgingly let Claire do her thing.
When Seth saw Evan, he started to laugh. “Dude, did you hand in your man card? Look at your face—you look like a clown!”
Evan crossed his arms and glared at Seth. “Oh, grow up. It’s not that much makeup, and it’s not colorful. I don’t look like a clown. What I do look like is a man who is ready to go on live television and drum up support for dragon shifters in Torch Lake. You look like a crybaby who doesn’t care about your city.”
“Why do I need makeup to go on television? I’m not here to be a pretty face, I’m here to inform people about the benefits of having more dragon shifters in town.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about anyone thinking you have a pretty face. But you do have to worry about no one listening to you if you don’t let Claire here do something with that ugly face of yours.”
Seth growled angrily and lunged at Evan at that comment, but Evan hopped out of the way before Seth could catch him.
“Besides,” Evan said, a twinkle in his eye as he moved toward the exit door, “How often is it that you actually get to have a beautiful woman putting her hands on your face? I’d guess it’s been quite a while since that’s happened for you.”
“Get out!” Seth roared, reaching for the nearest object to throw at Evan, which thankfully was only a bottle of water. The water exploded when it hit the wall that Evan had been standing in front of only moments before, but water wasn’t so much trouble to clean up. Claire would have been angrier if Seth had chucked one of her makeup palettes across the room.
“Anyway, big guy, I came to tell you that Councilor Morgan wants to meet with us before we go on air. He’s asking us to come to the briefing room in five minutes.”
With that, Evan disappeared into the hallway. Seth yelled a string of not-so-nice curses after him, and Claire bit her lip to keep from laughing. These guys might be big, tough dragons, but put them together and they reminded her of a pair of rambunctious school boys, always trying to outdo each other.
Seth started to stand to chase after Evan, but Claire put a hand on his chest to stop him. “Oh, no you don’t, mister. You only have five minutes before you have to be ready, and that doesn’t leave me much time. I refuse to have my reputation as the best makeup artist in Torch Lake tarnished because you couldn’t sit still. So sit.”
Seth stopped his protests, and looked at her in silent surprise for a moment. He seemed genuinely shocked that she had taken a stand against him, and for a few seconds Claire wasn’t sure whether he was going to react in anger and storm out of the room. But then, his face broke into a smile and he laughed, sitting back down in his chair.
“Well, look at you. You can be feisty, after all. Here I thought you were just some meek little mouse, but it turns out you have a spicy side.”
Claire wasn’t sure whether Seth intended his words as a compliment or not, and she chose to ignore them. If she didn’t get started on his makeup right this second, she wasn’t going to have time to finish. And she wasn’t kidding when she said she didn’t want her reputation smeared. She was a damn good makeup artist, and she had worked hard to get a job in Torch Lake. She’d had to compete against a hundred other applicants, and she knew there were dozens of wizards and shifters waiting to take her place if she slipped up. Everyone who was anyone wanted to live in Torch Lake these days, and that made the good jobs here ultra-competitive. The director of Torch Lake Today, the local news station, had not made the interview easy. He’d grilled her on her work history and her clan history, and then he’d had her do several examples of makeup. He was aiming to produce the best news programming in the wizard-shifter world, and that meant the makeup for his news anchors and special guests had to be perfect. Claire had never in her life been as nervous as she was when she was making up the faces of her models for the interview.
Once she’d landed the job, though, it had been mostly smooth sailing. Until today. Dealing with a grumpy dragon shifter wasn’t easy. This certainly wasn’t the first time Claire had been forced to convince a man to put makeup on for a live television appearance, but she’d never had anyone be quite as stubborn as Seth. She supposed she couldn’t blame him. He was about the manliest man she’d ever seen. His tall, chiseled body defined her idea of perfect masculinity. Still, even a man’s man needs a little makeup to avoid looking washed out under the show lights. And with everyone in Torch Lake anticipating the dragon shifters’ guest appearance on today’s show, Claire had to make sure she got this right. Luckily, Seth seemed to have given in to his fate, and was sitting mostly still as she quickly blended foundation into his face.
“Evan’s right about one thing,” Seth said, his blue eyes following Claire’s face as she hovered in front of him.
“Hmm. What’s that?” Claire asked. She couldn’t care less about the two men’s squabble, but maybe if Seth talked about Evan he’d stay distracted long enough for Claire to finish her work.
“You have a really pretty face.”
Claire paused with her foundation brush in midair and forced herself to meet Seth’s eyes. She could feel her cheeks heating up, and she knew she must be blushing, but she would not give him the benefit of knowing that he had flustered her.
“Thank you,” she said. Normally, she would have made some wisecrack about how knowing how to do professional makeup certainly helped, but she didn’t want to extend this line of conversation any longer than necessary with Seth. She didn’t usually get nervous around clients, even famous ones, but there was something about Seth that undid her a little bit. He was more handsome than anyone she’d met before, and Claire had met some gorgeous men. A constant stream of celebrity wizards came to the news program as guests, but their looks all paled in comparison to Seth’s. It wasn’t just his physical appearance, though. There was something about him that felt different. Perhaps the rumors were true, and dragons really were a step above all other shifters. Claire hadn’t been impressed with many of the shifter men she’d met around town. Wolves, bears, and even lions didn’t seem that exciting to her. But this was the first time she’d met a dragon, and she couldn’t deny that he felt more distinguished and magnificent than any of the other shifter men she’d encountered.
Seth was still watching her, although he’d fallen silent now. Claire did her best to keep her hand steady, and she finished the job as quickly as she could. When she was done, she straightened her back and smiled in what she hoped appeared to be a purely professional manner.
“You’re all done, Mr. Morley. Just make it through the thirty minute program and you can wash every last drop of makeup off your face.”
“Until I have to do this whole circus again,” Seth grumbled.
Claire wanted to roll her eyes at him. He was here to appear as a special guest on a news story about dragon shifters and what they were doing to protect Torch Lake. It was a segment the High Council had requested as part of their ongoing campaign to convince people that Torch Lake was indeed a safe place to live. The High Council had encountered a lot of obstacles in their quest to bring more dragon shifters to town, and many citizens were starting to grumble that, without enough dragon protectors, Torch Lake wasn’t safe. Claire wasn’t too worried herself. She had always been something of an optimist, and she trusted the High Council to figure things out before the situation got too desperate. But the shortage of dragons meant that any dragon shifter, like Seth, had guaranteed job security. He never had to worry about getting fired, and getting to appear on television seemed like more of a perk to Claire than a bother. Who didn’t want their fifteen minutes of fame, after all?
She glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow. “Oh, come on. Life’s not all that bad, is it?”
“Not all bad. But there’s one thing that could make it better.”
“What’s that?” Claire asked, already turning to start packing up her supplies.
“If you gave me your phone number.”
Claire felt her stomach do a tiny flip-flop. Seth liked her? She hadn’t seen that coming. He was a dragon shifter and she was…a simple wizard. Nothing that special about her. Besides, she had just forced him to wear makeup. She looked up at him, half-expecting to see laughter in his eyes. Surely, this was a joke?
But there was no laughter. No sarcasm. He was serious. For a half-second, Claire considered giving in. She allowed herself to fantasize about being taken out for a date by a dragon. Her girlfriends would all be so jealous. But no sooner had the thought crossed her mind than she pushed it away. Her boss had made it clear that she was not allowed to start personal relationships with clients. The rule was in place to keep things professional, so that celebrities who came in wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. A dragon shifter wasn’t exactly a celebrity, but close enough. And Claire wasn’t going to take any chances on losing her job. If she lost this position, no one else in the city would hire her. She’d be forced to move away from Torch Lake, which would break her heart. She loved it here.
She looked up at Seth and shook her head. “Sorry. I’m not allowed to give my number to clients.”
“What if I threaten to wash all my makeup off if you don’t?”
Claire gave him an exasperated sigh, but before she could come up with a good reply, Councilor Morgan stuck his head into the room. Councilor Morgan was the Head Councilor of Torch Lake’s High Council, and he frequently made appearances on Torch Lake Today in an attempt to boost morale among the city’s population. Claire had done his makeup numerous times, and he knew her by name now.
“Hello, Claire. How are the dragons treating you?”
“Um…” Claire wasn’t sure how to answer. What a loaded question that was! But Councilor Morgan didn’t seem interested in waiting for an actual reply.
“Looks like you’re done with Seth. Good. Come on, Seth. We need to make some last minute changes to our plans for the segment.”
Claire gave Seth a triumphant look. Now that Councilor Morgan had seen that Seth’s makeup was done, there was no way it could be washed off without Seth being the one blamed for it. Seth shrugged sheepishly at Claire, then turned to Councilor Morgan. “Go ahead. I’ll catch up with you in just a moment.”
As soon as Councilor Morgan disappeared, Seth reached for one of Claire’s charcoal black eyeliners, and then for a scrap of paper on a nearby counter.
“Hey, what are you doing? That’s not a pen, you know!”
“Close enough.” Seth finished scribbling and handed the sheet to Claire. “I’m assuming there aren’t rules against clients giving you their numbers?”
“Uh…”
“Good. That’s my number. Feel free to call it anytime.”
And with that, Seth headed out of the room, leaving Claire standing there in a daze. She glanced down at the paper in her hand, with the phone number on it written in hurried, eyeliner scrawl. She considered throwing it out. Even though she didn’t think that taking a number from a client was technically against the rules, she had a feeling that her boss would still frown on this. Besides, she didn’t think she’d ever have the courage to actually call Seth.
But her boss wasn’t here to see what Seth had done, and you never knew when it might come in handy to have a dragon shifter on call. Claire made her decision quickly, and slipped the paper into the pocket of her jeans. She couldn’t wait until quitting time. Her friends were going to love hearing about this.
Claire hurriedly went back to cleaning up the makeup room. She had no idea as she left and shut the door behind her that it was the last time she’d ever see that room.