Jasper had plenty of ideas on how to woo Julia, but he had to put them all on hold that weekend. He’d already made several commitments to his friends, and he wasn’t the type to back out of social obligations. Besides, several of the weekend’s events included Jake and Rachel, and he was hoping that Julia might show up again. But she didn’t, which only made Jasper more determined to find her and convince her to date him. The more hours that passed since he’d last seen her, the more desperate he felt to see her again. He’d never felt so strongly about a woman before, and he felt that surely that must mean something.
Before he could track her down, though, he had to make it through his first workday at the Advocacy Bureau. He’d been so excited for this internship, but on Monday morning, as he sat in a nondescript conference room and waited for Elliot the panther shifter, all he felt was impatience. He wasn’t interested in learning more about the Wizard Advocates at the moment. All he wanted to do was find Julia. He hoped that he might somehow run into her today, but he told himself not to get his hopes up. The Advocacy Bureau was huge, so the odds were probably not in his favor.
The conference room door opened and Jasper jumped to his feet, ready to meet Elliot. But the person who entered the room was a woman. A petite wolf shifter, if Jasper’s nose could be trusted. In addition to the scent of wolf, his nose also filled with the scent of coffee and fresh bagels. The wolf shifter was holding a large thermos in one hand, and balancing a tray of bagels on the other.
“S-sorry to bother you, Mr. Moffatt,” she stammered out, nearly dropping the tray of bagels in her nervousness. Jasper sighed. He hated how everyone acted so on edge around him. Sure, he was a famous dragon. But it wasn’t like he was a real celebrity, like Brad Pitt or something. He tried to give the woman a genuine, disarming smile to put her at ease.
“No need to apologize. Let me help you with that tray.” He reached to take the tray of bagels from her, and she visibly relaxed as soon as the weight of it was gone from her hands.
“I’m Whitney,” she said. “Facilities sent me here with some bagels and coffee for you. Elliot is still held up in a meeting, so they thought a bit of food might make you more comfortable while you waited.”
Jasper glanced at his watch and sighed. Elliot was already thirty minutes late, and there was nothing Jasper hated more than sitting around twiddling his thumbs. But there wasn’t much he could do about it, so he merely grunted and then reached for one of the bagels.
“Is t-there anything else you need?” Whitney asked.
Jasper shook his head no. “I’m fine. The bagels and coffee are more than enough.”
Whitney nodded and turned to leave, but just as she reached the door, Jasper called out her name to stop her. She turned to give him a questioning look and he gestured toward the bagels. “Are you hungry? Feel free to have one. This is more than I’ll eat myself.”
Whitney looked nervous, so Jasper pushed the tray in her direction, hoping that would help her overcome her hesitation. He had ulterior motives for asking her to stay. He’d suddenly realized that she might be able to give him the inside scoop on the Advocacy Bureau. She seemed to be an administrative assistant of some sort, and people in those positions often knew more than anyone about the inner workings of an organization. Thankfully, she decided to take him up on his invitation for a bagel.
“If you’re sure you don’t mind?”
“I don’t. Sit.”
She sat, and spread cream cheese on a cinnamon raisin bagel before looking up at him gratefully. “I didn’t have time for breakfast this morning. The whole place has been on edge waiting for you to arrive.”
Jasper grunted. “Really? Could have fooled me. I’ve been here nearly forty-five minutes and all I’ve done is sit and wait in this room.”
“That’s Elliot’s fault. He should have known better than to schedule a meeting right before you arrived, but he was probably trying to prove a point.”
Jasper frowned. “And what point would that be?”
Whitney looked around as though worried someone might be listening in on them, even though the room was empty. She lowered her voice as she spoke. “Just the point that he’s important. He’s a pompous asshole, but you didn’t hear that from me.”
Jasper chuckled. Seems like Julia wasn’t the only one who wasn’t impressed with Elliot. “Are all of the Advocates like that?”
Whitney shook her head no. “No, no. The Advocates are all great for the most part. And Elliot’s not an actual Advocate, anyway. He’s an Advocate Support Specialist. Most of them are great, too. He’s just the rotten apple of the bunch.”
“What’s the difference between an Advocate and an Advocate Support Specialist?” Jasper asked before taking another bite of his bagel. He knew roughly what an Advocate did, but he still wasn’t sure what the point of the support specialists was.
“Well, for one thing, the Advocates are all wizards, and most of the support specialists are shifters. The Advocates all have years and years of schooling, and are trained to deal with the interpretation of magical laws and handling reports of unauthorized use of magic, things like that. The support specialists mainly act as liaisons between the Advocates and the general public. The Advocates can get caught up in their own heads, if you know what I mean.”
Jasper frowned. “I actually don’t know what you mean.”
Whitney shrugged. “They’re so highly educated that they forget what it’s like to be just a normal human sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, they’re all very nice. But a lot of them are hard to have a normal conversation with. This was an especially big problem when shifters and wizards first started living together. Shifters didn’t understand the point of Advocates at all. That’s why most of the support specialists are shifters. Shifters are usually the best at communicating with other shifters about what Advocates are doing and why it’s necessary and important.”
“Usually?”
“Well, there are always exceptions. Every now and then a wizard will get a support specialist job, too. But the jobs are highly competitive, so you have to be a really smart, outstanding wizard to get the job over a shifter. And most of the really smart wizards just go to Advocacy school and become Advocates.”
“Huh. Do you have any wizard support specialists right now?”
“Just one. And she’s definitely a genius. She started off as a low-level customer service employee and worked her way up to support specialist. She’s really inspiring, actually. You might meet her at some point during your internship. Her name’s Julia.”
“Julia? Julia Nalley?” Jasper felt his heart start pounding again. He’d asked Rachel for Julia’s full name, and he’d looked her up in the Advocacy Bureau directory. But she was listed as a customer service team leader, not a support specialist. Whitney must be talking about a different Julia, unless the directory wasn’t up-to-date.
But Whitney nodded, and looked surprised. “Yes, Julia Nalley. You know her?”
“Uh, not very well. We have a few mutual friends. But—”
Jasper didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. A knock on the door sounded, and after two short raps the door opened. In stepped none other than the woman in question, Julia Nalley. Jasper found himself at a loss for words. She looked totally different today than she had at the bar on Friday night, but she was just as gorgeous. She wore a classic gray suit, and she had done an impressive job of wrangling her wild red hair into a semi-tame bun. She looked polished, professional, and smart. Jasper was smitten.
Julia did not look pleased, however. She nodded politely to Whitney. “Good morning, Whitney. Thank you for taking care of Jasper. I’ll take it from here.”
“Oh, okay,” Whitney said, standing up and nervously gathering up her coffee cup and the remainder of her bagel. “I would introduce you two but it sounds like you’ve already met.”
“We have,” Julia said. Her voice was neutral, but the smile on her face did not reach her eyes. She was pissed about something, and Jasper had the feeling that the “something” involved him somehow. Julia stood still and silent until Whitney was gone and had closed the door behind her. Then she shifted the folders in her hands and gave Jasper a cool look.
“Elliot has been caught up in a very important meeting. As usual.”
Jasper leaned back in his chair and grinned. “So they sent you to keep me company until he’s done? Seems a little rude to keep a famous dragon waiting, don’t you think?”
She rolled her eyes. “I think it’s rude to keep anyone waiting. But Elliot thinks it proves how important he is. Anyway, the higher-ups in the Advocacy Bureau are worried now that Elliot is going to be constantly pissing you off, so they’ve decided to assign me to be your internship guide instead.”
Jasper’s heart leapt. This was the best news he’d had in a long time. Julia was going to be forced to spend time with him for her job. That would explain why she was acting so pissed off. She probably thought he was going to be constantly hitting on her. But Jasper knew how to remain professional. He’d keep things all business, at least during business hours. After quitting time, well, all bets were off. But at least he’d have the chance to get to know Julia better, whether she liked it or not. He smiled at her, warmly, trying to break down a little bit of the wall she’d put up.
“I don’t bite, you know.”
“Humph. We’ll see about that. In any case, today’s program has already been delayed long enough. You were supposed to be given a tour of the facility when you first got here, but that will have to wait now. You’re scheduled for a meet and greet with some of the top Advocates in fifteen minutes.”
Jasper took a slow, lazy sip from his coffee cup. “You never mentioned you were an Advocate Support Specialist.”
Julia shrugged. “You never asked.”
“Whitney told me you have to be really smart to be a support specialist. Are you a smarty-pants?”
Julia blushed. “What kind of a question is that?”
“A pretty straightforward one, I think.” Jasper swiveled back and forth in the squeaky office chair he was sitting in. He shouldn’t be enjoying Julia’s discomfort so much, but hey, there was nothing unprofessional about giving someone a roundabout compliment, right? And that’s basically what he was doing—complimenting Julia about being smart.
“It’s not polite to brag about being smart, so I don’t,” Julia said, somewhat indignantly. “Just because Elliot is an ass doesn’t mean that all of the Advocate Support Specialists are.”
“Really? Because when you abbreviate ‘Advocate Support Specialist’ it spells ASS.”
Okay, Jasper thought. That comment was maybe a bit unprofessional. But Julia’s reaction was priceless. She glared at him, then looked down at the folders in her arms.
“Come on, Mr. Moffatt,” she said, her voice tense as she turned briskly on her heel to head for the door. “You’re going to be late for your meeting with the Advocates.”
Jasper grinned. This internship was going to be a lot of fun.