Jasper was no fool. He knew that Julia’s performance last night had been intended to warn him off, not draw him closer. But her plan had severely backfired. All he’d been able to think about for the last twelve hours was the fact that Julia was smart, pretty, and fierce. She was exactly what he wanted in a woman. Why did she have to be pretty much the one woman on the planet who had no interest in him?

No matter, though. Jasper had a plan to change that. A plan that might be a bit extravagant, but what could he say? He never did anything half-assed.

That’s why he found himself at the door of Torch Lake’s most popular flower shop at six o’clock in the morning, banging on the door. A somewhat startled and completely annoyed wizard answered the door. She was wearing an oversized sweatshirt and holding a giant travel mug in her hand. The smell of coffee wafting up from the mug made Jasper’s mouth water, but he forced himself not to think about how tired he was, or how much he wished he’d brought along his own travel mug of coffee.

“Good morning,” he said brightly as the door opened. The woman glared at him.

“Can’t you read? The store doesn’t open for another three hours.”

Jasper glanced at the sign in the window that listed the store’s hours, acting as though he’d just seen it for the first time.

“Right. Sorry. But this is an emergency.”

She arched an eyebrow. “An emergency? This is a flower shop. Not too many emergencies require flowers.”

“This one does. Can I come in?”

“No.”

“Please?”

She hesitated for a moment, perhaps weighing whether it would require more effort to get him to go away than it would to just hear him out. She must have decided the latter, because she finally let out a long sigh and opened the door wider. “Fine. But this better be good.”

Jasper flashed her a grateful smile and stepped inside the shop, which was surprisingly warm. He hadn’t realized how cold the early November morning was, even for a hot-natured dragon like himself. He hadn’t worn gloves this morning, and he rubbed his cold fingers together to warm them.

“I’m Jasper,” he began. “Jasper Moffatt.”

He saw a flicker of recognition and then awe pass across her face when she realized who he was, but she hid it quickly. Damn. His famous dragon shifter status wasn’t enough to make her forget that he was barging in three hours before the store opened.

“I’m Vickie. What do you want?”

“I need to impress a girl. Like really impress her.”

Vickie gave him a textbook “you’ve got to be kidding me” look. Jasper suddenly wondered if this hadn’t been the best plan, after all. But all women liked flowers, right? And he thought if he snuck an extra-big bouquet into Julia’s office before she got there this morning that she would realize how serious he was about her. But now he was rethinking this. Vickie was looking at him like he’d lost his marbles.

“Are you serious? You think it’s okay to shove your way into my shop at the crack of dawn just because you want to impress a girl? I’ve got news for you, buddy. At least ninety percent of my sales are from someone wanting to impress a girl. That doesn’t justify rudely interrupting me in the middle of morning prep.”

Jasper took a deep breath. Maybe this plan hadn’t been thought through completely, but he was here now, and he was going to make the best of it. “I’m sorry if I’ve overstepped my bounds, but I really need a big bouquet, and I need it by about seven-forty five this morning. So I couldn’t wait until the store opens at nine.”

He had done his best to sound meek and apologetic, but Vickie still looked pissed at him.

“When did you figure out you needed this bouquet?” she asked, crossing her arms and glaring at him. “Couldn’t you have at least called the shop yesterday afternoon so I could work on it then? I can’t just drop all my morning prep to make a bouquet, especially a big, fancy one. Those things take time, you know?”

“I’ll pay you double whatever you normally charge.”

She still looked hesitant.

“Triple?”

The potential to make three times her normal fee must have been too much to resist. Her face relaxed a bit, and she threw her hands up in a gesture of surrender. “Fine. But next time you need to impress a girl, do it during normal business hours, okay?”

“Okay. I will. And I’m really sorry to interrupt your morning like this.”

Vickie only grunted in reply, and turned to walk behind the front counter of the store. “So, what did you have in mind?” she called out over her shoulder.

Jasper grinned. Julia was going to be so impressed with him.

 

* * *

 

“What the hell, Jasper!”

Jasper nearly fell out of his seat as Julia stormed into the conference room, slamming the door behind her. He’d been scheduled to meet Julia here at nine, but he’d been sitting in this chair since just before eight o’clock. After dropping off the giant floral centerpiece that Vickie had put together for him, Jasper had come here to wait. He’d imagined all sorts of reactions when Julia found the flowers, but he definitely hadn’t imagined her rushing over here to yell at him.

“Um…” he wasn’t sure what to say. Was this about the flowers? Or maybe she hadn’t seen the flowers yet, and she was still mad at him for barging into her training session last night? Yes, that had to be it.

“Where do you get off putting a tropical rainforest’s worth of orchids on my desk?”

Nope, it was about the flowers.

“You don’t like them?”

“They’re beautiful. And entirely inappropriate.”

“I just wanted to thank you for being such a great host during my internship,” he said, trying to sound innocent. Trying to backtrack. Clearly, she wasn’t seeing the flowers as some noble gesture of devotion. I am so bad at this dating thing. It’s so much easier when the girl is falling all over herself for me.

“I told you already: I’m not interested. So stop making things awkward.”

She was practically hissing at him now. And somehow, that made Jasper a little angry. He sat up straighter in his chair and crossed his arms.

“Don’t be so rude,” he said. “I’m sorry if I made things awkward, but I was only trying to do something nice for you. I’ve never met a woman who didn’t like flowers.”

She rolled her eyes upward and groaned. “I think you’ve never met a woman who told you she wasn’t interested, and you don’t know how to deal with it.”

“No! It’s just that I…” Jasper didn’t know what to say. Julia kind of had a point, and he hated that. He frowned at her. “I don’t understand why you won’t even give me a chance.”

She looked for a moment like she was about to yell at him again, but then she let out a long sigh again. “Okay, fine. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll give you a chance. I’ll go on one date with you. ONE. And if after that date I still don’t want to date you, you’ll agree to stop pestering me about this.”

Jasper grinned. Maybe those flowers hadn’t been a waste of money after all. “Deal. You’re in for a treat.”

Julia rolled her eyes again. “Whatever. Now, enough of these games. We have actual work to do today.”

Jasper nodded, but he knew he was going to have a hard time not spending the whole day thinking of his upcoming date with Julia. He was determined that there would be a second date. She wasn’t going to know what hit her.

No one could resist a dragon forever.