Suddenly it hit Kit where he’d heard that name from. “Oh wow. Oh goodness. I remember Kage mentioning you now. You’re a… a… a….”
“Yes, indeed I am,” Hudson laughed softly.
“Did you know dragons were my favorite paranormal?” Kit whispered.
“I had heard that, yes. I’m honored that I’ve been asked to see to your safety. Will you allow me to do that for you?” Hudson asked.
The fact that his ex-boyfriend was a hunter and still on the prowl out there somewhere was enough to make Kit accept Hudson’s offer. “Yes. And thank you, I appreciate it. Did they tell you I own a bookstore?”
“They did, yes.”
“Okay, good. We’re a pretty easygoing group here. Also, I don’t know if Austin told you not, but we’re LGBTQIA+ friendly. So whoever you send needs to be aware of that. This is a safe place.”
“Believe me when I tell you that’s not a problem. We’re not hung up on labels like hum—that is to say, like others are.”
Kit caught the slip. Hudson had almost said humans. Paranormals were apparently very careful what they said over the phone, which makes sense. Maybe he needed to do that too. “I’m very glad to hear that.”
“I’m sending a man called Beckett Newhouse. He’s one of mine. Beckett is roughly six-foot-tall, has collar-length golden red hair and brown eyes. Make sure you check for that, Kit, because anyone I send who belongs to me will have some color of red hair and brown eyes. It’s, ah, a trait.”
That was odd, but whatever. Kit had no idea what Hudson meant by trait. “Could you maybe send a picture of him?”
“Good idea. Um, I don’t know if I have one. Let me…. Just a second.”
Kit could hear Hudson mumbling to somebody.
“My assistant is taking care of that. I’ll send it to you just as soon as I have it. I’ll be sending Beckett to you today,” Hudson continued. “He is there to protect you, but I promise he’ll be more than willing to help out with anything you should need.”
“Oh, well, thank you, but I don’t want to take advantage.”
“Beckett’s a bookworm.”
“Ah, I see! That’s perfect, actually. In that case, he probably will enjoy this. Maybe tell him to dress very casually too. Jeans and a shirt are fine.”
“I will certainly do that. If you need anything, anything at all, please feel free to contact me. This is my personal cell I called on, so you will get me if you call.”
“Thank you, again, and I appreciate that.” Although Kit couldn’t see a reason why he’d need to call the dragon king.
God Almighty, he was talking to a frigging dragon king.
“Alright, then, I’ll text you the picture as soon as Connie sends it to me. Expect Beckett this afternoon. Have a good day, Kit. It was nice talking to you,” Hudson said.
“Same to you. And thanks again,” Kit said and disconnected the call.
He placed his hand on his chest in an effort to calm his heart. He had just spoke to an honest-to-goodness dragon. A dragon! And not just any dragon, either. Oh no. A dragon king. A dragon king who seriously had the sexiest voice in creation. Was that a thing? Could their voice mesmerize humans?
Actually, that was kinda scary.
Questions. Sooooo many questions. Which, unfortunately, he’d probably never get to ask. Would it be rude to ask the dragon coming to babysit him things? Like, all the things? Yeah, it probably would be.
Holy shit, a dragon.
Kit was pretty sure that he’d read every book, ever, about dragons. And movies. Couldn’t forget the movies. He hadn’t really cared about the human actors, all he wanted to see was the big ass dragons.
The sudden loud knock on his office door jerked Kit out of his musings. One of his employees stood there grinning.
“Hey, it’s coming up on lunch time. We’re going to place an order from that sandwich shop down the street. Do you want anything?”
“Yeah. I do. Wow, I hadn’t realized it was lunch time.” Kit gave his employee his order, fished out some money, and gave it to her.
As he watched her leave, a thought hit him. Shit, how was he going to explain Beckett to the staff? They didn’t know about Nox and the attack. Shit. Shit. Shit. And Beckett was going to be there that afternoon.
The only thing Kit could come up with was that he hired a new employee. The folks who worked there wouldn’t believe Beckett was anything but that.
Kit couldn’t even say Beckett was a boyfriend because everybody at the bookstore knew Kit had recently been in a relationship that had ended abruptly and rather nastily.
Of course, Kit hadn’t explained to his employees why his ex-boyfriend was now an ex. All he’d said was that Don had done something horrible, and Kit had dumped him.
