Naughty Temptations

Chapter Five-2

Dragun took a deep breath and read the line of text again slowly and more carefully. “IT staff? She’s accounts, not IT. This has got nothing to do with Lois. She’s asking about someone else, but why now? What the f**k is going on?”

Dragun jumped out of his chair and walked out of his office into the one next door. “Drake, what do you make of this?”

“What do I make of what?”

Dragun handed his cell phone to Drake, but his twin just stared at him.

“Read it, stupid.”

The screen had darkened, but Drake swiped it open again and read. His mouth opened as if he was about to say something, and then he stared at the screen again. Dragun guessed his brother’d had the exact same original thoughts as him.

“That IT woman Karl Mallory terminated. That’s who this is about.”

“What IT woman? Mallory? At Optimized Design you mean?”

“Yes. You know I told you he’d been shedding staff. I mentioned the empty parking lot and how few staff there were. Just one person in design, which is insane for a design company.”

“Hell yes.” Dragun dropped down into a chair in Drake’s office. All the chairs in both their offices were comfortable. Neither of them believed in the old business model of making clients feel uncomfortable so they didn’t talk for long. Instead, he and Drake wanted clients to relax, open up, and tell them their dreams. That was the easiest way to know which project to work on next.

“The dragon romances might not have worked, but we’ve finally got a way to connect with Lois again,” said Drake.

Dragun shook his head. “Sure, we can hire this person she cares about. I just hope she knows enough not to cause friction within the IT team. But that isn’t going to send Lois running into our arms. And we still have the whole dragon-and-mate problem to deal with.”

“You aren’t thinking, little brother. Another few days will have us signing the contract on Optimized Design. Frank Wilson is eager to ink the deal and so are we. Likely we could do it already, but I’d rather have the final report from the auditors first. The moment we take over Optimized Design we call the authorities in on Mallory. We don’t need him skipping the country with access to the money he’s stolen. We have to get his bank accounts frozen and his passport cancelled before he knows we’re in charge and his game is over.”

Dragun grinned. “I can hardly wait. I don’t like that man, and I’ve never even spoken to him.”

“Well, I have, and I don’t like him either.”

They enjoyed a moment of envisioning their upcoming business success, and then Dragun started thinking again. “I still don’t see how us owning Optimized Design will send Lois back into our arms and solve the ‘oh, by the way, I have wings, scales, and claws. Wanna see them?’ issue.”

“Once we’ve nailed Mallory, we tell Lois we own the company and ask her advice about melding the two companies together. We’ll talk to all the staff, put them all in the picture, and pick all their brains, but we’ll do it one-on-one with Lois first and make sure she’s on our side before we tell any of the others.”

Dragun thought for a moment. He could see that might work. She was a caring person, and calling on her to help her coworkers might appeal to her sense of justice. Those working in a company were always the ones most likely to have some good ideas for improvements because they saw the policies and procedures up close and worked with them.

“It’d make sense to move their staff into our warehouse though. Economies of scale for a start, but also so the design team can share ideas,” he said.

“I think that’s the most likely way we’ll go, but let’s wait until after the staff have their say. They’re the ones closest to the action.”

Dragun agreed. “And then we get Lois to read those damn books and tell her our secrets?”

“Absolutely. I’ve been thinking about nothing else but us all picnicking together for days now.”

“Me, too.” Visions of Lois naked on a picnic blanket, maybe with chocolate sauce coating her n*****s, had been engraved on his mind lately as well. “I just have one question. How the hell do we get her to read those damn books?”

Drake shook his head. “I don’t know. All I could think of was asking her if she’d enjoyed them, and it’d be far too easy for her to say she wasn’t interested in reading them.”

Dragun had an idea. “Why don’t we read one of them and ask her to read it with us?”

“Read a girly erotic romance? Are you serious?”

“How serious are you about claiming our mate?”

Drake groaned. “Okay, but pick a short one, not one of the really long ones.”

“Deal.”

*****

The next day the forensic accounting team came back with the proof Drake had been waiting for. He and the head auditor contacted the relevant government authorities, and a day of meetings followed by endless paperwork had the officials swooping on Karl Mallory and taking him away for questioning. The forensic accountants dealt with this type of situation regularly and guided him and Dragun through it, which was just as well because, otherwise, likely he’d have done something wrong. Then, at five to eight the next morning, they were both waiting in the parking lot at Optimized Design to meet the staff.

An embarrassed woman hurried to unlock the door and turn on the lights, apologizing profusely for keeping them waiting. “I’m really sorry, sirs. Mr. Mallory didn’t tell me he was expecting guests today.” She scuttled behind the desk in the foyer and booted up the computer, still apologizing.

Drake couldn’t help noticing how cold the room was. They must turn the heating down really low at night for him, a hot-blooded dragon, to notice the temperature. No wonder the woman hadn’t taken her coat off.

As soon as the computer beeped, she looked up and smiled at them. “Now, sirs, how can I help you? Would you like a cup of coffee while you wait for Mr. Mallory?”

“Aren’t you going to turn the heating up first?” he asked.

She blushed beet red and said, “I’m really sorry, sir, but I don’t have authority to do that. As soon as Mr. Mallory arrives, you can go into his office, which has lovely wall radiators that will warm you up.”

Dragun stepped forward. “Why don’t we go into his nice, warm office now and wait there?”

The woman looked even more embarrassed as she said, “I’m sorry, sir, but only Mr. Mallory has the key to his office.”

If she says “I’m sorry” one more time, I’ll scream.

Drake decided it was time to start their staff interviews. This woman could be first. “I’m Drake Kelekona, and this is my brother, Dragun. What is your name and position please?”

“I’m Bree Wishart. Brianna Wishart. I’m the PA for all the sales representatives, but since Cathy was—um—isn’t here anymore, I also staff the front desk and—well, likely you don’t want a list of everything I do. Can I get you both some coffee?”

“No, but you can show us to Mallory’s office, thank you.”

She looked as though she was about to remind him she didn’t have a key to open the door, and then she shrugged and led the way down the hallway. She’d slung her purse over her shoulder, so it appeared she wouldn’t be sitting at that front computer for the day but somewhere else. That must be Cathy-who-wasn’t-there’s desk.

They passed a large conference room, which he’d seen the previous time he was here, and then their guide pointed to a closed door. Dragun tried the door handle, but it was locked, so Drake pulled out the keys Frank Wilson had given them and tried a few before finding the correct one. He memorized the code number on the key that worked and unlocked the door, holding it wide.

“Please come inside with us, Ms. Wishart.”

Her eyes opened wide, and she shook her head hard. “Oh no, sir. I’m sorry, sir. Employees aren’t allowed in Mr. Mallory’s office, ever.”

“Never?” asked Dragun.

“No, sir. If he wants to speak to us, he comes to our desk or sometimes calls us into one of the conference rooms.”

Drake couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Are you saying you’ve never stepped foot in this office?”

“Yes, sir. That’s correct, sir.”

“Has anyone else?”

She looked thoughtful. “Lois might have. Lois McCubbin. She reports directly to Mr. Mallory. I don’t know, but he might have called her in occasionally.”

“What about Mr. Wilson’s office? Have you ever been in there?”

She gave a smile. “Oh yes, sir. He’d often buzz one or another of us in to ask us questions or to fetch him his tea or a sandwich.”

Thoughtfully, Drake stepped back out of the doorway to Mallory’s office, locking it again. He caught Dragun’s gaze on him. Yes indeed. It’d be good to have an independent witness when they went in there and searched it properly.

Almost as if Dragun read his mind, he disappeared back down the hallway and outside.

“Perhaps you’d better take me to the conference room, instead, and show my brother there when he comes back inside.”

She seemed much happier about that and, once again, offered him coffee. Drake decided she was going to keep asking him until he said yes, so this time he agreed.

“When Ms. McCubbin arrives, please send her in to me.”

“Yes, sir.”

Dragun returned and closed the conference room door, saying softly, “I called the forensic auditors, and they’re sending a team around to go through Mallory’s office. They said they didn’t think they’d find anything new, but since it was so clearly off limits to everyone here, it makes sense to check.”

“You don’t think this Bree woman is just a terrified little mouse?”

“Maybe a little but not overwhelmingly so. I think Mallory gave the staff good reason to steer clear of him. We know he terminated several people basically for no reason.”

Drake walked over to the wall heaters, noticing that they were switched off. Even he felt cool, so humans would be too cold in this room. He turned the heat on and up to seventy-five. That wasn’t particularly high, but if the staff was used to the cold, he didn’t want to set the heat so high they’d be hot. He had to admit the gust of warm air into the room was rather nice.

Just then there was a knock on the door, so Dragun hurried across to open it. Lois was standing there, still wearing her coat but holding a tray of coffee for them.

“Good morning. Bree asked me to bring your coffees. Is there anything else you need me for?” Her gaze was on the coffee tray not on them, almost as if she was half hiding from them.

“We’re interviewing all the staff one by one. Please come inside and close the door.”

Lois placed the tray on the conference table and then stood still, watching them both. Drake took a long look at her. She was more beautiful than ever even buttoned into a coat that covered her from her neck to the tops of her shiny black boots. He assumed she’d been wearing a beanie because her black curls were messy, but he decided he liked them that way.

Her chocolate eyes were worried, and he hastened to ease that worry. “Dragun and I have bought Optimized Design. We’ll be merging the company into DDK Design. Any existing staff who want to transfer across will be welcome.”

Her face split into a wide grin. “Thank you for that. I already emailed Sherry the address you said to send her CV to. What about Cathy, the receptionist who was laid off? If she doesn’t have a job, can she apply to you as well? And Deirdre in the warehouse?”

Drake just smiled at his pushy, bossy mate. Here she was taking care of all her friends before worrying about herself. “I can’t promise a receptionist position or a warehouse job, but there will be some kind of clerical work for them if they want it.”

“Thank you so much.” She took a step forward, as if she was going to approach them, and then stopped. Dragun had no such hesitation. He scooped her up into his arms and pulled her tight against his chest, kissing her thoroughly. Drake could almost feel her heart beating faster, and he certainly could see her kissing Dragun back enthusiastically.

He tugged his own jacket off, feeling far too warm in the room now, and stood behind Lois to unbutton her coat. He gently stroked the side of her face, and her skin wasn’t cold. It was cool against his warm hand, but not chilled.

He pulled out a chair for her. “Now sit down please and let’s talk. We need to tell you about the company going forward.”