Page 8 of Purple Scales & Coffee Tales

“Maeve, hi. How are you?” he asked in his deep voice, soothing a bit of the anxiety I felt.

“I’m okay. Thanks for asking, Scales.”

There, I said it. I have nothing to lose.

Taran grinned at me, pitching his split tongue behind his fang and looking at me for a moment as if he was trying to decide where to take a bite out of me first. It should have scared me to have a Dragon scrutinising me like I was a snack on two legs, but God damn me, I could get used to it.

Once he had ordered his Brewce Lee, he leaned in a little.

“Do you think you have a moment? There’s something I wanted to discuss with you.”

“With me?”Is it about you eating me? Now?“Of course. I have”—I checked my watch—“half an hour until my shift ends. Maybe then?”

“Perfect. So I’ll see you in a bit?”

“See youin a bit, Scales.” I pressed my lips together to hide the grin that tugged at them every time I called him that.

Sue me.I wasn’t going to work here for very much longer, so in a little under two weeks, he wouldn’t be a customer anymore. I’d been granted another chance to flirt with him, and I was determined to use it.

Perhaps today I’ll be brave enough to ask him for his number.

“Dragons are so weird,” my colleague Beryl muttered once Taran had taken a seat at his usual table in the corner. He loved that spot. It allowed him an undisturbed view of the counter and to watch the people on Finnegan Square.

“What makes you say that? Taran’s a lovely person,” I said without taking my eyes off him.

“You just think he’s hot. Who can blame you, though—I wish I looked like that in a corset,” he grumbled as he emptied out the dishwasher and placed cups and plates back on the shelf. “And I don’t know…they’re all tall and mysterious…”

“Oh, Bee.” Flinging an arm around my colleague, I squeezed him to my side. I hated how self-conscious he was. Standing a little over 5'5", he was lithe and agile, like a gust of wind that had taken human shape. You could find no other being who was as much the opposite of the massive Dragon sipping his coffee, but Beryl was beautiful in his own way with his hair like spun silver, stormy grey eyes, and delicate bone structure.

“You could totally rock a corset. I bet Taran can recommend a mean corset maker. Want me to ask him?”

My colleague shrugged it off, but near the end of my shift, leaned in and muttered, “If you wouldn’t mind asking him.”

Chapter Seven

Taran

Once her shift ended, Maeve joined me at my table.

“So, Scales, spill the beans,” she said excitedly as she took a seat, a takeaway cup of coffee in hand. When I’d come in, a dark hue had tainted her aura. If I squinted just past her, I could see it had lightened considerably.

Does she suspect I was successful?

“I was thinking we could go for a little walk? Maybe in the park behind the theatre?” I hadn’t been there in years, but remembered it from when I used to attend plays once or twice a month.

“Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea. Let’s catch some vitamin D.” Then she spluttered and coughed.

“Are you all right?” I asked, quickly thumping her on the back.

“Yeah, sorry, choked on my… Let’s go for a walk, okay?” she wheezed.

I followed her out of the cafe, balmy late spring air engulfing us. For a moment, I contemplated offering her my arm, but I had no idea if people still did that.

Don’t make a fool of yourself, Taran.

We wandered across Finnegan Square and down a little alley, past the theatre, until we reached Kalon Gardens. Damn it, I had completely forgotten they’d named the park after my mother, but it was too late to turn away now.

“You need to tell me or I’ll explode, Taran. You can’t edge me like that,” Maeve blurted out as soon as we’d passed through the wrought iron gate.

---