Page 14 of Bronze Dragon

Rafael winced. "Raf, please. I hear 'sir' and I’m looking around for my father." He beckoned. "Please, come in and make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink?"

The programmer settled into the chair opposite Raf’s desk and shook his head. "No, I’m fine, thank you. I hope I’m not interrupting?"

Raf laughed quietly. "Only daydreams about my girlfriend. I apologize for not keeping better track of time." He glanced around the mess on his normally pristine desk and sighed. He slowly shuffled through his papers until he found the email from Adam he’d printed out and written some notes on. "My biggest concern with your idea is security. Scheduling software is well within our capabilities, but having the privacy concerns when both parties allow the program into their calendars is going to be a big stumbling block."

Adam nodded, his nervousness disappearing as soon as the conversation moved to the program he’d proposed. "It’s also the reason there isn’t something like this yet. There are workarounds where each person involved has to spend time going through the proposed dates and times, potentially more than once. Having a neutral third-party able to match up times and dates would simplify things considerably. Whether it’s a business meeting and they want a few solid times to propose or a…" Here the man grinned. "Or a romantic evening that’s been hard to pin down, the goal is to make it easier to connect with people’s busy schedules."

That hit pretty close to home; Raf almost winced, but managed to restrain the urge. "I can relate to that," he admitted. It was hard enough to get Ashley on the phone, let alone nail down a time they could go out together—or stay in, as the case may be. His pulse ticked up a notch, and he had to consciously take a few deep breaths. "I like the idea, Adam. The theory is solid, it’s the reality I’m unsure about. Do you have a sense of the protocols you’d want to implement? I can call in one of our security guys if you like."

The programmer shrugged. "I spoke with a couple of people. One was too busy to really get involved in the discussion, but one of the guys on the Surge team said he thought we could manage schedule privacy if we could handle banking transactions."

"It’s not the capabilities that would be the problem. It’s the time involved in keeping every line of code secure." Rafael was mostly playing devil’s advocate, but that was sometimes his job, otherwise his programmers would run with half-thought-out ideas more often than not.

Adam sank back into his seat, looking thoughtful. "I guess I should’ve seen that coming." His eyes bored into the corner of Raf’s desk as though the answer was hidden within the grain of the wood. "What would you need to see to make this viable?"

Rafael considered the question. "Why don’t I make a few calls, or maybe send an email so you have a list. I can think of a few people who could give you ten minutes to talk through different angles. Once you’ve had more input, I think you’ll have a fairly clear idea of what is or isn’t going to work."

"Thank you, sir—uh, Raf." The programmer rose and nodded, escaping the office as fast as he could.

Raf restrained his chuckle until the door had closed behind the younger man. He shouldn’t make fun of the kid—who was a few years out of college and only a kid by virtue of being half Raf’s age—but there had been a definite instinct to flee from the office. Raf had a feeling it was as much because people tended to sense his draconic nature at an unconscious level as it was because he was the CEO and a wealthy one, at that. He tried to keep an open-door policy with his employees and never tried to set them apart from him, but that only worked to a certain extent.

A romantic evening that’s been hard to pin down.The words echoed in Raf’s mind, immediately dragging his attention back to Ashley. He’d asked her out for coffee today and she had refused, citing not feeling very well. It was starting to irritate him how many ways she could rebuff his attempts to get to know her outside the bedroom. He would bring her soup or something at work, but he had the niggling feeling that it wasn’t just his company she was avoiding.

He pulled out his phone and texted her quickly.If you’re not feeling well, shall I bring you something simple? Chicken soup?

There was no immediate response, which he shouldn’t feel so upset about. She was at work, after all. Still, her phone was rarely far from her, so not glancing at his texts and replying promptly only added to his unease. He hadn’t seen her since the morning after their date, five days ago, when she had made her excuses to leave instead of going out to breakfast with him, and his unrequited need to be near her was consuming his focus.

A ding brought his attention back to his phone.I wouldn’t say no to chicken noodle soup and some saltines.Only a second later, she added,Actually, matzo ball soup from the place on 26thwould be amazing.

His relief was strong enough that he ought to be concerned that he was so wrapped up in this woman after only two real encounters, but he didn’t have the energy. His woman wanted matzo ball soup and saltines; she was going to get soup and crackers.Ginger ale?he texted with one hand, even as he was typing one-handed into his internet browser to find the online ordering from the place she wanted.

Ew, no. I hate it. Something bubbly would be great, though.

He had to laugh at the rapid response that particular suggestion received. Who hated ginger ale? He’d commit it to memory anyway, but if she thought he was going to be able to not chide her for the vehement rejection she really didn’t know him that well.

The thought made him wince. They didn’t know each other all that well yet, whether he wanted to fix that or not. He would have to convince her to have dinner in a couple days, or even just come to his place to spend the afternoon this weekend. Whatever she needed in order to be comfortable with him, he would gladly offer.

There was a pharmacy down the block from his building, so he went for a walk to go pick up the sodas and crackers. They even had an impulse-buy lunch-box cooler that looked like it would be big enough to hold meals to share—he bought the navy blue one that didn’t have a ridiculously garish pattern and filled it with a half dozen bottled drinks, tucking the box of saltines into the outside pocket intended for a water bottle. That would do for now; checking his watch, he knew he’d better go to get their food or he’d be late getting to Ashley’s office.

Hot food in one hand, cooler in the other, Raf approached her office slowly, not wanting to rush the way his heart wanted him to. He shifted his bags around until he could knock.

"Come in!"

Just the sound of her voice eased the ball of tension in his gut. Rafael opened the door and smiled at her, drinking in the sight. "Can you take a lunch break, or is this a bad time?"

She gave him a quick smile, looking down at the stacks of folders and papers on her desk. "I… yeah. Come on in, let me figure out how to clean up so there’s space on my desk." To his concerned eye, Ashley looked a little bit pale, and there was something slightly off with her belly, but no doubt it would resolve quickly. Humans weren’t as tough as dragons, catching everything under the sun, but they also had many simple sicknesses that they would recover from rapidly.

"Take your time." He entered the office with his bags, setting the bag of food on the chair he meant to take so he could unpack it more easily. When she shifted a stack of papers into a folder and moved it aside, he placed his small cooler there, turning it so the crackers were presented directly to her.

"Oh lordy, you are my hero," she mumbled, quite audible to his sensitive hearing. Ashley snatched the crackers like her life depended upon them, forgetting what she was doing as she tore open the package and claimed two to munch on.

"Don’t ruin your lunch." He chuckled, amused at how desperate she seemed for simple crackers. "Matzo ball soup, as requested."

That seemed to remind her that she had been clearing space on her desk, because she set down the box of crackers and shuffled papers some more. "My knight in shining armor. Thank you, Raf."

His smile never seemed to disappear when he was with her, a surprising enough development in itself. "You’re hardly a damsel in distress, but it’s my pleasure. I didn’t know if I’d get to see you this week otherwise." He hadn’t meant to voice his concerns, but the way she looked away hastily only made them flare up again. Raf frowned. "What?"

Ashley barely glanced at him, turning her attention to the cooler in front of herself and unzipping it to select a bottle of lemon-lime soda. "Hmm?"

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