Scientist Dragon's Assistant (Irish Dragon Shifter Brothers Book 9) Read online

  Seconds after he’d finished reading her resume again, there was a knock on his door. “Come in,” he called out.

  A young woman pushed open his office door.

  Immediately, Eli was alert.

  She smelled incredible. A dragon shifter’s sense of smell was very sensitive, just like his hearing. So, none of them wore perfume or scented lotions or used floral body wash. He’d gotten used to most humans wearing them, but Ava’s lack of pungent scent was most welcome.

  She was clean, but she smelled like honey and vanilla. He wasn’t sure if those were natural scents or if she’d been baking, but either way, it was a nice change from the chemical smells he usually endured. He took a deep breath, inhaling, hoping he was subtle enough that she wouldn’t notice.

  He could deal with being labeled difficult. He didn’t want to be labeled creepy.

  “Hello,” she said. “I’m Ava Carter. I’m here for the interview.”

  Even her voice was nice. It was low and smooth, and didn’t match her face at all. Her face made her look sweet. It was heart-shaped with high cheekbones, dark brown eyes, and full pink lips. She had on a simple black suit with a white shirt. Her red hair was pulled into a bun.

  He wondered what it would look like down.

  His dragon even took notice, which never happened at work. Pretty, he said.

  Eli cleared his throat. Now was not the time for him to get turned on. “Dr. Johnson sent you?” he asked.

  She nodded.

  “Please take a seat,” he said.

  She sat on the edge of the seat and crossed her legs at the knee. Her heartbeat was quicker than it would have been if she were feeling relaxed, but she didn’t look nervous. She looked him right in the eye as she perched there, waiting.

  “He mentioned your paper. Tell me about it,” Eli said.

  She began to describe the details of her paper, and Eli listened, taking notes. He didn’t have to pretend to pay attention—he was enthralled by her ideas and the way she saw the topics.

  It had been a while since he’d had an assistant who was just as interested in the work as he was. As soon as she stopped talking, he stared at her, completely captivated.

  Not only was she into genetics, but she was smart, articulate, and passionate.

  He did not tell her thank you and dismiss her. He found that he did not want her to leave his office. He wanted her to stay. He didn’t even care if they kept working. For the first time in his life, he was distracted enough to take a break from work.

  He wanted to hire her right then. But that wasn’t professional. He’d only asked her one question. He got back on track, asking her the standard set of questions for anyone who wanted to work in his lab. She answered each one with confidence.

  She was the perfect candidate.

  “When can you start?” he asked.

  She blinked a few times. “You’re hiring me?”

  “Yes. You can start as soon as you’d like.”

  A bright smile lit up her face. “Thank you.” She stood up and put her hand out. Eli did the same, and their hands met. “I appreciate the opportunity to work with you,” she said.

  The feeling of her hand in his was electric. Her small hand felt just right in his larger one. He made himself let go. He was going to be her supervisor and hopefully her mentor.

  Reluctantly, he stepped back. “I look forward to it as well.”

  4

  Ava

  Back when she saw him speak at the lecture, Ava had thought that Dr. Bennett was gorgeous. But she had never been so close to him before. Now, she was in a small room with him and she couldn’t stop staring.

  Even seated, she could tell how tall and broad he was. He’d taken his lab coat off and the sleeves of his cotton shirt were rolled up, showing off his forearms. His dark eyes were sharp, and they shone when he listened to her talk. His black hair was thick and shiny, and it touched his collar, curling just a bit. She wondered what it would be like to touch it.

  Ava! He’s your boss now! Get over yourself. You’re never going to touch his hair.

  Right. She wasn’t going to be touching him anywhere at all, other than his hand. And just shaking his hand was enough to send her heart racing even faster than it already had been. She’d been riddled with nerves when she arrived, but he’d given her an unexpected gift when he asked her to explain her recent paper. Talking about her work put her at ease. A sense of calm flowed through her body as her nerves faded away.

  But as soon as she was done, the awareness came right back.

  She would have thought he was good-looking even if he wasn’t the scientist she respected the most. But knowing that he was an expert in the field of genetics and that he’d dedicated his life to studying rare disorders made her infatuation all the worse.

  Was it really a good idea for her to work directly with him?

  Probably not. But she wasn’t going to give up this opportunity. She would learn so much from him. The opportunity was truly one of a kind, and she wasn’t going to squander it.

  She even liked his office. The building was modern, but Dr. Bennett obviously wasn’t a minimalist. He had books and journals crammed together on every surface. Once she got to know him better, she’d have to ask if she could look through them. There were a few titles she hadn’t read yet.

  “Would you like to meet the rest of the staff?” he asked.

  “Of course.” She had finished all of her work for the day. She had an evening biology lecture, but that was hours away.

  He moved to the door, opening it for her. “Thank you, Dr. Bennett.”

  “Please call me Eli. All of my staff do.”

  She nodded. That was going to be odd, but she would do her best.

  He led her around the laboratory, introducing her to the receptionist and the secretary. Then, she met the other doctors and assistants. They were all friendly to her, but a few smirked. One of them, a fellow student at the university named Ashley, actually laughed out loud.

  While Eli was talking to a colleague, Ava went to stand next to her work station. “What’s so funny?”

  Ashley just shook her head. “You don’t want to know.”

  “I really do.”

  “Eli is so hard to work for.” Ashley glanced over toward him. “Don’t get me wrong, I really respect him. I even like him. But I wouldn’t want to be in your place.”

  Ava snuck a look in his direction. He was speaking in an animated way, waving his hands around. “Why not? What does he do that makes it so unbearable?”

  “If he sees you looking at your phone, he’s going to lose it.”

  Ava frowned. “I won’t be looking at my phone.”

  Ashley leaned in and whispered. “But you know, if someone texts or calls, you might.”

  “I doubt it. Unless I’m expecting a pretty serious call, I’ll keep my phone put away.” She’d give her family the number for the front desk so they could reach her anytime they needed her. She was accustomed to not checking her phone—she never looked at it while she was lecturing the freshman at the college. It was too much of a distraction.

  Ashley put her hand on Ava’s shoulder. “Well, then. You two might get along perfectly.”

  Ava didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with her new coworker, and she did consider Ashley a friend. But if Eli expected them to stay off their phones, that was hardly unusual. She wasn’t sure why anyone would find it acceptable to allow distractions while doing such important work. Ava was a rule-follower, and her friends had laughed at her for it all the way through college. She’d assumed everyone would feel the same way she did about rules once she was in graduate school, but that had not been the case. Many of her peers were just as immature now as they had been years ago when they were in undergrad biology programs.

  The fact that Eli didn’t tolerate careless behavior made her respect him even more.

  But until she saw someone putting either themselves or their work in danger, she’d keep her mouth shu
t. “I’m glad we’ll be working together,” she told Ashley.

  “Me, too,” Ashley said. She squeezed Ava’s arm. “I’m excited that we’ll get to have lunch together.” She sighed. “I better get back to work.”

  Ava and Eli continued the tour. He showed her the cytogenetics laboratory and the biochemical genetics laboratory and introduced her to all the technicians there.

  “Right now, my main project is on DNA analysis for metabolic genetic disorders. That’s what you’ll be assisting me with.”

  “I can’t wait,” she said. And she meant that. Not only was she excited to learn more about her field, she was happy that Eli was treating her with respect. Far from being difficult, so far he had treated her as an equal and had not been condescending to her once.

  As far as she was concerned, she’d hit the jackpot by landing this job with him.

  5

  Eli

  “Good morning,” a female voice said.

  Intrigued, Eli turned to see Ava. She was standing beside the car parked directly next to him. She lifted her hand and waved.

  “You’re here early,” he said.

  “Didn’t you say 8:00 a.m.?”

  “I did, but no one’s ever shown up that early.” Especially not on such a wet and foggy day. He found that the rain seemed to make humans extra sluggish, but apparently not Ava.

  “Except you,” she said.

  “Except me.”

  So, she had shown up to work right away. He hadn’t really doubted her, not after Johnson’s ringing endorsement, but so many of his assistants had been flaky. It was just what he had come to expect.

  Her school schedule was somewhat erratic, but she had every Tuesday and Thursday completely free, and told him she’d be at the lab as many hours as he wanted. She’d clearly gotten here even earlier and been waiting on him. He’d have to make sure she got a badge and a key so that she could get in even if he was late.

  Today, she had on sleek black pants with flat shoes and a teal shirt that looked good with her red hair and brown eyes. She walked in front of him to the main entrance, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her little round backside. Arousal swirled in his belly.

  He bit down on a growl. He did not relish any inopportune physical reactions. However, it seemed like he would have to learn to control himself, because so far, his body was not cooperating.

  He eventually got himself under control, and the day passed without incident. Ava fit right into the lab seamlessly. She was just as committed to the work as he was.

  He had been afraid she’d still want long breaks, but she didn’t. She took a lunch break most days, but it wasn’t long. Even if she went out with one of the other employees, she was always back within an hour.

  Weeks went by, and he found her presence soothing. He knew that no matter how stressful his day was, she would be there with her quiet competence. He came to depend on her in a way he had never depended on a human before. He’d only been this close to the members of his clan. In private moments, he wondered what it would be like to date her.

  But dating a human seemed crazy to him. He knew it was possible; Jackson’s cousin Garrett had done it, and he’d even married the human woman. But it seemed risky. And Garrett lived far away, right in the middle of Las Vegas, surrounded by humans.

  Eli spent the weekends with his clan, and he didn’t want to give that time with them up. There was no way he could bring a human to the Cape, not unless she knew the truth already. He’d have to hide way too much from her.

  Every day, he got to know her a little better. Two weeks after she’d started, she asked him to join her and the rest of the staff for lunch.

  He paused for a moment. None of the staff had ever invited him out to lunch. It didn’t bother him. He knew they found him just a bit odd. It was probably due to the fact that he was a workaholic more than that he was a dragon shifter, but the distance made it a little easier for him to hide who he really was.

  But when she asked him, he felt inclined to say yes. He went, and he had a great time. Spending time with the staff at lunch even helped him in the lab—it made the staff trust him more.

  Four weeks after Ava started working for him, they had a request from the hospital’s CEO. He had been contacted by a colleague in South Korea. The Korean doctor had a breakthrough in an experiment and wanted to see if Eli’s lab could duplicate the results.

  They’d worked all night with no sleep. Ava never complained once. By 10:00 a.m. the next day, she was starting to blink.

  “Ava, you better go home and get some rest.”

  “I think you’re right.”

  She swayed a little, but grabbed onto the back of a chair. He stepped closer, not wanting her to fall. He’d forgotten that she was human and needed more sleep.

  The doctors he worked with frequently pushed themselves, working for twenty-four or thirty-six hours straight, but then after that, they crashed.

  Even he was feeling exhausted after this long project in the lab. “Let me drive you home,” he said.

  “Are you sure?” she asked. “I can take a taxi. I don’t drive while I’m this tired.”

  “No, I’m fine. I just drank a bunch of coffee.” The caffeine would have no effect on him, but she didn’t need to know that.

  He wanted to lift her into his arms and carry her to the car. He’d never had an impulse like that before. When he’d dated other females, he’d just assumed they could take care of themselves.

  Ava could take care of herself, too. She’d already planned ahead, not wanting to get behind the wheel. But that didn’t matter to him. He wanted to take care of her.

  He had to hold himself back from opening her car door. That was appropriate for a date, but not for a coworker. Once she was settled into the passenger’s seat, he made sure she buckled her seat belt. Instantly, her sweet smell filled the small space inside his car. If the weather had been warmer, he’d have rolled the window down. Instead, he would have to drive while turned on.

  She sighed, stretching her legs out and leaning her head back. “Mmm,” she said. “It feels good to sit down.”

  At the sound of her quiet murmur, he tensed. Arousal flared. To his shock, his cock got hard. Thank God he was sitting down so she wouldn’t notice.

  Once again, he started fantasizing about what it would be like to date her. She wouldn’t work for him forever. She’d become a professor, or she’d move on from the assistant position once she finished her PhD. Then, he could ask her out.

  In her low voice, she gave him her address. He turned east toward the river, and she lifted her hand and tugged, pulling her hair down from its ponytail. As her pretty red hair escaped, more of her lovely scent filled the car. Eli exhaled, closing his eyes for just a second. He had to loosen his grip on the steering wheel to make sure he didn’t rip it right out of the dashboard.

  She ran her hand through her hair, and he nearly swerved right off the road.

  Damn.

  His dragon was restless. He needed to shift and fly tonight. He kept driving, keeping his eyes on the road and off of Ava. Although the temptation to keep glancing at her was tough to resist.

  Finally, he arrived at her apartment. It was a nice place with a view of the river, and he was relieved to see that it had adequate lighting and a security guard. It wasn’t his business, but he didn’t live too far from her place, and he knew how much property in the area cost. She must have access to money beyond what she was paid as his assistant.

  But that was the kind of thing a friend could joke about, not a boss. He was puzzled by his own thoughts. He never cared this much about the personal details of someone’s life. And he didn’t care how much money she had; he never thought about details like that. But it was a part of her life, and he wanted to know more about her.

  Outside her building, he parked the car. She had fallen asleep, and he took a moment to look at her tan skin and the place where her eyelashes touched her pink cheeks.

  This time, he di
d get up and open her door. “Ava?” He touched her shoulder. “Hey, Ava. We’re at your apartment.”

  She murmured in her sleep, and it struck him just how much he wanted her. He was going to have to quit being this familiar with her. He should have paid for her to take a taxi home and then called to check on her.

  He couldn’t let himself fall for her. And he couldn’t let his work suffer because of his own weakness. He was going to have to pull away. He was going to have to quit going to lunch, and quit chatting with her, and quit doing all the little things that made his day brighter.

  It was unfortunate. He didn’t want to do it. But if he didn’t make some changes, he was going to overstep his professional boundaries.

  She blinked up at him. She still looked so sleepy. He couldn’t suppress his smile. She sat up and pushed herself up out of the car. He helped her up, resisting the urge to put his arm around her. He walked with her until she reached the secure front door of her apartment.

  “Text me when you get inside.”

  “I will. But I’ll be fine,” she said.

  “I’m the one who kept you up all night, so I feel responsible.”

  She smiled. She was always beautiful, but she was softer right now while she was still half-asleep. “I’ll text.” She patted his arm. “Thanks, Eli.”

  He walked back to his car and waited, and a few minutes later, she texted.

  I’m inside. Thanks again. Get some sleep.

  Just those simple words sent a rush of warmth through his chest.

  He shook his head. He was like a lovesick teenager.

  He needed to clear his head, and there was only one good way to do that—go back to his home in Cape Meares on the coast. He turned on the radio and started driving.

  An hour and a half later, he was parked outside his house. Like the rest of his clan, he still lived with his parents. Really, it was more accurate to say they all lived together. With hundreds of them living together near the coast, having multiple generations live in one home was the only way to make it work. Luckily, the houses were all large, and they all had their own space. And he was lucky to have his detached garage where he kept his equipment.