Dragons Prefer Blondes (7 page)

“In the middle of a shoot in India, and it’s hotter than hell here, but we’re having a good time. Listen, I know this is out of the blue, but I have something important to ask you.”

Now he had my attention. I couldn’t imagine where he was going with all of this. Wrapping a towel around me, I sat down on the edge of the tub. “Okay.”

There was a long pause. “It’ll probably surprise you to hear this, but I’m kind of shy.”

“That is a surprise. You’re always the life of the party.”

“Yeah. It’s a part of the job. It freaks people out when I say this, but the actor Colin is different than me. I know that doesn’t make any sense.”

“I get it. At least you don’t talk about yourself in the third person like some actors.”

He laughed at that. “Look, the truth is, usually my publicist sets me up on dates because I’m too much of a coward to ask a woman out. I’d rather be home reading a book or playing basketball with the guys. If it weren’t for my publicist shoving me out the door, I’d never go anywhere. The crowds, the small talk. All of it annoys the hell out of me.”

I had a second business—third if you counted being a Guardian—planning the kind of events he talked about, but I understood. His life was constantly under the microscope. It was too much for some folks, but it never bothered me. That is, unless I was trying to hide a dead dragon carcass.

“Anyway,” he continued. “Wait—I realize I just offended you. The event you did last month was great. Really.”

I snickered. “Colin, you don’t have to check yourself with me. I appreciate the honesty and no hard feelings on this side.”

Then I realized what this might be about.
Oh my God. He’s about to ask me out.
Not such a bad thing to date one of the hottest guys on the planet. Think young Gerard Butler and James McAvoy all in one hot bod. I meet these kinds of guys all the time, but Colin was special. He was also very high profile, which would solve my just-in-case problem with Ginjin. And poor Jake would be off the hook.

“Excellent. This is much harder than I’d thought it would be.”

I waited patiently.

“The thing is. I wondered if . . . if your sister Claire is dating anyone?”

The question took me so off guard I almost fell into the tub. Talk about bursting bubbles. “Uh. You know, I’m not sure.” I knew she was interested in the camera guy working on her tiger shark shoot, but I didn’t think anything ever happened with that.

“I saw her surfing in Fiji a few months ago, and then at the party you threw,” Colin continued. “I wanted to ask her to be my date for a movie premiere next week. I’ve got to come back to the States to promote it. I . . . uh . . .”

I couldn’t stand it any longer. “Would you like her phone number?” I offered. I had a feeling Claire wouldn’t mind. After waiting until he found a pen, I gave him the digits and hung up.

Then I laughed out loud. Talk about an ego check. Hot guy, wants to date my baby sister. I couldn’t wait to get the rundown on that one. They’d certainly make a pretty couple on the red carpet.

I texted Claire so she’d pick up when he called. Or maybe she wouldn’t. I never knew with her. When it came to men, she was more fickle than the rest of us put together. And Colin had his good looks working against him. Claire liked her men cerebral.

Me, I was more on the shallow end. I could do without a good conversation if the sex was hot.

Before I could throw on a robe the phone rang again. This time it was Penelope.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Baron had another bartender quit in Madrid. Do you want me to find out what’s going on there, or do you want to check it out yourself?” She sounded like she was running down the street.

“Where are you?”

“In New York. I felt bad for yelling at you earlier and decided to see if I could help out with the wedding dress shopping. Imagine my surprise when I found out you’d left.”

I giggled. “So let me guess; you’re running into the tenth store in five hours.”

“Yes. She loved both of the designers you suggested, by the way, but I think she wants to see every wedding dress in Manhattan before she decides. You know,” she lowered her voice to a whisper, “she’s annoying, but I feel kind of sorry for her. She’s so desperate in a way. She tried to buy my friendship with a Rolex and a customized Bentley. I told her I couldn’t tell time or drive, but how sad is that?”

I loved Penelope, and she’d hit it exactly. I couldn’t stand disappointing poor Aspen because, at the end of the day, she was just a sad little girl. Her father gave her everything she ever wanted except love. The man was as close to a robot as anyone I’d ever met. No warmth, no twinkle in the eye. Just a cold, hard businessman. “I’ll double your salary if you’ll hang with her the rest of the day.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you don’t have to do that. I get it. But if she takes me to Tiffany’s and wants to buy me diamonds, I’m probably going to give in.” She laughed.

“Diamond whore,” I joked.

“Look at the pot calling the kettle black.”

She had a point. I did have a special jones for all things bright and shiny. “True. Has she at least settled on a style?”

“Negatory on that one, Captain. Though we have it narrowed to Cinderella ball gown or slinky forties glam style. No beach. She doesn’t like the idea that weather could ruin her day. I also mentioned that most couples are doing big parties in the States and getting married in Europe. That it’s more exotic to fly all of your guests in to the location. So, she’s thinking one wedding now, and the best party evah.”

“You rock beyond belief, Pen. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” Parties, even ones thrown by Aspen, were so much easier than weddings.

“I know. Well, that’s where we are so far.”

“Excellent, and I owe ya big. I promise I’ll make it up to you. And you stay with her; I’ll head out to Madrid.”

We rang off, and I finally had a chance to pull on some clothes. I’d be hitting Madrid at ultimate party time, so I picked a Phillip Lim belted dress and some satin twist sling-backs from Pucci.

It would be nice to deal with something that didn’t have a darn thing to do with dragons.

I stared at myself in the mirror for a moment. On the outside I looked just fine, but inside I felt the symptoms. I was nearing burnout mode.

That happened to me every four months or so. I always had so many balls in the air that I ran myself ragged. If it were any other time, I’d take a week off and chill on a beach somewhere or go ski the Alps. But with nasty dragons giving me fits, Aspen’s wedding a few weeks away, and evil trying to take over the universe, that wasn’t going to happen.

CHAPTER 7

SCOWL was rockin’. People in Madrid really do know how to party. It was a Wednesday night, and the crowds would only increase as the hour grew later. The bar was backed up a little, but not too bad. Lourdes and Claudio seemed to have it covered.

But something was off kilter. I took a hard look at the two of them. Lourdes had a big bruise under her left eye. She’d tried to cover it with makeup but wasn’t successful.

Crap.

I slipped behind her at the bar.

“Is that a black eye?”

She ignored me.

I touched her shoulder. “What happened?”

“Boss, we’re busy,” she said over her shoulder as she poured a couple of apple shooters.

“Lourdes, I need to know what’s going on.”

Claudio moved close to me and whispered, “He’s using again.”

“Silencio,”
Lourdes hissed.

Oh, hell, Baron, not again.
He was one of my projects. I had quite a few of them around the world—people who needed a second chance and I gave it to them. Baron had been a crackhead in his teens, a walking cliché with his baggy pants and rotten attitude. I met him while visiting another friend in rehab, but he’d been clean for more than seven years.

“I’m going upstairs.”

Lourdes didn’t look at me, but she shook her head. “You’ll only make it worse. I know you don’t believe me, but it was an accident.”

That’s probably what you’ll say the next ten times it happens.
I stomped up the stairs.

I found Baron in the office staring at the computer. He didn’t look like the kind of guy who would beat up his girlfriend. But he had.

“Want to explain how Lourdes got that bruise under her eye?”

He jumped up. “Alex? When did you get here?”

“How long, Baron?” I moved toward him. I had no patience for men who hit women. No patience at all.

I pointed a finger at him. “I told you if you needed help to call me. No matter what. No matter when. We had a deal. I save your life, and you make the best of a second chance. I have been here for you, and then you go and do something stupid.”

Recognition lit his face. “It was an accident. I swear it—”

Just after my fist connected with his nose, he crumpled to the floor. Blood spurted out on both of us. “I don’t believe you.” I turned my back on him. “Now you know how it feels when someone puts a fist to your face. I can’t believe you’d do something like that. Idiot. Get your stuff together, and I’ll call Angel. You’re done here.”

I heard him shuffling behind me. “No. Please.” He began to weep. “I promise you, on my heart, it was an accident. I went to grab her. She was going to leave me. And it just happened. She walked into my fist.”

“There’s no such thing. I have a feeling she wanted to leave you because you’re using again.” I threw a hand up in the air. “You’ve been clean for seven years. Why?”

His normally toasty brown face had turned sallow. He held up his hands. “Please. Listen to me. It really isn’t what you or anyone else thinks. I’m not basing. It’s prescription drugs. I hurt my shoulder lifting boxes a few months ago and—I don’t know. It just happened. I needed more and more Vicodin to dull the pain. Then I started popping these diet pills to stay awake.”

I’d never say it out loud, but I did understand. Once an addict, always an addict. I’d heard it from my friends who had gone through rehab hundreds of times.

“Doesn’t matter if it’s prescribed or not. And you know better than to take something like Vicodin. Did you tell your doctor about your problem?”

He didn’t say a word. That he didn’t tell his personal physician the truth about his condition was a huge setback. I’d been through this with too many people. “Baron. You’re going back to rehab, or I’ll kick your ass again. Your choice.”

“I—” He looked down at Lourdes through the office window. “I didn’t mean it. I love her.” His voice broke. “She’s having my baby.”

Well that was screwy. “Then why the hell did you hit her? You really could have hurt her and the child.”

He took a deep breath. Tears fell down his cheek. “When she tried to leave, I grabbed for her. She turned around really fast to get away, and her face hit my fist. I know what it sounds like, I swear. But I love her. I’m not that guy.” He held up a hand. “Well, I’m an addict, but I wouldn’t abuse her. I can honestly say I’ve never intentionally hit a woman. I wouldn’t.”

Part of me felt sorry for him. I’d lost a lot of friends to drug and alcohol addiction. People liked to pretend that the rich and famous no longer dabbled in the hard stuff, except for the few celebrities who used it to get ahead in Hollywood. A good stint in rehab meant you might get an Oscar-winning role the next year. But the truth is, more people than not used in my circle. Too much money and too much time meant people turned to the easy way out to take care of their boredom. Prescription drugs, heroin, cocaine, it was all available and easy to come by if you had enough money.

Not me. I had my sisters to thank for that. If I’d ever even thought about doing drugs, they would have killed me. We made a pact as teens, and except for the occasional herbal remedy prepared by Mira, as far as I knew we’d all kept our word. Oh, we might have a few too many martinis or margaritas all in the name of fun, but we knew our limits.

“If you love her, then get help. Did you call Raul?” That was his sponsor.

“I’ll get my stuff.” He didn’t answer the question.

I had my answer.

Turning, I looked him in the eye. “You can do this.”

He shook his head. I saw the shame spiral in his eyes.

“You can. I’m beyond pissed at you right now for hurting Lourdes and for slipping, but I believe in you.” I meant the words, and I could see from his face he believed me.

Another tear slipped down his cheek. “I screwed up in a big way.”

I nodded. “I know.”

While he gathered his things, I made a few calls. It’s amazing what one can do when they have enough funds.

After he apologized to Lourdes several times and they hugged in a tearful good-bye, I put him in a limo and sent him to the airport. He’d found success at Harbor Springs Rehab before, and that’s where I sent him. Dr. Simonak, the director there, would be waiting for him.

The limo drove him away, and Lourdes turned to me. “He’s not a bad man.” Anger, disappointment, and sadness crossed her face in a matter of seconds.

“No, he’s not. That’s why we have to take care of this now before it gets out of hand.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “This sucks, and I understand if you’re mad at me, but right now we have to take care of him.”

She nodded and walked back into the bar.

I called Angel.

“Ms. Caruthers, where do you need me?”

Have I mentioned how much I loved this guy? If I had a problem with any of the businesses, or if something wasn’t delivered for an event, I called him. The man had connections beyond anything I’d ever seen. By trade he was an accountant, and I used him in that capacity, too. He traveled around the world to audit the clubs. He had an innate way of knowing if anything fishy was going on. I was lucky in that about 99 percent of my employees were incredibly loyal, but he kept an eye out for that other 1 percent. “Angel, my man, you are needed in Madrid.” I explained what happened with Baron.

“I can be there in a few hours. I’ve been going over the FLAG books.” That was one of my London clubs. “By the way, it’s good here. You were right about Ms. Monroe. She’s doing a fantastic job. Profits are up three hundred percent.”