Page 24 of Dragon Tempted

She laughed again, but this time the sound was harsh to her own ears. “Nothing made him happy.” She blinked. “So, I’m going to go gather everyone, and we’ll be back in a few minutes if that works?”

He nodded, and she left before she said anything else silly, her heart thumping. Why had she brought up Father? John wasn’t her shrink. He wasn’t even her friend. Why had he asked her about her father, and why had she answered truthfully? She didn’t have time to think about that now.

Everyone was gathered down in the office, waiting for word from her. She could have simply called downstairs and had them come up, but she needed to get away from John for a moment and collect herself. There was something about him. Like he was a mystery that needed solved. The idea of being around all the people unnerved him. Not because he wasn’t confident. Hell, he was arrogantly sure of himself, but his hermit persona did seem to fit him.

Although the more time she spent with John, the more she wondered if being on his own wasn’t because he didn’t like people, but more because he didn’t want to get close to them. Especially after listening to Tessa and Megan’s recount of his time with the girls, aka the really big guns. Could he walk away from helping now that he met them? Saw their little faces? Sienna would have given anything to be in the room when Bella called him Unka Gumpy. Where had that even come from? Both Megan and Tessa swore they didn’t coach her to say that.

But if they could convince John to stay, she would call him King of the World if that’s what he wanted.

Sienna jogged down the stairs and headed to the office. Everyone turned to her when she opened the door. “He’s agreed to meet with us.”

“Good,” Adam said.

“I wouldn’t have taken no for an answer anyway,” Tessa added.

Adam reached for his wife and kissed her on the head. “As much as I would have liked to see a smackdown between you and John, I think it’s better this way.”

Sienna glanced around the room. “Where are Megan and Marcus?”

“Megan is putting Bella down for her nap,” Eric said. “She’ll join us in a few minutes.”

“Marcus is checking in with the guards,” Ryan answered before picking up a small recorder and a notepad. “Not sure that John will be willing to let us record the discussion, so I’ll take notes if need be.”

Sienna nodded. “He’s antsy about being around a group of people.” She turned to Tessa. “Let’s keep the antagonizing to a minimum.”

“Why are you looking at me?” Tessa said before laughing. “Okay, even I couldn’t keep a straight face. I’ll behave.”

They all stared at her for a moment. “I’ll try to behave. Jeez. That’s the best I can do.”

“Have you removed anything that can be used as a weapon from the room?” Eric asked with a smirk.

Tessa squared off with Eric. “If you had been honest with Megan in the beginning, I wouldn’t have threatened you with a golf club.”

“And a lamp,” Eric added.

“Technically I didn’t just threaten you with the lamp. It was for all of you. But you can’t exactly blame me. I had just found out you were dragons.”

Sienna held up her hands. “Okay. Time to focus. Are you all ready?”

They agreed and filed out of the room and up the stairs. Sienna knocked on the door, and John called for them to come in. She stepped in first. John stood over by the seating area. His tight expression told her he wanted to be anywhere but here. The corner chair where his backpack had been was now empty. She didn’t want to read too much into that.

“John, this is Ryan. He’s my right hand where the clan is concerned.”

John gave Ryan a long stare, moving from his face to his hands. Ryan held up the recorder. “Would you be willing to let us record the discussion?”

“No.”

Sienna cringed internally. This was not starting well.

“No problem. I can take notes. Here.” Ryan held out the recorder to John, whose eyebrows rose in question. “You can hold on to it so that you know it’s off.”

“You can set it on the table.”

Adam interrupted the awkwardness. “Glad you’re feeling better.”

John nodded. “I’ll be on my way tomorrow.”

Sienna’s heart sank. “Why don’t we get started? Megan and Marcus will join us when they can.”