Pink Princess Fairytini (Fairy Files #2) (6 page)

“You don’t look like you love them,” I said.

“I do.” She sniffed. “And I love this apartment. I just hate that you’re moving out.”

“I do, too.” I put my arm back around her shoulder. “But what if Mercury took my room at your place?”

She frowned. “I don’t know or feel comfortable with him.”

“Vin?” I asked.

“She would be better, but I want you back, Chloe. I want things the way they used to be.”

“I do, too. But things change. You and Knuffington will probably be looking for your own place soon, anyway.”

She nodded. “Maybe. Promise me we’ll always have our Saturday flea markets.”

“I promise.” I held out a pinky, which she shook with her own. “I’m bringing Harvey with me this Saturday.”

“Boo.” She pouted. “But I guess that means I can bring Knuffington.” She looked around and smiled. “This place can hold a lot of kitsch.”

I opened my mouth to say it could hold a lot more kitsch than I could ever afford when the doorbell rang again. I’d thought everyone was there, so I didn’t know what to expect.

Judging by how wide Harvey’s eyes got when I answered the door, I wasn’t as he’d expected either. “Wings,” he said.

I spun to show them off, curious if he’d get that they were real. “It felt like a wings kind of night.”

When I spun back around, he had a confused crinkle between his brows. “They look…They look real.”

And I knew that moment mattered. I knew I should tell him the truth, but it didn’t seem the right place or time, and I wasn’t prepared for how he might react. “Aren’t they amazing?” I said, as though they weren’t real. I figured I wasn’t really lying to him.

When I turned and led Harvey into the party, I saw Frost a short distance away. He met my eyes and raised his brows and I knew he’d heard the exchange. I ignored his look of disapproval and took Harvey over to the food and drinks. I introduced him to the folks he didn’t know and we all chatted and laughed for a while. Harvey wasn’t a social butterfly, but he had no problem mingling and having a good time. He was able to talk about a surprisingly wide array of topics and I felt guilty for being surprised at his wealth of knowledge.

After about twenty minutes of chatting, the dance floor started calling to me. I leaned in close to Harvey’s ear and whispered, “Dance with me.”

I saw the goose bumps rise and knew I’d gotten the desired reaction out of him, but he shook his head as he turned to face me, gripping my hips with his strong hands. “Not unless you’re talking about the horizontal, bed-top kind of dancing.”

My heart picked up speed at the thought of Harvey in my bed. My new, heavenly bed, and I almost took him up on the suggestion. Instead, I gave him a little tug toward the living room. Ten of my friends and employees danced there and they waved me over. Harvey, however, dug his feet in and refused to move. He gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Sorry, I don’t dance.”

I took a step back to stand with him, but he gave me a gentle push forward. “Don’t let me hold you back,” he said. “You go dance. I’ll watch.”

The way he said “watch,” his lips warm against my skin, made me certain he’d be thinking of something other than dancing while he watched me. I joined my employees on the dance floor and raised my hands in the air, spinning like a little kid. In my element and happy. Someone grabbed my waist and pulled me close, moving his body against mine in a way I recognized at once.

“What are you doing with that guy?” Frost asked, his lips close to my ear.

I gave him a shove, and he moved so there was a breath of space between us. “What do you care?”

“I care,” he said. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

I laughed a little harder than I should have, some of the tension I’d been feeling with Harvey, tension about how he’d fit with my friends and what he’d think of my wings, leaving me. “I don’t get hurt.” I was the one who did the hurting.

“You aren’t as tough as you pretend,” Frost said. “And you shouldn’t hide yourself from him. If he can’t accept it –”

“Mind if I cut in?” Harvey asked, his jaw tight.

Frost raised his hands and stepped back, a smirk on his face, but his body tense. “She’s all yours.”

I hated him. I really hated him for always pushing and for sticking his nose in where it ought to get smacked off his face. Harvey wrapped his arms around me and did his best to move to the music, but his discomfort and awkwardness made me uncomfortable. Annoyance layered over the tension I’d felt since he walked in the door, and I mentally slapped myself. Harvey was doing nothing but being sweet and trying to make me happy. I couldn’t fault him for that.

“I need a drink,” I said, when we bumped into one of my employee’s dates and almost knocked her on her ass.

Harvey smiled his relief and led me to the kitchen.

Harvey stayed until the sun had risen over our hot city and all of my guests had left. He helped me clean up and get my apartment looking as sterile and boring as it had before the party.

“Thank you,” I said with a yawn, exhaustion making me a bit dizzy. Harvey caught me as I tripped over my own feet and pulled me against his chest.

“You should get to bed,” he said, his hands warm against my bare skin beneath my wings. “Want me to help you take these off.” He touched the wings, petting them gently. “They’re so soft and–”

“They’re real.”

He laughed until his eyes met mine, then he released me like I was hot and took two steps away from me. “You’re serious.”

“I’m fae. Half fairy and half faun.”

He sat down on one of the stools at the kitchen counter. “Fairy and faun?” He looked a bit like I’d hit him in the face with a bat. “How did I never know this?”

I shrugged. “I don’t have obvious characteristics. My mother hid them when I was tiny and they stayed hidden until recently.” I didn’t think he was ready to know about the faun tail that popped out in Rubalia. The one I kept hidden in the Non. “And it’s not something I talk about or that affects my life or my job.” At least it didn’t in the past, but judging by the expression on his face, he wasn’t ready to hear that my mother was a fairy queen and had named me her heir.

“Okay,” he said. “Does this change anything?”

“What do you mean?” I sat on the stool next to him, and he spun me around until my back was to him. He was silent for several long moments, and I almost got up and asked him to leave. I mean what the hell was he doing back there?

“They are the most gorgeous wings I’ve ever seen,” he said, reverence in his tone.

I spun around and faced him. “Does this change anything for you?”

He smiled and his eyes heated as he looked at me. “It doesn’t make me want you any less. It doesn’t change that you are the toughest, smartest, most beautiful woman I’ve ever known. It doesn’t change that I want to kiss you right now.”

What more could I ask for? I leaned in and pressed my lips to his, letting myself fall into his heat and his touch, the feel of him. He stood and pulled me with him, placing one hand on the bare skin of my back and pressing me into him. My body trilled like every nerve ending was having a party and I knew I wanted more. I needed more. I stepped back from him and slipped my dress off my shoulders. It fell to the floor in a silvery puddle, leaving me in a pair of dainty, silver panties.

His breath caught and his eyes were like a physical caress as he ran his gaze over me. He dropped to his knees at my feet and kissed my stomach, hooking his thumbs in my panties and pulling them down. He followed them with his kisses, until he reached my center. He paused there, taking his time and using his tongue and fingers to bring me to a screaming orgasm that left my legs like jelly and my mind fuzzy. He rose back up and wrapped his arms around me, supporting me and holding me up. “You taste even better than I imagined.”

“That’s the faun,” I said. He chuckled against my lips and kissed me. I pushed against his shoulders, walking him backwards until we reached my room. I shoved him down on the bed and took my time undressing him, savoring every inch of his hard, cut body. Scars marred his smooth skin in several places, and I wanted to ask him how he’d gotten them, but I needed him inside me more than I needed answers.

“Condom?” he asked, once I’d bared his beautiful body.

“Night stand, top drawer.” He twisted away and got the condom, then handed it to me and massaged my ass as I slid it on his hard length. I was glad that I hadn’t let my little faun tail out like I’d let out my wings. I was pretty sure Harvey could only stand so many oddities in one night.

I rose up ready to ease onto him, but he stopped me, holding me in place with his hands. “I want to feel every moment, every centimeter of contact as I slide inside you,” he said. “I’ve waited a long time for this. I want to savor it.”

I never minded savoring anything, but I’m not a fan of being bossed around, even in bed, even by someone as sexy as Harvey. He lowered me down slowly, so very slowly, and the mischievous side of me came out to play. I let him have control, enjoying the feel of him, all of my synapses firing with a pleasure so full and deep I wasn’t sure how rational thought was still possible. Once I was seated on him, though, I grabbed his wrists and pushed them up over his head. “You’ve had your turn,” I said. “I’m in charge now.”

His eyes darkened and he licked his lips. “I’m at your mercy.”

I watched his face and listened to the sounds he made as I moved over him, finding my pleasure in creating his. I loved the feel of him and the freedom of having my wings out, of being completely bared to him. As his pleasure increased, so did mine, until we reached the edge and climaxed together, my name on his lips.

I laid down on him, and he hugged me tight. We stayed like that for a few moments, and then he got up and disposed of the condom. This was the moment where I usually told the guy I had an early morning or he told me he did, and we said our goodbyes. Instead, Harvey came back to bed, and pulled me against him, until my face was in his chest. I lay there, breathing in the scent of him, and tried not to move. My whole body felt twitchy and I wanted to roll out of his arms and get comfortable in my own space, but I didn’t want to push him away. Just as I decided I’d never fall asleep, I did.

I woke up in an empty bed and rolled onto my belly, stretching my arms and my wings, feel-good tingles running all through me. My hand brushed a piece of paper on the pillow next to mine, so I grabbed it and lifted my head to read it. Harvey had to go to work and hadn’t wanted to wake me. No romance, no hearts or frills, just the way I liked it. He had to work, I had to work, and neither of us needed promises or sweet words. This just might be the perfect relationship.

I glanced at the red numbers on my bedside clock and saw that it was after noon. Time to get up and get ready for work and the meeting with the refugees. I climbed out of bed, still naked, my wings free and comfy, and almost stepped on the hula clock Frost had given me. It must have rolled off the bed during the night. I picked it up, so smooth and cool against my skin, and checked it over. It appeared to be undamaged. I carried it into the kitchen, wondering where to put it. When I’d found the perfect spot, over the couch in the living room, I put it down and searched for a hammer and nails. The place had come fully stocked, there had to be a hammer and nails somewhere.

I wandered the apartment, still nude, until I found them in a hall closet, on the top shelf. I’d have to thank Hieronymus, he’d thought of everything. Well, everything except a step stool. I balanced on the back of the couch and started hammering a nail into the wall.

“Well, there’s a gorgeous sight you don’t see every day,” a man said behind me.

I startled, lost my balance, and toppled right onto the couch. I grabbed a couple of couch cushions and covered my important bits as Mercury and, oh, shit, Frost laughed at me. “What the hell are you two doing here?” I asked, not bothering to keep the growl out of my voice.

“I’m moving in, roomie,” Mercury said. “Remember, you gave Vin a key this morning?”

I groaned. “Right. You could have at least knocked.”

“I live here, now,” Mercury said. “And you have nothing to be embarrassed about. You have an amazing body. Feel free to walk around naked any time you please.”

I smirked and glanced at Frost. “And you, what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Vin and I decided it would be a good idea to meet and talk about what you should say to the refugees at the meeting today. I ran into Mercury on the way here and he let me in.” Frost’s jaw was tense and he didn’t meet my eyes. “Vin should be here any minute.”

“Wow,” I said. “Love how you three just planned my day without talking to me and totally ruined naked time.”

“Naked time?” Mercury said. “Is that going to be a regular thing, because if it is sign me up. I love to let the boys hang free every once in a while.”

I laughed at the image of me and Mercury having naked time together. I mean he was gorgeous, but he so belonged to Vin that I’d never even think of going there. “Yeah, we should probably schedule it, though. Naked time is not a group activity and I’m not interested in seeing your boys.”

“You should get dressed,” Frost said, his tone curt and severe. “Vin will be here soon.”

His tone, his implied disapproval, and his inability to look me in the eye pissed me off, and I’d been having a good day. I stood, dropped the couch cushions, and put my hands on my hips. “I thought wolves weren’t bothered by nudity.”

Frost growled and Mercury chuckled. “Quit poking the wolf and go get dressed, Chloe.”

“Fine,” I said, because I really did want to get dressed. I’m not particularly modest, but being the only naked woman in a room with two clothed men went way beyond my comfort zone. “But only because you asked nicely.”

I turned and headed to my room. “And take a shower,” Frost called after me. “You stink of Harvey and sex.”

What the hell was his problem? “That’s because I just had sex with Harvey,” I shouted as I stomped into my room and slammed the door. I don’t know why his attitude and his words made me so angry. Frost and I had made a sort of game of pissing each other off, but he was going too far. I had the feeling I was going to have to teach him a lesson.