Page 54 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

“Do those things make you feel something?” He stepped under the umbrella with her, escaping the rain. “Anything at all?”

Something doubled over in Kate’s chest. “What? No—”

“Kiss me, Human. I’ll leave you alone after that,” he promised, and Kate made a revolted face.

“Not a chance.”

He bit his lips together like he was fighting the impulse to shout. “Can we make a bargain for it?” His hand came out of his pocket with a handful of gold coins. He extended them toward her. “Please. Just one quick, easy kiss. And in return, I’ll fill your purse with this treasure.”

“Why would I want a bunch of fake coins?”

“Fake? Take one and see for yourself what it is.” The Prince rolled a coin from the pile and pinched it between his fingers. When Kate didn’t reach for it, he gently pressed it against her chin, keeping the cool metal as a barrier between her skin and his thumb.

“Does it feel real?” he asked.

Kate blinked. She swatted his hand away. “It feels like a trap.”

He stepped so close they were nearly against each other, his eyes vivifying. A warm wind ruffled the damp hair at Kate’s neck. The back of her shoulders bumped his umbrella again.

“Please,” he whispered, lifting the coin and placing it delicately on her shoulder where it balanced. His tone was sugary and tender, and for a moment, Kate thought about doing it.

Butno. No way, no chance, no.

“Last time you never bothered to ask,” she pointed out. “And I hate pushy guys.”

“Welllast timeI didn’t have a crossbow pointed at my heart ready to shoot if I so much as touched you.” Sharpness returned to his irises.

“Ahhh.” Kate smiled as she realized. “So, you needmeto kissyou.” She laughed, her scratchy voice echoing through the pattering rain. The coin fell off her shoulder and rolled down the sidewalk.

The Prince frowned as she moved to walk around him now that she knew what he wanted, but the umbrella cut her off again. Kate let out an exasperated sigh.

“Why don’t you just go home, your royal-pompous-fae-highness? I already told you I’ll give you your assassins back if you leave forever. It’s not that difficult to just say yes.”

A muscle feathered in his jaw. “Do you really think I would bring my brothers home to a cruel death? I kill for a living, Human. But I’m not entirely heartless.”

It was Kate who frowned this time. She glanced back toward the café. “Then we should come up with a plan. Obviously, I can’t roll over and die for you, so if that means those assassins can’t go home, then you should leave them here with me. And you should go home alone.”

The Prince’s lips thinned. “I would never leave my brothers under the rule of a human.”

Kate nodded. “Then we’ll keep doing this.”

He stared. Stared, stared, stared. His gaze felt like a splash of warm water in the cold. “I have one last question before I let you go,” he finally said, and Kate reluctantly gave him the last ounce of her attention she could manage. “Tell me, where in the name of the sky deities did you get thatsweater?”

A slow smile spread across Kate’s face, and she tried to smother it by biting on her lip. It was a terrible time to laugh. “No,” she said.

The Prince glared at her smiling mouth.

Kate shoved the umbrella pole to put it back over the Prince. “Now, since you can’t touch me, I’ll be on my way, your royal faePrince-ness.” She brushed by him toward the corner store, tapping her pocket to make sure her change was still there.

“My unhidden name is Cress,” he said without turning around. “I am notyourPrince. Do not insult me with such ridiculous titles.”

Kate chuckled as she headed into the store, dragging in a puddle of water with her. But as soon as the door closed at her back, her smile faded, her pulse pounded, and she let out the breath she was holding.

It took her a few minutes to find milk and pay. When she came out of the store, the fae Prince was gone. A plain flat rock sat on the sidewalk in the exact spot where the gold coin had rolled away. Kate huffed in disbelief.

Thankfully the sky held in its rain as Kate jogged back to the café. She brushed a finger over her chest. Her lungs felt tight, and her hands were shaking again.

She came in to find three rain-sprinkled fae assassins focussed uncharacteristically hard on little tasks, apart from Shayne, who lounged across the entire countertop on his back like he’d been taking a nap there.

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