Page 7 of Shifting Winds
“She’s not wrong,” Ash said.
“Et tu, Ash?”
He snorted. “Physical activity always helps when there’s an excess of power built up. While Moira rightly assumes it’s sex?—”
“Can someone please kill me?” I whispered.
“Even a good workout regimen should help.” He smiled. “So if things don’t work out with Caelan and you don’t have another boy toy to take his place, maybe you can take up running.”
“I’m going to walk out the door and come back in again, and we’re going to start the day over and pretend this never happened.”
Moira came over and slung an arm around my shoulder. “Party pooper. There’s no shame in a good, hard?—”
I ducked under her arm and hurried toward the back doors, plugging my ears with my fingers. “La la la la la!” I cried.
Even through my plugged ears, I could hear their laughter.
A few hours later, I’d scratched a good portion of my to-do list off and had even managed to finish Hattie’s weekly delivery.Setting the large bouquet of sunflowers and dahlias to the side, I pulled up the week’s work orders and almost choked when I saw it.
“Yeah,” Moira said, rightly assuming what I was looking at. “Your little romance with the Shifter Lord is good for business. We’re booked solid for months.”
“Shit,” I whispered, my hands pressing on either side of my face.
Moira stilled. “Evie?” She leaned back and stared at me. “If you’re thinking about breaking up with him, can you hold off until Christmas?”
I gaped at her.
Moira took a step back and held up her hands. “I’m just saying. We’re bringing in a ton of money, and that hot barista I was telling you about invited me on a singles cruise. If we turn the faucet off now, my bonus will be lower, which means fewer drinks for me.”
I counted to five in my head. “You’re an immortal. You have more money than I do.” My eye twitched. “You can afford to do a cruise every single month for ten years.”
“Yes,” Moira argued, “but I want to do this one, and it’s twice as much.” She laughed and poured herself another cup of tea. “But you didn’t answer the question. Are you thinking of breaking up with Caelan?”
“No.” I sighed. “But things are complicated.”
“They always are,” Ash said. “What’s going on this time?”
This time. Six months ago, things were normal. I was a florist selling bouquets and floral arrangements, and things were great.
“Cernunnos has decided I’m his retirement plan.”
A beat of silence before Ash let out a low whistle. “Queen of the Fae, Evie? That’s a big promotion.”
“An unwanted one. Things are already complicated if my relationship with Caelan progresses.”
“Which it will,” Moira chimed in. “That wolf would handcuff you and drag you to the altar if you allowed it.”
He would. Caelan made no secret he wanted me for his own. I cringed internally every time I thought about what happened on his land. Not because of what we’d done. Never that.
After our tête-à-tête in the woods, I marched arm in arm with the Lord and butt-ass naked over to hundreds of his shifters and agreed with everything Caelan had said about me being their new Lady. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I somehow had commanded them because I wanted their Lord to myself for a little while longer.
I still had no idea why I’d done it. It felt like I was high or something, and after what Caelan and I had just shared, I had serious stars in my eyes for him. I would have said anything, done anything for him, and I would mean every word.
Then, of course, the real world came crashing back into our love nest.
And I, as usual, was internally freaking out. Again.
“What did you say?” Moira asked. She passed a fresh mug of coffee over, and I took it gratefully, wrapping my fingers around to soak up the heat.
