Page 51 of Pixie Problems
Even before Michael had impulsively decided to shack up with me, Rhys and I had been doing a waltz around each other these last months. The instant I walked into a room, his eyes found mine. It didn’t matter if the room was loud, and he couldn’t possibly hear my entrance or see me, he somehowknewI was there, and it was the same when he walked into a room. I just felt him and knew exactly where he was. When he was within six feet of me, my skin buzzed. Lately, it had begun to feel like Rhys was a lodestone and my body was just one huge magnet. We danced around our attraction to each other, we danced around our hyper-awareness of each other, and we danced around everything else labeledromantic attachment.
For one, because I had a lot on my plate, and I was being hunted by a pack of nasty, part feral shifters. And for two, not only was I not ready, but I didn’t think Rhys was either. My insight picked up a lot of discordance within him. I think he had some things to work out before he was ready for a romantic entanglement. And I didn’t feel like I could handle his chaos on top of my own.
Right? Maybe?
I sighed, staring at the fire. I didn’t know anymore, not really. I wasverysure several months ago when I first arrived in Moonhaven Cove, but things had shifted in my life since then. I’d made friends, settled in, and had actually gotten closer with Rhys.
My whole life I’d been biased against star elves. It was part of the reason I’d given him such a hard time when we’d first met. I wasn’t proud of the bias I’d felt, but it had been very real. Until Rhys, every star elf I’d ever met had been arrogant and unendurable for more than a few moments. After that I’d always wanted to take my gun out and shoot them. Like, in the foot or something. Notkillthem. After all, they couldn’t seem to help their awful personalities. It was just star elf nature. Or so I’d thought. And then I’d met Rhys, and he was unlike anyone I’d ever met before, including other star elves.
“He’ll have your back, Dice,” Michael whispered. “He won’t let you down, and neither will I.”
Yes, but in what capacity?
As friends . . . or lovers?
I sighed as my mind skated over the last few months, and I came to a decision that I felt good about. I let that decision settle in for a moment, and then I got up and marched into the house, still carrying my emotional support pillow. “I’ll be back,” I said to the guys. “Don’t let the fire burn out.”
I marched boldly into the kitchen where, be still my heart, Rhys was doing dishes by hand. He was wearing black jeans with rips in the knees and a grey sweater that molded to the musculature in his arms and chest. I set my emotional support pillow on the island, in case I needed it again later, hooked a hand under his belt, and pulled him toward me, turning him so I could see his face. He held sudsy hands up that dripped a steady patter onto the floor, looking at me like I’d lost my mind. Maybe I had. I couldn’t be sure until I kissed him and lived with my decision for a bit. Before he could ask me an inane question, or pull away, I popped up onto my tiptoes and kissed his chin. It was literally the only thing I could reach.
I could feel shock roll through him. His entire body seized up like he was impersonating a stone statue, and then he picked me up, wrapping his arms and hands around my back and under my thighs, and leaned back against the counter, the water still running behind him, as he kissed me back very, very thoroughly.
I fisted my hands in his sweater, then moved them behind his neck so I could help hold up some of my weight, and just held on for the ride that was Rhys’ sensuous mouth. He nibbled my bottom lip, then angled my head and kissed me deeper, and the magnetic pull that I always felt around him seemed to be trying to fuse us together. It felt like something deep within my core was trying to align with something deep inside his, like we were the last two pieces needed to complete a complex puzzle. I swear my soul purred, or was that Michael? Why was Michael purring!?
Michael, knock it out. You’re being a creeper.
He laughed and went silent, and I spent the next several minutes blissfully appreciating Rhys’ skill with his mouth—we would talk about his obvious skill later—and the warmth that radiated inside of me like I had a mini sun blazing in my chest. It was amazing, and intoxicating, and I had been completely unprepared for it, despite having planets and stars collide the first time we’d kissed.
When we came up for air, Rhys reached blindly behind him to shut the water off with hands that I could clearly see were shaking, and we stared at one another without speaking for what felt like a long time.
Finally, I spoke. “You’re not ready for a relationship.” He started to protest, but I tapped my right temple. “I know, okay. You’re not ready yet, and neither am I, but for different reasons. You have some baggage to work through, I think, and I have coyote shifters to bag and tag. So . . .we’renot ready for a relationship for various, very valid reasons.”
I drew a big breath in for courage, and then let it out slowly as I looked deeply into his boysenberry and gold eyes. “But we know there’ssomethingbetween us, something that feels like it could be really good if we allow it to be.” Rhys adjusted his hands so they were more secure underneath my legs and around my hips. He hadn’t palmed my butt yet, so he got to keep his hands.
The expression in his eyes broke my heart a little. I’d known for a while that Rhys was working through some deep pain from his past, but right then I could clearly see the shattered effect it’d had on him in his eyes. He looked broken and lost. My eyes stung as I hugged him, hard. He might’ve squeaked like a sissy a little, but I tried not to hold it against him. He wasn’t, after all, a pixie, and allowances had to be made.
I moved to look at him again, twining my fingers through the silver hair at the nape of his neck. He visibly swallowed, and I tried not to smirk at how much I affected him. It was actually kind of adorable. “Mia said something interesting to me the last time we met for coffee. At the time I just chalked it up to her oversharing.” Rhys grinned, and I laughed. “Youknowshe has a tendency to do that.”
“It’s endearing.”
“It is, no question about it, but sheoversharedthat Draven has a degree in psychology. He took online classes and did his graduate studies in the town just outside Moonhaven so that he could be a better boss, and a better leader of the community.” I peered up at Rhys. “Inspiring, right? Anyway, I was thinking . . . you’re comfortable with Draven. And you’re always over there anyway hanging out with he and Mia. Maybe you could start speaking with him,reallyspeaking with him, about the things that are tearing you up inside.”
Rhys tipped his head back and looked at the ceiling, blinking rapidly. My voice lowered as I watched him struggle to contain his pain. I didn’t like the people I cared about in pain. It made me want to punch something. “He can help, Rhys,” I whispered.
He cleared his throat and rested his chin on the top of my head for a moment as he pulled himself together. “If I do, you’ll consent to giving us a chance?”
“Yes.” With reservations, but he didn’t need to know that. The reservations were my own issues to deal with. They had nothing to do with him.
Rhys pulled me into him until I rested fully against his chest and torso, and he kissed me deeply again. I swear, every single cell in my body hummed in pleasure and appreciation. That elf and his mouth. It should be illegal what they were capable of together.
Michael chuckled in my brain, but I ignored him. Pesky parasite.
Rhys pulled back and kissed the tip of my nose. My heart went gooey at the tender affection in his eyes.Stand firm, Dice. You know he needs this, and you both need a little bit of time.Have mercy, I thinkIwas the one shaking now.
“I’ll call and see if I can stop by the Villa later tonight,” Rhys murmured as he kissed my neck.
I swallowed thickly. My pulse was hammering through my veins, and I felt a little lightheaded. What . . . had I been saying? Had I been saying something? Right, counseling for Rhys. Yes, he needed to get on that.
“Okay.” I attempted to say it calmly, but it came out as a squeak as Rhys kissed my chin. How did I not know that chins could be so sensitive before this? I felt like this was information that I should have had so I could have gone into this situation fully informed. Rhys slowly let me slide down, and when my feet hit the kitchen floor, I staggered a little. He smirked down at me, loving that the shoe was on the other foot now, and obviously loving his effect on me.
