Page 57 of Pixie Problems
“Okay.” I squeezed his hand. The waitress came by and picked up the billfold with Rhys’ card. When she returned it, we left the restaurant. I shivered when we left the warm building, and Rhys layered his leather jacket over my sweater.
“Thanks,” I murmured.
The top was up on the convertible, thankfully, so our ride to our next destination was a lot warmer than our ride to the restaurant. Rhys reached for my hand again, and we rode for a bit before I started recognizing that we were coming perilously close to the outskirts of Moonhaven.
Suddenly, a big open field opened up before us. There were paranormals swarming the place, but that wasn’t the thing that drew my attention. What drew my attention were the twenty or so colorful hot air balloons that were sitting gently on the ground, tied down with stakes and rope.
He parked in the huge parking lot next to the field and looked at me with a hopeful expression. “It’s a sunset ride day today. I’ve booked one for an hour.”
“Which one is ours?” There were so many shapes and colors. If I was going to do this, I wanted one that had a big enough basket that I wouldn’t feel like I would tip out of it with the slightest wind.
“The one that looks like a castle.” He pointed. Sure enough, right between one that looked like a puppy and a Care Bear on steroids was a castle hot air balloon. The pilot was waiting patiently for us to arrive, already having had the envelope mostly inflated pre-arrival.
Rhys went around to open my door—I’d forgotten to let him the first time and he’d growled at me like a wolf cub—and Naut and I exited the vehicle. I had to admit that I was really excited about going up in a hot-air balloon. I’d never been up in one before, but I’d always wanted to. And the best part? I didn’t have to show anyone my ridiculous wings in order to fly. I could just sit back and let the pilot do all the flying for me. I was okay with this.
We got to the balloon and introduced ourselves, and then Rhys helped me into the large and sturdy basket while Naut just hopped in, having zero problems with the side of the basket being too tall for him. The pilot gestured to another on the ground, and another woman came by and released our ropes from the tethers. The fire burned hotter as the man made some adjustments, filling the balloon to its fullest capacity, and we were suddenly up, up, and away.
The pilot let us have privacy as he adjusted things so we hit the wind that allowed us to coast in the direction of Moonhaven Cove. It was beautiful at sunset. I could see the river that ran through the town, and the cute little shops and businesses on either side of it. Pretty white snow dusted homes and trees like a pristine winter’s blanket. The whole town had an ethereal glow that was stunning from our arial position.
I shivered. It was colder up here with the wind whipping past us. Rhys covered my back with his front, letting me borrow some of his heat, and wrapped his arms around my stomach, just resting them there as I leaned back into him. “This is beautiful,” I whispered. “I’ve always wanted to go on one of these, but never did.”
He kissed the back of my neck. “I’m glad. They do this a couple times a year. It was too great an opportunity to pass up.”
I sighed in agreement.
When we reached the other side of the city, we touched down with a feather-light caress, said goodbye and thank you to our pilot, and headed toward the parking lot where other hot air balloon passengers were catching a ride back to their cars on the other side of town. Only, Rhys must have asked Mesmer if he’d mind driving us back to his car because Mesmer was casually leaning against a gunmetal grey, Chevy Tahoe, clearly waiting for us.
Rhys and Mesmer nodded at each other in greeting before Mesmer opened the passenger side door for me and helped me up into the seat with a steel-like arm. I could hear Rhys muttering about having to sit in the back with Naut and I laughed.
As Mesmer drove us back to our original lift-off point, I pursed my lips and tried to get a read on him, seeing if I could imagine he and Arenaria together. I’d promised before she’d left that I would set her up with someone that I thought she would hit it off with, but now that I was in a car with Mesmer, and my Insight was pinging me with all kinds of information about him, I realized he and Arenaria would likely end up as just friends.
But friendship was still a win in my book. Especially when I could see that Mesmer’s body was under some serious stress. It looked like he wasn’t sleeping well, his immune system was weaker than his normal baseline, and his blood pressure was a little high.
I knew he and his team were still trying to find the person after Mia and Draven, but those physical signs could also indicate severe loneliness. The kind of loneliness that started to affect your health. I knew from Mia that Mesmer was very quiet, so I had no problem getting the conversation started.
“Thank you for picking us up, Mesmer,” I said.
I smoothed the end of my sweater down. I didn’t have a tee-shirt on because Rhys had kindly let me know we were going somewhere a little more classy for dinner, and I hadn’t wanted to wear a nice blouse or dress, so I was in a faded, pale grey sweater with nice, dark-wash jeans without any holes in them. My black, butter soft ankle boots completed my outfit, and had the added bonus of being super comfortable with the faux fur lining. I’d used pixie magic to turn my hair a coppery red brown tonight, and I’d changed my eyes to a deeper forest green in celebration of Lucky’s granddad moving into Moonhaven Cove. It was a little hat tip to the Luck o’ the Irish.
“Mesmer . . . about a month or so ago, I met a really cool dryad. She’s finished her five years of service under her queen and was visiting Moonhaven Cove. Anyway, I thought of you when she described her inability to find good males. She’s super pretty, and I think guys tend to objectify her because of that, not even seeing how smart and fierce she is. At first I thought you guys would make a cute couple, but now I think you guys would make great friends. Are you willing to meet her for coffee or something? Can I give her your number?”
For a gargoyle who probably weighed over three hundred pounds, and most of it pure muscle, and who stood over six and half feet tall, he could surely blush. His cheeks were fiery red. “Did Mia—?”
I shook my head. “Nope. This is all me. She came to the club, and we got to talking. She actually helped me with a problem that night, and she’s really cool.”
Now that I was pretty sure Mesmer wouldn’t hit it off with Aren, I suddenly wanted to find him someone to love. He was all kinds of tender and sweet and had that protective vibe that a lot of girls loved. Hmm, maybe Mia could help me find someone special for him? There had to besomeonein Moonhaven Cove that would see Mesmer for the absolute gem that he was.
“Don’t fall in love with Mesmer,” Rhys protested amusedly from the back seat, clearly cluing in to my admiration from the parasite in my brain. “He’s just the chauffeur.”
“Mesmer?”
“Yes?” His normal voice was gravelly and deep, but oh so soft.
“Wanna run away with me?”
Mesmer’s lips twitched. “Tempting, but I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“Darn.”
