Page 99 of Trick Knot Treat

“Do you think she’s a fairy?” I whisper.

She runs into the waves, thigh-deep, lets out this wild, undulating call like a warrior, and then dives into the waves.

“Uh, maybe a mermaid? Can she breathe?” Zaire asks anxiously.

I sit up straight and stare at the spot where she disappeared. We climb to our feet almost as one unit. Jace is the one to break ranks, racing for the water and diving in fully clothed.

He’s at the spot where she disappeared when she suddenly explodes out of the water behind him, wrapping her arms and legs around him.

“Caught you!” she cries out.

My heart that’s been pounding slows, and I relax.

“Um, there’s a meeting.”

I groan. “A Trick Knot Treat meeting?”

“No, a town meeting. It’s in about half an hour. Look, I have to get back to the shop.” She hesitates, then smiles. “Tell your wild child that I’ve got a couple of towels you can all borrow when you come up.”

Felix glances at her and smiles faintly. “Thank you.”

She blushes and ducks her head. “No problem. Grigori is making chocolate cats today, and he’s looking for taste testers. So, if you want to come and have a look afterwards, we’d appreciate it.”

“Food? Free food?” I say, turning fully to face the beta. “We’ll be there.”

I shove my ice cream back in my mouth and smile around it. Yolanda wisely runs away.

Meanwhile, the polar bear on his round the world trip has made it back to shore and is running off towards yonder lighthouse.

“He makes me tired just watching him,” I groan.

“That’s not tired, it’s all the beers you’ve been drinking,” Felix points out.

“Hey! Those beers are my social anxiety crutch. Leave them alone.”

Felix shoves me. I strategically fall to the sand, pulling him with me. We collapse with him on my chest.

“Hello, hotness.”

“Hotness?” he echoes.

“Hmm, I was thinking about what to call you, but all I could think was that you are like a hot-cross bun. Spicy, underrated, with a surprise inside, and so much better when warmed up.”

Felix splutters and then throws his head back and laughs.

“That line is going to send you to prison, not get you laid.”

I shift my hips. “Seems to be working just fine.”

Felix’s golden-green gaze hits me with this intense, sardonic humour. I couldn’t see it before, I thought that look was judgment, that it was disgust, but he finds me cute, he finds me charming. I am hilarious.

I wrap my arms around him and roll us through the sand while he howls abuse.

“Oh, my cute little Lixy.”

“You’re going to be a dead alpha if you don’t stop getting sand everywhere.”

“Everywhere?” I cock my head to the side, now that I’m lying on him, and he’s pinned, his legs spread wide, cradling mine, our faces just inches apart. “Challenge accepted.”