Page 79 of By the Fae

It wasn’t fair of me to have ever expected a relationship with any fae. Goldie was right. I’d been so selfish and stupid. I should call this whole deal off and cancel my date with Seth. Find a human man. One that could cook, and create beautiful art, and takes me up to the roof to watch the sunrise, and gives me multiple, internal-organ-erupting orgasms.

“Hey, chopper-girl, you’re up,” Goldie said, pulling me out of my musings. He held out a couple of plump tomatoes and gave me a wondrous flash of his delectable obliques. “Dice these, will you?”

The obliques were probably my favourite of all his muscles—

“Human!” he said, pushing the fat, red fruit into my palm. I shook my head, refocused, accepted the tomatoes. He turned back to the hob, and I began slicing.

I should end it. It was the sensible, responsible thing to do.

But . . .

I mean, it was ending anyway. In under a week. It was ending because of my date with Seth. I couldn’t cancel the date now. I needed a proper reason to tear myself away from Goldie.

Because, I realised, I would be tearing myself away.

Months.

He’d said months, not weeks.

When we kissed. He’d said,I’ve been wanting to do this for months.

What did that mean—

I saw the blood before I felt the slice of the knife.

“Oh,” I said pathetically, as my hand erupted in red. Goldie spun to look at me, his eyes wide. He was beside me in an instant. Blood gushed from my finger onto the chopping board, into my lap, splashing against his sexy sweatpants. Even the severity of the situation didn’t stop me from noticing the little bounce to his junk as he ran over.

I didn’t get the chance to inspect my wound before he wrapped his hand around mine, closed his eyes, and I watched in real time a split open on the finger of his other hand.

“Fuck, that stings,” he said, releasing me, and sucking on his wound.

I stared down at my finger. No sign of any damage. Not even a raw patch where it had been. Only smeared, magically congealed blood. Goldie’s hand started to bleed as mine had done. I stood and grabbed a kitchen towel to stem the flow.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“I’ll be fine.” With his good hand, he pulled me back down into my chair. He opened the towel a little and peered inside. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. What were you thinking about?”

“Huh?” I replied. Did the radio switch itself off? All I could hear was a loud buzzing. “Uh, I was, uh . . . Okay, I was looking at your sexy back muscles.” Sort of the truth.

But I could never tell him the full truth.

Goldie didn’t deserve that.

He quirked a brow. I knew he didn’t believe me, I just knew it, but he said, “Thirsty girl.” He hooked a finger from his undamaged hand under my chin and tilted my face until my lips met his.

“Why did you do that?” I said, when he broke away. “Not kiss me. I mean, why did you take my injury this time?”

He didn’t hesitate with his answer. “When we’re together, you do not experience pain. Only pleasure. Okay?” He lowered his voice, “Unless you want me to spank you again?”

I laughed. I did rather enjoy being spanked. Surprised myself there.

“Hey, it’s pretty cool you can share your magic like that,” I said.

Goldie froze.

Panic flooded my system. What had I said wrong?

His mouth silently formed the words, “Share my magic.” He stood abruptly. The bloody paper towel tumbled to the ground. “Share my magic,” Goldie said, this time aloud. “Oh my Gods, Holly, you’re a genius.” And he ran out of the kitchen.

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