Page 8 of Knot Your Sunshine
"You... bought her a plane ticket?" Josh's voice rises with each word. "What if she thinks that's presumptuous?"
"I think it's confident," Keanu chimes in.
"It's probably too much—" Josh starts.
"Guys please." I hold up a hand to stop the spiral. "Josh, can you give me your phone? You have other TikTok accounts, right?"
"I do," he says slowly, pulling his phone from his pocket and handing it out. "But what are you—"
I snatch it before he can finish, typing quickly, and hit send. The message disappears into the digital ether, and for a moment, we all just stare at the screen.
"Did you just… message her?" Josh's voice is barely above a whisper.
"Move your finger bro, I didn't see what you wrote," Keanu says, reaching for the phone.
The phone pings, cutting through the tension like a knife.
A slow smile spreads across my face as I read the notification. I look up at my packmates, both of them practically vibrating with anticipation. "Oh, it's on... she's coming."
Josh's mouth falls open. Nothing comes out for a solid three seconds. Then: "No way she already agreed. That was way too fast."
"Just check the airline app if you don't believe me," I tell him, unable to keep the smugness out of my voice. "The voucher code for the flight is iwufu203."
His fingers fly over his holographic keyboard, pulling up the airline's website. His eyes widen behind his glasses, reflecting the blue glow of the display. "It's... redeemed. She… she actually redeemed it."
"Which means we can stop talking and start preparing." I hand Josh his phone back, already shifting into planning mode. "Let's review our approach for when Mia arrives. We need to be completely aligned on this."
Josh clears his throat, straightening in his chair as he switches back to professor mode. "Right. We each take half a dose of scent blockers and meet her individually first. Then, we write down her scent, and show each other the results after we've all met her. This way, no one's influencing anyone else's scent perception of Mia."
"And why are we doing this, Keanu?" I ask, expecting him to know the answer.
He rolls his eyes but plays along. "Because only scent matches can smell each other's precise scent notes. The half dose of blockers means she won't immediately know we're scent matched but she'll still be able to smell us enough." He pauses, running a hand through his hair. "It's a delicate balance. Too much blocker and we kill any natural attraction. Too little and we risk overwhelming her the second she meets any of us… which could scare her and make her run away."
"And if she isn't our scent match?" Even saying it out loud makes something twist in my chest, and I see the same discomfort flash across my packmates' faces.
"Then..." Josh adjusts his glasses again, his hands shaky. "Then she gets a nice Hawaiian vacation, all expenses paid, and we keep things strictly professional. Talk business about the salon, nothing more."
"Good." I slap my thigh, the sound sharp in the quiet office. "Looks like we're all on the same page."
Chapter three
Mia
Did I really just do this?
I tap the confirmation email open, certain I've just fallen for an elaborate phishing scam. My fingers tremble slightly as I copy the reservation number and navigate to the airline's website. I paste it into the search field and hit "Find my trip," holding my breath.
The page loads. Slowly. Too slowly.
Then there it is:
Passenger: Mia Everly-Destination: Honolulu, Hawaii-Class: First -Departure: Tomorrow, 3:45 PM-Arrival: 1:05 PM HST -Seat: 2A
My mouth drops open. It's real. It's actually, legitimately real.
Holy shit.
A sound escapes me, half laugh, half wheeze, and I clap my hand over my mouth. Because seriously, what kind of person accepts a first-class flight from a complete stranger who slid into her DMs with nothing more than a voucher code and a vague promise?
