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“That’s fine. I’ll figure it out myself. I think I know what these ones mean.” He taps one of the flowers, I’m not sure which one is there at the moment, but I have a pretty good guess. “But I’ll have to wait to confirm my suspicions till another day.”

With a kiss to the tip of my nose, Kai extricates himself from my hold, sliding my hands from his shoulders and down his chest where he catches them in his and places another kiss on each one, then flipping them over and repeating the gesture on my palms.

“Until then sweet blossom, sleep well.”

I watch as Kai wanders off into the darkness towards his family’s house and I stand in the crisp evening air letting my heated flesh cool before returning home and trying to satiate my constant sexual desire for Kai.

Chapter 12: Daisy

The tropical blooms are starting to go dormant now that the weather has gone cold. Even I had to put on a pair of long overalls and a sweater today. My feet remain bare, and I decide to stay inside the greenhouse. Coaxing the moss on the ground to grow and thicken, I create a padded soft carpeting to keep my feet warm as I stand behind the worktable we worked at the first day I met Kai.

I’m not assembling bridal bouquets and centerpieces today though. Instead, I’m working on transplanting a few succulents. Using clippings from the large jade and carefully repotting them in small clay pots. Succulents don’t do well in cold weather, but inside the greenhouse they’ll root and grow over the winter and be ready to sell in spring.

For two days Kai showed up at the nursery and followed me around, attempting to help as I worked. He’s friendly with people but notoverlyfriendly or flirtatious with anyone. Well, anyone but me. Any chance he got he would lean in close to my ear and whisper things that made me blush, then he would lick or kiss or gently suck on my ear before pulling away and leaving me panting.

It's not all sexual. There were plenty of times we sat in comfortable silence or Kai let me ramble on about the importance of proper soil for specific plants without complaining I was boring him. He was also very helpful in trimming the larger bushes and moving some rather pesky large rocks.

Sage seems to be warming up to Kai more. Chatting with him when we sit together to have lunch or nodding approvingly in passing. Kai’s always surprised when it happens but tries to cover it up with his blasé attitude, but I can tell he secretly likes it.

Today, however, he hasn’t shown up like he had before. I shouldn’t be expecting him to wander in with his usual swager at any moment. It’s not like he’s an employee or has any purpose to be here every day. But I am a little bummed when I don’t see him.

I tell myself he doesn’t have to be here every day. I’ll see him when I see him. We didn’t make plans or schedule anything. This is normal behavior between two_dating?_adults, right? I don’t know if we are dating or not since I’ve never dated anyone before. It kind of feels like we are but I don’t want to assume. I’ll just wait till Kai brings it up.

With all the orders and influx in business, we’ve brought in our part-time workers to help out. Mainly high school aged kids wanting to make a little spending money. There’s one shifter, a human, and a fairy. Meaning we have plenty of people to work with customers, so I don’t have to.

Tobias joins me at the table, leaning on his elbows to watch me work. His lavender wings flutter behind him flashing veins of silver in the light as his piercing white eyes watch me closely. I know he’s watching my colors, it’s something I’m used to. Not only because all fairies can do it, but because I’ve been around Tobias my whole life. Fairies can see emotions as colors surrounding a person like an aura. Tobias watches as the colors of my aura shift with my emotions, though I have no idea what my colors have been lately with all the emotions I’ve been going through. I’m sure it’s clear to Tobias watching me, seeing my colors is a lot easier to understand than feeling the emotions they represent.

“What are you doing here so late?” I ask to distract from his inspection of my colorful emotions.

Not only can he see and understand my shifting flowers, but he also sees my emotions as colors around me. It’s like a double whammy I can’t escape from. Thankfully he’s always been a lot easier to talk to about things than Sage. Where Sage is all protective big brother, Tobias is the calm, nonjudgmental one.

Usually, he’s atUgly Mugby now working the morning shift, since it’s the busiest.

“Working the closing shift today. Not going in for a few more hours. What about you? Any plans?”

“No.”

“You waiting for Kai to show up?”

I look up at him through my lashes and notice his far too perceptive smirk. He liked Kai from the beginning. I wonder if he saw something in his aura. Should I ask him? Would that be weird? Intrusive?

I go back to filling the pot with soil and sticking the clipping in its center. I contemplate lying and telling Tobias that no I am not waiting for Kai to show up. But what’s the point?

“Maybe. He’s been here nearly every day so I just kind of thought he’d be here again today.”

“I’m sure he will be eventually. I saw a few cars arriving this morning heading towards his house so he might be busy with his family.”

Oh. I hadn’t considered that. It makes sense. I knew they would be showing up soon since the equinox is only a few days away. Kai and I even assembled the floral arrangements for the house. Endo helped pick them up and take them back. I didn’t go. I thought it would be intrusive to go into their family home without a proper invitation.

I nod, accepting Tobias’s reasoning.

Kai probably won’t be by for a while then. I feel strangely claustrophobic knowing I’ll be spending the day in the greenhouse without him. I’ve never felt confined by my greenhouse before. The sensation is odd and I’m not quite sure what to do about it.

“I like Kai,” Tobias announces with absolutely no prompting.

“Okay.” I really don’t know how else to respond.

“I know what people say about him, but that has nothing to do with what kind of a male he is, or how he feels about you.”