Page 17 of A Heart of Winter (Fairy Tale Retellings #4)
Beach Party
“ S now on the beach?”
The voice came from close enough that it could be meant for no one but me, so I opened my eyes. It was Kai, of course.
He was holding a pale blue drink in a martini glass out in my direction.
“I thought it was supposed to be sex on the beach?” I stretched luxuriantly in the poolside deck chair, then turned and sat up, reaching for the drink. It didn’t matter too much what it was. If Kai had made it for me, it would be good.
“Eh,” he waved dismissively. “For most people, sure. But you, love, always get snow.” He held the glass out to me, and as our fingers touched on the glossy surface, it frosted over.
Michael’s magic had mostly come to me as well as my own returning, as a result of Morwenna’s spell. But since it had all gone through Kai, it was little wonder something had stayed in him. Just enough to give him a taste of my cold.
His cold now.
No, our cold, because it worked best together.
Just like the two of us.
San Diego was everything he’d said, warm and sunny and stunningly beautiful.
Between my own money and the partnership he’d won in his new firm with his impressive mind and unfailing calm and competence, we’d bought a house on the beach together.
It was like something out of a vacation catalogue, and that made sense, because I felt like I lived every day on vacation.
Even work days were perfection.
I woke up to a stunningly beautiful man at my side. A partner and lover, just as I’d always wanted. I had my velvet-upholstered furniture and instead of cashmere coats and sweaters, silk shirts.
And then in October, we’d go back to New York for the winter, and my cashmere was there waiting for me.
Our friend groups in both places laughed at us, saying we had the whole snowbird thing backward, but for us, we had it all just right.
A beautiful white winter that let us snuggle in front of the fire in my perfect, perfectly appointed penthouse, with my warm clothes and chosen furniture and lovely doorman.
And a stunning, tropical summer, with bright flowers and chilled poolside drinks, and the career Kai had spent his whole life dreaming about.
And sometimes, in both places, Gerda and Morwenna, who were traveling the world, Gerda learning magic and Morwenna more satisfied and settled in her own power than ever before.
Maybe because I was handling my own life for a change instead of relying on her to keep me alive when people I trusted betrayed me.
Michael still lived in New York last I’d checked. A sad, unmagical low-level fashion designer, trying to hold onto a long-dead youth with both hands, and failing, as his hair had finally started to gray without magic to hold off the aging.
The drink, unsurprisingly, was delicious. Coconut and orange and pineapple, all chilled and frosty with a sugared rim. Kai watched me drink it, one brow raised, as though waiting for my verdict.
But that wasn’t what he really wanted. He knew it was delicious. He wanted a taste for himself. So I polished off the whole thing and then slid forward, loose-limbed and warm in the summer sun, right into his lap.
Then I gave him an utterly filthy open-mouthed kiss, to make sure he got the full effect of the flavor.
When I pulled back, kneeling over his lap, where his cock was already starting to press up under me, he grinned wide and bright. “Just as delicious as I imagined.”
And it really was the most delicious thing imaginable.