Page 1 of Solar Shadows

Chapter 1

ISAAC

The dopamine was wild tonight.

I sipped on champagne, reveling in a glorious bubble bath while listening to my playlist of solo Spice Girls music, totally in my element.

“Sing it, Vicky,” I said, enjoying ‘Like That’ by Victoria Beckham. An underrated bop in my opinion.

The Spice Girls were a massive comfort for me. Their music soundtracked my life, getting me through dark times, happy times, and all the stuff in-between.

I couldn’t do life without them.

The tunes and the steamy water worked together to ease the stresses of the day. Now all I needed was a steamy man to join me. Maybe Taylor Zakhar Perez. I’d been having plenty of sex dreams about him lately, the two of us getting up to some seriously naughty fun.

Was there a spell out there to summon a man intoyour bath and have him feed you strawberries after he plowed you into next week?

There should be!

Ah, Taylor would be the cherry on top of this sweet cake of an evening.

I’d like to lick his frosting…

I snorted to myself, surrounded by a range of soapy bubbles shimmering under the soft lights of this white-and-gold bathroom.

After a day of what I called ‘celestial grief,’ I finally got to enjoy some selfcare time. The scrumptious heat unknit my muscles and soothed my mind from an abundance of overthinking.

“I’m never getting out,” I declared as the playlist went from Posh Spice to Sporty Spice, playing her song ‘Blame It On Me.’ Yes! What a banger!

Less than a minute later, there was a knock on the bathroom door.

Fuck it. Why did I tempt fate with my bathtub declaration?

“Yes?” I snapped.

“It’s me,” Riley’s voice answered. “Sorry to bother you.”

My irritation softened because he was my little brother and I couldn’t get mad at him. “What’s up?”

“Is that Mel C I hear?” he asked.

“You know it.”

“Fabulous. I love this song.” He cleared his throat, shifting from jovial to serious. “Erin thinks we should check out some weirdness at the fairground.”

Cue heavy sighing from me.

As much as I’d love to say no, it wasn’t possible. My overwhelming sense of duty as The Sun kicked in.

“I’ll be right out,” I said.

Oh, well. The special bath time bliss had been fun while it lasted.

“Sorry, Mel,” I said, and forced myself out of the bubbles.

But when sacred duty calls, one must answer.

Darn it.