Page 10 of Too Sexy for My Hooves (Inn or Out #2)

Peace settled for the room with the most light, despite it being the last one in the hallway. I tapped her doorway and visualized moving the furniture from the nice bedroom upstairs into Peace’s new room in the basement.

Peace entered the room and looked around.

“This is a little better,” she admitted.

Her gaze lingered on the furniture and some new area rugs that had appeared beneath it.

Her clothing trunks were stacked against the wall under the transom windows.

Unfortunately, her new bedroom was nowhere as light and bright as either of the rooms upstairs.

Maybe there was a spell that could improve the space. Artificial light was better than none. Right?

Peace turned to me. “Thank you for going to all this trouble for me, Selene.”

I nodded. “You’re welcome. Do you want to take the tea tray up to the spy’s room?”

Sighing, she nodded. “It would be a good thing for me to deliver it.”

“Who is Gertruda?”

Peace thought for a moment. “I don’t know.

Mother snatches up a lesser fairy and compels them to serve her when she needs someone.

The Gertruda woman probably doesn’t remember who she really is or what she used to do.

I will have to look into her life after this is done because my mother sometimes forgets to release her spelled servants.

It is not unusual for me to do the restoration for her. ”

“Are you going to be that kind of queen?” I asked.

Peace sat down hard on her bed. “No, I would rather spell my normal servants against harming me rather than take advantage of complete strangers. No-harm bindings are commonplace. I would at least have the illusion of trust.”

“I get the feeling that trust is in short supply for fairies.”

Peace shrugged. “That’s why violating your kindness was such a big deal. I owe you more than I can ever repay.”

I used the wand and pulled an extra chair from storage. I positioned it in front of her and sat. When I spoke, I chose my words carefully. “You do owe someone, but it isn’t me.”

She made a face. “Yes. I know. I owe Prince Robin too.”

“Nope—not him, either. If Robin wants you, he needs to get you to see him as the best man. Actions speak loudly. Lord Alfred uses Robin’s chastity as a bargaining chip and/or a guilt trip.

Take your pick. Either way, it’s a form of manipulation.

The biggest thing I think Robin has going for him is that he’s never told Lord Alfred the truth.

Men like to brag about the women they’ve bedded.

Women tend to keep the truth to themselves out of fear of being judged. ”

Peace nodded vigorously. “That is so very true.”

“I know. My sister told me that her husband was the only man for her. She said that was her choice, but that I had to make the right choice for me. I’m not the kind of person who commits fast..

. or ever. I said yes to Ethan for all the wrong reasons.

I’m being much more cautious with Farley.

He’s an easier man to like, even if he is a bear sometimes. ”

When that got a chuckle out of her, I lifted a hand and waved it all away.

“I don’t know how things work for fairy kind, but historically, the mortal world would see Robin’s chastity as him having a physical problem.

Males are encouraged to sexually sample all the females they can.

They’re expected to be the more sexually experienced ones in a relationship.

Women are trained to abstain and save themselves for the right person.

Less sexual experience is a preference. Yet neither has anything to do with sexual value or any other kind of value for males or females.

It’s like what you like on a pizza. The only way you learn is to try various pizzas. ”

Peace chewed her lip. “Who is the pizza?”

Laughing, I thought it through. “You and Robin are both pizzas. He’s cheese only, and you’re the one with everything.”

She hid her giggle behind her hand. “He’s not that boring.”

I chuckled. “Maybe not, but it makes my analogy funnier. What does he normally look like?”

“He looks a lot like his centaur self, but with legs.”

“I can tell you like him, Peace. He can tell too. You’re doing your relationship an injustice by worrying about whether or not you’re worthy enough.

Everyone deserves to be loved for who they really are.

That’s a really, really hard thing to find in this world we live in.

I would think two people who are three centuries old would have realized that by now. I’m only thirty-ish and I know that.”

“What is thirty-ish?”

“It means that I don’t like talking about my age.”

“Ah... discreet deception,” Peace said with a smile.

“I prefer prevarication. It sounds nicer.” I stood and waved my wand at the chair, returning it to storage. “I need to go start dinner. When you're settled, come take tea to the spy. Tell her as little as you can. What you do is none of her business. Don’t forget that.”

Peace clapped her hands and giggled. “What happens at the inn, stays at the inn! I have found your mantra.”

“Yes. That’s right,” I said with a chuckle, heading out of her room.

* * *

“Prince Robin seemed to prefer vegetables just like Alfred. I noticed he ordered a veggie burger and ate it, including the bread. It was nice to go to lunch with herbivores. Usually, I feel like the odd person out ordering the veggie burger.”

“Don’t bears eat ants?” I asked.

“Yes. Bears are omnivores. I prefer to limit my consumption of insects to when I need extra protein. You can get a lot of protein just from plants. But I love it when you cook for me. Your honey lemon salmon is the best.”

“Thanks,” I said. “Would that be good for dinner tonight? I think I have some in the freezer and I have another guest. The fairy queen’s spy arrived a couple of hours ago. She calls herself Gertruda.”

“And what do you call her?” Farley asked with a grin.

“I’ve decided that Gertruda the Barracuda has a nice ring.”

“Do you truly enjoy being rude?”

Laughter burst out before I could stop it. “Normally, my answer would be yes, but in this case, I’m irritated because she’s here to spy on Peace. No wonder the fairy can’t make up her mind about her life. Her mother interferes in everything she does, and it’s undermining her confidence.”

“Is Peace upset?”

I thought about it but had to be honest with myself. No harm had been done so far. “No, Peace seemed to take Gertruda’s presence in stride.”

Farley smiled at me. “After I saw Peace riding on his back, I lost my urge to kill him.”

“Well, that’s good news.”

“Robin talked about Peace all during lunch. Paul mentioned Peace liked to dance with him and his mates. Robin smiled and said her fun-loving nature was one of the things he liked best about her. Do you think she likes him back? Because he seems devoted to her.”

I shrugged while I lined up vegetables on platters.

Just because the prince was stuck in centaur form didn’t mean she couldn’t serve him on a nice plate.

“Peace likes Robin a lot, but I’m not sure she loves him.

Between Lord Alfred cock-blocking Robin’s urges, and the fairy queen pussy-blocking Peace’s ability to feel sexy, the two of them don’t stand a chance of getting together.

I gave Peace a pep talk, but there’s not much else I can do. ”

Farley reached into his back pocket and pulled out a notebook. He flipped a few pages and then stopped to read. When he raised his head, he smiled at her and showed his fangs.

“Were you checking your notes about me?” I asked.

“Yes. And I have faith in you. You are good at this job.”

I chuckled softly and waved at my platters. “Yes, I’m a real whiz at chopping vegetables and putting them on a platter.”

Farley rolled his eyes.

“What was that eye roll about?” I exclaimed, laughing at his action. “I thought I was the eye-rolling person in our relationship.”

“You do a lot more than chop vegetables, Selene. People who come here all have serious issues going on in their lives. You solve them. You solved your own issues and Peace’s at the same time. You solved mine.”

I snorted. “What are you talking about? You didn’t have any problems when we met.”

“I was lonely and looking for you. Finding out you existed solved the biggest problem I’ve ever had that I couldn’t solve by myself. I’m finally able to move on to solving other important things.”

I grinned at him. “Like how to make cold fusion work?”

“Among other things... I also thought that maybe you and I could visit modern deserts and see if we could put my hedge witch magic to work making small areas of them green. The Amazon rainforests are shrinking. Someone has to do something to fix them before they’re gone.”

I stopped to stare. “I would love to travel with you. That’s a great idea.”

“When we’re done fixing the environment, I want to wrestle one of those giant anacondas to see if I’m stronger than it is. Harrison and Garrison have already put bets on it. Dad Charlie chose to abstain.”

I set down my knife to keep from cutting myself. “Do you really think you can fight a more than twenty-foot-long snake that weighs over four hundred and fifty pounds?”

Farley rubbed his jaw. “You’re right. I weigh more and maneuver better. Maybe I’ll wrestle a hippo instead. I’m about the same size in my bear form.”

I leaned on the counter, but no sensible or sane statements came to mind.

Giving in to my urge to shriek and rage would do no one any good.

So instead, I looked at the bear I adored and shook my head.

“Farley, I think I understand now why your family worries about you getting into trouble all the time. You need a keeper.”

“I need you,” he said in his sexiest low voice while showing me his fangs again.

My panties nearly melted away as I stared at his knowing smile. He was learning about me... and learning to flirt. If he learned anything more, the bear would have me flat on my back all the time. That was too much power to give any man, and I had no intention of letting him know it.

I dropped my gaze and did some deep breathing, while visualizing myself mucking out Prince Robin’s stall. There was nothing like visualizing centaur poop to calm down a person’s libido.

Once I had my raging hormones under control, I blew out a breath and nodded. “I need you too, Farley. But I’m not sure I’m up to being your keeper.”

“Well, I’m sure up to being yours, but my brothers said that’s not a polite thing to mention to the woman you want to take to bed. They both said it would be better for you to discover that factoid on your own.”

My smile was wide. “Your brothers are right, but I’m not your average woman. I enjoy hard truths.”

“Then you’re going to love mine because it’s always that way around you,” he said.

I didn’t dare answer because that would lead to me laughing and jumping his bones, so I ducked my head and sighed.

There was no way I was going to drag Farley to bed with an unfriendly stranger upstairs, a sad fairy in the basement, and a ghost-inhabited wand that didn’t want me thinking of sex, much less having any.

How had my own life suddenly turned to centaur shit? And I wasn’t talking about what I shoveled out of Prince Robin’s stall.

Carol would pay for my current misery, but revenge on The Not-So-Great Baby Yaga couldn’t happen until I’d helped Prince Peace and Harmony resolve her low self-esteem issues.

Damn the bear for being right. Helping people was the part I liked best about being here.

When the bullshit moved out of my way, I instinctively knew what to do to fix people’s problems. Could I see myself doing this for a living, though?

Sometimes I could, but not if it came with a sexually repressed ghost making all the decisions for me.

And that Puritan slash Victorian outfit would need a serious makeover before I would ever commit.

Was an innkeeper supposed to give up men forever and walk in Jezel’s sexless shoes?

That bossy ghost was crazy if she thought I’d ever let that happen to me.

If I stayed—and Goddess, I couldn’t be serious about this—at the very least, she would have to bring her 1800s sexual beliefs into the 2000s.

I would invite who I wanted to my bed and I’d do it whenever I wanted.

Those were brave thoughts and braver words, but my heart knew staying wasn’t really an option.

Jezel had no reason to change herself or the inn... and neither did I.

I didn’t know who I felt most sorry for at that moment—me or Peace.