Page 5 of Too Sexy for My Hooves (Inn or Out #2)

For breakfast, I pulled the remaining vegetables out of the refrigerator.

I added apples to the tray for Prince Robin and a few strawberries to the one for Alfred.

I tapped the wand on each and sent them both to the stables.

Farley and I had used sawhorses and a nice board we found to create a makeshift serving table.

The loaf of banana bread in the oven neared completion.

That tasty treat was for my reno crew. Paul and his mates had arrived before seven and were already hard at work removing the old front porch boards.

They were singing like a barbershop quartet to cover the sound of their hammers.

It was more enjoyable than the stripping songs they played on their vintage boom box while they worked, so I let it go.

I made a mental note to speak to Alfred later to see if the noise bothered him or Prince Robin. I hadn’t thought to warn them about it.

I stood at the stove, busily preparing food for Peace and me.

When she stayed here before, I’d learned that bacon and eggs were a cheat meal for her.

Royal fairies only consumed the purest foods from plants, which seemed primarily to consist of wild berries.

With me, she devoured my personal breakfast favorites with the same kind of relish Farley showed for food.

My stressed-out fairy guest stumbled into the kitchen, looking hungover and not well-rested at all. Like a good host, I pretended not to notice while trying to think of ways to rectify her sleeping situation. “Good morning, Peace. Did you sleep well?”

Peace shook her head and silently went to sit at the table. I poured her tea and added a healthy amount of honey to the cup. She sighed in gratitude when I set it in front of her.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“Breakfast will be served shortly. It’s nearly ready to plate.”

I returned to the stove to finish. I caught myself humming and realized I was in an excellent mood today, despite my personal plans being disrupted the night before.

Outside the kitchen window, the probably reason for my good mood walked toward my back door with a large box of pastries in one hand and a bouquet of wildflowers in the other.

I smiled and waved when Farley caught me looking. He smiled back, giving me fang.

Desire crawled through me with no prompting and no physical contact.

Looking at Prince Robin conjured thoughts of sex that led to a single inevitable outcome.

Looking at Farley sparked a profound sense of contentment and rightness.

Desiring him was the kind of longing that I would move mountains to satisfy, especially knowing he longed for me too.

Thinking of his fangs exploring my neck almost made me burn the bacon.

I turned the griddle off before he entered the kitchen.

He kissed me soundly, not even noticing poor Peace sitting at the table.

I could have stopped his tongue, but didn’t want to.

He finally pulled away and handed me the flowers.

My giggle surprised us both. The effect he had on me was indescribable and unexplainable.

Farley was mainly a vegetarian, so I didn’t offer him any bacon. I’d held back a perfect apple this morning and handed that to him instead.

“Should I call you Eve now?” Farley asked, raking the apple off my palm.

“Maybe. Should I call you Adam?” I asked with a grin as I put the flowers into a large glass jar I’d found under the sink.

Farley sighed. “It’s better than you calling me Junior,” he said, making sure I saw his fangs as he took a bite of the crisp fruit.

Another giggle escaped me. That happened to me a lot when Farley was around. “Princess Peace and I were just about to have breakfast.”

Farley swallowed and turned to look at Peace, who tiredly waved at him. “Good morning, Princess. I didn’t see you there.” He turned back to me. “Where are your other guests?”

“Since Prince Robin can’t come inside the inn in centaur form, they are having breakfast in the stable.”

“Okay. I’m going to go check on Paul’s progress.”

“ Do not go to the stable, Farley.”

“I won’t. Dad helped me figure out a way to control my response. I’m a grown bear. I don’t want to upset you again. I can control myself.”

“Except when you’re with me. Losing your control will be okay then,” I said, winking at Peace as I set her plate in front of her.

“Yes—except when I’m with you,” Farley promised as he headed to the front door.

Peace sighed and pushed her food around on her plate. “What is it like to be loved like that?”

I set my plate down and took a seat. “I’m not sure what I feel is love, but whenever Farley is around, I feel happy to be close to him.”

Peace nodded. “Fairies don’t seek happiness.

They don’t know contentment. They seek power over others and themselves.

There is no room in a fairy’s life for a man to bring her flowers he personally picked.

There is no passionate kissing in a princess’s kitchen.

There is only endless politics and deep discontentment. ”

“I think I would seek intimacy as an escape from the dullness.”

“It doesn’t work that way. Sex is nothing more than a perfunctory act. It’s like eating bad food at a conference. Also, the good males aren’t always interested.”

Peace crunched a piece of bacon and frowned. “If I were happy, I would not be eating this disgusting food. I would be eating what you sent to the stables.”

“Hey now,” I said, glaring at the fairy. “I’m not that bad a cook.”

Peace sighed. “I did not mean to insult your preparations. All your food is delicious, but this fare is not healthy for a fairy. Does that sound better?”

I reached across the table and snatched a piece a bacon from her plate. I ate it while she watched me with wide eyes. I waved the last bite at her. “This is me saving you from your miserable foodie self.”

I laughed when she covered the rest of her food with one hand.

Peace looked at what she was doing and laughed. “You are so very strange. I admire you so much. If you were a fairy princess like me, we would be the best of friends.”

I chuckled as I finished my breakfast. “So what are we, if we’re not friends?”

Peace sighed and blew out a long breath before speaking.

“That is what I need to talk to you about. I hope you will consider using me as a temporary employee. My mother says I owe you a month of service for emotionally wronging you. She insists I manually work off that debt. She would hear no arguments about it.”

I waved away her speech. “The only help I need is currently fixing my front porch. Please tell your mother that we’re all doing well.

Without your mistake, I wouldn’t have gone to prison, or been put here, or met Farley.

You already know I hate working for The Baba Yaga for free.

Why would I accept free labor from you? That’s not fair.

While I’m not always a good person, making you my lackey is a bitch level I’d rather not stoop to. It would make me feel like Ethan.”

Nodding, Peace ate more of her food. “You are a good person, Selene, but Mother was adamant. Worse, I am not permitted to use magic to complete the tasks you assign to me. Yet I have no practical skills. I do not cook. I also dislike cleaning. However, I can certainly see that you need help with both these things.”

“Are you saying the inn is dirty?”

Peace winced. “It could be cleaner.”

“It’s run down and hasn’t been cared for in over a century.

It would take more than the weeks I’ve been here to get it into decent shape.

Besides, the inn is my prison. It’s not a beach house I’m renovating.

I’m only fixing things because I’m bored.

This inn doesn’t belong to me. I’m not a true innkeeper. ”

Peace’s eyes widened. “Wow—and I thought I was in denial.”

“You are in denial,” I said, taking my now empty plate to the sink. I rinsed it off and loaded it into the dishwasher.

Peace followed behind me. She rinsed her plate and tentatively loaded it into the dishwasher next to mine. “Is that correct?”

I shrugged. “Looks fine to me. I just stick them in there any way I can get them to fit.”

“Why would you do things so haphazardly without thought?” When I laughed, Peace made a face. “Your chaotic methods explain much.”

I rolled my eyes. The last thing I needed was to have Peace following me around all day.

She swallowed hard and lifted her chin. “Please, Selene. Please teach me all the menial skills you do daily to survive. Perhaps if you see yourself as my teacher, my mother might accept my efforts as enough to restore the emotional imbalance I created between us. She is sending someone to check on me and ensure I am doing this. I cannot disappoint her again. Mother is threatening to leave her throne to my younger sister instead of me. Princess Allegheny thinks servants are toys. She would be a terrible leader for our people. She would treat the lesser fairies as her slaves.”

“I don’t know, Peace. I prefer doing things by myself. I like exercising full control.”

“I would follow your orders without complaint or asking too many questions. I will limit myself to asking for clarity.”

Caring for a centaur guest had created a lot more work than I had imagined. I needed to muck the stall twice a day to keep it clean enough for someone like Prince Robin.

“Have you ever owned a horse?”

Peace eyes lit as she nodded.

“Did you ever groom the horse? Or did someone else brush it down and clean out the stall?”

Peace softly sighed. “I am the firstborn princess of the fairy queen. I’ve had servants all my life. I have watched them do it, but they would never have allowed me to help.”

I fought hard not to roll my eyes. My parents made my siblings and me work as hard as they did. The fairy queen had not done her daughter any favors with all those servants. She was lucky that Peace was not completely spoiled.