Free Knight in Leather by Holley Trent

fairies.”
    “Maybe not.”
    “Okay, you can’t just leave me in suspense like that. Stop trying to shelter me from things that might be interesting in a way you think I’m not going to like. Let me decide if stuff is interesting.” Dasha set her food on the sandy little table between her lounger and the empty one to her left, then stood.
    “I swear , there’s nothing for you to be concerned about.”
    “Bullshit. The last time someone told me that, I ended up having to get a series of rabies shots.”
    “Dash!”
    Dasha’s gaze was pulled to the opposite corner of the pool area where Zenia had walked through carrying a covered dish and grinning broadly.
    Shit . Dasha looked toward Sully, but she hadn’t needed to. Caryl was already heading toward him. He was at the barbecue holding a bit of steak between his tongs and peering back at Zenia, obviously incited, but for the moment, he was glued in place.
    Who the hell invited her?
    “Did I miss all the good food? I’m just now getting off work. I brought cookies.” She started toward the buffet table, but Daryn intercepted her and relieved her of her container.
    “I’ll fix you up,” Daryn said. “Take a load off.”
    Matt absolved Sully of his grilling duties and guided him to the far corner of the courtyard.
    Confusion marked on her delicate features, Zenia sank onto the lounger to Dasha’s left. “Okay…I guess. Where’s Simone?”
    “She had to run to the office for something. So, uh…did she tell you about this shindig?” Dasha knew for damn sure that Simone was very careful about keeping certain parties separated, and from what Dasha had heard, her friend had done a superb job of knocking Sully out of Zenia’s gravitational pull, despite their very local proximity to each other. Spilling the beans didn’t seem like Simone.
    “Oh, no.” Zenia gave her septum piercing a straightening twist and settled more cozily into her seat. “A few of the guests mentioned there was an event when they were at the restaurant for lunch. I figured I’d stop by and be a friendly face before I went home. Jeez, are all those guys living here now?”
    “Huh?”
    Zenia indicated the gaggle of fairies milling around the empty pool and in the courtyard. “I don’t think I’ve seen so many of the gang at once.” She furrowed her brow. “Are they a gang? Is that what you call motorcycle crews?”
    “Gang is as good a word as any, I suppose.”
    “They make them tall wherever they’re from, that’s for sure.”
    Dasha didn’t think Zenia was all that concerned about “they.” She seemed specifically interested in one in particular. Fortunately for that particular fairy, she’d picked the right one.
    Sully wasn’t even trying not to stare. His gaze was so hot that if there had been water in the pool that separated him from his mate, it would have been boiling.
    Zenia twirled an end of her spiky peach hair and gnawed on her lower lip, staring back. “So, uh. What are the plans for tonight?”
    “No idea. This place doesn’t exactly have a social director. The best I can tell, Simone plans most activities by the seat of her pants.” And that was one of the things Dasha had scribbled into her motel fixit-list. Planned and advertised activities would go a long way in shaping the sort of clientele the motel needed to have. Simone could demand more money per room and actually get it. There were a lot of people who’d cough up the money to be that close to the beach, but only a certain subset of those folks who wouldn’t trash the place while they were there. To say that Simone was getting sick of frat boys would have been a fair statement.
    “We should go do something tonight,” Zenia said evenly. She still wasn’t looking at Dasha. She was giving Sully the same sultry stare he was giving her.
    Daryn gave the top of Sully’s head a thump. He finally looked away and Daryn returned to the food table.
    Dasha sighed. “Do something like