Free Knight in Leather by Holley Trent Page A

what?”
    “Dunno. Bonfire on the beach, maybe, assuming there aren’t any fire restrictions right now. Or go to a movie or something. There’s probably something worth ten dollars playing in Elizabeth City.”
    The idea of being crowded into a theater with a bunch of fairy tagalongs didn’t do much to quell Dasha’s heartburn. Apparently, Sully staring at Zenia like he was a starving man and she was a potential meal didn’t seem to bother the woman. She seemed to like the attention.
    Lucky for her that she’s so easily able to reciprocate.
    Dasha wished she could be so open to connecting. She missed that flirty, adventurous part of herself that was more open to taking risks in life and in love. Lately, the only risks she took were popping in to visit her best friend without notice. Even the quality of her work at the agency had been unremarkable. She’d started wondering if the same anchor that held her in place romantically was dragging down the rest of her life.
    She hated that about herself. Growth required taking risks, and she’d let a man scare her off from trying to reach her potential. The mindset she was in was destructive and crippling, and she was sick of holding herself back. She missed being Dasha . Simone hadn’t been there to see the change so she didn’t notice how much less interesting Dasha was than she’d been before Simone had taken ownership of the motel and its curse. That she hadn’t was a good thing. Simone hadn’t had to witness the metamorphosis and pity Dasha.
    Dasha didn’t need any more pity. She had enough of her own.
     

CHAPTER SIX
    Ethan tried to close the room door before Laurel could get a word out, but she stuck her purse into the gap and giggled.
    “What’s the hurry, Ethan?”
    Rolling his eyes, he backed away and let Princess Simone take the space where he’d been standing.
    “Checkout is at eleven tomorrow,” the princess said sweetly.
    Princess Simone had had to give the scheming nitwit a room. Due to her curse, the princess couldn’t refuse anyone who came to her for hospitality as long as there was a room available to offer. And Laurel had asked.
    There was no possible way she could have known about Simone’s curse unless someone on the crew had told her, and there was no fairy in his acquaintance was that stupid. Besides, everyone on the crew knew Laurel was bad business. They’d been helping Ethan circumvent her advances for years.
    Laurel canted her blond head and broadened her already wide grin. “What if I need to stay another night?” she purred.
    “That depends on capacity and whether all my bookings show up. This time of year, keeping rooms open is impossible. The only reason I had this one available was because of a last-minute cancellation.”
    Laurel pouted. “Rats.”
    Hestia, who’d apparently popped in at some point during the transaction, leaned against the corner of the building and gnawed at the corner of her thumbnail.
    Princess Simone didn’t turn to acknowledge her—probably so as not to arouse Laurel’s attention to the goddess—but she had to have sensed her patron there.
    “If you need anything,” Simone said to the very unwelcome guest, “call the office and leave a message. There’s usually someone in there to answer, but if not, you know what to do.”
    “What if I need something you can’t give me?”
    “I’m sure there are a lot of things I can’t and won’t give you.”
    “Maybe you can find someone who can.” Laurel grinned again and her bright gaze shifted to Ethan.
    He growled quietly and folded his arms over his chest. He’d sooner toss her scheming ass off the end of a pier than to do her any favors, and especially not the favor she wanted.
    Princess Siobhan, standing atop the parking block of the space directly in front of the room, scoffed. “You are a trifling wretch, aren’t ya?”
    Laurel blinked. “I don’t know what you mean, Princess.”
    One good thing Ethan could say about Laurel was that