On Your Sole

by Caitlin Ricci

  Casey nodded and finished off his drink in one big gulp. I couldn’t help watching his throat as he swallowed whatever disgusting blue cocktail he’d been drinking. “Those are all the terms. One month and one weekend. Do we have a bargain?”

  I nodded and leaned toward him, bringing our lips together. He fisted his hands in the front of my shirt and I swiped my tongue over his lips and tasted the blueberries from his drink before he opened his mouth to me and I took control of the kiss completely.

  We would have kept kissing if he hadn’t leaned back and practically fallen into the guy sitting behind him. Laughing, we separated, but he kept one of his hands in my shirt, even as he slid off the stool. “See you at the shop tomorrow.”

  “No, I told you, two weeks was what the guy said. Enjoy your time off.”

  Casey smirked at me then let go of my shirt only to kiss me on my cheek. “I know. I heard you. And I think that’s shit. It does not take two weeks to clean up a shop that small. I’ll see you in the morning. Try not to be hungover.”

  I could only stare at him. “And what’s your plan? That we clean it all up ourselves? That’s what the insurance company is for.”

  Casey rolled his eyes and stepped away from me completely. “I’m not going to tell you my grand master plan. You don’t get to know background details. That wasn’t part of our bargain. Just be at the shop tomorrow morning at your usual time and we can get to work.”

  “Casey—”

  He shook his head at me, gave the bartender a wave, then was gone, with me staring after him and wondering just what kind of crazy he really was.

  ****

  I didn’t want to clean the shop the next morning and I wasn’t even sure why I’d bothered to get up and go into the store. It wasn’t habit, since I hadn’t been working there that long, so maybe it had something to do with curiosity. Either way, I was in the mall and standing in front of my shop right on time.

  Only, it wasn’t my shop as I’d remembered it. The ugly neon sign was gone, now replaced with something much more tasteful in a flowing script. The shelves were back to normal, the glass was fixed, the rugs had been changed out for ones that were pale green, and under them lay new hardwood floors.

  And behind the register, perched on a stool and flipping through a magazine, sat Casey. He smiled at me as I came into the barely recognizable store.

  “How did you…? What did you…?” I shook my head and stopped trying to make the words happen.

  “Coffee?” he offered, holding up a cup. He had one of his own sitting next to his elbow.

  I squinted at him as I took the cup out of his hands. “You did something.”

  He shrugged and smiled up at me. “Not really. I’ve got some friends. They owed me a favor. I really had no actual part in this at all. Last night I went right to bed after leaving the club.”

  I didn’t believe him for a second, but I had no idea how this could have gotten done. It was like he’d done it with magic somehow. Only I didn’t believe in magic.

  “Promise,” he said when I kept staring at him.

  “I’m watching you,” I warned him.

  He shrugged again. “That’s fine. I like when I catch you watching me. They did some remodeling in the back areas if you want to check that out, too. Since we’re carrying men’s heels, I thought maybe a discreet place to try them on away from the giant glass windows would be appreciated. All the heels come in plain black shoe boxes too. Very secretive. I think it’ll be fun. And I’ve already gotten word to some of the guys at the club that were asking me about the heels last night, and other nights that I’ve worn other heels in, and they promised to be by this week to pick some up.”

  I had to go sit down before this all became too overwhelming for me. This was insanity—he was somehow made of magic, and the only familiar thing left in the store was my tiny office.

  Chapter Four

  He wasn’t wrong though. Within a week, I knew the numbers were better than they’d ever been. By the end of the month, he was practically grinning every time he brought me his sales slips for the day. The male shoppers had outnumbered the female ones, and Casey looked like he’d expected it all from the beginning.

  “How did you do it?” I asked him as he turned in the final pack of receipts for the month.

  He just smiled at me. “Dinner tonight? Then off to the cabin tomorrow? I’ll bring a movie and stay over.” As he spoke, he slid himself over my lap and I was forced to lean back in the computer chair.

  “Give me one answer please?” I was ready to beg him. The last month hadn’t made any sense to me. From the store being fixed magically overnight to suddenly every man in the city apparently wanting to start wearing heels, I needed answers before my head was going to explode from all the absolute craziness going on around me.

  He leaned forward and rested his forearms over my shoulders. “What’s up? And why do you look so freaked out?”

  “What the hell happened this month?”

  He smiled at me. “I had some friends help me out.”

  It was the same non-answer I’d heard from him before and that wasn’t going to cut it this time. Not with me. I needed a lot more than that from him.

  But if asking what had happened wasn’t the right question, maybe there was one that was. Only, I was afraid to give voice to the words because I didn’t know what they’d really mean for me. “What are you?” I whispered as fear raced through me. There was something different about him. It wasn’t necessarily wrong and I didn’t feel afraid of him at all, but something didn’t make sense. He didn’t add up for me.

  Casey cocked his head to the side. “You finally asked the right question. Promise not to scream?”

  “No.” There was no way in hell I was going to promise something like that.

  He rolled his eyes. “Fine. Then you promise not to shoot me with the nine millimeter your dad keeps under the desk?”

  I didn’t even know there was a gun down there. “Uh. Sure.”

  Casey tried to push himself off my lap, but I grabbed his hips and held him into place.

  “I’m fae,” he quietly admitted.

  And even as I started to laugh him off, I saw some of his human features shift out of place. His eyes became brighter, his nose a little more pointed, and his perfect mouth got a little fuller. I turned his head to the side so that I could see his ears. I even touched them to make sure.

  “What are you doing?” he asked me, his voice whisper soft.

  “Seeing if your ears are pointy.” It seemed like a perfectly natural thing to say to him, given the situation.

  “Wrong type of fae. I’m not the movie kind.” Casey chuckled and turned his head back so that he was facing me. Then he carefully bent his head to kiss my fingertips while keeping his gaze trained on mine as if he was afraid I was going to attack him.

  I was freaking out and trying not to show it, but I didn’t know if maybe he could hear my racing heartbeat. Or if he could read my thoughts. “I need to know everything right now. No secrets.”

  “So…” Casey bit his lip and glanced up at the ceiling before bringing his attention back to me. “I’m really not that powerful, but I have some friends who are. They like fixing things, and apparently decorating is fun for them too. I’m also pretty sure my dad was behind the destruction of the shop. The thing I do best is shoes. I love shoes. My dad made the really nice shoes I have here now. Everyone loves them. It gives them an instant butt lift, because they’re made of magic. And…” He shrugged.

  That was all way too much information for me to process all at once. “Okay. Slow down. Your dad destroyed the shop? But why?”

  Casey cringed and looked away from me. “Because… Well…”

  I didn’t like that he was stalling. “Well?” I practically snapped at him.

  That brought his attention back to me. “He
made a bet with your dad that we wouldn’t get together. Your dad said that we would. I think mine figured that with the store shut down, I’d get bored and move on after a few weeks of not seeing you. I’ve had a crush on you for a while now, ever since I came in last year and saw you working. I think your dad was sick that day.”

  “He was. And I remember working that day”—because I really hadn’t enjoyed even a second of it—“but I don’t remember you being there.” And I knew I would have remembered someone who looked like Casey.

  “I used to be able to change my appearance. The more time I spend among humans, the less of my magic I can use. At this point I need my friends to do most of it for me and I’m only good for keeping my fae features hidden.” He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal to him. If it didn’t bother him to lose that part of himself, I wasn’t going to mention it.

  I was still struggling to understand a few things, though. “So, my dad knows about the fae?”

  Casey nodded and shifted a little on my lap. “He’s known for years. He was my introduction to the human world, as a favor to my dad. I’m supposed to be up here not getting into trouble, but I think he just wanted me out of his hair. Also, he wanted me to make friends. It’s hard for me to make—and then keep—friends sometimes.”

  I could see why, and part of me wanted to be snarky with him. But a bigger part of me, the one that liked having him close and appreciated all that he’d done to help me over the last month—that part of me didn’t want anyone to say anything mean to him ever.

  “Okay, so to get things straight, you’re fae, my dad knows, he wanted to set us up, your dad thought we wouldn’t get together, and you’ve liked me for a long time, even though there’s no real reason why you should?” I thought that I had it all summed up nicely. All the insane bunches of it.

  Casey gave me a big grin. “See? You got it. Not so hard to do at all. Can we go to dinner now? There’s this sushi place I’ve been wanting to try out.”

  He was crazy. That was the most obvious thing about him for me. He was sweet, though, and for some reason he liked me. And, just as strangely, I was starting to feel something for him. I was also starting to realize that fighting him was getting me nowhere. One weekend together wouldn’t make the world end, and I did want to know more about him being fae and what all that actually meant.

  I laughed. “Sure. I’ll go to dinner with you. Then we’ll leave for the cabin tomorrow?”

  He nodded and hopped off my lap. “Yep. Does that mean I can stay over at your place tonight?”

  I frowned as I got to my feet as well. There was so much that I didn’t know about him and I really didn’t even know where to start with my questions. “Do you have a place?”

  “Of course. I have a little studio apartment that backs to a park. I—we, actually—like open spaces and green stuff. I even have a mini lemon tree. I like cutting up the fruit and putting it in my ice water. When it’s cold, though, I’ll do hot water and add some lemon to it.”

  He seemed so normal, and yet I knew that he wasn’t. He wasn’t even human and I’d seen little glimpses of that side of him. “Are you really as good at your job as I think you are, or was that just magic?”

  Casey smirked at me and shoved his thumbs into his pockets. “If you think I’m good at my job, then that’s all me. I kind of have this thing where if I like something I get really involved in it. It’s another reason I’m up here. And I like shoes. A lot. I’ve got a thing for heels in bright colors. It might even be an obsession. And now that we’re carrying the shoes I love, I can be our biggest customer.”

  I just shook my head and smiled at him. “Okay. I think that’s enough insanity for tonight. Let’s go to sushi. Nice, normal sushi.”

  But Casey didn’t move. “Thanks for not freaking out. I was worried about what you would think. And I can do half truths about nearly anything, but when you asked me what I was, that wasn’t something I could fudge here and there. We’re not allowed to directly lie to humans.”

  That seemed like the stupidest rule I’d ever heard. “So if anyone asks you what you are you have to answer them? No matter what?”

  “Well”—he shrugged—“I could run away. But most people don’t ask us anything like that. They’re either afraid of the answer or they’re too wrapped up in their own superiority complex to realize that they might not be alone on this planet. I mean, we’ve been here a hell of a long time and very few of us have ever actually hurt any of you, so there’s no real reason to be afraid.”

  “I think it’s ridiculous that you can’t even protect yourself with a lie when you need to. Whose stupid idea was that?”

  Casey laughed and leaned against the wall. “You can thank my dad for that one. He’s kind of the fae king.”

  So that would make him the fae prince? “Should I start calling you highness and bowing to you?”

  Casey laughed again, and this time it took him much longer to calm down. “Oh, please don’t. Ever. I’m the youngest of his children. Even if I was in line for the throne, which I’m not because there would be no point, I’ve got twelve siblings ahead of me. My mom was his last wife, and the one he married for love and not to form an alliance or to preserve some sacred forest. I don’t get to be king and I am so freaking happy about that you have no idea. That’s why I’m allowed to be up here, why I have friends who are dryads, and why I have coffee with a brownie every other Saturday afternoon. I couldn’t do any of those things down there if I was set to be the next king. It wouldn’t be allowed. So I’m happy just being me.”

  Just Casey. I liked that. I came forward and took his hand. “Okay. Then let’s go to dinner. There you can tell me all about your friends and your siblings. I probably won’t ever meet them but I’d still like to hear all about them.”

  He looked puzzled. “You would?”

  “Yes. I like knowing about the people I’m dating. And since today was your last day, we’re officially going to go on our first date.”

  Casey was practically skipping next to me as we locked up the shop and headed out of the mall with his hand tucked neatly in mine.

  Chapter Five

  Sushi was… Well, it was sushi. And I wasn’t a fan of fish, much less raw fish. But Casey seemed to enjoy it, and he smiled at me between nearly every bite, so that was something. And he didn’t let go of my hand until we were in my house that night.

  “So…” Casey grabbed the hem of his shirt and began stripping it over his head. I grabbed his hands though, stopping him before he could take his shirt off.

  “Drop everything that doesn’t make you fae.” We were safe in my house. No one was going to see him but me. And I didn’t want to be looking at a mask anymore.

  He blinked up at me a few times as if he’d been caught by surprise. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded. I was. “We just had our first date. If you want a second—where we will eat the best burgers you’ve ever had and some delicious milkshakes—then you’ll let me see you as you actually are.” After one date with him, I knew I wanted a second. He was sweet and kind. I needed someone like him in my life. I wanted him with me.

  “And if you go screaming off or kick me out of your house?”

  I didn’t think that was possible, but I could see how scared he was. I rubbed my thumbs over the backs of his hands as I tried to soothe his nerves. “Then I was never going to be that good for you and I didn’t ever really deserve you.” I let his wrists go and took a step back to give him some room. “Drop it.”

  He still looked scared as he took off his shirt and slowly started letting things go. I noticed his eyes first, because he kept glancing at me. His ears never became pointed like I expected them to, but his light skin took on a pale, shimmering blue overtone, almost like he was wearing blue glitter. I brushed my fingers over his shoulder, then looked at my fingertips. I’d almost thought that the color would come away with my
fingers.

  “You’re not running away,” he said dryly.

  I smirked at him. “I don’t see any reason to be afraid of you.”

  That made him laugh and I opened my arms so that he could hug me. He walked into my embrace and I held him tightly. “Second date?”

  I nodded against his neck. “Yes. With burgers.”

  He chuckled. “I like burgers.”

  I moved my hands to his face and tilted his head back. Kissing him this time was better, because this time I knew exactly who I was kissing, and he didn’t have to hide from me anymore. I slid my tongue between his teeth and tasted something sweet that he’d had to eat. Maybe one of the many sauces he’d seemed so fond of during dinner.

  He jumped up and wrapped his legs around me, which I thought would be a problem for us since I wasn’t exactly a bodybuilder, but he was surprisingly light. Maybe it was part of being fae. I didn’t care or really worry about it as I put my hands under his thighs and took him over to my couch. I sat down with him on my lap and kept kissing him.

  I could feel how hard he was through his pants and I moved my hands from under his thighs to the tops of them. I wanted to touch him, but I didn’t know if he’d accept that from me. While I was still thinking about how to go about approaching that subject with him, though, he brought his fingers to the button of my pants and started fumbling as he tried to get them open.

  I put my hands over his, stopping him before he could find out that I wasn’t wearing any underwear. “We don’t have to,” I said as I looked up at him.

  He snorted and flapped my hands off of his. “I know I don’t have to. You think you’re forcing me to go down on you or something? No. I’ve been wanting to do this since I saw you bent over and messing around with some shoe boxes last year. Your butt is damn sexy. Now, stop interrupting me.”

  Laughing, I put my hands on the couch on either side of my hips and watched him as he stood up, only to drop back down onto his knees between my open thighs. I didn’t fight him at all this time. Not as he opened up my pants or as he took me out. He wasted no time in sliding his mouth over the head of my cock, and I sighed as I lay back against the couch and just relaxed into the feeling of having him take care of me.