Chapter Seven
Chapter 7
S even hours later their feet finally touched ground. Wandering through the airport, Kelyn slung Valor’s backpack across one shoulder and carried his bag on the other side. He’d had to rip the thing out of her hand. The chick was tough, but come on, let a guy do the chivalrous thing once in a while.
Now he turned to see if she still followed him—she’d gotten over her sleep deprivation just in time for midnight in Australia. Ha! He’d stolen a few winks on the flight and didn’t need to sleep all that much. Despite having watched six movies and debating the merits of chemical-free lawns as opposed to spraying with an across-the-aisle passenger, he was good to go.
Valor sped up and passed him.
“I think the taxi terminal is that way,” he said as she headed in the opposite direction.
“Cool, but I see an all-night buffet up ahead. And I’m starving. That tiny meal on the plane only whetted my appetite. Come on!”
Food that had actually been prepared in a real kitchen and not freeze-dried and reheated? He was in.
Kelyn picked up his pace and didn’t make it to the cash register in time before Valor had confirmed she’d paid for both of them. Without waiting for his argument, she charged into the restaurant and grabbed a plate, directing him to find a table.
Let no man stand in the way of a hungry woman. Who was too darned cute as she navigated the aisles of food with a gleeful look on her face. And she was yet to notice the sprig of hair sticking straight out from the top of her head.
Ten minutes later, Kelyn sat with a plate stacked with steamed and fresh veggies, fried potatoes of various types and something called Vegemite spread on a piece of toast. And Valor had almost cleaned her first plate.
“Where do you put it all?” he asked and sipped his hot coffee.
She flexed a biceps and tapped it. “Right here. All the protein keeps me in shape for lifting the grain bags at the brewery and hefting heavy auto parts around the shop.”
“That’s right, you’re a tool monkey.”
“I prefer to call it getting my grease on, but close enough. Yeah, Daisy Blu and Beck let me and Sunday use one of the stalls at their auto body shop. We are working on a ’67 Corvette Stingray. It’s sweet. You like cars, Kelyn?”
“They get a guy where he needs to go. I’m more of a motorcycle man, I guess.”
“Cool. I ride an old street chopper I picked up from Raven Crosse for a killer price. Fixing it up right now. But your Firebird is a classic.”
“Blade fixed it up for me as a birthday present a few years ago. It was a junker I found on Craigslist for a thousand bucks. Blade can work magic with bodywork, and Beck restored the engine.”
“Nice.”
Reaching across the table, he patted down the tangle of hair on her head. “That’s better.”
She shrugged. “I’m no glamour girl. Get used to it. So, you ever hop on your motorcycle and ride up along Lake Superior? It’s gorgeous in the fall with the colorful leaves. I try to go camping in the Boundary Waters at least once a year.”
“Sounds like fun. But I don’t own a motorcycle. I just like them. And believe it or not, I haven’t been Up North. Been stuck in the Twin Cities all my freakin’ life. Is this your first trip out of the country?”
“Out of the state.”
“I have been lucky enough to visit Paris once. I like flying. Er...in an airplane,” he felt the need to correct, because if he thought about flying with his wings... Yeah, he needed to put that heart-crushing memory aside. “You should have told me this was your first flight. I thought you’d flown before because of the, er...”
“Drunken disaster I was this morning?”
“Yeah. Seems like you had a routine established for alleviating your flight anxiety that could only have come from much experimenting.”
“I’ve flown north to Thief River Falls to visit friends on a much smaller plane. Dude, you don’t even want to know about that disaster.”
He smiled at her cringing expression. To him, flight was everything. But free flight, courtesy of wings, was the ultimate. Stop thinking about it, man. With luck, what he’d lost would soon be regained.
“Speaking of drunken disasters...” He offered a sheepish grin. “I wasn’t sure what to do, so we...left the cat behind.”
“Everything’s cool. My neighbor checks in on Mooshi. I thought you didn’t like cats.”
“I don’t, but that doesn’t mean I can’t care about an animal’s safety.”
“Why the dislike? Are you allergic to cats?”
“No. I actually think it’s a faery thing. Cats don’t care for me, either. I’m surprised your Mooshi was so calm around me. Usually they come at me with their claws bared or else run and hide.”
“Wow. Well, you are a likable guy and Mooshi is chill.” She shoved in a forkload of food and looked aside.
A likable guy, eh? She liked him. But he wouldn’t tease her about it. Yet. It made Kelyn feel good to know that she did. Had he a real chance to score with her now that he no longer had to worry that she and his brother had had a thing?
He sipped the weak black coffee. “So, are we headed straight to the lake tonight?”
“I’m in. The moon is almost full. We should have good light to explore.”
“Is the lake accessible?”
“Sure, but I don’t think it’s touristy. Maybe? I didn’t do a lot of research on it, but I do know it’s kind of, sort of out of the way. We can head there when we’re finished eating.” She stood and headed for plate number two.
“Never leave a man behind.” Despite his usual habit of eating small meals often throughout the day, Kelyn followed her, thinking he couldn’t let a girl eat him under the table.
By the time plate number three had been cleaned, he was feeling the burn in his gut. Maybe he should concede the win on this one.
“You’re kind of competitive,” Valor said as she licked the whipped cream off her spoon, then stabbed it into the mush of blueberry pie. “You know that?”
“Just hungry.” He pushed his plate forward on the table, thinking dessert was out of the question. Oh, that Vegemite. He shouldn’t have had the third slice of toast. “Very well. I concede. You win the buffet challenge.”
“I always do.” She sat back, spreading her hair out across one shoulder. It was long and glossy; he imagined what it might feel like spread across his chest, tickling like sensual silk.
“You want the last piece?” She tapped the plate, on which sat a small uneaten blob of pie coated with whipped cream.
Recognizing the significance of the offer, Kelyn set aside his revulsion at all the sugar—and his full-to-the-brim stomach—and leaned across the table. She forked the pie and placed it in his mouth. It wasn’t like he’d consumed a whole piece, but it was definitely the straw that broke the camel’s very full stomach. He sat back with a groan.
“Poor guy. Will you be able to make this evening’s adventure?” she asked, not hiding a teasing tone. “Or do you want to go snuggle up in a hotel room and recover from the food deluge?”
Snuggle up? Was she suggesting? No, she had chosen the wrong word. Maybe? But as for crawling under the covers and surrendering? Could he? Man up, faery.
“I’m in. How far away is the lake?”
“Not sure.” She tugged out her cell phone. “I might have to arrange transportation. This could take a bit.”
Enough time to give his stomach a recovery period.
“You bring your swimsuit?” she asked as they grabbed their luggage and filed out of the booth.
“What for? Are we going to swim in the lake?”
“Heck, yeah. You think I’d fly across the world to visit a pink lake and not go in it?”
“I’m not much of a swimmer. Actually, I never learned how.” And please don’t ask him to start now.
She shrugged. “It’s cool. I think I read something about people being extra buoyant in the water because of the massive salt content. Dude. This is going to rock!”