Sealed With A Kiss (Virtue Shifters Book 3) Read online

  Ryan sank down until he sat on his butt on sawdust-covered soil, and exhaled noisily. "I'm so glad you laughed instead of getting me kicked out of the fair for harassment."

  "Didn't even cross my mind." Missy put her face in her hands a moment, then mumbled, "I really am sorry I missed the contest. I thought it would be fun."

  "It would have been, with you." Ryan emphasized the last couple of words a little, hoping Missy would hear them the way he meant them.

  Because he meant them with his whole heart.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Somehow the little emphasis Ryan put on with you made it sound like he meant the words with his whole heart, and it warmed Missy's.

  She gave him what she feared was a pretty watery smile, but her embarrassment and dismay faded. "Thanks. Honestly, you'd think I was a jealous girlfriend or something."

  "Are you?" Ryan sounded almost hopeful.

  Missy blinked at him uncertainly. "Well, we're not in third grade, so probably you're not my boyfriend after only knowing you for like, two hours…"

  Ryan laughed, and she looked around like she could find a clock. "Okay, maybe five," she said, trying to figure out the time. "But anyway, um. Jealous, I…I mean, why would I be? Except I was—oh dear." She laughed and Ryan looked at her curiously.

  "I was maybe a little jealous of Becky this morning when I saw you at the dunk tank. Like when did she meet a guy like that! And why hadn't she told me! But like envious, not crazy stalker jealous," she said hastily, then covered her face with her hands again. They smelled like cinnamon and oil. "Maybe I should stop talking now."

  "Don't," Ryan said, sounding happy. "I like hearing you. You were jealous of Becky, huh? That's great."

  Missy peered over her fingertips skeptically. "It is?"

  "It means you noticed me," he went on, still happily. "Even before I turned into a seal. I'm sorry I picked your mortal enemy to partner with at the pitching contest. Or that she picked me, I guess."

  "I don't think I've ever felt that way before," Missy said, still muffled behind her hands. "I actually felt hurt and angry and…jealous! Which is ridiculous! We've talked for about eights minute in total!"

  Ryan held a breath long enough to make her look up at him properly. "I think I can explain that," he said when she did. "But I'd kind of like to wait until we…know each other a little better?"

  She looked at him suspiciously. Except she couldn't really keep the edge on the suspicion and was smiling instead, so she had the feeling she was mostly sort of sparkling at him. "What, you're not going to say something like 'anybody would be jealous if they thought they had a shot at this hunka-hunka-burnin-love and someone else got in the way?'"

  Ryan, clearly delighted, said, "You think I'm a hunka-hunka-burnin-love?"

  Missy laughed. "You're pretty hunky, anyway, yeah."

  "So are you," Ryan said in a rush, then looked flustered. "I mean…"

  Missy's laugh turned to a grin. "I get it. Thanks." Even her grin faded to a smile, until she was just sitting there, gazing goofily at Ryan, and thinking nothing in particular except that she liked to look at him.

  Then she shook herself, remembering what he'd actually suggested a moment earlier, and nodded. "Okay. I guess I can wait a little while to find out why you think there's a non-hunka-hunka-burnin-love explanation for being jealous. Aside from the fact that Kelly's awful and nobody—and by nobody I mean me—wants to see her with a hot guy. Besides," she added with a sigh, "I have to get back to the booth. I basically put a 'back in five minutes' sign up and ran as soon as I realized I'd missed the pitching contest, and it's been way more than five minutes now."

  Ryan stood and offered her his hand. She took it, and to her surprise, he didn't let go after he'd pulled her to her feet. They stood there a few seconds, gazing at one another from what seemed awfully close, all of a sudden, and Missy realized she'd like to get a lot closer than that, even.

  He looked good, up close. He smelled even better, like chlorine and sunshine and sunscreen. And Missy knew for a fact that she smelled like hot oil, which wasn't nearly as sexy, but she tried to put that out of her mind. He'd put real clothes on after getting off dunk tank duty, of course, and that was both disappointing and a relief. If he'd been running around with Kelly while wearing tiny swim trunks, Missy thought she would have spontaneously combusted, and not in a nice way.

  As it was, he wore a lightweight button-down pink shirt that looked amazing with his black hair falling past his shoulders, and equally lightweight shorts that looked nice and cool in the afternoon heat. He wore sandals that would be so much better than the sturdy, foot-protecting boots she wore for the booth. The leather cord necklace that she'd noticed earlier had a quartz seal pendant.

  Much too loudly, like she'd done when she'd met him this morning, she went, "Hah!" when she noticed the pendant. "It's a seal! Hah! Sneaky!"

  Ryan's hand rose and closed over the pendant, and he smiled. "Thanks. My mom made it."

  "Really? That's so cool! Is she, uh—" Missy dropped her voice again. "Is she a seal, too?"

  A quick smile ran across his face. "She is, but my dad's not. Most shifter families only have one shifter parent."

  Missy squinted, interested. Not just in the conversation, either. She and Ryan were still almost nose to nose, and honestly, that seemed like a really great place to be. Maybe a sort of weird place to chat from, but otherwise, just terrific. "It's none of my business, but wouldn't that make the magic kind of breed out pretty fast?"

  Ryan shook his head. "No, it breeds true. We—um, this might sound weird, but…"

  "I don't think you can top turning into a seal when you hit the dunk tank," Missy said with a grin. "Hit me with your weirdest stuff. But," she added reluctantly, "do it while we're going back to my booth? Because I really do have to get back, even if standing here all day with you sounds like more fun."

  "I was going to offer to help, earlier," Ryan blurted. "But then I was afraid I was dressed wrong and I'd just be in the way."

  Missy's insides melted. "Aw. That's really nice of you. But you're right, you're not dressed for it. That oil splashes. Maybe another time."

  "Tomorrow," Ryan said brightly. They'd fallen into a walk, not particularly fast, but at least they were heading toward the funnel cakes booth now.

  "Sure, tomorrow. Except you'll be in the dunk tank in the morning, which would be the best time to teach you. Unless you wanted to show up really early…"

  "For more time with you? Definitely."

  A rush of heat that had nothing to do with the muggy day swept Missy. She found herself doing a quick run-down of the sturdiest surfaces in her food booth, then tried hard to stop that line of thought. Nobody wanted people having sex on the food preparation surfaces. If nothing else, cinnamon and sugar would get everywhere. "So, um, you were going to tell me something about the magic breeding true?"

  "Right! Right. It does. We have…" Ryan glanced at her like he was genuinely concerned about how she'd react. "We have soulmates, basically. We call them fated mates. When we meet the right person for us…we know right away. Or at least, our animal does."

  Missy peered at him, knowing she looked a little suspicious. Not about the soulmate thing, though. No, it was the other part: "Your animal?"

  "I can talk to my seal," Ryan said, his voice dropping to almost nothing. Then he winced. "That makes me sound like a crazy person, doesn't it."

  Missy laughed. "I don't think it's any crazier than being able to turn into a seal. Well…cool." She laughed again. "I don't know what else to say. That's cool. So do you just, like, go right ahead and live happily ever after if you find your soulmate?"

  "That's the idea," Ryan said, sounding cautious again. "I don't think it means everything's absolutely perfect forever, because people are still people, but it does mean never questioning if you've made the right choice."

  "That would be amazing," Missy said thoughtfully. "Like, I've, uhm." She cleared her throat, suddenly sure she was
blushing again, because she was definitely about to explain what it was like seeing Ryan for the first time, even if he didn't know it was him he was talking about. "I guess I've seen somebody that I just thought whoa about, right? Like I 100 percent want to get with that guy! But I don't know if it's the same kind of thing."

  "My dad says he was thunderstruck when he met my mom," Ryan offered. "And Mom says her seal said right away that he was the one. So…" He sounded wistful. "Maybe it's the same? I'm glad you've seen somebody like that. Did you get together?"

  Missy thought, oh God, and looked up at Ryan with a nervous, lip-biting smile. "I'm waiting to find out?"

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  In one awful moment, all of Ryan's hopes died. Missy liked somebody else. He was doomed.

  His seal gave him a look that suggested he was thick as a block of wood, but Ryan straightened his shoulders. It'll be fine, he told the seal. I'll just have to convince her I'm the better choice.

  You're the only choice! You're her mate!

  I can't just go saying that! She'd think I was crazy! I have to show her I'm…cooler than this other guy…! Or something! He looked around like his rival might be on hand, but Missy was still gazing up at him with the nervous smile, so Ryan summoned one in return.

  "That's great," he said. "I hope it works out."

  Her eyebrows drew down a little, confusion flickering across her face. Then she nodded and said, "Me too," uncertainly, and turned her frown toward the path ahead of them. They were only a minute away from her booth now, and Ryan didn't know what to say.

  Humans, his seal said incredulously. Humans are hopeless.

  What do you mean?

  If seals could throw up their flippers the way humans threw their hands up to show exasperation, Ryan thought his would have. Instead it muttered, You'll figure it out, and dove back down into his mind, where he could feel it sulking.

  "Oh gosh," Missy said abruptly. "Oh, no, look at that line. I'm sorry, Ryan, but I have to go—!" She broke into a run even before she'd finished speaking, and a few seconds later she was in her food booth, laughing and waving hello to people waiting patiently in the sunshine.

  Ryan slumped his way over to the dunking booth and leaned on the tank, watching Missy mournfully. He didn't know why he imagined somebody as great as she was wouldn't be interested in someone. He especially didn't know why whatever guy she liked wasn't falling down at her feet in adoring worship. The guy was clearly an idiot.

  His seal surfaced long enough to give him a hard look, then dove down again without saying anything.

  Becky, hair wet and a smile on her face, appeared at his elbow. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be enjoying the fair."

  "What good is a fair without someone to enjoy it with?" Ryan asked mopeishly.

  Becky followed his line of sight to where Missy was working away, and obviously, even to Ryan's unpracticed eye, too busy for one person. "Ah," his cousin said. "Right. Look, can you take over the tickets for a few minutes here? I need to go to the bathroom."

  Ryan, drooping, said, "Yeah, sure, I guess," and made sure he stood where he could still see Missy out of the corner of his eye. She probably liked a baseball player. Some big tall handsome guy who could throw as well as she could. Their children would probably be born with well-developed triceps.

  There was a two-second lull in her line, and she wiped an arm across her forehead, then looked up like she was searching for him. Their eyes met, and she smiled, bright and beautiful. It only lasted a heartbeat before she was busy at work again, but it stiffened Ryan's…resolve.

  Yeah. That was definitely what stiffened. He needed to be thrown in the cold dunk tank again, although he certainly didn't want to be seen in Speedos in this condition, now that he thought about it.

  What he did want was to convince Missy to consider him over this guy she liked, but if she was going to do that, they had to be able to spend time together. And she was obviously going to be impossibly busy all day, although…

  Ryan handed a bunch of tickets to the next person in line, said, "Here," and left the dunk booth to run over to Missy's food cart. She shot him a surprised look and held up one finger, then, in another incredibly brief lull, pushed the cart door open so he could come in.

  He stepped up, feeling breathless. "I won't bother you for long, but do you run this thing until the fair closes at night?"

  "Usually, yeah, why? People show up hungry after work and are happy to pretend funnel cakes are dinner."

  Ryan deflated. "Aw. I was hoping I could take you around for the carnival rides or something."

  Her smile went briefly wistful. "I'd like that. Maybe tomorrow, if my help's kid doesn't put another bean in his nose."

  "Tomorrow." Ryan seized on that. "I can do tomorrow. Great! Okay! I'll see you then!"

  Missy cast an amused glance toward the dunking booth. "Not if you don't get over there and get those tickets back before Becky comes back, ‘cause she's gonna kill you!"

  Ryan grimaced horribly and ran off, but his heart was lighter as he retrieved the stack of tickets from a very disappointed kid and her bemused parents. Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would have a chance to prove himself to Missy Clark.

  Becky eyed the visibly smaller stack of tickets skeptically when she returned. "What'd you do, start giving them out for free?"

  Ryan offered a cheesy smile. "Would I do that?"

  "This is a business, you know. Or at least a charity fundraiser. Giving tickets away does not help us raise funds. Anyway, ugh, go get out of my hair. Get into Missy's."

  "I can't," Ryan said dismally. "I'll only be in the way in her booth. Besides, I'm not sure she likes me."

  Becky's eyebrows pinched together. "If I can briefly imagine you're not my cousin, like, what's not to like? You're cute, you're funny, you're generally a pretty nice guy, and she didn't flip out when, you know." She made a swimming motion with one hand, which was less dangerous than saying ‘you turned into a seal' around strangers. "Besides, if you think she's your mate, she has to like you, doesn't she?"

  "Well, I don't know! I don't know what happens if your soulmate takes one look at you and just goes ‘nope!' It must happen, right?"

  "Maybe, but Missy did not nope on out of here after one look at you. She's been making moon eyes toward the dunk tank all day."

  "It's hot," Ryan said stubbornly.

  Becky threw her hands in the air. "Okay, fine, you win, she thinks you're a horrible hideous creature from the seventh dimension! That's probably why she nearly burst into tears when she realized she'd missed the pitching contest. Now go do something else instead of standing here getting in the way of my customers!"

  Ryan startled guiltily and slunk off, although even he couldn't help noticing he didn't slink very far. Just far enough to be out of Becky's way, and to find a somewhat shady spot beside a tent, where he could watch Missy adoringly.

  After fifteen or twenty minutes, a couple in their fifties climbed up into Missy's booth without any warning, and Ryan watched in dismay as her expression turned to shock.

  CHAPTER NINE

  "Mom?" Missy asked incredulously. "Dad? What are you guys doing here?"

  Her parents had walked into the stall without warning, both of them dressed sensibly for people who intended to work in a booth instead of enjoy an afternoon at the fair. Her mom, Sandra, had her hair tied back and was already putting a net cap over it, and her dad, Mike, had gone bald a long time ago, but wore a baseball cap to protect his head from both sun and sweat. Missy, bewildered, said, "Mom?" again.

  Sandra Clark beamed at her. "Becky called, sweetie. You should have let us know Kara hadn't been able to show up today. This booth is too much for one person to run, even you. At the very least you need somebody else taking the money while you cook."

  "But there's not room in here for three adults," Missy said feebly. "I only used to fit around you because I was little."

  "Well, now, that's true." Mike Clark had a drawl left over
from a childhood in Virginia, and if Missy got mad enough, sometimes she sounded like that, too. Her dad wasn't mad, though. In fact, he was smiling broadly. "So I guess that means you need to take the rest of the day off, sweetheart."

  "What?" Missy understood all the words. They just didn't make any sense. She hadn't had a whole afternoon off from the fair since she was like…seven. Okay, maybe eleven, but… "What?"

  "Becky says you're been going hell bent for leather since nine this morning," her mother said patiently. "It's almost four, now. Go on, honey. Take the rest of the day off."

  By then her father had squeezed past her and was taking over dough-frying duties. "Get out of here, kiddo, we don't all fit. I used to fit in here better," he muttered as an afterthought, and his wife laughed.

  "We both did. The early mornings weren't the only reason we stopped running the booth, remember? We sampled too much of our own wares."

  Missy's dad said, "Mmm, fried dough," happily, and indeed, stole a crunchy bit. Her mom half-heartedly whacked at his hand, then took a piece herself, making sure to dip it in the cinnamon and sugar. "Go on, Missy," her dad said around the mouthful. "Go have fun."

  "Okay?" Missy still sounded confused, even to herself, but she began pulling her apron and gloves off, wishing she had a change of clothes.

  "We dropped a change of clothes off for you with Becky," her mother added suddenly. "Don't forget to use sunblock!"

  For some reason tears filled Missy's eyes and she gave her parents awkward hugs around them getting set up for work. "You guys are best."

  "We are," her dad agreed cheerfully. "Now scoot!"

  Missy scooted.

  * * *

  Becky looked positively delighted with herself as Missy came over to the dunking booth. "Wash off with a baby wipe to get some of that oil off, and then if you want you can do a few minutes on the dunk tank seat to cool down. Your mom brought your swimsuit."

  Missy, silently, hugged her friend, and tried to wipe her own tears away without Becky noticing. It didn't work. Becky said, "Awww," and hugged her back, then flapped her hands, sending Missy toward the changing booth. "Go on, the dunk will feel great, but you have to get some of the grime off first or the water will get gross."