Page 42 of Sweeter than Honey

“Keep going,” I tell her.

“Four…” She trembles against me, but she’s got nothing to fear. There are several thick ropes and pulleys attached to the elevator car. They’re too rough for the delicate skin of a normal human, but I’ll have no trouble.

“Five…”

With my free arm, I take one of the cables and hoist us up. I get a nice grip on the cables with my legs for stability as I use the other arm to pull us farther up.

“Six…”

I could move faster, but I don’t want to spook Lily too much.

“Seven…”

There’s light shining down through the small crack between the elevator doors on the next floor.

“Eight…”

Using my legs to hold us to the cable, I reach out, and pry them open with one hand. It’s far, but I can just manage it with my body fully extended, Lily nestled in my lap as I reach back. Light from the hotel lobby streams through the gap in the doors.

“Nine…”

“This is the worst part,” I whisper to her. “But I’ve got you.”

She nods and buries her face into my hair.

Launching myself with the force of my powerful legs, I leap across the elevator shaft.

She screams, “Ten!”

And I land on the hotel lobby floor, with Lily in one arm.

The lone night concierge looks over at us, his mouth open in shock, a phone against his cheek. This late at night, he’s the only one in the lobby. “Um…I’m going to have to call you back…”

“Get this elevator serviced,” I tell him sharply. Then I adjust Lily in my arms, holding her torso and legs delicately. She takes a grateful inhale, the adrenaline evaporating from her skin as she realizes she’s safe.

But I’m not letting her go yet. I carry her briskly toward theemergency staircase beside the service elevator, using my foot to kick upon the door.

“Where are we…?”

“I’m taking you home,” I tell her. “You’re off the clock.”

I don’t look back down at her. I’m worried how I would feel if I do. I’m worried about how things may have changed between us.

But I don’t have to think about that yet. Right now, my single focus is making sure Lily is safely tucked away in bed.

I have a master key, so I can enter her suite. Luckily, vampires move quietly, but I don’t turn on any lights, so as not to wake her sleeping son. I take her up the stairs of the suite and into the primary bedroom, laying her gently down on the bed.

Then I can’t avoid meeting her gaze. Her glittering eyes look up at me with admiration and awe…

“You saved me,” she whispers. “How can I ever thank you…”

“You saved me first,” I remind her. I want to take the blankets from the bed and tuck them around her, but that seems too intimate. And I’m extremely aware of how unprofessional things have become between us. “Lily, I just want to say…”

But to my surprise, she brings a hand up to my shoulder, interrupting me. “I understand. And I don’t want you to say anything. But I understand. Nothing’s changed. I promise.”

I nod. And I look at her, as though it’s the first time I’ve ever seen her.

She does understand. She understands that what happened tonight, and what happened on the holding floor, can’t interfere with the professional relationship between us. She values our work together, and the strength of our working relationship. She values that as much as I do.