Page 57 of Sweeter than Honey

She looks me over. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine,” I reply, self-consciously smoothing my skirt.

“Have you been drinking enough?”

“Yes, I just told you that I’m fine,” I snap. “Now, are you going to lecture me all night, or are you going to let me get some work done?”

She gives me a final glare and then leaves my office.

Now I’m in a properly bad mood. And I feelterriblethat I forgot to finish that report for her. It was Damien’s security report, from the night Lily and I were attacked on the holding floor. I wanted to double check it and add my comments, so that Celine and Damien can go over it again. They’re trying to find out if it could have been Xavien’s vampire clan, especially if they’re now operating in the city. I’m sure I saw traces of red energy magic, which is usually Oana, but since she’s locked up in prison, it could possibly have been one of Xavian’s vampires.

Although they had a silver chain. It’s so strange…

I quickly type up the comments, and email the document to Celine.

Lily’s voice crackles over my speakerphone. “Renata? Are you in your office? The shareholders are waiting…”

“I’ll be right there, Lily,” I tell her, standing quickly and grabbing my laptop.

Ihatebeing late for meetings. And I didn’t even have a minute to prepare.

As much as I’ve been enjoying my trysts with Lily, I’m afraid I’ve gotten even more behind on my work. I’m going to have to really push it if I’m going to get everything done before the witch conference.

Chapter 20: Dreams

Lily

My mother is already in my suite when I bring Eli back from daycare. She’s in the third bedroom upstairs, enjoying her soaps on the massive flatscreen TV hanging from the wall.

“You’re early, mom,” I tell her. “I don’t start work for another few hours.”

“Did you know that this bed can recline?” she says, with an astonished chuckle. She presses a button on the remote and her legs fly up into the air, supported by the bottom half of the mechanical bed. “If I set it at just the right angle, it completely alleviates my hip pain!”

“That’s great, mom,” I say with a smirk. “Do you want anything for dinner? The menu is on the side table.”

“Oh, don’t mind if I do!”

The three of us decide on our meals (alfredo pasta for me, salmon for mom, and dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets for Eli) and we have dinner while talking about our days. It’s the most relaxed I’ve felt in a long time. Not having to cook or clean has made a huge difference. I feel like I can actually spend time with Eli now, instead of just running back and forth between work and the apartment. He tells me all about how they learned ballet moves today at daycare, and they read books about different types of birds. He’s also making some friends, kids of other guests at the hotel. I’m so glad he’s getting to spend time with kids his own age.

“I traded my pony doll,” he says, showing me a new, orangePrincess Pony. “Just for today. We’ll swap back tomorrow.”

“That’s great, E,” I tell him. “I’m glad you’re making friends.”

“Just make sure not to get too attached, Elijah,” my mother says sternly, skewering a brussel sprout on her fork. “We don’t know how long we’re going to be here, and you don’t want to be sad when you have to leave all your new friends.”

“Well, I think it’s good to make new friends here,” I say, addressing my mother. “Why wouldn’t we be here for a long time? We have the suite for as long as we want it. Ms. Espina wrote it into my employment contract.”

My mother scoffs. “For as long as youworkhere, yes, but you know how employment is, especially for women.”

I grimace. “What do you mean, for women?”

“Well, once you start seeing someone, don’t you think he’s going to find it a littleodd, that you live at the hotel where you work? You know how men are, honey, they don’t like to feel threatened. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why Dylan left. Itoldyou that getting this job wasn’t necessary…”

“First of all,Ileft Dylan, mom, not the other way around. And second, maybe I don’t want to get back into dating men right now…”

I don’t mention that I’m more than happy to see one particularwoman…but there’s no way I’m going to talk about that with my mom.

“Well, I think that’s a mistake.” My mom gets that annoying, pious expression on her face. “Eli needs a father, honey. And you’re not getting any younger. Are you going to waste the best years of your life on a job that’s never going to love you back? Trust me, you’ll regret it, if all you do is work here and live here, and then suddenly you’re forty and you’ve got no husband or anything to show for it. Eli will leave for college and you’ll be all alone. This hotel room is going to seem pretty empty then.”