Amazed, page 7
Logan rolled his eyes. “It’s just a way stop as they travel to more interesting realms. All they need is a bed, some food and some great alcohol. It sounds like Harry, with the shifters’ help, of course, has all that covered. He doesn’t need you, Lily, not like we do!”
“As soon as I have that hotel whipped into shape, I’ll come back. I told you I would and I will. In the meantime, I have work to do.”
“Wait! I had a question about—”
“See you later!” As Lily slipped into one of the many folds along the feylines and zipped across the veil, she heard Logan let out a shout of exasperation and perhaps even a curse or two.
That was okay, though, because she was on her way back to Harry.
* * *
One moment Harry was beginning to think he might actually have a day free from Lily’s demands and the next, she popped into existence right in front of him.
He felt a weird blend of relief and joy and trepidation at the sight of her.
Relief because he was constantly worrying that she’d give up on him.
Joy because she was the brightest, most brilliant star in his life.
And trepidation because some of that brilliance translated into a work ethic unlike any other’s and she was constantly shoving him up that mountain with her.
“Good morning, Harry!” she trilled.
Harry couldn’t help but smile. “Good morning, my lovely Lily. How are you today?”
“Fabulous! We have so much to get done today. I can’t wait to get started!”
Harry held onto his smile through sheer determination. “What’s on the list for today?” There was always a list and it was constantly evolving. They’d check one item off and Lily would add three more. He was beginning to dread the sight of her scrolls.
From thin air, Lily produced a list that was about three inches wide and as it rolled out, entirely too long.
As Harry watched in horror, the list fell all the way to the floor and kept unfurling.
Dear. Lord.
Peels of laughter rang out.
Harry dragged his eyes away from the bottom of the scroll that was still unrolling across the floor, headed for the elevator, and focused on Lily again.
She was giggling so hard, she was clutching her belly as her wings quivered and bounced. “Oh, Harry, you should see the look on your face! Shenanigans isn’t that badly off.” And with a quick flick of her wrist, the scroll zipped back to her hand and shrank to about six inches long.
Harry heaved a giant sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
They would never have time for courting again with that kind of list.
It wasn’t until much later that Harry realized Lily’s trick with the list had entirely changed his mindset for the day. Instead of dreading the tasks, he tackled each one with a profound sense of relief that there wouldn’t be a thousand more to follow.
* * *
Lily was at the front counter when a FedEx delivery man walked into the lobby.
Of course.
He just had to arrive when trolls were checking in.
And her wings were out!
Lily widened her eyes at the troll family and the male quickly leaned down, scooped up his twin boys and bolted around the corner, his wife following.
At the same time, Lily dropped to the floor and snapped her wings away so quickly she lost her balance and tipped over.
She popped up just as the FedEx guy stepped up to the counter.
“That man was huge!” he said, eyes wide and a shocked look on his face. Since he didn’t say anything about her wings, she assumed he hadn’t seen them.
Then again, that was the thing about humans. They really only ever saw what their logical minds told them they’d seen. It was why she’d been so angry with Harry. Sure, he’d been living in the human world for most of his life, but he wasn’t human. Logic should never have dictated what he believed.
“I never even knew this hotel was here. Drive by here all the time, never seen it before,” the guy rambled on.
And thank goodness for that.
It was the brilliance of the hotel and the magic contained within it. If someone had a truly legitimate reason to visit, to deliver something for example, they would see the hotel just long enough for them to make that delivery, but then their memories would fade once they left the premises.
“Did you need something?”
“Oh, yeah. Sign here.” He passed over a tablet and Lily scrawled her signature across it. He accepted the tablet back and lifted a tall box onto the counter. “Enjoy.” With one last look around, he wandered out the hotel door, climbed into his truck and drove away.
Lily waited until his truck was completely out of sight before moving the box down to the floor beside her.
“You can come out now,” she called to the troll family.
They came back around the corner, the female looking slightly spooked. “Was that a human?” she asked.
“It sure was.”
“Cool!” the twin boys exclaimed together.
“Do humans come in here often?” the male asked.
“Not at all. Only for the very occasional delivery and their memories fade as soon as they drive away.”
“Well, that’s good at least,” the female said.
Once Lily had finished checking them in and passed over the key to their rooms, she waited until they’d boarded the elevator, and then turned her attention to the delivery box.
It was tall and had the words “This side up” on it.
She lifted it up to see who it was addressed to and was surprised to see her own name on the address label.
* * *
Harry was sitting in the office, completing paperwork and paying the bills (having an almost-full hotel resulted in a much higher electricity bill than a mostly empty one!) when the door burst open and Lily came racing inside.
She ran around the desk and flung herself onto his lap. She threw her arms around his shoulders, buried her face into his neck and squeezed tight. “Oh, Harry, they’re beautiful!”
Harry relaxed and hugged her back. “You like them then?”
“Like them? They’re so colorful and bright!” Lily pulled away and stared into his eyes. “I put them right on the registration counter. They make it look so pretty.” She pulled one arm away from where she was clutching his shoulders and he saw she was holding a yellow blossom. She handed it to him. “Will you put it in my hair?”
Harry brushed her hair away from her face and fumbling the flower a little, managed to tuck it behind her ear. “You’re so beautiful.”
She smiled, leaned forward and kissed him.
All thoughts of how beautiful she was evaporated in the heat of her kiss.
Harry retained control for about two seconds and then his hands tightened on her hips and he took over the kiss, sweeping his tongue inside to tangle with hers.
* * *
One moment, Lily was thanking Harry with a kiss and the next her world went up in flames.
His tongue touched hers and all she could do was clutch his shoulders, squirm in his lap and lose herself in his embrace.
Long, endless moments later, Harry drew back and settled his forehead against hers.
“Ah, Lily, my love,” he murmured. “I am so in love with you.”
“You are?”
“All my life, Lily. All my life,” he repeated. “You’re the one, the only. You always have been.”
“Why didn’t you come back sooner, Harry?”
Harry sighed. “I’m sorry, Lily. I just—” He shook his head.
She could see a thousand memories in his eyes, memories he now struggled to share.
“My mother—” He stopped again.
Oh, that woman. Lily remembered all the fights, the way the woman had screamed at Harry’s father, at Harry. She’d call the woman a witch, but that would be an insult to witches everywhere.
As Lily watched Harry struggle to explain how his mother had impacted his life, Lily realized she didn’t need to know the details. Not if they hurt Harry to remember them. “She finally won, didn’t she?”
“No!” Harry exclaimed. “No, Lily, she did not. Because I am here now and I see you. We lost time, but we didn’t lose each other.” He leaned forward and pulled his wallet from his back pocket. Flipping it open, he extracted something small and purple.
“What is that?”
Harry smiled. “The only thing that kept me sane when my mother was doing her worst.”
Lily looked closer. It looked like— “Is that a petal?”
“Your petal, Lily. My mother did everything she could to destroy the flower you wore that day, the one piece of evidence I had that I wasn’t crazy. But I managed to save this petal and I’ve carried it with me ever since. You’ve been with me all along, Lily, even when we were so very far apart.”
Lily burst into tears and flung her arms around Harry’s neck again. “I’ve missed you so much, Harry. You’re everything to me. You always have been.”
Harry stood and brought Lily with him.
She hitched her legs around his hips and held on as he walked out of the office and into the reception area. He paused at the counter and she peeked enough to know that he was setting out his new sign, the one that said, “Visit the Bar for Help.”
She giggled, thinking of the shifters’ dismay if they had to deal with room requests, but she just clutched Harry’s shoulders tighter and held on for the ride.
Chapter 17
AS HARRY CARRIED Lily down the hall toward his rooms on the first floor, he marveled that Lily was in his arms finally.
Holding her clamped to him, he extracted the key to his rooms from his back pocket and struggled to open the door. He finally got the key inserted, turned the knob and flung open the door. He gave up on trying to extract the key, stepped inside and kicked the door shut behind them.
He leaned back against the door and jostled Lily a little so that she pulled back to look at him.
Staring into her amazing eyes, he murmured, “Living room or bedroom?”
“Bedroom, definitely,” Lily said and leaned forward to kiss him again.
His blood boiled as he pushed away from the door and strode through the living room into the bedroom beyond. Reaching the bed, he tossed Lily onto it and grinned as she immediately set to removing her clothes.
Urgency pounded as he yanked his shirt over his head, toed off his shoes, unbuttoned his jeans and stepped up to the bed where Lily waited.
He slid an arm around her waist, pulled her up to her knees and claimed her mouth again.
Lily clutched his shoulders and kissed him back.
Everything fell away as his world narrowed to Lily, the feel of her body plastered against his, her silky hair running through his fingers and the incredible taste of her on his lips.
“Harry,” she whispered as she pulled away and buried her face in his neck. “I love you so much.”
If the moment had been perfect before, those words spoken to him by the fairy of his dreams, representing every hope he’d ever had, elevated the moment to pure ecstasy.
“Lily.” He gently lowered her to the bed, then followed her down. “My Lily.”
Chapter 18
HARRY WOKE THE next morning with Lily in his arms. It was the best feeling ever.
Her silky black hair felt amazing as he sifted it through his fingers.
“Good morning,” she murmured sleepily without lifting her head from where it rested on his chest.
“Sorry. Did I wake you?”
“No. I was just enjoying the moment.”
Harry tightened his arms around her. “It’s a truly wonderful one, isn’t it?”
“The best,” she agreed.
“So, what’s on your list for today?”
Lily stiffened a little.
“Lily?”
She sighed and sat up. “I kind of have a confession to make.”
“Okay.”
“I already have a job managing the hotel on the fairy side of the border.”
“Wait. What? There’s a fairy side to the hotel?”
Lily giggled. “Yeah. It’s been in my family for generations, just like this side has been in yours. I love working with you, but my brother Logan’s about to go crazy without me there running things.”
Harry didn’t know how he felt about this development. He wasn’t a big fan of Lily’s lists, but at the same time, he loved working with her every day. “Are you saying that you’re moving out?”
“No!” Lily exclaimed. “Actually, I kind of want to move in, permanently. I mean, I didn’t really bring a lot of stuff with me since I travel back and forth between the two sides of the hotel all the time anyway. But now I’d like to bring over the rest of my stuff and make my home on this side with you. I’ll still be available if you need me, but I wouldn’t be here every day managing with you. You’d have to go back to doing that on your own.”
Hallelujah.
Lily’s eyes narrowed. “Why do I get the feeling you’re happy I’m not going to be managing the hotel with you?”
Self-preservation had Harry immediately reassuring her. “I’m not relieved about that. I’m relieved that you’re not leaving me entirely. For a moment there, I thought I’d never get to see you again. I know I gave you rooms in the hotel, but I’d really like you to move in here with me.”
Lily smiled. “I thought you’d never ask. There’s just one tiny problem.”
“What’s that?”
“My dad isn’t exactly thrilled that I’ve been over here so much. You know. In the human realm. We’ll have to convince him you’re a good catch.”
Harry blanched. “And how exactly are we going to do that?”
“Oh, Harry, you worry too much. Things’ll work out in their own time. And don’t worry. I’m not going to leave you in the lurch. I’ll wait until we manage to hire some help for you.”
“Help?”
“Of course, Harry. You can’t possibly manage a hotel of this size on your own. I mean, I guess you could when you had very few guests, but as word gets out, you’re only going to get busier. And I’ll be busy working on the fairy side, so you definitely need to hire a few employees.”
“I suppose.”
“Yo, Harry! You in here?”
Harry jerked up at the shout, tumbling Lily to the side in the process. He leapt up from the bed, grabbed the sheet and quilt that had fallen to the floor and tossed them at Lily.
She quickly wrapped them around herself just as Travis appeared in the doorway.
“Seriously?” Travis whirled away. “Not what I was hoping to see this morning, Harry!”
Harry glanced down and realized in his urgency to get Lily covered, he’d forgotten about himself. “That’s what you get for barging into my private rooms without knocking first.”
“Dude, I did knock. You didn’t answer. And that’s what you get for leaving the key to your rooms hanging in the doorknob. Look, get dressed. I’ll wait for you in the outer room.”
Growling softly, Harry grabbed his jeans from where they’d fallen on the floor the night before and dragged them on. He turned back to Lily, leaned over and kissed her. “Sorry about this. I’ll be back in a minute. Don’t get dressed or anything. I thought we could shower together.”
“Seriously?” Travis shouted from the living room. “I can hear you!”
Harry sighed, winked at Lily and headed for the living room. “This better be important, bear!”
“Of course it’s important. Would I come into your private rooms if it weren’t? Here’s the thing. We’re bartenders. We don’t do reservations. If you need someone to manage your front desk, hire someone! Don’t post a sign all night directing people to the bar! It’s rude.”
Harry grinned. “Hey, I’ve been manning that front desk 24/7 from the moment I moved in. Granted, I’ve rarely had customers until the last month or so, but still. I haven’t had a vacation or even a day off in four years. And now I needed time with my girl, so sue me. Besides, I figured I should get something out of letting you shifters use my bar!”
“You are getting something! We’re giving you a huge percentage of the profits. You don’t have to do anything!”
Harry didn’t consider twenty percent to be huge by any stretch of the imagination, but he supposed it was better than nothing. Not that he’d tell the bear that. It was too much fun messing with him. “Look, it just makes sense for your waitresses to also be trained to work the reception area.”
Travis sighed. “Fine. We’ve been talking about this anyway. Shenanigans 1 will be ready for us to move back in soon, which means we’re going to have to hire a manager and some wait staff to take over here at Shenanigans 2.”
Harry laughed. “Are those their official names now?”
“Yep. Anyway, we wanted to check with you to make sure you were good with us continuing to oversee the bar here.”
“Absolutely, but I’d like to be involved in the hiring process. Since I knew Phoenix, I was fine with you guys coming in and setting up shop, but this will be a bunch of strangers in my hotel and I need to feel comfortable with them and their management style.”
“That’s fine. I think Cassie might choose to stay on here, which means we’ll be down a waitress at our location too so we can just advertise out, see who we get.”
“Sounds good. Was that all you needed?” Harry turned away, ready to join Lily back in their warm bed.
“No, you need to come out and deal with the two men in the lobby.”
Harry groaned. “What two men?”
“I don’t know, but they’re really angry. Something about tearing a human limb from limb.”
Harry blanched. “Were they talking about me?”
Fingers slipped between his and he glanced down to see Lily standing at his side.
Completely dressed.
Harry glared at Travis.
He blamed the bear!
“What did they look like?” Lily asked.
“Tall. Dark. Angry.”
“Wings?”
