Jessica, for one, wouldn’t have traded finally meeting Nathan for anything.
Thinking of the vampire brought a blush to her cheeks, and she turned away before Lucy could see it. She focused on rearranging the gift bags, fluffing the tissue inside and patting the sides to make them stand up straighter.
Lucy put a hand on Jessica’s back and chuckled. “I think those bags are just about perfect, Jess. You can stop fussing with them now.” She crossed to the refreshment table and returned with two glasses of champagne. “Here, take a break. I think it’s time for a little drink to celebrate all your hard work, don’t you?”
Jessica frowned at the drink. “Those are for the guests,” she chided.
“I’m a guest, aren’t I?”
“I’m not,” Jessica reminded her. “This is my shindig. I’ve got to keep my wits about me, to make sure everything goes off just the way it’s supposed to. If it doesn’t, it could mean bad business for the store. Or no business.”
“Yeah, but you’ve worked your butt off these past few days, taking care of every little detail. Everything’s going to be perfect. You’ll see.”
Jessica glanced around the ballroom of the Vintage Holmwood Hotel, reassuring herself that every decoration was in place, that every table had a centerpiece, and that the buffet was fully stocked with drinks, crudités, and desserts. And not just any desserts, either, but specially decorated crullers, jelly donuts, and maple bars from Endless Donuts. Each pastry had been painstakingly adorned with fangs or bats or some other vampire-inspired motif. Except for the heart-shaped jellies, which had been stabbed through with tiny fondant stakes, so that the strawberry jelly inside dribbled out like blood. The results were nothing short of adorable, and Jessica was sure everyone was going to love them. She’d decided that, from now on, she would stock a few dozen of Endless Donuts’ masterpieces in a display case at her front counter, so that the Book of Love customers could savor them with their complementary tea or coffee.
Turning around, Jessica double-checked that her assistant, Megan, had stuck the Prince Ion standee (a little scuffed after his ordeal, but still presentable) right by the door, and that there were plenty of boxes of A Prince at Midnight stocked behind the sales table. Her final order of business was to look down at herself and ensure she still looked presentable, too, in her short black dress, bat-print stockings, and high heels. To her relief, she realized Lucy was right. Everything did appear to be perfectly in place. There was no reason for the party not to go off without a hitch. Letting out a small sigh, Jessica accepted the champagne from her friend and took a grateful sip.
“I still can’t believe Aaron managed to book this place for me on such short notice,” she said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done otherwise.”
Jessica had called a clean-up brigade into the bookstore as soon as possible (it was amazing, the debris removers had noted with awe, just how much damage tweakers could do when they put their minds to it), but Book of Love was still basically in shambles. Megan and the other employees—even Mrs. Davis, who’d been surprisingly supportive in the wake of the disaster—had been working extra hours to try and help Jessica whip everything back into shape. Even so, it would be another few weeks, maybe even a month, before she could resume business there as usual. She’d been dejected when she’d realized she’d have to cancel the release party. But then Lucy’s boss had dropped by Jessica’s office one afternoon and laid out his rescue plan.
Aaron “knew people,” he’d told her. He could “pull a few strings” and secure one of the smaller ballrooms at the Vintage Holmwood for Jessica, so that she could have the party there, instead. Jessica had demurred at first, worried that even if Aaron could pull off such an incredible feat in only a few days, she’d never be able to afford it. The Holmwood was a brand-new four-star hotel. The waiting list to book an event there was months long, and renting even half a ballroom cost hundreds of dollars. She’d been astonished when Aaron had told her he’d handle all the negotiations himself, as well as cover all the expenses—and that there would be no hurry for her to pay him back.
“Why would you possibly do that?” she’d wondered, laughing.
“You’re Lucy’s best friend,” he’d said. “And you helped her save my humanity. That’s kind of a huge deal, don’t you think? Compared to that, this is nothing.”
Jessica, having never been given to excessive pride, nor prone to look a gift horse in the mouth, had finally relented, knowing she would eventually pay Aaron back, anyway—especially if the party went well and she managed to snag a ballroom full of new loyal customers for Book of Love.
Now here she was, on the night of the party, and everything seemed set to go swimmingly. There was nothing left to do now but wait for the guests to start arriving. And there was, of course, one guest in particular Jessica was hoping would show. Someone she hadn’t laid eyes on since the night he’d delivered her to her apartment and left her sleeping in her own bed with the covers pulled up to her chin.
Thanks to the spell Kiefer had cast over her, Jessica hadn’t awakened for hours that
