Cupid in a Bottle Read online

  Preview of Newly Wed and Slightly Dead

  “Anastasia, I need an update on the Vanguard wedding, pronto!”

  Hyacinth Greary’s demanding tone snapped through the conference room and I thanked the stars my boss wasn’t a dragon-shifter. With the amount of hovering and snarling she was doing, I’d have wound up with scorch marks on the back of my neck for sure.

  “And while you’re drawing up a status report on that, I’ll also need a complete list of new bookings you have scheduled for the remainder of the month,” she continued, impatiently tapping her pen against the clipboard in her hands. She lifted her crystal-blue eyes from her notes and considered me with a cold stare. “We’re off to a good start this year, and I’d hate to have that productivity thrown off kilter.”

  “Of course,” I replied, pasting a plastic smile on my face. “I’ll have both reports to you within the hour.”

  With a jerky nod, she consulted her notes again. Satisfied, at least somewhat, she made a harrumph noise under her breath and then looked back up at the round table of wedding planners. There were sixteen of us in total—ten full-fledged wedding planners and six junior associates who served as assistants to the planners. I was the greenest wedding planner on the team, my own days as a junior associate still visible in the rearview mirror.

  Across the table from me, Kait Gerrick’s lips quirked into a sideways smirk as she looked at me and then raised her hand and turned her attention to Hyacinth.

  “Yes, Kait?” Hyacinth said, gesturing at her raised hand with the pen poised between her fingers.

  Kait glanced at me, still wearing that knowing smile. “We all know how important the Vanguard wedding is to the firm. I was wondering if perhaps it might be best to hand the reins back to a more seasoned veteran in the department. Anastasia is new to this, so perhaps she’s a little overwhelmed. We wouldn’t want the client, let alone the firm, to suffer.”

  The dig shouldn’t have surprised me. Kait was a junior associate who’d been hired the same month as me. We’d moved up the ranks, leapfrogging one another, for years. Six months ago, we’d both been up for the promotion to wedding planner, and I ended up on top. She’d nearly gone apoplectic the day Hyacinth handed me the keys to one of the largest offices on the floor.

  I glared at Kait, my jaw tensed. She smiled and fluttered her lashes innocently.

  “I’ve worked on the Vanguard wedding since the first consultation,” I said, directing the protest at Hyacinth rather than Kait. “I realize I wasn’t the original planner in charge of the account, but when Ruby left, she turned the reins over to me with her full confidence. Neither Dimitri nor Alice have objected, and I’d wager that if asked, they would like to continue working with me. Not to mention, the wedding is only a couple of weeks away. Changing planners at this point would not only be pointless, but most certainly disruptive.”

  Hyacinth considered me and then turned her attention to Kait. “Anastasia is right,” she said, and I felt the pressure gauge in my chest loosen. “Changing things now would be a distraction, and that’s the last thing we need.”

  It was my turn to fire a smirk across the table. Anastasia: 1. Kait: 0.

  “However,” Hyacinth added.

  My heart sank.

  “It can’t hurt to have another set of eyes on everything. So, Kait, why don’t you shift some of your duties so you can be Anastasia’s associate for the next two weeks.”

  Kait and I both launched into vehement protests, but Hyacinth silenced us with a wave of her perfectly manicured hand. “I’ve made up my mind. You two need to bury whatever hatchet it is you’ve been carrying around these past few months and learn to work together.”

  Kait’s eyes narrowed to catlike slits as she glared at me.

  If Hyacinth noticed, she didn’t comment further. “That’s all I have, ladies. Meeting adjourned.”

  The other planners and associates jumped to their feet and scurried from the conference room as if the smoke alarm had just sounded. Hyacinth waited until the stampede passed and then coolly waltzed out the door, pausing to give Kait and me a final warning glance. “Play nice, ladies, or I’ll be reevaluating both of your positions within the department.”

  Kait let loose a string of curses once Hyacinth passed out of earshot.

  “Why couldn’t you have kept your mouth shut?” I snarled at her. “You just had to try to throw me under the bus, and now look!”

  “We both know you’re in over your head!” she fired back, leaning over the table.

  I squared my shoulders. “I’m swimming quite nicely, actually. I closed three of my last four consultations, which is better than the department average, and I have a fully booked calendar for the next eighteen months!”

  The sound of someone clearing their throat startled both of us.

  Charlotte Carlisle, CeeCee for short, had apparently circled back to rescue me. The willowy blonde stood in the doorway of the conference room, a stack of books in her hands. “Did you still need help with those reports, Ana?”

  With a final cutting glare at Kait, I turned away. “Yes,” I said, smiling at CeeCee. “Let’s go ahead and meet in my office.”

  “Looked like you needed an out,” CeeCee said out of the corner of her mouth when we were a few yards from the conference room.

  “Thanks,” I said, nodding.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  I sighed. “Working with Kait isn’t ideal, but I’ll manage.”

  CeeCee didn’t argue, but the skeptical look on her face told me she wasn’t convinced. To be fair, I wasn’t quite convinced either.

  Kait and I had been rivals since day one, and I couldn’t imagine us burying years of resentment and competition in the span of two weeks. But if we didn’t, not only was one of the firm’s largest weddings of the year on the line, but Hyacinth had made it clear our very jobs were in jeopardy as well.

  CeeCee entered my office first and took one of the white wingback chairs positioned in front of my large white desk. I passed her and took my seat on the other side, trying to ignore the stack of paperwork that had accumulated during the morning’s meeting.

  CeeCee, however, couldn’t ignore the small mountain. Her green eyes flitted to the stack of papers and frowned. “Is that all from today?”

  “Hyacinth is punishing me,” I replied. “I think she’s trying the death by a thousand paper cuts method.”

  CeeCee winced. “Because of the Swan wedding?”

  “That’s my best guess,” I scoffed. “She gave me this huge lecture about vigilance and some doomsday statistics about how one PR nightmare could lead to the firm’s undoing.”

  “But the wedding went off without a hitch,” CeeCee pointed out, her brows furrowed.

  I laughed, the sound dry. “I guess she doesn’t think her message has been fully received. Sending hordes of busywork is her metaphorical way of putting my head on a stake outside my office, something of a warning to keep the rest of the department in line.”

  “Stars,” CeeCee breathed. “It’s been a month. When is she going to let it go?”

  “Not anytime soon, judging by the meeting this morning,” I grumbled. “Now, I’m stuck with Kait. Talk about constant vigilance. I’m gonna need to grow another set of eyes to make sure she doesn’t try to sabotage me.”

  “How can I help?” CeeCee asked, pulling a stack of sticky notes from the pocket of her polka-dotted A-line dress. She grabbed a pen from the hammered silver cup at the edge of my desk and clicked it once. The exterior of the metal pen changed from white with gold lettering, spelling out the company name, to a gold pen with white lettering. A simple charm, though some might call it excessive. But, when you name your company A Touch of Magic Events, even the company pens need to have a little extra razzle-dazzle.

  “Who spells these pens?” I asked, somewhat absently.

  CeeCee looked up from the note she’d started. “What?”

  I gestured at the pen in her hand. “Do you think Hyacinth ha
s a closet full of fairies who have to sit there and put charms on all our company pens?”

  “Hmm.” CeeCee frowned. “I really don’t know, actually.”

  I snorted. “If I screw up one more wedding, Hyacinth will probably fill my office with boxes of pens and give me a firsthand taste of the mind-numbing experience.”

  CeeCee laughed. “I doubt it will come to that.”

  I sagged back in my plush chair. The office around me was decorated to my taste, every detail exactly as I’d requested upon moving in. The pearlescent pink walls had a soft sheen that glowed under the twinkling lights strung along the tops of my three bookshelves along one wall. All of the furniture was white and made the space feel open and bright. My window looked over one of the Seattle Haven’s busiest streets and provided ample people-watching on the rare occasions I was able to sit back and enjoy it, instead of working through lunch, frantically stuffing take-out noodles into my mouth between phone calls.

  It was what I’d always wanted ever since I’d been a young witch. Upon graduating from the academy attended by all magically-inclined children of witches, shifters, and even some of the more conforming vampire families, I’d taken an internship with a popular hotel and honed my hospitality skills. Eventually, I was promoted to working with the hotel’s event-planning team. That was where Hyacinth had discovered me and scooped me away to work for A Touch of Magic Events, the most prestigious event-planning firm in the entire network of havens.

  I’d started working on small events: birthday parties, family reunion weekends, baby showers, anniversary soirees. Eventually, I moved to handling non-magic weddings, as the firm had an annex in the human side of Seattle. It was where all wedding planners and junior associates went first. A sort of training ground. Magic weddings were the top of the top, the upper rung of the ladder that all event-planners climbed toward.

  Six years after being discovered in a hotel banquet room, I’d finally taken my spot beside the other magical wedding planners, and I wasn’t going to give up my spot without a fight.

  Even if I had to drag Kait along for the ride.

  CeeCee and I sprang into action, and she quickly made a list so long she had a sticky note attached to each finger of her left hand. The pile of paperwork on my desk had a small dent in it, and I’d sifted through the stack twice, making sure all tasks related to the Vanguard wedding were in order.

  I paused for breath and looked up at the rose gold-and-white clock over my door. “I have two hours until I need to leave for the Vanguard fitting,” I said to myself as much as to CeeCee. “Oh! Can you call Francois and make sure everything is a go for the rehearsal dinner? We still have a week to go, but the mother of the groom changed the venue, and I think he’s a little rattled over it.”

  CeeCee frowned as she jotted down a note. “Why’s that?”

  “Lucinda wants it held at her estate, rather than at the art museum,” I explained.

  Judging by the arch of CeeCee’s platinum eyebrows, I didn’t have to say anything else.

  “At Vanguard Castle?” she asked, followed by a near-audible gulp.

  “That’s right,” I said. “Although, I think technically it’s a fort, not a castle.”

  CeeCee shivered. “There’s not enough money in the world.” She stopped, and her eyes went even wider. “Wait, you’re going to have to go!”

  “I’ve been once already,” I said. “Lucinda hosted us for the initial wedding consultation.”

  “What was it like?” CeeCee asked, leaning in closer, as though she were a child at a story hour.

  “Hmm. I think the best way I can describe it is that Lucinda was clearly going for a gothic royalty vibe. It’s all dark wood and heavy fabrics. The kind of place where everything around you is worth more than your annual salary.”

  “I heard it feels like a dungeon!” CeeCee said, her eyes alight.

  I laughed and shook my head. “Not a dungeon. Maybe a throne room? Honestly, part of me thinks she hosted it there just to see if she could shake off Alice, the bride. The whole place is a giant reminder that she’s out of her depth, in every possible sense.”

  CeeCee sat back again, still marveling. “It’s kind of wild, right? A human marrying a vampire and actually being allowed to see behind the curtain so to speak.”

  I nodded. “Much to Lucinda’s chagrin.”

  CeeCee chuckled and shook her head. “Again, not enough money in the world. I don’t care how hot the guy is, vampire lords are off-limits. Hats off to the bride, though. She must be a real spitfire to put up with all this.”

  “She’s been a good sport so far,” I agreed. “Lots of grinning and bearing it, I have to assume. I do my best to act as a buffer. This is the last dress fitting, and I can’t wait for it to be over.”

  “Well, consider Francois handled,” CeeCee said. “I’ll give him a call and make sure he’s all right with everything.”

  “Thank you,” I said, sincerely grateful she was there to help, since I had to assume Kait was going to be worthless to me.

  “Anything else?” CeeCee asked, adding the last sticky note to the tip of her thumb.

  I smiled at her. “It looks as though you literally have your hands full already.”

  “Well, then leave me stuff for Kait to do. She’s your associate now too, right?” she gave a wicked wiggle of her brows and I laughed again.

  “True,” I said, leaning forward to grab the top third from the stack of papers. Most of it was busywork. Calls to make or break reservations, confirm guest lists, send soup to an ailing maid of honor.

  “Looks like the bride in the Hartsock wedding wants to change the frosting on the cake from ivory to pearl. The Clarkson’s decided on the gold foil for their invitations, so we’ll need to notify the calligrapher. The Wendell’s want to make sure the florist doesn’t use any daisies in their arrangements—looks like the grandmother of the groom is allergic.”

  On and on and on.

  I passed the stack of busywork to CeeCee and she slapped a note to it.

  * * *

  For Kait

  * * *

  “Should I put an XO at the bottom?” she asked me, flashing another mischievous grin.

  I smiled but waved off the offer. “Let’s not. But thank you, CeeCee. You’re a lifesaver.”

  “Possibly in the literal sense,” she replied, wiggling her finger. “Word around the office is Hyacinth is going on a diet next week, and you know how she gets when she can’t have carbs.”

  I cringed.

  CeeCee giggled. “Your head would be on that spike for sure.”

  Also by Danielle Garrett

  Visit Beechwood Harbor today by visiting www.DanielleGarrettBooks.com

  About the Author

  As a lifelong bookworm, Danielle Garrett has always loved dreaming of fantastic places and the stories they have to share. Through her love of reading, she’s followed along on hundreds of adventures through the eyes of wizards, princesses, elves, and some rather wonderful everyday people as well. This lifelong passion led her into the world of writing and she has now achieved the dream she’s held since the second grade and become an author herself.

  * * *

  Danielle lives in Oregon, and while she travels as often as possible, she wouldn’t call anywhere else home. She shares her life with her husband and their house full of animals. When she’s not writing, she can be found serving as the dedicated servant to three extremely spoiled cats or chasing down the most recent item the puppy has turned into a chew toy.

  Visit Danielle today at her website or say “hello” on Facebook.

  www.daniellegarrettbooks.com

 

 

 
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