As a whole, Willow—for obvious reasons—tried to avoid paper products when she could. While not all trees were dryads, all dryads felt very connected to the trees.
“That’s what I told Finn,” Iris agreed. “People like being able to connect with their civil servants. He’s done a million interviews, and I don’t think I ever heard him claim to like a hobby that wasn’t exercise-related.”
“Well, we can all agree that we appreciate his dedication to exercise,” Arden said, smirking. “I know it was a bad night for you, but those images of him on that dock where the moon cast all those stomach muscles in shadow? The whole of Manhattan swooned.”
“If you want to compliment him, tell him his calves look good,” Iris said, her smile soft. “He worked hard on those.”
“Noted,” Arden agreed. “No, absolutely not,” he said when Selene pointed to something in his binder.
“Why not?” the witch asked.
“Because those are forHalloweenparties, not weddings.”
“We’re getting nowhere with these plans,” Selenegrumbled, reaching for Iris’s copy of one of Caprica Coraline’s books.
“Oh, speaking of. Did I tell you she RSVP’d?” Arden asked.
“Who did?” Iris asked, but she was half distracted by Finn’s comic book. She’d been trying to read some of them in her free time so they could talk about them.
“Caprica.”
“Wait, she RSVP’d? Caprica? Who never does public appearances? Not even for book releases?” Selene asked. “Even when asked very nicely,” she added, her tone sulky.
“She even sent a little personal note,” Arden said. He flipped through his notebook, looking for the note. “She said she’s been watching your story since you first came to the surface. And that you have … oh, what was it?” he asked, finding the note. “Right. She said you have ‘greatly inspired the plot for her next book.’”
“What?” Selene snatched the book out of Arden’s hand. Her eyes went round. “This is an actual handwritten note from Caprica Coraline?TheCaprica Coraline?”
“It is.” Arden was watching Selene with a warm light in his eyes.
“You have her contact information?”
“Oh, sweetheart, I have everyone’s contact.”
Iris felt a similar thrill of excitement, but it was quickly overwhelmed by an entirely different sensation as Finn came sweeping into the penthouse. He was already tugging at his tie, eager to shrug off The Suit.
It seemed that once he fully became aware of how much the persona of a politician had overtaken him, he’d been working hard to separate that from who he really was.
He made a beeline toward the table, his gaze movingaround everyone gathered, then the items on the surface of the table.
But before he even bothered to greet them, he stepped behind Iris’s chair, reaching around her to grab her chin and tilt her head backward.
His lips were on hers then, kissing her hard and deep and entirely too briefly. She could never seem to get enough of him.
“Hey, guys,” he greeted the table. “How is the planning going?”
“Slowly,” Arden said with a pointed look toward Selene.
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted my input,” Selene said, quietly tucking the note from Caprica into her purse.
Iris was fairly sure Arden didn’t actually want Selene’s help, just her company.
“Don’t worry,” Arden said, looking back at Finn. “Everything will be planned and perfect for your big day.”
The day was closing in.
Just a few weeks away.
Instead of feeling trapped by the deadline like she had been, all Iris felt was excitement, a bone-deep sort ofrightness.
