Page 16 of Matchmaking With Cupid

"And yet you've found your words."

"Only a few of them."

I swallowed hard, feeling the tension in the air growing and trying to decide precisely what to do with it I wanted to do with it. I leaned closer, bringing our faces closer together than before. I could see his chest rise and fall faster than before as I reached out and put a hand on his chest. We shouldn't be doing this here and I knew that. We were in his office in the middle of the day, and even if there were no rules against dating one another, I was sure there were some about using the office for more than that.

"Eloise," he whispered.

"Yes." It was the answer to the unspoken question in his voice. I didn't need him to ask it out loud, I already knew what it was, and he knew what I was answering.

He brushed a hand against my cheek, making my breathing hitch in response. My eyes fluttered closed as his lips touched mine and he kissed me far softer than I anticipated.

It was barely a fleeting touch, certainly not enough for me. I pressed myself closer to him, wrapping my arms around his neck and deepening the kiss. His hand skimmed over my waist, igniting something deep within me that I hadn't expected, especially not so soon into the physical touch. It was impossible to ignore the intensity growing within me, even as we pulled apart.

A smile tugged at my lips and I met his gaze. "So..." I said.

"So," he responded, his voice low and full of need.

"I've been thinking about what we should be doing about our match." Right now, it wasn't a date I was thinking of either. There was a very different part of me in control right now.

"Oh?"

I trailed my hand over his shoulder. "I think I'd like to..."

A knock sounded on the door and it started creaking open. I jumped back and Cupid hurried around to the other side of his desk. For a moment, I thought it was because he didn't want to be seen as close to me, but from the way he was holding himself, it was something different.

Despite the interruption, there was a slightly heady feeling that came with knowing I'd done that to a literal god.

A man with dark blond hair stepped inside the room, barely looking up from his tablet. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise you were in a meeting."

"It's fine, Damien," Cupid responded. "This is Eloise, she's one of our matchmakers."

The man gave me a friendly smile. "Good to meet you."

"This is Damien, he works in the Events Planning Department," Cupid said.

"Ah, the Valentine's Party," I said. "I can come back for the rest of our conversation." I met Cupid's gaze, hoping he knew that I wasn't talking about the part where we'd been discussing Hades, though I knew we had to get back to that at some point.

"Perhaps we could get some coffee next time," he suggested.

I nodded. That was probably a good idea if we didn't want to get too distracted by whatever it was lingering between us. Because it was certainly taking our minds off of our jobs right now.

Chapter 9

CUPID

As much as I wanted to make sure that the Jinx Valentine's Party went well, I didn't want it to be at the expense of time spent with Eloise, especially when things had just been about to get interesting. I didn't want to push Eloise, not when I was her boss, and she'd been about to say something about our match and what she wanted to do about it, a conversation I was very willing to have, and certainly hoped would go the way I wanted it to. She had said she wanted to talk about it before we were interrupted.

Damien cleared his throat, reminding me that I currently had much less pleasant company in my office. He was nice enough, the choice of dating Aphrodite aside, but that didn't mean I wanted to spend hours with him going through all of the details of the party.

"I think that's most of what I had to cover," Damien said. "The menu, cocktails, invites, and decor. Is there anything in particular you require for the event?"

"I don't believe so." It wasn't as if I had any particular feelings about Valentine's Day. "No cherubs, wings, or anything like that."

"I don't think Aine would have signed off on that anyway," he assured me.

"Good. And no drawing attention to the fact I'm the one hosting."

Damien raised an eyebrow. "I think that defeats the point."

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