Page 10 of Medusa

Eve frowned. “Me too. Sorry about that. We do try to arrange matches for everyone, but some people are trickier than others.”

“I don’t mind being tricky,” Maddie said with a chuckle.

“That is a wonderful attitude to have.” Aphrodite, the dark-haired literal Goddess inserted herself into the conversation. “Don’t you look sweet tonight, Maddie, dear. The men won’t be able to keep their eyes off of you.”

“That’s not really the effect I was going for,” Maddie said.

“Then you shouldn’t be so beautiful,” Aphrodite said as if it was the easiest compliment in the world. “Have you signed in yet?”

“No, just getting to that.” Maddie picked up the clipboard Eve pushed toward her and moved aside to make room when a vision in a purple shimmery dress entered the cafe. In the back of her consciousness, she heard the two speed dating organizers greet the newcomer by name, but she didn’t fully pay attention to anything beyond the form she filled out.

After she returned everything to Eve, Aphrodite took her by the arm and led her into the main room, which seemed to be full of people. “If you don’t mind finding a seat, we’ll get started shortly.”

“Thank you,” Maddie said.

The woman in purple entered and chose a seat on the left, closest to the door. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and the fancily dressed women in the room as possible, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else dressed like her that she could sit near.

Sighing in resignation, because she was again starting to regret her decisions that had led her to being here, dressed like this, she chose a seat as close to the bar and kitchen door as possible. She hoped to signal someone who worked there that she needed a drink. A stiff one.

But Aphrodite hopped up onto the little stage. “You have five minutes to date your partner before the men switch tables. You’ll be given ten seconds to mark down your compatibility on your ballots before you start your new date. Any questions?” Aphrodite paused, looking around the room for raised hands. “Find your seats and you may begin!” She rang a little bell on a tall table next to her.

There was a flurry of movement as everyone hurried to take a seat.

CHAPTER4

Jaden,pinned by the vampire’s eager expression, filled out the form for speed dating.

Ugh, really?

How do I get myself into these situations?

He could hear another woman speaking into a microphone in the other room, telling the other people the rules of the event. He rolled his eyes, keeping his head down so that Eve wouldn’t be offended.

It wasn’t a good idea to have a vampire mad at you, after all.

Once he’d finished, Eve took his arm, her pointed, long, red fingernails digging into his bicep, and steered him into the main room of the cafe. Jaden got an overwhelming impression ofpeople, and then he was being pushed into the empty seat in front of the woman in the shimmery purple dress.

“You may begin!” Aphrodite finished her speech and rang a bell.

Jaden flashed a winning smile at the blonde woman seated across from him. “Hi, I’m Jaden.”

“Pandora,” she replied.

“You look absolutely stunning today, Pandora,” Jaden said.

“Oh, thanks.”

Pandora seemed put off by his compliment, for some reason. Jaden spent the rest of the mini date trying to get her to show some sort of emotion, but came up dry.

Ugh, if all these dates are going to be this draining, maybe I should give up now, try to pull someone at Athens Bar a few blocks over instead.

Jaden moved to the next table, sliding into the chair across from a dark-haired, sultry-eyed woman.

“Good evening, handsome. I’m Dakota, what’s your name?” the flashy brunette asked, leaning so far forward that Jaden could see down her cleavage.

All right, this is better.

Jaden grinned at the thought.

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