Page 2 of Sleigh Rides With St. Nick

"What if I could get us into a Jinx mixer?"she said.

"One run by the dating agency you work at?"I checked.

"Well, yes.But the mixers aren't really about matchmaking.There's an open bar, and the guest list is kind of exclusive."

"And yet you can get us losers in?"Laila joked.

"Wait, is it because of your secret work boyfriend?"I asked.

Eloise took a sip of her wine."Yes, okay.I can have him get us in."

"Well now I'm even more intrigued about who he is," I admitted."If he's high up enough to get us on the list, then that means..."

"He's my boss," Eloise blurted.

"But your boss is Cupid," Laila said.

Our friend looked down at her wine glass, her cheeks bright red."Yes, my boss is Cupid."

I whistled."Damn, El, you hooked yourself a god?"

"Well, not on purpose," she said quickly.

"Hey, I'm all in for a Jinx party," Laila responded."I've heard the drinks are really good, and I wouldn't mind finding myself a god or two."

I raised an eyebrow in her direction.

"Not at the same time," she said."Though I've heard the stories I can't imagine that it would be impossible to find gods who would do that."

"I've not had enough wine for this conversation," I murmured."Dating a god sounds complicated.And talk about the age gap."

Eloise raised an eyebrow."Isn't your dad two hundred years older than your mum?"

"Well, yes.But that's just an elf thing."

"There are gods who aren't that much older than the oldest elves," Laila said."And some who are younger, right?"She looked at Eloise.

"How should I know?I don't have access to profiles on all of the gods, only those who sign up for the matchmaking services.And I only know if they list that they're a god.Not all of them do, it isn't required to disclose what you are when you're signing up unless you want to."

"How does that even work?"Laila asked."What if someone doesn't want to be matched with a god?"

"Then they put that on their intake form, and it doesn't match them with anyone who has either disclosed they're a god, or has left that information blank.But most people don't.I think they know that if they're using Jinx's services, then there's going to be a chance that they'll match with a god."

"Oh, so who are we expecting to be there tonight?"Laila asked, leaning forward."Do I need to change into a better dress?"

"Your dress is great," I reminded her."Any god who doesn't want you in that dress isn't worthy of the title."

Eloise shrugged."I don't know."

"What about Hades?I heard he's the hot brooding type," Laila mused.

"He's back with Persephone," Eloise said."Which is kind of my fault.But kind of not."

I raised an eyebrow."Now you have to tell us that story."

"There's nothing really to tell.Cupid was supposed to put a note on the file that they weren't to be matched together, but then we, erm, got a bit distracted and accidentally sent the file off asto be matched."

"Distracted as in..."

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