Page 66 of Cupid's Last Arrow

Eros goes stone still. Finally, his jaw flutters, but he doesn’t look at me. “You had sex with him?”

“Almost.”

“Why did you call itfooling around?” Eros studies his clasped hands without making eye contact. “You didn’t say that you’re officially together.”

“I don’t know. I guess we haven’t actually labeled our relationship.”

Eros spins to finally face me and stares at my heart. “You haven’t bonded with Carl. I don’t see cords tying you together.”

I glance down at my chest, as if I already acquired the matchmaker abilities, but I can’t feel the cords either.

Eros’s eyes zero in on his ring on my finger. “He fooled around with you with someone’s engagement ring on your finger?” he asks in a disturbingly calm voice. “By the way, what did he say about his girlfriend?”

“He said she wasn’t his girlfriend, and besides he told her about me.”

“Did he say that he ended hisarrangementwith her?” Eros asks poignantly.

“Well, no, but now that she knows?—”

“That means nothing,” Eros interrupts. “Not for many people who casually date. You must be aware that there are plenty of people who sleep around while they’re married or supposedly committed. Then there are people who have no issue sleeping with a married person. In fact, there are quite a number who get off on it when they steal someone else’s love.”

“I thought you wanted me to be with Carl. Why are you trying to make me feel bad about this?” I ask, my shoulders curling inward. He’s listing every worry I’ve had about my development with Carl. Oh no… Am I stealing someone’s love?

“Oh, sweetheart, damn me. I’m not trying to.” Eros drops to his knees in front of me and holds my hands. “I wish I could give you the answers you want to hear, but I can’t read him—he’s blocked from me. Because of that, I have a bad feeling that he might not be what you hope he is.”

“But is it right for me to expect honesty from him when I’m keeping a secret?”

“You mean about me?” Eros asks.

I nod. “Can I tell him about the contract? I don’t want to start off a relationship with so much hidden.”

“I’d allow you to tell him about me onlyifyou believe he’s truly committed to you.”

“How can Itrulyknow if he’s committed to me?” I ask. “I don’t want to be a stalker.”

“That’s not a bad idea. You should go to his work,” Eros announces, “and take him out to lunch. I can snoop around for you and check out thisMercy.” He says the name as if it were a lie.

“I guess going to his work isn’t such a bad thing, but he likes his privacy.”

“Whyishe so private? What’s he hiding?” Eros asks with an edge. “You seriously haven’t been to his workplace in all this time?”

“I thought you wanted me to be with him.”

“It’s not about him. Iwantyou to be with someone who loves you as much as you deserve… which is quite a lot.” Eros raises his voice with that sentiment, as if he’s taking this whole love trap personally. He takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I guess I’ve become very protective of you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Well, I might get hurt. That’s love, right?” I pick at the edge of my shirt. “And Carl hasn’t been a jerk before now.”

“Maybe you just didn’t realize he’s been a jerk this entire time. Besides, things are different now. He needs to step up and commit,” Eros says. “When you were… together, didyoufeel his love for you?”

I blink.Did I feel his love?I suppose I felt something, but that doesn’t feel like a great response to his question.

“Sort of. This is all new. It might just be that I didn’t really feel much since I was still stunned by it all.”

“Has he told you how he feels about you?”

“He said he wanted me all this time.” I think about what he actually said. “Well, he said everyday he wanted to dive into my warmth.”

Eros’s eye twitches. “Did he say he loved you?”

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