Chapter 4
ELOISE
A notification from the matchmaking software popped up, and for a moment, I thought it was going to be another match for me. Not that I'd done anything about the first one. Technically, I had the admin powers available to me to dismiss it, but I didn't want to risk that in case Cupid had also seen it and got insulted that I didn't want to do anything about it.
I closed my eyes and groaned. How had I gotten myself into this position? I should be excited about the potential match, but instead, I was worrying about the implications of being matched with my boss.
I looked across at where Sasha was sitting comfortably in her chair, chatting on the phone with one of her clients. That's how I got into this mess.
Even though it was difficult, I ignored my racing thoughts and clicked through to the program, relieved to find that it wasn't anything about my profile, but the notification of a name that was flagged as being a high priority if they ever signed up to one of Jinx's events or services.
Hades . The god of the underworld or whatever it was he actually did. I wasn't too sure about that. It was intimidating even to look at the name, especially when I knew it had come through to me because I was the matchmaker who was next on the list for a new client. But I couldn't deal with someone this high profile.
This was the kind of thing that needed to be taken to the boss. I glanced over at Cupid's office. I hadn't seen my boss since I'd matched with him, and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say when I did. Should I acknowledge what happened or pretend it didn't? Especially when I had no idea if he even knew that we'd been matched.
I sighed and ran a hand over my face. There was no use dwelling on it. I'd already made the match, and now I needed to appraise my boss of the current situation. It barely mattered whether I thought this was a good idea, I had to go talk to Cupid. I got to my feet and brushed off my dress, hoping that I didn't look a mess. The last thing I wanted was to make a bad impression on Cupid, not because he was my match but because he was my boss.
No one paid any attention to me as I made my way over to the office door and knocked a couple of times.
"Come in."
I swallowed hard and made my way inside. Cupid was sitting at his desk, his dark curly hair messy from where he'd run his hand through it. He looked up and gave me a friendly smile.
"Do you have a moment?" I asked.
He nodded and gestured to the chair on the opposite side of his desk. I hurried forward and sat down, trying not to let my nerves show.
"Sir, there's been an alert."
"You don't need to call me sir," he responded. "Cupid is fine."
"Is that not weird?"
He leaned back in his seat. "It's your choice, Ms Finch."
"If I'm supposed to call you Cupid, shouldn't you use my name?"
"The choice is yours," he responded.
I studied him intently, trying to work out what he was thinking, even if that was impossible. "Eloise," I said eventually. No doubt he already knew my name, but it was good to be sure.
"It suits you," he responded. "So, there's been an alert?"
I nodded.
"Who is it?" he asked.
"Hades."
"How unexpected." An intrigued expression crossed Cupid's face, making me wonder if there was some kind of drama between the gods that I didn't know about. Which was a dumb thought to have, they'd all been alive for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and came from all over the world, there were going to be feuds and disagreements that I couldn't even imagine.
"I'm-I'm not really sure what to do with it now," I admitted. "This is the first time someone high profile has signed up since I've been here." That I knew about. They could have been assigned to one of the other matchmakers easily enough.
"When someone this high-profile is looking for a match, the best thing we can do is put someone who knows what they're doing on the case."
"I'll make sure to write up a report so I can hand it over," I said, getting to my feet. It wasn't like there'd be much to put in it with how recent the development was, but it would help with the handover.
"Why would you do that?" He studied me intently.
"You said..."
"I said that someone who knows what they're doing should be on the case. That's you, isn't it?"
I opened my mouth to protest and then shut it again. "I suppose." I sat back down, sensing that the conversation wasn't over.
"Perhaps we should work it together." He leaned forward on the desk and clasped his hands together while looking right at me.
I swallowed hard. "Together?"
"Yes. Is that a problem?"
Did he know about the profile match? It didn't seem likely, but why else would be suggesting that? It felt like an excuse for us to spend time together, but maybe I was reading into that because it was secretly what I wanted. Which I supposed was kind of the case. I wanted to know why the system thought we were a good match, especially because I trusted in the system and the matches it produced.
"No, of course not," I said, remembering that he'd asked me a question.
"Good. I really should take part in handling a client as high-profile as Hades, but I have a Valentine's Day party to organise, so I could use the support."
"There's going to be a Valentine's Day Party?" I couldn't keep the surprise out of my voice. I knew from some of my research that Valentine's Day wasn't something that had started in Rome, even if Cupid was sometimes associated with it.
He nodded. "Aine came by earlier this week to ask me to be the host. Naturally, the team will be invited."
"Yes. Naturally," I answered.
"Though I wouldn't worry about it if you have other plans. I'm sure you have a date already."
Was he fishing for information? It was hard not to think that was what it was. "I'm free. Valentine's Day isn't really my thing."
He raised an eyebrow. "Fair enough. It would be good if we could get Hades matched before the event, that would look good for the department," Cupid mused. "Would you email him and ask him to come in for an interview? I think that would be better for a client as high-profile as Hades."
"You want me to email him?"
"If it comes from me, he's more likely to ignore it," Cupid responded. "Greek gods, I'm sure you know."
"I really don't," I responded.
"Ah, well the Roman and Greek pantheons don't tend to get along. We should ensure he doesn't match with any of the Roman goddesses in the system for that reason alone. The result wouldn't be pretty."
"Okay. Erm..." I looked around for something to write notes with.
Cupid seemed to notice what I was doing and held out a pink sparkly Jinx pen and a notepad. I took them from him, trying to ignore how good it felt when his fingers brushed against mine.
I cleared my throat and made a note to put a block on Hades' profile for any Roman goddesses. "Do we also need to block anyone he's related to?" I asked, hoping that I wasn't going to have to look up the family tree of the Greek gods to work out who could and couldn't date Hades.
"No, that's all uploaded to the system already. It's Jinx-wide, so if they sign up with their real names on the dating app, or for any of the other services, it should also stop them from matching with anyone they're related to."
"That's a relief."
"It does make our job a little easier," he responded. "So no, there's nothing that we need to do when it comes to the Greek gods. I doubt any of them are going to come back as a match anyway."
I nodded. That made sense, especially when it was so complicated and Jinx had all kinds of services on their books.
"Other than that, I'm out of the office next Friday, but I can do any other day. You can check my calendar for when I have other appointments," Cupid said.
"Okay. Erm, I guess I'll go set that up then."
He smiled at me. "I look forward to working with you, Eloise."
The way he said my name sent a pleasant shiver through me. "I do too," I responded.
It was hard to believe that I was going to have a client this big. Everyone knew who Hades was, and there would be no denying how much it would help my career if I could find him a match. The fact I was going to be working with Cupid was just another level to that, and I wasn't entirely sure how to deal with it, especially when the reality of the match we'd made was a secret hanging over my head.