Chapter 10
ELOISE
I should be nervous about walking into a date with Cupid, but I'm not. It wasn't even because we'd been matched by the system, I was reasonably sure that it was mostly because of the kiss. I reached up to touch my lips without thinking. I hadn't gone into his office planning on kissing him, it had just happened.
The Cedar appeared in front of me, along with the dark-haired god waiting for me at the front. He turned, his whole face lighting up as he saw me. He looked good. Different from at work with his sharp suit and the open-necked shirt.
"Hi," I said, barely resisting the urge to reach out and touch him in greeting. We might have kissed earlier, but that didn't mean we should be rushing into things now.
"Hello," he responded. "You look beautiful."
"Thank you." I looked down at my deep pink dress. It had been between this and one that revealed a lot more of my chest, but I thought this was better, especially when we were going somewhere this fancy.
"Shall we head inside?" he asked.
"Yes." I smiled and turned toward the door. Cupid reached out and put a hand on my back. I leaned into his touch, enjoying how it felt to have it there.
I'd never been here before and certainly not on a date. The low lighting was intimate, and the tables were spaced far enough away from one another that there was very little risk of anyone overhearing anything.
"Good evening, sir," the greeter said as we approached the podium. "We have your table waiting for you if you'd like to come with us." He gestured for us to follow him.
"Just how often do you come here that they know you?" I asked.
He chuckled. "I come here for dinner every now and again."
"With dates?"
"Jealous?" His lips quirked up into a smile.
"Curious," I corrected.
The greeter gestured to a table.
"Thank you," Cupid said, pulling out one of the chairs for me so I could take a seat.
I made myself comfortable as the greeter gave us both menus and disappeared to get our drinks. I looked over the page, looking at it, but not really reading. "What's good here?" I asked.
"Everything," Cupid responded.
I snorted. "I guessed that, but I have no idea what to have."
"It depends on what you like," he responded. "I normally get chicken or duck."
"Duck does sound good," I said. "I love duck, but I never have it. Too much hassle to cook it."
"Mmm, I know what you mean. Do you drink wine?"
"I do."
"Red? A Burgundy would go well with the duck."
"I'm going to defer to your better judgement," I admitted. "I drink wine, but I don't know much about it."
"Perhaps at some point, we could go to one of Dionysus' vineyards and try the wines there," he said.
I raised an eyebrow. "I thought the Greek gods were to be avoided?"
"They are, but I'll make an exception for Dionysus' wine," he joked, though there was a thread of seriousness to his tone.
"Good to know, I'll keep that in mind in the unlikely situation that I end up in a position of getting some of his wine."
"You think it's unlikely, but you work in the matchmaking department, you've met several gods in the past few months."
"And I'm sitting opposite one now, on a date."
"So you are." He flashed me a boyish smile that made him seem much younger than his years.
The waiter arrived to take our order. I hadn't spent as much time looking as I'd intended to, but the duck did sound delicious, so it was a good choice. And if we had the same, then there was no risk of garlic breath if we kissed.
The wine arrived and the waiter poured some into each of our glasses and left us to it.
"So, what's the expected topic of conversation with a god on a first date?" I asked.
Cupid shrugged. "Just normal first date stuff."
"Right, so I have no siblings, I work as a matchmaker, and I grew up not far from here," I rattled off. "I sound very dull now."
"You don't," he assured me. "So, matchmaking sounds interesting. I bet you have a great boss."
I laughed. "He's sweet. And cute, but in a hot way."
"I try my best. But seriously, what got you into matchmaking?"
"It's going to sound dumb, but I loved watching rom-coms as a teenager, especially the ones where someone is matchmaking other people. And then it turned out I was pretty good at maths. As soon as I realised the two were linked, I realised it was what I wanted to do."
"That's much better than my reason. I was told I was going to do it by other people."
"Why do you still do it?" I picked up my wine and swirled it around the glass. "You've had a long time to figure out if you wanted to do something else."
"Because I enjoy it," he admitted. "At first it was a little annoying, especially because I was too young and had no idea how it felt to fall in love. But after that first time, it was different."
"Who was the first person you loved?" I asked.
"A woman in Rome. She was the daughter of a soldier." He smiled at the memory, but there was a sad note to it, likely because he was remembering someone who was long gone. "It never really went anywhere, she was married off by her father, but after that, I understood better."
"There's nothing like the power of a first crush," I agreed. "Mine was a boy called Dylan. He gave me an eraser in the shape of a heart when we were about thirteen or so. And then my first crush on a girl was Valerie. She was in the year above me and a bit of a rebel. In hindsight, she wasn't really my type, but it was so strong."
"Like being struck by an arrow?" he joked.
I laughed. "Something like that. So I have to ask, do you really do that?"
"I'm a champion archer," he responded. "But the most I can actually do with my arrows is to dip them in a love potion, they won't do anything other than hurt if you got hit by one."
"Oh yes, just get hurt by a deadly weapon."
He shrugged. "Most people know better than to get in the way of an arrow, particularly when around someone who is a good shot."
The food arrived before we could continue our conversation, the smell of the fruity sauce making my mouth water. Cupid leaned back and let the waiter set his plate down in front of him, while I did the same.
"This looks great," I said.
"It does," Cupid responded.
I sliced into the duck and took a bite, almost letting out a groan from how good it was. "This is way better than anything I could make."
"I bet that's not the case."
"Maybe you'll find out sometime." I bit my lip and tried not to think too much about how that might come about.
"I'll take it as a good sign that you're thinking about another date before we've even finished our first." He ate some more of his duck while he waited for me to respond.
"I don't tend to date without purpose," I responded. "I tried to have something casual a few times, but it never really worked."
"Mmm, I know what you mean. I'd say I'm too old for it, but the reality is that I rarely had flings even when I was younger."
"I'm not sure I believe that. You're a handsome love god, I'm sure there have been plenty of people falling at your feet over the years." I stabbed one of the little carrots on my fork and popped it into my mouth, the explosion of sweetness almost too intense.
"There have been, but I didn't take many of them up on the offer. It's not that I've never taken anyone up on it ever, there have been times when I've been lonely, but it's never very satisfying."
"I'm surprised."
He chuckled. "Clearly you've heard rumours about the love gods and what they get up to."
"I've heard whispers," I responded. "There's a lot of talk around the office."
"Interesting." He set his cutlery down. "And expected. You can't be around gods and not have questions."
I chuckled. "Sometimes, I think being around gods just gives me more to ask. But you seem...normal."
"I am trying to be," he pointed out. "I have a job, I want to own a cat."
I raised an eyebrow. "A cat?"
"I've been meaning to get a new cat for a while, but I never make the time to go and get one," he admitted. "I love cats. There was a stray who was my first friend. He used to follow me around the temples when I was a boy."
"What was his name?"
"Feles," he responded. "It's Latin for cat."
"Inventive."
"I was ten, I wasn't thinking about fancy names for cats."
"Fair enough, what would you call a cat if you got one now?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. When I've gotten cats before it's normally been from a shelter, so they've come with names." He picked up his wine and took a sip. "What about you? Any pets?"
"My grandma had a cat," I responded. "Mum always said I couldn't have one, so I'd make the most of it when I went to visit my grandparents."
There was a strange expression on his face as he looked at me, and I couldn't quite tell what it was, especially when we were just talking about cats. I supposed that it was mostly because it was a small thing on which we were aligned. I supposed it made sense. The matchmaking system did say that we were a good match, perhaps this was just a good example of that, even if it was only scratching the surface.
And I was hopeful that we'd discover more as time went on. Uncovering all of the things that might make us work together. Of course, there could be things that didn't, but that was a risk we had to take.