Chapter 17
CUPID
Someone reached out to touch my arm and I jumped, not having expected it.
"It's me," Eloise said.
I turned to look at the woman I hadn't been able to stop thinking about all night, my whole demeanour softening. "Hi."
"Hey," she said in a soft voice.
"How are you enjoying the party?"
"It's good," she responded.
"But?"
"There's something that could make it better. Did you know there's an empty room here?" Her eyes sparkled with mischief.
"Is that so?"
She smiled and pulled me inside. "You're not going to be missed, right?"
"Not immediately."
"Good." She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me deeply. I returned it, pressing her against the wall and losing myself. I'd spent most of my evening talking to people who I didn't necessarily want to talk to. It was fine for me to take a moment for myself, especially if it involved the beautiful witch in my arms.
We broke apart, and I smiled at her, enjoying how good it felt for us to have a stolen moment. I could get used to having someone I could enjoy the Jinx events with.
"How are you enjoying the party?" I asked.
She giggled. "You already asked that."
"I forgot," I admitted. "You have a way of making me unable to think about anything but you."
"Ah, now there's the romantic god I know." She kissed me quickly on the lips. "I'm enjoying the party more now. But it's nice. I would have had fun anyway."
"Mmm, Damien did a good job."
"He's the guy walking around with Aphrodite, right?" she checked.
I nodded.
"They're good together, I can see it in the way they look at one another."
"Are you sure you're just a witch and not a love goddess?" I teased.
"Maybe one day." The words were whispered so softly that I nearly missed them. But I didn't and they made my heart constrict tightly. It was still too early to be thinking about forever, but having someone who thought that it could be a possibility was something I'd dreamed of for many years.
I reached out and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "You'd make a good one."
Her eyes lit up, but she didn't say anything.
"What was Sasha talking to you about?" I asked to change the subject. Conversations about immortality could wait.
"Which god to set me up with," she said. "I wasn't particularly impressed with any of her suggestions."
"Good."
"But she did say that you were off-limits because you were our boss," she said. "And because we matched."
"Mmhmm. Luckily, there's no actual Jinx rule against dating people at work."
"Seems like a recipe for disaster."
I shrugged. "We're supposed to report any relationship to HR."
"And you're thinking about that already?" She traced a pattern over my chest, making me wish we were back at my flat instead of in a private room away from a Valentine's Day party.
"I'm thinking that we should at some point, I don't want you to feel taken advantage of." As her boss, I knew that was a distinct possibility and that I needed to make sure she felt safe enough that she could say no to me at any point.
"I definitely don't feel that," she assured me. "But we should wait at least a little longer."
I nodded and leaned in to kiss her again, wishing that we had longer before I'd be missed so we could do far more than that.
Even so, she squirmed against me, and I knew her thoughts were probably in the same place as mine. "I'm going to be thinking of you for the rest of the night," Eloise against my lips.
"Me too."
"Good."
"What are you doing afterwards?" I asked.
"You." There was a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. "It's how I started the day, it feels like a good way to end it."
I chuckled. "Fair enough."
"And maybe something to eat. The hor d'oeuvres are delicious, but they're not exactly a meal."
"We can have something delivered to my flat," I promised.
"Good." She leaned in and kissed my cheek. "I'm going to go back to ignoring you now, for work purposes, naturally."
I laughed and watched her leave, feeling a pang of disappointment that I wasn't able to shout about her from the rooftops. I knew it was far too early for any of that, but that didn't stop the urge.
I straightened myself up, hoping that I didn't look like I'd just been having a make-out session with one of my employees.
Satisfied that I looked the part, I headed out of the room, almost running directly into Aine. The goddess gave me a knowing look. "It's a good party," she said.
"Yes." I cleared my throat. "It's going well."
"It is." She looked over to where Eloise was getting another drink from the bar. "I expect the paperwork is going to HR on Monday?" she asked me.
I closed my eyes. So much for us keeping that quiet. "We'll fill it out tomorrow."
"Good. And the report."
"The report?" I asked.
"You were matched by the Jinx system, I expect a report," Aine said.
"All right." We hadn't exactly done things the traditional way through the system, but there was no doubt this only happened because the system matched us and it put this in both of our minds.
"Just make sure all of the paperwork is done." She walked back over to where Min was talking to Aphrodite, leaving me to process what had just happened.
I didn't think Eloise would be scared away by a little paperwork, which was reassuring. And hopefully, that would mean that we could get to the next part of our relationship quicker, which was something I wasn't about to say no to. I'd always been a romantic, and she'd captured me in a way no one had in a long time. I wasn't about to let that slip through my fingers.