Chapter 12
DANE
The investor meeting had gone well. I was set to make another small fortune by year’s end. I should have been elated. Instead, I felt restless.
I left the conference room and found myself wandering through the office instead of returning to my desk.
The IT department was first, where I checked in on the app update that was supposed to roll out next week.
Then past the marketing team’s bullpen, where Heidi’s people were huddled around monitors working on social media content.
Finally, I made my way to the matchmakers’ section—the heart of Cupid’s Arrow, the people who actually made our promises real. AI could only go so far. I liked to call the area the literal heart of the company.
The matchmakers worked in a semi-open space filled with plants and natural light, a deliberate design choice to make it feel less like an office and more like a creative studio. They needed space to think and be inspired.
I paused by one of the desks where a young woman named Kendra was working on something on her screen. She glanced up when she noticed me, looking slightly startled.
“Mr. Kavanagh. Hi. Is there something I can help you with?”
I glanced at her screen and saw Ina’s face. “What’s that?”
“I was told to make sure this profile was completely deactivated from public view.”
It was Ina’s Cupid’s Arrow profile. The one Lucas had created for the campaign.
I moved closer, unable to help myself. “Is there a problem with it?”
“No, no problem. It’s just… it’s a really good profile. Like, really good. Whoever filled out the prompts knew exactly what they were doing. It could be really popular.” She scrolled down, and I read the text.
What makes you laugh: Bad puns, good theater, and people who take themselves just seriously enough to be funny without meaning to be.
Perfect Sunday: Brunch with someone who doesn’t mind if I steal bites from their plate, a matinee show, then walking through the city until our feet hurt. Bonus points if it ends with hot chocolate and people-watching.
What are you looking for: Someone who still believes in magic. Someone who thinks finding the perfect gift is a love language. Someone who won’t judge me for crying at Disney movies.
I stared at the screen and a wave of emotion swept over me. “She filled these out herself?”
Kendra nodded. “Yeah, Lucas sent her the forms and she sent it all back the same day. Usually when we create dummy profiles, they feel kind of hollow, you know? But this one feels real. Like if it was actually active, she’d have hundreds of matches.”
“But it’s not active.”
“No, definitely not. Lucas was very clear about that.”
I wasn’t sure if Kendra knew what we were doing. I doubted it and I preferred to keep it that way. The profile was all about creating a paper trail that proved we met on Cupid’s Arrow instead of at Cupid’s Arrow.
I nodded and went looking for Lucas, finding him in his office with Heidi. They were both hunched over Lucas’s laptop, and when I walked in, they looked up with matching expressions of glee.
“Perfect timing,” Lucas said. “Come look at this.”
I approached warily. “Look at what?”
Heidi turned the laptop to face me. On the screen was a grainy photo of two people standing outside a restaurant. I was clearly visible, smiling down at a woman whose face was only partially visible in profile. My arm was around her waist, pulling her close, and the way I was looking at her?
I looked happy. Like a man who’d just had a good date and didn’t want it to end.
“Where did this come from?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.
“My team,” Lucas said proudly. “They got about twenty shots total, but this one is the best. See how you can tell it’s you, but her face is mostly obscured? That’s perfect. It creates mystery. People are going to want to know who the mystery woman is.”
“People are already wanting to know,” Heidi added. “I’ve been monitoring social media all morning. There are already threads on Reddit speculating about who you were with. A few gossip blogs picked up the story. Nothing major yet, but it’s building exactly the way we hoped.”
I stared at the photo and was suddenly overwhelmed with a very strange, uncomfortable feeling in my stomach.
“This is good, right?” Lucas asked, his enthusiasm dimming slightly when I didn’t respond immediately. “This is exactly what we wanted. Controlled leak, building interest while keeping Ina’s identity protected for now.”
“Right,” I said. “Good work, team.”
And it was good. From a business perspective, this was exactly what we’d planned. The photos were appropriately mysterious, the public interest was building, and Ina’s face was obscured enough that she could still move through her life without being recognized.
Not because I didn’t want people to know I’d been with her.
But because this wasn’t real.
This was a marketing campaign that would end after Valentine’s Day, and then what?
Then Ina would go back to being my assistant, and I would go back to being the CEO who didn’t date.
She would use her new Cupid’s Arrow profile to find someone who actually believed in magic and Disney movies and perfect gifts as a love language.
Someone who wasn’t me.
The thought made my chest feel hollow.
“Dane?” Lucas was looking at me with concern. “You okay, bud?”
“Fine. Just thinking about the next steps.”
“Well, the next step is more dates for the lovebirds,” Heidi said, pulling up a calendar on her phone. “Lucas and I were thinking maybe coffee this weekend? Something casual, daytime, where you can be seen but it doesn’t look staged.”
“I’ll coordinate with Ina,” I said, already heading for the door. “Email me the details.”
Lucas fell into step beside me, which meant he had something to say that he didn’t want to discuss in front of Heidi.
“Spit it out,” I said.
He shrugged. “I’m just wondering if you’ve thought about what happens after.”
“After what?”
“After the campaign ends. After Valentine’s Day. After you and Ina stop playing pretend.” He gave me a sideways look. “Have you thought about what that’s going to look like?”
“She goes back to being my assistant. I go back to being her boss. Everything returns to normal.”
“You really think it’s going to be that simple?”
Before I could answer, we rounded the corner to find Keith leaning on Ina’s desk.
He was in full charm mode, leaning in too close, flashing that smile that he probably thought was disarming.
Ina laughed but I could see the tension in her shoulders.
I noticed the way she’d positioned her body to maintain distance, the way her eyes kept darting toward my office like she was hoping for an escape route.
Keith didn’t notice. Or didn’t care.
They both looked up when Lucas and I approached. Ina’s expression flooded with relief. Keith’s shifted to mild annoyance.
“I need you,” I said to Ina. “My office.”
Keith straightened, giving me a look. “Yeah, actually. I have a meeting. We’ll talk later, right, Ina?”
“Sure,” Ina said with zero enthusiasm.
I waited until Keith was out of earshot, then gestured for both Ina and Lucas to follow me into my office. Lucas shot me a knowing look as he passed, but I ignored it and closed the door behind us.
“Explain to me exactly how this is going to work,” I said to Lucas without preamble. “The dates, the timeline, all of it.”
Lucas settled into one of the chairs across from my desk. Ina remained standing, looking uncertain.
“Sit,” I told her.
She sat down, looking very uncomfortable.
“It’s simple,” Lucas began. “You and Ina go out in public a few times over the next couple of weeks. Coffee shops, restaurants, maybe a walk through Central Park if the weather cooperates. Nothing formal, nothing that requires you to dress up or step into a literal spotlight. Just exist together in spaces where you might be photographed.”
“Photographed by your people or by actual paparazzi?”
“Both, ideally. My people will be there to make sure we get usable shots, but the goal is to create enough buzz that real paparazzi start paying attention. Then it becomes organic. Self-sustaining.”
“And the narrative?” I asked.
“You’re a private person trying to keep a relationship private.” Lucas nodded in my direction. “That’s already established in the public consciousness. We’re just showing glimpses—enough to confirm you’re seeing someone, not enough to invade the relationship. It makes it seem real and special.”
“Until Valentine’s Day,” I said.
“Until the commercial airs on Valentine’s Day, yes. At that point, the relationship is ‘confirmed’ by the ad itself. People will connect the dots. The mystery woman from the photos is the same woman from the commercial. Boom. Story complete.”
“And then what?” The question was blunt, but I operated in facts. Black and white.
Lucas paused. “Then you go back to being private. Neither of you has to make a formal announcement about breaking up or staying together. You’ve already established that you don’t talk about your personal life.
After the commercial airs, all public access to Ina ceases.
She’s not on social media under her real name, her Cupid’s Arrow profile is private, and there’s no reason for anyone to keep digging. The story arc is complete.”
Ina shifted in her chair, uncomfortable.
“Let me talk this over with my girlfriend,” I said to Lucas.
He glanced between us, then stood. “Sure. I’ll email you both the schedule for the next few appearances. Let me know what you think.”
When the door closed behind him, silence rolled into the office like fog.
“Did you receive the raise and bonus package from Norma?” I asked.
Ina nodded. “Yesterday. It’s generous. More than generous.”
“Is it enough?”
She looked at me and offered a hesitant smile. “I’m not worried about the money.”
“Then what’s the matter?”
“Doesn’t this look bad for you when it comes to actually dating people?”
“I don’t date,” I said simply, which was still true.
“Oh.” She looked down at her hands. “Right. You mentioned that.”
“Do you? Date?”
She shrugged, and I watched color rise in her cheeks. “I try. It’s hard in a new city, and I’ve been so focused on work.” She laughed slightly. “I’m not very good at it, honestly. I get too nervous and say the wrong things.”
“You were fine at dinner the other night.” The words came out before I could stop them.
“That was different,” she said quietly. “That was pretend.”
I gripped the edge of my desk, needing something solid to hold on to. “This won’t get in the way of you actually dating. After Valentine’s Day, you’ll have your Cupid’s Arrow profile, and you can find what you’re looking for.”
“It kind of sounds like you’re my boyfriend until after Valentine’s Day. Which makes you my Valentine.” She smiled, and for the first time, I recognized it for what it was—a defense mechanism. A way to lighten the mood when things got too heavy. “I’ve never had a Valentine before. Even a fake one.”
The phone on her desk rang, cutting through whatever I might have said in response.
She stood quickly, spell shattered. “I should get that. I’m your assistant by day and your fake Valentine by night. The sun’s out, so off I go.”
“Right. Yes. Thank you, Ina.” I sank into my chair and rubbed both hands over my face.
For a man who didn’t date, I was excited for when the sun went down. What the hell was she doing to me?
Ina talked on the phone with that bright, professional voice she used for difficult callers. She was gesturing with her free hand. The charm bracelet on her wrist caught the light the way her curvy hips caught my attention.
But she was more than a pretty smile and a nice caboose. I’d had fun at dinner the other night. Actual fun. When I watched her leave in that car, I wanted to go with her.
But I needed to remember it was fake. Temporary. It was a business arrangement that would end on Valentine’s Day, and then Ina would use her real profile to find her Valentine for next year, and I would go back to casual hookups and my inability to believe in magic.
It was better that way.
Safer.
The only option, really.
So why did the idea make me feel sick?