It's all Cupid's fault (The Holidaze Book 2)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13
Mia found the cherubs most helpful in pointing out matched couples. They were also great at showing her as the better match maker.
“Get away from her!” Cupid demanded.
He tried to remove the cherubs with a useless wave of his arms. Both Devinah and Mia gave him a withering look at his audacity. The cherubs simply giggled at him and drew closer to Mia.
“Obey me! I'm the God of Love,” Cupid thumped a hand on his impressive chest but it didn't sway the cherubs.
“Thank you,” Mia said as a cherub tapped against the pages in front of her.
Nobody acknowledged the outrage that Cupid tried to put upon them. Everybody else wanted Caramia Hayworth’s presence and that infuriated Cupid more.
“Can we just call a truce and be done with it? I'll even let you pick the next victim who you want to date,” Cupid growled through clenched teeth.
Mia stopped her examination of matches and faced Cupid, “you'll let me choose who I want to date?”
“Anything to get you away from here,” Cupid muttered.
“Let me choose every time and you might have a deal.”
“Every time?”
“You said I had matches with most of the men in the world, so finding the right one might be a lot harder than you think. If you agree to let me choose my partners in the future, then I'll give up trying to find out who of us is the best matchmaker,” Mia flapped the papers in his direction.
Cupid huffed out a breath and frowned, but he did consider her offer. With his cherubs deserting him, and even Devinah wanting to be on that woman's side, he needed to make a clear decision.
Could he work together with her to find this perfect match that she craved so badly? At least she couldn't blame him if the next choice she made wasn't the right one.
An image came of the remembered kiss they had shared and he shifted restlessly. Working closely with her meant dealing with her intoxicating aroma. It also meant he had to face the temptation of her always being in his space. Could he resist her impossible allure? If it got her out of his world then maybe it was the right decision.
“Are you ever going to decide?” Mia spoke and shifted his thoughts to images of her to the physical manifestation in front of him.
“Fine, we'll work together. I'll let you choose your future partners,” he agreed.
Mia smiled and that bowled him over. Since meeting her, he had adapted to her anger and frustration. Seeing her smile moved something profound inside him and he wasn't sure if he liked it.
“Let's shake on it,” Mia held her hand out.
Cupid stepped forward too eagerly and clasped her small, delicate hand in his. Mia tried to ignore the tingling wherever her skin touched his. It took her a great deal of effort not to jump into his arms and demand another of those delightful kisses that she hadn't once forgotten.
“Are you two ever going to release each other from the handshake?” Devinah asked with a chortle of laughter.
Both Cupid and Mia quickly let go of the other's hand and glanced away from where they had stared into each other's eyes. Mia snapped her eyes back to those endless sky blue eyes and wondered how long she'd held his hand.
The cherubs had circled around the pair of them playing their harps in a wonderful melody. Cupid dispersed them with a swift wave of his hand. He scowled at the cheekily smirking cherubs who instantly moved over to Mia.
“Where do we start?” Mia clapped her hands and looked towards Cupid.
“We'll look at your matches and let you choose,” Cupid dragged out a Match-a-Matic until Devinah cleared her throat.
“You're better off doing it the old way,” Devinah said.
Cupid groaned, “her file must weigh a ton. The Match-a-Matic is a much better plan.”
“Don't anger the Higher Gods. Do it the old way as they told you to do.”
“Fine, but you're in charge of finding her file,” Cupid crossed his arms.
Devinah groaned but left the room. Mia wasn't sure what to say now that she found herself alone with Cupid. Should she mention the kiss? Should she ask why he had kissed her even when it was a while ago? She cleared her throat and tried not to look as awkward as she felt.
“This is as impossible as you suggested, Cupid, but I've got the first part of her file. Caramia’s file takes up most of one section on her own,” Devinah sounded amused but muffled as she brought out an armful of paperwork to plonk on the top of 'who's the better matchmaker’ truce idea.
“These are all my matches?” Mia struggled to contain her shock at the huge pile.
“Not even close, you've got a ton more than just this measly selection,” Devinah said.
“Holy moly,” Mia whispered.
“Let's start going through them and remember that you wanted this,” Cupid stretched his fingers and reached for the first few sheets.
Each sheet had a name and a photo. Underneath was a description of the man's likes and dislikes, habits, lifestyle and what he wanted from life. Mia flicked through a few of them and paused at one that was a woman.
“You attract anyone,” Cupid drawled.
“If I pick someone from here, how do you get me a date with them?” Mia asked.
Cupid reached for the portable Match-a-Matic only to hear a tutting noise from behind him. With great reluctance, he relinquished the technology when he saw Devinah's determined expression. She held out his bow and his quiver of gold tipped arrows.
Mia stared at so many arrows tipped with what looked like pure gold. She then noticed the cherubs notching small golden arrows onto their bows as well. That made her want to squirm. It was bad enough that Cupid would aim one of those at her, but she didn't want a whole horde of cherubs aiming at her too.
“I may not have liked the way you've acted in recent times, but I'm willing to aid you in the best way possible,” Devinah told him as she shook the bow and arrows.
“Fine,” Cupid huffed, but took a hold of the equipment offered to him.
The cherubs began playing their harps again and Mia couldn't take her eyes from them. Glancing back down at the choices in front of her, some of the pages began to glow brighter than others.
“Have you found anyone you could see a possible match with?”
Mia looked up from where she had started to sort through the options that had the golden glow. She saw the arrows and it dawned on her exactly what Cupid intended to do.
“You'd better not have any of those lead ones hidden in there, I don't want a repeat of before,” Mia narrowed her eyes on him.
“Only gold tipped,” Cupid promised as he swung the quiver around for her to examine.
“When did you have to use a lead arrow?” Devinah enquired with raised brows.
Cupid winced and mumbled, “a while ago.”
“They aren't allowed unless it's dire circumstances, in case you've forgotten, Cupid,” Devinah tapped her foot and glowered at him.
“Oh, it was as dire a circumstance as any you could imagine,” Cupid said dryly.
“No, it wasn't,” Mia snapped as she recalled her arrest.
“For me it was. Let's return to who you want to choose,” Cupid tapped the papers.
“None of these men are local to me. There's a few I wouldn't mind dating, but they live in other countries,” Mia pointed to the suggested ones.
“That doesn't matter. They'll have miraculously moved closer to you once I hit them with an arrow,” Cupid shrugged.
Mia frowned as she considered the ramifications of his statement, “that doesn't sound fair.”
“This is all about finding your true love so you'll get off my back. I don't care about whether it's fair or not,” Cupid replied.
“In that case, I choose him,” Mia pointed.
The man pictured was named Fallon. He was tall, good looking, had a good job, but he lived overseas. Mia wasn't sure how this would work when he was meant to end up living near her.
“Are you sure?” Cupid glanced over the man’s portfolio and tried not to chortle.
“Yes.”
“I would check out the fetish section if I were you. Are you into men who sniff shoes?”
“What? Where's that section?” Mia scanned the paper again.
Cupid tapped the bottom of the right hand side of the paper. Underlined in red was the word fetishes. Mia pondered that a moment before turning on Cupid.
“Why didn't you check this section to know that that Bevan guy had such a weird relationship with his mother?” Mia tapped the spot on the paper.
“The Match-a-Matic doesn't care about people's fetishes. It just matches couples together,” Cupid replied with a shrug.
“This is important stuff to know. That Match-a-Matic hasn't helped you at all,” Mia said with a frown.
“Hallelujah!” Devinah called out in agreement.
“The Match-a-Matic does a fine job.”
“Don't even go there, no, it does not. If you used it as a tool while also checking this paperwork then I'd agree, but you didn't. You started relying only on the Match-a-Matic and that's where you couldn't do your job properly. That's why I'm stuck here doing your job for you,” Mia accused.
As much as Cupid didn't want to agree, he knew there was a truth within her words. Even with all of the gadgets that Sander had at his disposal, he always made sure to check everything manually. Maybe Cupid should've been more careful with the Match-a-Matic and it's uses. The last thing he intended to tell Mia was anything that would put him in a worse light.
Then again, if he hadn't become so dependent on the Match-a-Matic, he never would've met Mia. He quickly stifled such a stupid thought. At no point did he enjoy hanging around this annoying person who couldn't decide which man she wanted.
Sure, he found her antics amusing, but it was only because she always made such an idiot of herself. Then again, the cherubs had come to her aid, and that wasn't an easy feat. The cherubs were notoriously shy.
Thinking that bothered him. Thinking anything about her bothered him, or at least that's what he tried to tell himself.