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

Chapter 11

Chapter 11
Mia left to head out to Cupid's part of the Holidaze before anyone had awoken within Meri's house. She wouldn't let anyone stop her today and she wasn't giving anyone a chance.
Cupid wanted a truce and she intended to give him one, but not without proving a point first. Mia wanted to prove that he didn't do anything towards getting couples together. In fact, she would argue that she was far better off at getting couples to stay together than he was. Striding into the dingy building with confidence, Mia went over the exact argument she would put forth.
Devinah saw her and for a moment stepped back as if uncertain of what to expect. Mia smiled, waved at her to sit back down and stormed into Cupid's office, or video game den, as she thought of it the moment she walked in.
The room had video consoles, games and cords strewn everywhere. It was such a mess that Mia had to step over things to prevent herself from tripping. Shouldn't a God be able to have a bit more organisation?
When her eyes left the mess, they came to focus on the one thing that she really didn't want to see. Cupid sat there with an intense, piercing gaze on the gigantic screen in front of him. His golden locks of hair glowed and swayed as if in a breeze. That perfect face almost made her sigh with its absolute beauty.
She felt an urge of attraction towards him making her take a wobbly step into the room. It took her a moment to find the resistance within her, but she managed it. She needed to make her appeal right now, and she couldn't let his perfection distract her.
“Devinah, what is it now?” Cupid grumbled.
“I'm here to agree to that truce you wanted to make,” Mia declared as she stepped further into the room.
Cupid glanced up and the controller fell from his fingers. He hated himself for recalling exactly how she had tasted and felt when he had had her in his arms. As much as he had tried to push the thought aside it cropped up far too often in his mind, and now she was here making it all the worse.
“How did you get here?” Cupid demanded as he forced a scowl.
“Through Santa's Village, the same way as last time. Now before you toss a magical suction at me, it might do you good to recall that those Gods who want to replace you will know if you use one of those again,” Mia said in a sweet voice that made Cupid's scowl deepen.
“Truce?”
“A truce as long as you accept that I'm better at getting couples together than you are,” Mia said smugly.
“You!” Cupid snorted.
“Yes, me. I marry couples all the time. I bring together people who have probably never even seen the touch of the Match-a-Matic,” Mia made her point.
“I'm Cupid and you're some hick human who can't even find someone to spend their life with,” Cupid sneered.
“Prove it.”
Mia smirked at him and silence filled the air between them. Cupid sighed and shook his head. Humans, they always thought that they were right.
“I shall. Where do you want to start your useless experiment?” Cupid decided to call her bluff.
“At my work. We can pick up all the proof we need there. I assume that you have some sort of record system, so we can compare between us?” Mia asked.
“No, not at all.”
“We do!” Devinah called from the front room and her amusement irked Cupid.
“The God of Love lying,” Mia tsked and shook her finger. “How up to date are these records?” Mia asked as she turned towards where Devinah now stood in the doorway.
“Not,” Cupid snarled and dared Devinah with his glower to say nothing.
“Probably as up to date as yours,” Devinah answered.
“Get out, Devinah!” Cupid demanded with a finger thrust towards her.
“I simply can't do that, Cupid. I'm here to help you oversee the world of love. This lovely Caramia Hayworth has suggested a way to help us. Why would we refuse such assistance?” Devinah said sweetly as her face filled with a cheeky smirk.
“If I ever get into relocation, you will be the first one who I send to the pits of hell,” Cupid snapped.
“You're barely hanging onto your God of Love status. There's no way you'll ever make it into relocation. They only take competent beings there,” Devinah's laugh tinkled as she strode away.
Silence surrounded Mia as Cupid tried to ignore her existence. She stared at him, waiting for him to cave, but she forgot that he had God status, which gave him a great deal of patience.
“Either you want this truce or you'll get many more dissatisfied burnt letters coming your way. I can show a great deal of persistence,” Mia finally gave in but Cupid continued playing his game. “I'll be at Meri and Sander’s place when you come to your senses and recall that the truce was all your idea.”
Mia said nothing more. She strode out of the building with a wide, satisfied grin. Devinah gave her a confident nod and conspiratorial wink as she walked past. She had him now and she knew that he'd take up her offer, she just had to wait.
Meri didn't ask anything when Mia first arrived back, “I guess you're staying a while?”
“I don't think it'll take that dense God too long to agree with me,” Mia answered with a smirk.
“You must have been ultra persuasive.”
“What are you suggesting? I didn't persuade him, I simply agreed to his truce under my own terms,” Mia proclaimed innocence and Meri laughed.
“How about breakfast as we wait for the God of Love to return.”
“Sure, what have you got?”
Mia had a full stomach and sat back contentedly to await Cupid's appearance. She didn't doubt that he'd take the bait she'd offered.
“He might not turn up,” Meri pointed out the obvious. “What makes you so sure?”
Honestly, Mia couldn't answer that question. The threat she made about sending more letters wasn't a lie. Deep down she knew that's not why he would turn up. He would come here because she told him too. She knew how preposterous that sounded and that's why she couldn't tell Meri.
“I just am,” Mia shrugged.
The doorbell sang out a jaunty Christmas tune and Mia smirked. She knew exactly who waited on the other side of that door.
“It can't be,” Meri said with a frown.
“It's your house, you might as well answer who's at the door,” Mia waved her friend away.
Meri frowned suspiciously at her eagerly grinning friend, but she picked up her daughter and walked into the other room. Mia took the opportunity to compose herself. She needed to prepare herself one more time to see Cupid's perfection.
“Cupid, hello, I didn't expect to see you here today,” Meri's surprise filled her voice.
“I need to see Caramia Hayworth,” Cupid's teeth ground together as he spoke and that left Mia triumphant.
“She's in the kitchen. We just finished breakfast, but I can make more for you,” Meri said politely.
“Thank you, but I won't be here for that long.”
“Please come in.”
Mia braced herself but adopted a casual pose. Something giddy and sweet slid through her, and she tried to ignore it. As much as she wanted to win against Cupid, she also needed to see those startling blue eyes of his again. The man was a God and he emanated that in waves of powers that she found hard to resist.
“Caramia,” his deep voice caressed her name in such a way as to make her shiver.
“It's Mia. Are you agreeing to my part of the truce?” Mia asked as she tilted her head and dared to look at him.
“Are you giving me a choice?” Cupid snapped in irritation.
“There's always a choice,” Mia answered sweetly.
“Fine, we'll do it your way.”
“In that case, let me say goodbye to my friend, and we can prove who is the competent matchmaker between us,” Mia rubbed her hands together with gleeful anticipation.
Meri had left the room to lay Avery down, which gave Mia an excellent chance to escape Cupid's overpowering charisma. She walked down the hallway, only to find Meri approaching her.
“I guess you're leaving?” Meri asked.
“Looks like it,” Mia agreed
“Thanks for actually coming to see me,” Meri drawled while her cheeky smile stayed in place.
“Once I set things straight with this fool who calls himself the God of Love,” Mia sneered at Cupid as they walked into the kitchen where Cupid huffed out a breath at her. “Then I'll come for an extended stay, I promise,” she said as she hugged her friend.
“That's a plan,” Meri said before turning to Cupid. “Just in case you're wondering, outsmarting her isn't going to be as easy as you think. I'd tell you to watch your back, but she's my friend. Instead, I'll tell you to sort out her issues and she'll stop bugging you.”
“I've tried,” Cupid complained.
“Sure you have,” Mia snorted.
“Sometimes a computer doesn't always have the right answer,” Meri encouraged but Cupid said nothing for a moment.
“I can't help it that she has a match with most men in the world,” Cupid finally said.
“I do?”
“Yes, or I wouldn't have said anything! How can I match you when any man out there could be your match? No human has ever been this hard to match because they normally only have one choice. One is the number, not every single male could possibly be your perfect match,” Cupid ranted as he started pacing the floor.
“You'll use any excuse not to help me,” Mia argued.
“No excuses here. Look.”
Cupid dragged his ever present Match-a-Matic from within his outfit. After fiddling with it for a while, he handed it over to Mia.
Both Meri and Mia peered at the screen. A whistle escaped Meri as Mia scanned the many names of men who she had a possible match with. Mia handed back the Match-o-Matic after the realisation that Cupid had told her the truth.
“I don't get it. If I could find happiness with any of these men, then why haven't I found a single one who fits?” Mia mused.
“It's simple, you're too fussy,” Cupid said.
That fired Mia's anger up, “I'm not fussy! You keep setting me up with men who are in no way suitable for me,” Mia argued.
A baby started crying and Mia darted guilty eyes to Meri. She hadn't meant to wake Avery from her nap, but Cupid always managed to say the wrong thing to aggravate her.
“If you're going to battle it out, I don't think Santa's Village is the place for it. Either go back to your own part of the Holidaze or take Mia back to earth to organise your truce,” Meri swished her hands at them as she went to soothe her child.
“What's the plan?” Mia and Cupid asked each other at the exact same time.
“If we're going to prove your point then we had better get started,” Cupid drawled. “Come here, I'll have to hold you to transfer you back to your dimension,” he said and Mia's eyes widened.
“Really? What's going to be your next line?” Mia stared at him.
“It's the easiest way for me to travel back to your world. I'm not going to enjoy any second of it, but it's necessary.”
“Oh, I see.”
Mia wasn't sure what to say. The moment he suggested holding her, she had to hold herself back from squealing with joy and jumping into his arms. That Godly charm of his was too overwhelming for her and it made her both uneasy and too desperate.
“Whatever you're doing you need to leave my house to do it. I have to get Avery back to sleep,” Meri demanded from the other room.
“Fine, let's go,” Mia gave her grudging consent.
Before another word escaped her lips, Cupid had whipped her off her feet and into his arms. Her screech of protest vanished as Cupid spread his wings and disappeared from Santa's Village.