“What’s the angle?” she asked.
“Cuffing season,” I answered.
Chloe stopped walking, fighting a smirk. “Please tell me there are handcuffs involved.”
I shrugged my shoulders, starting with a shake of my head, then worked it into a nod. “Of course.”
“How does that work?”
“I can’t tell you unless you come,” I replied. “Confidentiality and all. You could leak my great ideas to some other dating app. There will be a non-disclosure agreement.”
Chloe laughed. “Top secret dating schemes by Cupid himself,” she teased.
My chuckle met hers. I braced my hand on the table at her side and watched her thumb through the designs on her tablet. However, she didn’t seem to be looking at any of them.
“Come on,” I said, ready to beg. “It’ll be fun.”
“Just friends?”
“Is there another option?” I asked.
She gave me a raised brow look, and I scoffed.
“Just friends,” I agreed, my smile softening.
She sighed, sat the tablet on her desk again, and looked up at me. “Okay,” she agreed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - CHLOE
“I CAN’T BELIEVE you talked me into this,” I said as we walked around the corner to Cupid’s Arrow headquarters after work.
“I know how much you love games,” he bantered, prompting a playful glare from my face, and he laughed. He hadn’t stopped grinning since I’d met him outside my apartment.
I’d left my ring sitting on the kitchen counter.
Gavin reached for the door, ready to let me through first, but the moment he opened that door, a voracious hum of noisy laughter and chatting hit me. We stepped through the threshold, and I gaped at the sea of people on the bottom and second levels.
Chairs and tables were in lines, all mismatched and of different heights. It was clear this was a practice run as it looked like they had simply moved all the furniture they already had to set up the game. On the second level, some people hovered by the glass banister, drinks in their hands and leaning over the ledge to look down. A table sat at the top of the stairs back by the wall, and I could see Avril and a few other workers getting people signed in and handing out handcuffs, keys, and name tags.
“Wow,” I managed. “Do all of these people work here?”
“Most of them. Their friends and partners were invited to give things some added interest.” He nudged my side and grinned down at me. “Come on,” he said, taking my hand and nodding toward the stairs.
I twisted my lips, still in disbelief that I’d agreed to this, and squeezed his hand.
Gavin was a celebrity at this place.
People stopped mid-conversation to greet him, and he clapped a few colleagues on their shoulders, smiling and talking to each of them, knowing them all by name and asking if they were ready for fun.
I was glad I had worn my black overall shorts and a green long-sleeve top instead of the skirt outfit I’d tried on. The stairs were steep, and I was pretty sure if I’d worn that skirt that my ass would have shown to everyone.
Even going up the stairs, people called out to Gavin.
Avril greeted us at the top, smiling widely between us and with name tags ready.
“I see you’ve dragged our newest partner into this,” Avril said, grinning at me.
“Dragged would be the keyword,” I said.
