“She didn’t exactly have the power to do that on her own, did she?” Hermes cocked a brow, throwing me for a loop. “I’m sure she only gave the order, and once she did, it sounds like it was botched.”
“You seem to know a lot about this, Hermes,” I drawled.
“Only theories,” he answered.
“Doesn’t tell me why you’re still following us,” I said.
Hermes shrugged. “What can I say? I love a good love story.”
“The last thing I want is you gossip-hopping between every god and telling them who I’ve found—“
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Hermes said, and seeing the look on his face, I believed him.
“Thank you,” I said.
Hermes nodded. “Now, are you done hassling me? Can I get on with my morning ride?”
“Ah… yeah,” I gave in. “I have to be heading into the office, anyway.”
Hermes propped the board against his leg, moving as though he was about to speed off. “I will tell you this,” he said. “She’s just as beautiful as I remember. Maybe that’s why Aph is scared.”
“What does she have to be afraid of?” I asked.
“Seeing you get hurt again.”
A rope twisted around my heart as I looked at the beach and let his words sink in.
“See you around, kid,” Hermes said.
He rolled away with a few pushes of his foot, and I was left standing on the busy sidewalk, trying to figure out what to do next.
Work was the best distraction I could think of—aside from throwing myself into freezing cold water to numb myself. We were going through some of the comments from the speed dating event. Most were basic—better handcuffs, longer time to talk, whether they should stay in the game after they’d matched. But a few, like Chloe’s, were helpful.
Avril had a whiteboard out in the conference room to keep track of the useful ones. It was just her, Zayn, our PR manager, Louisa, our lawyer, Stella, and me. We had to keep Zayn in the room to ensure we weren’t overspending, as he liked to remind us that we did. And as for Stella, I had decided to start bringing her into these meetings after Chloe had mentioned the word ‘lawsuit’ over the handcuffs.
“This one says we need blindfolds,” Avril said.
Zayn scoffed. “Blindfolds and handcuffs. I think they just want to fulfill some fantasy of their own.”
“Maybe we keep that idea for another holiday,” Avril said.
“You can’t blindfold people and ask them to walk around,” Stella said.
Zayn sat up and gave me a look. “Who invited her?”
“We’re trying it out,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “Better to have her in the room while we’re bouncing ideas than have to scratch them and start over once she gets wind.”
“I’ve been telling you to bring her in for years,” Louisa said. “There’s only so much I know.”
“So, scratching blindfolds altogether,” Avril said, drawing a line through the word.
I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat, making Avril look back at me, and I shook my head discreetly.
Louisa pursed her lips. “You can’t blindfold people and have them walk around at a party. Especially with drinks.”
“Blind dates,” I said simply. “Meet your match and judge them purely on the connection. We can target people who have selected that they want an actual relationship.”
Zayn slapped the table and pointed at Avril. “Post it,” he said enthusiastically.
