Cupid’s smile falls just a fraction, a complicated look passing across his face.
“Maybe you’ll change your mind,” he says quietly.
“Maybe.” I lift one shoulder in a shrug. “But probably not. I mean, I get what you’re trying to do here, and I understandyou’re in a bad spot. I know what your…Fates…told you. But how I see it, this experiment was flawed from the beginning.”
Cupid leans forward and places his elbow on his knee, chin resting in his hand. “How do you figure, Love?”
“Well, I already know that love is fleeting, right? It burns bright and hot, then it wears off. That’s kind of the whole problem. So even though I feel this waynow,I know in my rational mind that it’s all temporary.” I tap a finger to my temple. “It’ll go away once your little love infection…thing…wears off.”
“See?” I say, facing him as I pull my hair back into a clip. “It was neverreallygoing to work on me.”
Cupid looks at me long and hard. Long enough that I swipe at my face, worried I might have something embarrassing there.
“Riiight,” he says. “Because of the arrow. And the time limits.”
“Exactly.” I smile at him. “Doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it now, of course. I’ve already decided to, for the last however many hours.”
Cupid nods and shifts where he’s leaning against the bed, but stays quiet. I appreciate that he’s not trying to change my mind or tell me I’m wrong. Very magnanimous of him, since I’m pretty much telling him he’s less than a day from losing our bet.
“But back to my original question,” I say. “What happens when it wears off? Will it, like, wipe my memory?”
“Um,” Cupid says, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. “Well, it—it’s different for everyone. So…I guess we’ll have to wait and see?”
His answer is vague and not particularly helpful, but I decide to shrug it off.
“Okay, I guess,” I say. I reach for my shoes and pull them on. “I trust you.”
Cupid grimaces.
What the hell is going on with him today? Maybe I made him uncomfortable talking about this right after we slept together. I mean, just becauseIdon’t get emotionally attached and believe in all this nonsense doesn’t meanhewon’t. For a split second, I feel sorry for him. Could he be catching feelings for me right now?
That’s sweet—but pointless. The arrow will run its course, I’ll win the bet, and everything will be back to normal soon.
“Anyway,” I say, in an effort to break the tension. “I’m supposed to be attending the last day of this conference today. Networking.”
Cupid flops back onto the bed and groans. “Boring!”
“But,” I continue archly, “I don’t want to risk running into…people I don’t want to see.”
He lifts his head and grins at me. “Hooky?”
“Thinking about it.” I return his grin.
“In that case, I’ve got an idea.”
“Is it ‘stay in bed and fuck all day’? Because that’s kind of where I was leaning.”
“Oh my, Love.” Cupid wiggles his eyebrows at me. “You really are obsessed with me, aren’t you?”
I open my mouth to protest, but he bulldozes ahead.
“However, no, that wasn’t what I was thinking. Anyone can stay in bed and have mind-blowing sex all day.”
Uh, is that true? Because I can’t say that’s one of my typical pastimes.
“But how often are you in Las Vegas with a devilishly handsome god?”
I roll my eyes, but I’m smiling. “Not very often,” I say, playingalong.
