I didn’t have much time to think about it because the host of the event appeared on a stage and the lights lowered.
“Good evening Ladies and Theydies. Welcome to A Match Made In Masquerade. We wanted to put a little twist on the boring and intimidating standard speed dating event. Tonight you will drink, dance, and ‘date’.” She put quotation marks around the word “Date” trying to be clever with her wording, I supposed.
“The rules are simple. You’ll each have five minutes with your partner, to dance and talk and get to know each other. When the sound goes off, you’ll both rotate but in opposite directions.If you like your partner and want more time, raise your hand. If you both agree, then you’ll step out of the rotation and chat at the bar or feel free to keep dancing together on the other side of the ballroom. Sounds good? Great! The music will start playing, so that’s your queue to find an ‘x’ on the floor and stand on it. Ready? Good luck everyone.”
We collectively nodded and made our way to the spots she wanted us at. After a few minutes, the bell went off, indicating the start of the event. Here we go…
The first woman that stood in front of me was a beautiful brunette. A little shorter than my 5’9”, but that wasn’t a deal breaker. She had a short pixie cut and stunning brown eyes.
“Hey, I’m Bethany.” She spoke with a light southern accent that was adorable.
“Hi, Bethany. I’m Cara.” I returned her smile, oddly surprised with how easy it was to talk to a complete stranger.
When I had signed up for the event, I was very skeptical and nervous. I usually found it easy to talk to women, but in this context, I felt very out of my element. I’d never done a speed dating event before, and this was a unique spin on it. But I was becoming pleasantly surprised with how smooth it seemed to be going so far.
“So what do you do, Cara?”
The same questions were asked and answered on a loop for about four women. They were all nice enough, and thankfully none of them gave off creepy vibes, but no one really stood out to me.
I was still hopeful, even after talking to several women that I didn’t really vibe with. I stopped in front of the next woman and plastered on a nice smile, trying to keep my positivity about the situation, while also wanting to go to my room and call it a night.
The “Hello. I’m Cara” that was about to tumble out of my mouth without thought vanished when I looked into a familiarmasked face. “It’s you,” I said before I could think better of it. Blue suit. Dark eyes. The mysterious elevator rider.
“I do have a name, you know,” she said with a smirk. Good lord, her accent was doing all kinds of things to me already.
“Of course, I’m sorry. I’m Cara. It’s nice to meet you.”
I stretched out my hand to shake hers and she took it, bringing my hand up to her mouth and kissing it like I was royalty or something. I felt my knees shake. “Veronica. But please, call me Vera.”
“Vera,” I repeated, biting my lip.
She grabbed my waist and pulled me closer as we started dancing, causing the air to fly out of my lungs. “So tell me, Cara. What is it that you do?”
The way she said my name had me clearing my throat. I was all sorts of turned around over her and I needed to pull it together. We only had a short amount of time together. “I’m a publisher for local authors. I have my own publishing company in Seattle.”
Before I could ask her what she did for work, she spun me around and our bodies crashed together with her hand on my lower back, making me shiver.
“Jesus!” I gasped. I’d never had someone twirl me like that before. I guess I could add dancing to the list of attractive qualities about her.
Her smile was infectious and I couldn’t help but mirror it. Even with half her face covered in the mask, I could tell by her eyes and her smile that she was stunning. The suite that covered her muscles I could barely see coming through told me she wasn’t very femme. I usually went for very soft, feminine women like myself. I couldn’t lie that there was something about her. It was like I wanted to delve deeper and learn more.
“Where’d you learn to dance like that?”
She shrugged as we kept swaying softly to the music. I tried not to think about where her hands were resting, and how it was heating up my entire body. My back was being held by one hand, and my waist was being cared for by the other.
“I’m latina. I’ve been to my fair share of quinceañera’s. You learn to pick up a move or two. Plus, I took lessons until I graduated high school. I enjoy dancing, especially when I have a beautiful woman as my partner.”
“Well, you’re really good at it.”
“Thank you, Princesa.”
There was that accent again. How was I supposed to focus on anything when she sounded like that? I had barely passed my Spanish classes in school, but I could pick up on what “princesa” meant. I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to be an insult or not, but I knew I liked the sound of it either way.
“What do you do, Vera?” The question came out a little more breathless than I would’ve liked. I guess I was out of shape if dancing had me losing oxygen so quickly. I went to the gym regularly, but I guess it wasn’t enough.
“I’m a construction worker. Not as high class as a book publisher, but it’s honest work.”
“I don’t think being a publisher is classy, but it’s work all the same.”
