In his haste to chase after her, Ridley knocked over the display rack with a crash, sending the contents scattering across the floor. “You did what?”
Bridget poked her head back into the main room. “Well, you didn’t want to go with him. What does it matter?”
“It doesn’t.” Oh, it mattered. It mattered a lot. Just the thought of someone else’s hands on Julian, their mouth kissing his, the images formed a painful knot in his stomach. “I mean, he can do whatever he wants.” No, he can’t.
“Good.” Bridget nodded firmly. “Is that all?”
“Watch the store.” Marching back to the front door, he wrenched it open without bothering to retrieve his jacket. “Oh, and clean this mess up.” Halfway down the block, he realized he had no idea where Cupid Inc was located. Oh, he’d heard Bridget go on and on about the place and the little fairy who worked there and how she’d met her fiancé there over a year ago. Though she’d tried a dozen times in the past few months to get him into that office, Ridley had steadfastly refused.
Stomping back to The Book Attic with his mood growing more volatile by the second, he shoved the door open and bellowed Bridget’s name.
“2323 Lovers Lane,” she answered back calmly. “Have fun.”
“I hate her,” Ridley mumbled to himself as he set out again to find Cupid Inc. “I really hate her.” He had no clue where Lovers Lane was located within the city, and the GPS on his phone proved useless. Maybe he’d heard her wrong.
Ridley walked several blocks, winding his way through the crowded city with no idea of where to go. He didn’t know how far he traveled or how long he’d been wandering aimlessly, but just when he was about to give up, he passed a dark, dead end alley with a weathered sign proclaiming it to be Lovers Lane. The buildings appeared deserted and in serious need of rehab, and he didn’t know any lovers who’d want to take a stroll down the lane. He shuffled to the end of the alley, surveying each brick building as he passed.
The very last building had no distinguishing features to make him think it had been inhabited in the past decade, but the address carved over the door matched the one Bridget had given him. “You have to be kidding me.” Feeling like an idiot, he climbed the stone steps to the door and frowned at the fresh coat of red paint. “Okay.”
Pushing the door open, he entered into a brightly lit office with more red and gold than he’d ever seen in his life. Sure he was hallucinating, Ridley turned and walked back out onto the landing, blinking at the dank, disgusting alley and the row of abandoned buildings. Shaking his head, he reentered the office, this time, finding it decorated in cool shades of blue and silver. “What the hell?”
“Oh, you are a big one.” A petite woman with long blonde ringlets bounced forward to greet him.
Ridley had never seen a bigger mess of a person in his life. Though very pretty, the woman’s wardrobe needed a serious makeover. Her blue and silver striped stockings matched the room’s décor but little else. “Is that a tutu?”
“Why, yes it is.” She brushed down the hem of the green ruffles and readjusted her black and gold corset before shoving her hand toward him. “I’m Chrys.”
“Uh, Ridley.”
“Welcome to Cupid Inc, where love finds you.” Skipping back to her desk, she rummaged through the top drawer and came back with an ornate letter opener. “Hand please.”
“Actually, I’m looking for someone.”
“Of course you are! That’s why everyone comes here.” She threw her arms out to the side in a grand gesture as she spoke, sending the very pointed letter opener flying across the room to stick into the wall. “Oops.” Hurrying to retrieve it, she tripped over nothing more than air and went sprawling across the rug on her stomach. “Oh, dear.”
Ridley turned his snort of laughter into a cough. “Do you need help?”
“No, no,” she panted as he struggled to her feet and straightened her clothing. “I’m okay.” With a grunt, she jerked the letter opener out of the wall and turned back to Ridley with a bright smile. “Hand please.”
Lifting both eyebrows at the plaster still stuck to the tip of the glorified knife, he fisted his hands and held them behind him. “As I said, I’m looking for an elf by the name of Julian. Has he been here today?”
“Julian. Julian.” Chrys tapped her chin, bringing the letter opener dangerously close to her eye. “Nope, doesn’t ring a bell. No elves here today.”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Ridley offered his thanks, nodded his farewell, and headed back to his store in much better spirits.
Chapter Four
It took Julian two days to work up the courage to visit Cupid Inc. Part of him had hesitated in hopes Ridley would change his mind and choose to join him for the play. Once he’d realized they hadn’t even gotten to the point in their relationship where they’d exchanged phone numbers, he’d given up the hope of hearing from the dragon and had been forced to reevaluate.
Julian had never asked for more, but he wanted it. He wanted so much more than talks over tea twice a week and friendly notes inside a book. Still, he hadn’t pressed, hadn’t put pressure on Ridley to give him the things he desired.
Ridley had been the one to take that next step, and while Julian had been happy to follow the man’s lead, he’d known in his heart it wouldn’t work out. Whatever Ridley’s hang-ups about relationships, he wasn’t ready to let them go. Oh, he had no doubt Ridley cared for him, but the guy couldn’t even admit his feelings to himself, let alone to Julian.
Yes, he’d had been willing to give Ridley the time he needed, but now, he wondered if it had all been for nothing. At some point, he’d become enamored with the illusion of a relationship and had only seen what he’d wanted to see. Julian didn’t want to play pretend anymore, though. He wanted the real thing, and he couldn’t keep waiting for Ridley to become emotionally available.
Standing on the front stoop of Cupid Inc, he sucked in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and turned the doorknob. “Here goes nothing.” Entering the small office felt like walking into a Hallmark greeting card, and Julian gaped at the hearts and flowers decorating the room. “Hello?”
“Hello,” the perky receptionist called back as she hurried around her desk. “I’m Chrysanthemum, but you can call me Chrys. Please call me Chrys,” she finished dramatically. “Welcome to Cupid Inc!”
“Aren’t you adorable?” She had a certain charm about her, and Julian decided instantly that he liked the spunky fairy. “A friend said you could help me find a date for Valentine’s Day.”
“That’s what we do best!” Giggling, she reached into her mass of blonde curls and pulled out a jeweled hair pen. “Hand please.”
Hesitantly, Julian placed his right hand into her palm. “What are you—ugh!” Jerking his hand away, he stuck his middle finger in his mouth and sucked on the small wound. “You stabbed me.”
“Necessary,” she hummed, carrying the hair pin back to her desk where she smeared the drop of Julian’s blood over a thick, blank piece of parchment. Only a heartbeat later, the blood vanished, replaced by a list of questions in dark red ink. “Gotta love magic,” she mused and thrust the questionnaire toward him. “Fill this out and bring it back to me.”
“Okay then.” Julian plucked a plain Bic pen off the desk and uncapped it. “Out of the curiosity, how much is this going to cost me?”
“You can’t put a price on love, silly.” Then she shooed him away and returned to sit behind her desk.
Turning back to the sitting area, Julian blinked a few times when he realized the lace hearts and colorful flowers had transformed into floating cherubs and golden harps. “Gotta love magic,” he mumbled, echoing the fairy’s sentiment. After settling into one of the squashy armchairs, he read through the list of questions, chuckling at some of the more absurd inquiries, like the one that asked if he’d ever had sex on the first date.
He filled out his name and contact information first, then moved on to the basic description of himself such as hair and eye color. The r
est of the form required a bit more thought, however.
Describe your perfect date. Discussing books over tea and scones.
What is your current relationship status? It’s complicated.
Have you ever experienced multiple orgasms? Would you like to?
Julian snorted, which turned into a quiet chuckle, and before he knew it, he was laughing so hard tears streamed down his cheeks. “No and absolutely,” he gasped as he wrote down his answer.
Sexual orientation. Dick please. Twice on Sunday.
All in all, it took less time than he’d anticipated to complete the questionnaire, and when he looked up, he found Chrys standing in front of him with an outstretched hand. “All finished?”
“How did you…never mind.” Passing over the form, he stood to follow the fairy back to her desk, but he made it only a few steps before she spun around and slapped a piece of shiny, red foil against his chest. “What’s this?”
“Your date ticket.”
“It’s blank.”
“Give it a minute.”
Julian held the ticket up to the light and squinted at it. “Are you sure about this? I mean, Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. How can you possibly find me a date by then?” Even as he spoke, elegant, golden script began to appear on the bright red foil. “Conservatory Garden in Central Park at four.” Not a customary first date, but Julian liked it. “Who is my date?”
“You’ll find out when you arrive.”
“Well, how will I know who he is? Just start asking random strangers if they’d like to spend a romantic date with me?”
Chrys placed a hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles. “Well, it will be the other person in the garden with a red ticket, now won’t it?”
Okay, he guessed that made sense. “I’ve never been on a blind date before,” he admitted. “What if it sucks?”
“Just tear your ticket in half.” Chrys made a ripping motion with her hands. “It’ll take you right home.” She lifted her left hand and snapped her fingers. “Magic,” she added with a wink.
Though excited by the prospect of meeting someone new, Julian admitted having an escape plan made him feel much better. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have to employ it, but it seemed much more efficient than trying to wave down a taxi and spending the entire ride home miserable because he’d blown another opportunity.
“Thank you.” Folding the ticket in half, he tucked it into his jacket pocket and shrugged. “I guess that’s it? Nothing else you need from me?” Call it a personality flaw, but he liked to have all of his ducks in a row before jumping into new situations feet first. “I just show up at the Conservatory Garden at four tomorrow afternoon to meet some random guy.” He hoped it was a guy. Otherwise, he’d have a whole new set of problems to wade through. “If the date is awful, one little rip, and I’m back home safe and sound. Does that about sum it up?”
Chrys bobbed her head, making her ringlets bounce around her face. “The date ends when you tear the ticket or at midnight.” She tapped at her lips with a long, purple fingernail. “I always forget that part. If you don’t share a kiss before midnight, the date is over. Poof!”
“How very Cinderella.” While he enjoyed sex as much as the next guy, Julian didn’t usually put out on the first date, not even something as chaste as a kiss. “We’ll see.”
More than his natural aversion to acting like a total slut, though, a small part of him held on to the hope that things could work out between him and a certain emotionally challenged dragon.
* * * *
Julian was late.
Ridley watched the ticking hands of the clock while pretending to not watch the clock. It was all very exhausting. When nine o’clock came and went, he pacified himself with plausible reasons for Julian’s tardiness. By the time ten o’clock rolled around, the worry and uncertainty had set in, and he could barely focus on his tasks. Not until his lunch break did he finally admit to himself Julian wouldn’t be coming into the store like he had every Thursday for almost four months.
Ridley muddled through the rest of the day on autopilot, but his thoughts constantly strayed to Julian. Even when he closed the store for the day and retired to his apartment, memories of his idiotic behavior continued to torment him. After three beers and a lot of tossing, he did manage to fall into a fitful sleep, where, even there, his dreams taunted him with depictions of Julian’s soft, pliable body bared before him.
“You look like shit.” Bridget snickered openly when he stumbled into the shop the next morning, still wearing the previous day’s clothes. “When you screw up, you really screw up.”
“Shut it.” Ridley didn’t need the pint-sized shifter telling him what a total ass he’d been.
“You miss him,” she prodded. “Just admit it.”
He did. He missed talking to the elf about nothing and everything and all the nonsense in between. He missed Julian’s smile, his always optimistic outlook on life, and even the way he teased Ridley about his less-than-amiable social skills.
Funny thing, time. They’d carried on the same routine for months, but now that things were strained between them, the few days since he’d seen Julian felt like much longer. “Maybe.”
“What is it with you?” Kneeling in front of the New Releases shelf, Bridget stacked the last of the morning shipment while she continued to stick her nose where it didn’t belong. “You obviously have feelings for him, and I mean more than let’s-get-naked feelings. You always take the time to write your little letters to Julian and slip them inside his books—which you also go through a lot of trouble to get for him. Why is it so hard to admit that just maybe you kind of like the guy?”
Thankfully, the bell over the front door rang, signaling the arrival of a new customer and interrupting any vague, evasive answer he might have given. With a smile he didn’t feel, he started forward to greet the newcomer, but stopped in his tracks when Julian strolled into the shop.
“Where the bloody hell have you been?” Ridley demanded.
“I…uh…” Turning, Julian looked at the front door, back to Ridley, and finally down at his watch. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know we had an appointment.”
“Never mind,” Ridley growled. “Go order your tea.”
Julian opened his mouth as though to argue, stopped, pressed his lips together, and snorted. “Actually, I can’t stay. I just dropped by to see if that boxed set I’d ordered had come in.”
“Not today.” Ridley didn’t special order items for just anyone. In fact, he didn’t do it for anyone except Julian. “It should be in the post on Monday.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll swing by next week then.” Staring down at the floor, Julian shuffled his feet, clearly struggling for something else to say. “I guess I should go.”
“Wait.”
Julian looked up at him expectantly, but Ridley couldn’t think of a single excuse to keep the man from leaving. An apology played on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it back. His erratic behavior during the past week had succeeded in giving him whiplash, and he could only imagine how Julian felt.
“Have lunch with me,” he blurted. “I’ve not been a very good friend to you lately, but I’d like a chance to explain.”
He swung his foot out to the side, kicking Bridget in the leg when she scoffed under her breath. Sharing feelings and talking about emotions made his skin crawl just thinking about it, and he didn’t need her particular brand of judgment at the moment. In the past week, however, he’d repeatedly proven that he couldn’t be just friends with Julian, and the time had come to either put up or shut up.
“I’d like that.” Though he sounded sincere, the smile that stretched Julian’s lips appeared sad. “I wasn’t trying to blow you off, though. I really can’t stay. I’m meeting someone in a couple of hours.”
“A client?” Ridley felt dense, like some concept he should be able to grasp hovered just beyond reach. “You’re working on Valentine’s Day?”
Julian fidgeted, stuffing his hands in his p
ocket and then taking them out again. “Well, not exactly, no.”
“All right, then.” Yes, he had definitely missed something. “What about your play tonight? I clean up nicely, if I do say so myself.”
“Oh.” Julian’s eyes lit up for the barest of moments before the usual sparkle dimmed once again. “I’d really like that, Ridley, but I kind of made other plans when you said you didn’t—uh, couldn’t go.”
“A date?” It took everything in him not to growl the words. Really, he had no right to his anger, his jealousy, or his sense of possessiveness. Knowing it didn’t stop those emotions from consuming him, though. “No, I understand.” He tried to smile, but when it felt more like a grimace, so he gave up the pretense and simply nodded. “Have fun.”
Julian angled toward the door, and Ridley busied himself with restacking books so he wouldn’t have to watch him leave.
“Hey, Ridley?”
With his back turned, he closed his eyes and tried to breathe evenly. “Yes, love?”
“I’m probably going to make pancakes for breakfast in the morning and spend the day watching chick flicks. If you don’t have any plans, maybe you’d like to swing by and join me.”
As a man with a healthy level of testosterone, Ridley would never admit to enjoying any kind of movie where someone didn’t get naked or blow up a car. He’d made a lot of mistakes where Julian was concerned, and he knew he didn’t deserve the second chance he’d just been offered. Only an idiot would pass on such an opportunity, though.
Abandoning his made-up task, he faced Julian with a genuine smile this time. “Spend the whole day with you?”
“Well, I mean, you can leave whenever want. I promise not to lock you in the dungeon or anything. I was just thinking that we could, I mean, if you wanted—”
“I’d like that,” Ridley interrupted Julian’s babbling as his smile brightened several notches.
Exhaling with enough force to make his cheeks puff out, Julian pulled a crumpled receipt from his pocket and scribbled across the back of it with a pen he’d snatched from the counter. “Call me in the morning, and I’ll give you directions.”
Letters to Julian (A Cupid Inc Novella) Page 4