www.Cupid Page 4

  “Allison McCall,” he said grasping her hands and kissing her cheek. “It’s been a long time. How’s the family?”

  “Everyone’s fine. Dad was saying the other day we’ve all got to get together again soon.”

  He held the door open for her and followed her into his office. “You said yesterday you had something important to discuss with me. How can I help you?”

  “I don’t know if you can,” she said. “One of my agents messed up big time. If it wasn’t for one stupid mistake, everything would have been fine. I want to go back in time and see if I can prevent him from being a total idiot so he doesn’t get fired.”

  Cronos sat behind his desk. He tapped computer keys and finally nodded. He turned the monitor, and there was Preston’s picture. “Does this have to do with the incident at the pro wrestling arena yesterday?”

  Allison shoulders dropped as she sagged in the seat. “How did you find out?”

  “Cupid sent out a mass email letting all the department heads know what happened, and that you’d possibly be coming to them for aid. I’m sorry, Allison. I can’t help you. The rules expressly forbid it. Cupid quoted the exact rule that says time travel can’t be used to undo a department mistake.”

  “Are you serious? Cupid actually put a rule in the guidebook that says that?”

  Cronos nodded, but the look on his face said what he actually thought of that particular rule.

  “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but Preston was right. We’ve become too hampered by rules and they’re limiting our ability to help people.”

  “You’ll find a solution to this situation. You didn’t get to the top of your department by chance.”

  Allison headed for the door. “I’m glad you’ve got faith in me.”

  Cronos got up and kissed her cheek. “You’re one of the best and brightest. You’ll find out what to do. Just trust in love.”

  Allison walked down to her car. Trust in love, Cronos had said. It was love that got Preston into this mess. Now she had to find the solution to get him out.

  ****

  Preston had gone to the office to collect the rest of his belongings. He knew Cupid had had enough of him, so he may as well get his things while he could. He glanced at his long coat hanging on the hook. He could still see the damage from the pyrotechnics on his last assignment. He took the matter destabilizer out of the desk drawer and put it with the remains of the rose-colored glasses and a few other things that belonged to the company.

  After setting those things aside, he really didn’t have that much left. He was almost done when a familiar head poked around the corner.

  “Preston, what are you doing?” Will said.

  “I’m helping Allison. I’m going home to write a letter of resignation, effective immediately. I’ve screwed up for the last time.”

  “Have you told Allison this?”

  Preston shook his head. “She doesn’t want me around here. Things will be a lot simpler if I’m not in this department anymore. I’ve put in for transfers to any department that will take me. Romance and Proposals isn’t for me.” He picked up the box and headed for the elevator. “If you see Allison, would you let her know my plans?”

  Will nodded. “Sure. If you need anything, give me a yell.”

  Preston got in the elevator and then took the last walk to his car. He was going to miss this place. He was good at his job, but he felt Cupid was putting more rules in place just to make their jobs harder. Placing the box in the trunk, he slammed the lid shut. He couldn’t work like that any longer. A muffled pop song went off in his pocket as his cell phone rang.

  “Hello?”

  “Mr. Carlyle, this is Agent Sexton from the Holiday Security Agency. We got your resume and we’d like to talk. When are you available?”

  Preston looked at his watch. “No time like the present. I can be there in about twenty minutes.”

  “Sounds good. See you then.”

  Preston took a left out of the parking lot and didn’t look back.

  ****

  Allison got back to her building and went straight to Cupid’s office. She breezed right by his secretary and barged in. “How could you tie my hands like this? I come up with a solution to fix this mess Preston put us in and you block my attempts.”

  Cupid glared at her. “First off, Ms. McCall, you don’t come to my office unannounced. Second, you don’t tell me the best way to fix mistakes. I tell you. Third, I expected you to try something like this and I won’t have it. When supervisors start trying to do things like this on their own, it reflects badly on me. Now, you have assignments today. I suggest you get to them.”

  Allison left her boss’s office, angrier than when she got there. She stomped back to her own office, grumbling and muttering the whole way, and dialed Preston. His phone rang and went right to voicemail. She tried again, clenching her teeth when she got the same result.

  She threw her phone down on her desk and stared at the folders. She had four assignments and she’d better get going. Valentine’s Day was tomorrow and these needed to be completed before then. She snatched them up, along with her equipment and stormed out, leaving gaping mouths and confused looks in her wake.

  Heading to her first assignment, Allison knew she’d better calm down and get in the right frame of mind. She’d seen the results of an agent who was angry. The couple in his assignment had broken up and there was no way to get them to reconcile. She took a deep breath. Bringing joy and love to someone was supposed to be a good thing.

  She spied her couple and parked. She didn’t feel like being happy. She opened her purse and pulled out a small box. Emergency dark chocolate. The perfect thing to fix one’s outlook and make the world seem brighter. She always had some with her. Usually for when Preston got under her skin.

  Donning her coat to render her invisible to human sight, she went to work. A whisper here, a nudge there, and the couple thought everything she suggested were their own ideas. She hurried back to her car and on to the next assignment. Opening the folder, she read the file and frowned. This was going to be a tough one.

  He wanted to get married and she didn’t. Women’s minds were much harder to change than men’s. She could hear him trying to convince her everything would be the same between them. He wouldn’t be jealous of her making more money. He wanted to be with her and that was all. The only difference would be a marriage license to say they belonged together.

  Allison looked over the file again. If the woman wouldn’t give in, she was supposed to let the relationship take its natural course. She threw the folder on the car seat and got out. She watched the couple and knew marriage would be good for them. She whispered in the woman’s ear, trying to change her mind. The woman shook her head and continued arguing with the man that she wasn’t ready for marriage.

  Allison pulled a scanner out of her coat pocket. The woman was completely in love with the man next to her. She was just afraid. Allison smiled when the scanner gave her a new reading. The woman was pregnant. That would be the push she needed to give her to complete her assignment.

  She stopped. Hinting at something like that was against the rules. She couldn’t tell anyone about something so life changing. The rules were in place for a reason, she reminded herself. She watched the couple for a few more minutes. I don’t care. This woman needs this man in her life.

  Allison walked next to her and spoke. “I know you’re afraid, but you need him and so does your baby.”

  The woman stopped and looked around. She laid a hand on her stomach and turned to the man. Finally, she said yes. Allison grinned and hurried back to her car. Two down and two to go.

  Pulling out, she could still hear Preston’s voice telling her that sometimes the rules got in the way. She’d never believed him until just now when she’d just broken one herself. But even that realization couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. Two people had just decided to spend the rest of their lives together, and for that, it was worth breaking all the
rules.

  Which is exactly what she would’ve said when she first started at Romance and Proposals. Things really did come full circle.

  Chapter Six

  Preston arrived at the Holiday Security Agency and parked across the street. Getting out of his car, he looked up at the building and hesitated. Was this really the best course of action for him to take? He’d been in trouble at the Romance and Proposals Department before. That was nothing new. However, he’d never been suspended before. The security building loomed over him, as if it was waiting for him to make up his mind.

  The white stone was dingy from car exhaust and just general pollution in the air, but windows sparkled in the sunlight and the steps had been swept clean. People came and went, their shoes clicking on the sidewalk as they passed him. Taking a deep breath, he joined the crowd jogging up the steps.

  A round information desk sat in the middle of the lobby. The deeply polished dark wood reflected the bright lights from the ceiling and the sunlight streaming in through the glass doors. Voices murmured around him and he could hear elevators whir in their confined shafts. Plastic name badges sparkled as light hit them when people walked by. The scents of leather, cologne, paper, and cleaners hung in the air giving the atmosphere the familiar business building smell.

  Taking a deep breath, he approached the young woman behind the desk. “Excuse me, my name is Preston Carlyle. I have an appointment with Agent Sexton.”

  The receptionist consulted her computer before smiling at him. “He sent word down to expect you. His office is on the second floor and third door to your right.”

  Preston nodded his thanks and took the short ride to the second floor. He walked down to Sexton’s office and rapped lightly on the open door.

  Agent Sexton looked and smiled. “Come in, Preston.”

  Sexton was a burly man, with short, dark, hair and an olive complexion. He wore a deep blue suit with white shirt and black tie, and half glasses with gold frames perched on the end of his nose. He stood and shook Preston’s hand in a firm grip. He gestured to the chair and Preston sat down.

  “I’m glad you could see me so soon. I just sent my resume off yesterday.”

  The agent opened the folder and stared at the contents. “The agency is always looking for new blood in the ranks. Your file certainly has an unusual amount of letters of disciplinary action in it. Care to elaborate?”

  Preston cleared his throat. “Sometimes, you have to work outside the rules to accomplish the assignment at hand. I couldn’t get my supervisor to understand, and I got written up. A lot.”

  Sexton smiled. “I see that. Does Cupid know you’ve applied here?”

  “No, sir. I wasn’t sure I wanted to apply until the other day. I just don’t think I’m a good fit for Cupid’s business. He’s a bit too…”

  “Rule anal?”

  “I was going to put it a little more diplomatically.”

  Sexton leaned forward, folding his hands on his incredibly neat, but full desk. “We do have our own code that needs to be followed. You understand that, right?”

  Preston sat up a little straighter. “I know, but I’ve read up on some of your cases. The agency gives some leeway if an agent needs to improvise on the job site.”

  “True. However, we do monitor every situation closely.”

  “I understand. I still think I’d be a better fit here than at Cupid Corporation.”

  The agent sat back. “You know he’s got a huge merger coming up with Aphrodite Enterprises, right?”

  “It’s been all the talk around the office,” Preston said. “It’s not going through until after Valentine’s Day. This way, they have a whole year to work out the bugs.”

  “That’s why we’re currently recruiting. We’re going to need more agents to supply the security both companies are going to need until everything is in place. We don’t expect anything to go wrong, but it never hurts to be careful.”

  “I think the Holiday Security Agency could use me on this,” he said. “As a former employee of Cupid, I’ll know where he needs the most protection before, during, and after the merger.”

  “I was thinking the same thing.” Sexton stood up, shaking Preston’s hand with a firm grip. “Welcome to the Agency, Mr. Carlyle. Be here tomorrow morning for your orientation briefing and to fill out more paperwork than is actually necessary.”

  “I look forward to it, sir.”

  Preston almost danced as he made his way out to his car. After exploring the detours life usually throws at a person, he was finally in the Holiday Security Agency. Friends of his had gone there, but after he’d met Allie, he followed her to Cupid’s company. He drove home, thinking about her and the years he’d known her. They’d dated a few times. They’d worked together, had lunch together, but friends would show up, every time. They’d rarely had time to themselves.

  As he walked into his apartment, he finally realized he’d loved Allie in college, and now he admired her in the work place. He knew she’d had feelings for him in the past, but he wasn’t so sure, anymore, no matter what he told Will. He sighed. Time to get that letter of resignation written. As his fingers pecked at the keys, he wondered how Allie would take it.

  ****

  Allison got back to the office, still trying to slap mud and dust from her outfit from the final assignment. A road rally. Of all the places to propose, the woman wanted to make things special for the man in her life by proposing to him at his favorite past time. Preston always took on the sporting event assignments. Why couldn’t he have wanted the quieter ones?

  She sighed. Because he was Preston, and he loved being in the thick of things. That was where he had a lot of rule breaking issues. Just going with the flow, as he would say. He made the proposal fit the situation, not the other way around, like Cupid made the other agents do. These days, Preston couldn’t be forced to do anything he didn’t want to do.

  Allison looked at her staff. They were good people, but they were cookie cutter agents, each one doing what he or she was supposed to within the rules set down by the head of the company. For a brief moment, she could understand Preston’s frustration with being hampered by regulations. She shook herself. And that attitude is what got him into the mess he was in right now. Things had to be done properly.

  She stepped out of her office. “Sarah, do you know if Preston has gone home yet?”

  “I’m not sure. I can buzz him.”

  “Please do. If you get him, tell him to come to my office.”

  Allison went back in and sat at her desk, still trying to get the dirt off her skirt. She looked up when there was a knock and called for him to come in. It wasn’t Preston who walked up to her desk, but his friend, Will.

  “Where’s Preston?”

  Will cleared his throat. “He cleaned out his desk, Ms. McCall. He told me to let you know he’s going to resign from Romance and Proposals. He really feels bad about what happened, and he doesn’t want you to get in any more trouble, so he left.”

  Allison’s eyes burned forcing her blink rapidly so she could see. “Did he say where he was going?” She could barely talk because of the lump forming in her throat.

  He shook his head. “All he said was that he was going to write a letter of resignation.”

  Allison nodded, not wanting to say anything else. Will left and closed the door quietly behind him. That was it. Preston was gone. She wouldn’t see him every day anymore. She glared at the phone. This was Cupid’s fault. If he’d bend, just a little, they wouldn’t have half the problems they did.

  She stood and grabbed her bag. Preston should be at his house. Maybe if she saw him, she could try to stop him from quitting her department. He belonged there, even with all his rule-breaking problems.

  The phone rang, making her jump. Her hand shook as she reached for it. “Yes?”

  “Ms. McCall, please come to my office. There’s someone here I’d like you to meet,” Cupid said.

  “I was just on my way out, sir.”

/>   “I’m sure you have a moment.”

  She glanced at her outfit, frowning at the grime. “I’m not very presentable at the moment. My last assignment wasn’t the cleanest and…”

  “I’m sure you look just fine. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  Stopping herself just before she sighed, she finally gave in. “On my way, sir.”

  It figured. She wanted to stop Preston from destroying whatever hope she had of getting him back into the company and Cupid called her. It was as if her boss had a sixth sense about when she was trying to leave. She’d be on her way out and, regular as clockwork, he’d call her to his office.

  Allison hurried to Cupid’s office, still slapping at her skirt and jacket. “I don’t care what he says, I do not look good enough to meet anyone,” she muttered.

  Cupid’s secretary looked up, her eyes widening just a little as she looked at Allison’s clothes. “Go on in.”

  She made one final attempt to straighten herself out, then opened the door. Cupid stood by the large window with a beautiful woman. She was tall and curvy, the business pants suit doing more to accentuate, rather than disguise, her figure. Her hair was beyond platinum blonde, really almost silver in its color. Her eye color seemed to change, never really being just one color at any one time. Her heart-shaped face was comforting, loving, and seductive all at once. Put simply, Allison had never seen anyone so lovely in her life.

  In comparison, Allison thought she could feel every speck of dirt on her. She folded her hands behind her back to stop trying to dust herself off. Staring at Aphrodite made her feel small and clumsy, unworthy to be in the same room with such beauty.

  She smiled at Cupid’s guest.

  Cupid turned and faltered when he saw the dirt and dust covering Allison from head to toe, but then smiled. “There she is, my number one department head. Allison, I’d like to introduce Aphrodite. She’s come today on a surprise visit, and I’d like you to show her around the facility.”