Page 50 of Wicked Flirt
She glanced toward the booths in the back, where people were eating New Orleans-style food. She’d originally thought they’d do the masquerade speed-dating rounds in the booths, but there was no way she could kick people out of their seats. She’d just have them do the speed-dating thing standing. And it would be super speedy. Three questions, mark a yes if you were interested, first names only. She was pleased with the questions too and planned to eavesdrop as she kept the time for them. She’d asked Marcus a bunch of the questions earlier to whittle them down to the ones certain to have the most creative answers. The winners were: What superpower would you want and why? What would you buy with a million dollars? And what’s your favorite cereal? The goal was fun and laughter, not a love match, but who knew? She and Marcus had bonded over cereal.
She danced her way through the crowd and slipped into the employees-only area to retrieve the huge box of Mardi Gras eye masks. She planned on wearing one when she announced they’d be starting speed-dating rounds for anyone interested. There were prizes too. Of course, everyone got beads, but she also had gift cards to The Burrow and some cute teddy bears wearing The Burrow T-shirts. Her goal was to bring people back to help Marcus build his business. She’d give out prizes for the cutest couple, most interesting speed-dating answer, and funniest. They’d have to voluntarily nominate funny and interesting answers at the end to win because there was no way for her to track all the answers.
She stepped into the large storage closet, pulled the chain to turn on the overhead lightbulb, and opened the large cardboard box, looking for the mask she wanted to wear. There was a really cute one that looked like cat’s eyes.Bam!She startled as the door slammed shut behind her. Her heart raced. She whirled, fists up, ready to defend herself.
Marcus stood there, grinning. “You should see the look on your face—fierce and terrified all at the same time like you were gonna fight off an intruder. It’s just a storage closet. Nothing of value to steal.”
She dropped her fists. “You scared the crap out of me!”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to see you for a minute. Climb up here and kiss me.” He gestured for her to climb his body. He was a foot taller and loved to lift her up for a kiss.
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously! You scared years off my life.”
He closed the distance between them, his arms wrapping around her waist. “How’s it going out there?”
“Great. I’m getting ready for the speed-dating masquerade next.”
“Give me a mask too.”
She bent to retrieve the masks, and Marcus came up behind her, his hand sliding down her ass and between her legs. “Seriously, stop,” she protested. “We’re going to end up doing it in the closet, and I’ve got to get back out there. My boss is all over me to make this a success.” She heard him—her boss—chuckling behind her and smiled as she retrieved two masks.
She put one on him with a gold and purple diamond-shape pattern and a gold fleur-de-lis right above his nose. Then she put her mask on, red sequins with black and green feathers around it. “What do you think? Would you recognize me in a crowd?”
“Might have to go by feel.” He slid his hands up under her shirt, cupping her breasts. “Mmm…feels like sexy woman.”
She shoved his hands away, her nipples beaded tight. “Look what you did.”
“I feel terrible.” He pulled her shirt up and licked his lips. “Let me fix it.”
She grabbed for the button on his jeans, and he grinned. “I’ll do it,” she warned.
“Not gonna stop you. Have at it.”
She shook her head and went up on tiptoe for a kiss. He gave her a long one that left her wobbly. Then he opened the door and gave her a little shove, following behind with the box of masks.
By the time the speed-dating round started, Lexi was flying high. She was in love, the event was going awesome, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
“Move to the next guy, ladies!” she hollered, resetting the timer on her phone. The couples were arranged around her: twenty-four single people had volunteered after much egging on from their friends and her tantalizing offer of prizes. She told the men to stay put and the women to move in an orderly clockwise rotation. The questions were a hit, inspiring some very creative answers and lots of laughter. She might even have sparked some real connections. She could understand why Hailey got off on this matchmaking stuff. It was fun to think you might’ve started a love connection. At least it was now that she had one, and also because it was voluntary. Hailey had stepped one too many times into aggressive territory.
She stifled a laugh as she heard a guy say he wanted the superpower to freeze time so he could have longer with his date. So cheesy! The woman groaned, and the guy quickly changed it to flying.
They went through the rounds, and she collected the cards to discreetly make the matches for further conversation. Next she presented the prizes, first to cutest couple, which was two people who couldn’t stop laughing during their speed date, and then she asked everyone to report on what they thought were the most interesting and funny answers. After the votes were tallied and all the prizes given out, she gave everyone beads just for participating.
“You can keep the masks,” she told them. A lot of them thanked her on their way back to their friends. A few of the new couples went straight to the bar for a drink and more conversation.
One of the guys from the speed-dating event pulled her aside, thanking her for a great night. He was in his thirties, his brown hair neatly parted to the side, his eyes a stormy blue.
“I’m Nate Kennedy, by the way,” he said, offering his hand. The name sounded vaguely familiar.
She shook it. “Lexi Judson.”
“Nice to meet you, Lexi.” He squeezed her hand and released it. “Listen, my company is having a team-building event on Friday. You think you could plan a party for us after? Food’s already taken care of, but I thought you might add something fun to celebrate our first year in business. Small office, thirty-person team.”
“I’d love to. Absolutely.” Only three days to plan, but whatever. A job was a job and she’d make it work.
“Awesome.” He pulled a business card from his wallet. “Red Arrow Marketing.”
“Okay, cool. I’ll come up with some ideas and get in touch tomorrow.”
