Page 33 of Enticing the Elf
I tip my head back and squeeze my eyes shut. This isn’t a positive start. “Actually, I’m trying to convince Dáithí of the opposite, so?—”
“The Summit of Love is for you!”
If he yells one more annoying declaration in my ear, I’m hanging up and finding another way to get his boyfriend’s number. Brandt will have it.
Fuck. I should have just asked Brandt to begin with. He’s on my support team—a sentence I never thought would exist.
“How do you even know about that?” I demand.
“So itisyou? Caolan told me about it. He had to check something in the archive while he and his bros were planning the tasks. This is so exciting! Do you need Rhys’s help to sweep Dáithí off his feet? I can help too! Rhys and I are both very romantic.” He pauses. “In different ways, though.”
“Could I have Rhys’s phone number?” This is going nowhere fast.
“Sure, but… aren’t you going to tell me why?” I can practically hear Fabian’s pout, and I silently promise myself that I’ll funnel the next favor I need through my support group. They can deal with the overeager dragons.
“I’m in a hurry,” I say. “But Rhys can tell you all about it, I promise. I’ll let him know he has my permission.”
With a big sigh to convey how unhappy he is with me, he gives me Rhys’s number, then says, “I’m setting an alarm to call him in half an hour, so you better be finished by then.”
Great.
I’ve only met Rhys a few times, but he’s definitely the more settled member of that relationship. This next call is guaranteed to be easier… I hope.
“Rhys Griffiths,” he answers, and I exhale in relief. That’s already better.
“Hi, Rhys. This is Eoin Feirstrigh. We met?—”
“Hello, Eoin. Of course I remember you. How are you?” There’s a tiny note of concern in the question, and I smile wryly to myself.
“I guess Fabian told you about the challenge.”
There’s a tiny pause, and then he answers, “I think so. He called it the Summit of Love.”
It seems like that name’s going to catch on, dammit. “I want to go on record as saying that I knew nothing about the name. I’m pretty sure Dáithí didn’t approve it either.”
He snorts. “Well, if you have Hagen, Caolan, and their friends helping, there are probably going to be a bunch of things that spin out of control.”
“I’m expecting it. Anyway, since you already know about the challenge, that’s going to save me giving you background. One of the tasks is to plan some dates, and I was hoping you could help.”
“Me?” His surprise is audible. “I’m not great with that sort of thing. Scientist, remember?”
“Fabian seems to think you’re romantic, but I’ve got the idea part handled. It’s the execution I need a favor for.” A big one.
“I’m intrigued. What do you need? If it’s in my power, I’ll do it—if only to make Fabian happy.”
That’s sweet—and I completely understand his motive. There’s a lot I’d do to make Dáithí smile, too. “I’m not sure if you remember, but last time we met, you mentioned that your company has a suite for the baseball season—that you had to go once to chat up potential investors.”
Rhys groans. “Yes. I still don’t know why I had to go. Nobody wanted to talk about our research—it was just bragging and gossip the whole time, with the occasional comment about baseball. And half of those were about the players’ personal lives, or how they looked in their pants.”
Perfect. Dáithí loves gossipandbaseball pants on other people. “That’s how I remember you describing it. Is there any chance you can talk your boss into including me and Dáithí on the guestlist? I’m willing to make a donation.” Not as big as what the people who are usually invited can give, but money’s money, right? I earn decent money and I’m not a wild spender.
“Don’t worry about that,” Rhys says. “The DEA is a backer of my research, remember? You work for the DEA—directly for the king—so you qualify as a representative. Leave it with me and I’ll get you on the list. Which game do you want to go to?”
“Uh…” I can’t believe it was that easy. I thought for sure I’d need to talk him into it, maybe talk to his boss as well. Definitely throw some cash at the company. “There’s a home game this weekend, but if that’s not possible, whenever the next one is.” I’ll make the scheduling work.
“I’ll call you back later today to confirm when, but you can consider this done, Eoin.”
And just like that, the details for the first task fall into place.
