Cupid In Blue by Sanda Sookoo
Copyright 2009 Lyrical Press, Inc.

  • Cupid In Blue
  • Sandra Sookoo


    • The angel or bird-man—or whatever he was—turned a startled gaze on her, gave a couple of ineffectual flaps of his wings and then fell to the ground with a heavy thump. “Damn!” He glared at her, his deep brown eyes ablaze with anger. “You broke my concentration.”

    “It didn’t appear to me you had a good grasp on flying to begin with.” Catherine shrugged as he picked himself off the ground. “What’s with the Halloween costume?” She’d seen many things in her life—the world after dark in downtown Manhattan would blow anyone’s mind—but she had never seen a man with wings. “You do realize that’s months away, right?”

    “Listen, lady, it’s not a costume.”

    “Then you’re just a guy on the wrong side of genetics?” Her lips curved upward in a smile when the tips of his ears turned pink. “I don’t judge. I just came over to see what the commotion was.” A new thought occurred to her. “I need to find Mrs. Wiggins’s boarding house. Can you help me with that?” She stuck out a hand and pasted on what she liked to call her marketing smile. “I’m Catherine Alicot, by the way.”

    The man stared at her for a moment before he shook her hand. “Aaron Bernhart.”

    Catherine’s breath caught in her throat. Her fingers tingled from their brief contact, and she regretted the loss of warmth when he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Glad to meet you.” Her heart raced and she licked her lips in sudden nervousness. “Have you escaped from an institution somewhere? Do you need some sort of mental help?”

    “There’s nothing wrong with my mind. In case you haven’t noticed, I have wings. My brother thinks I’m the new freakin’ Cupid.” The anger of Aaron’s outburst faded as quickly as it came, as if he’d had this argument frequently. He sighed as his shoulders slumped in defeat.

    “Complain much?”

    “Annoy much?”

    “Hey, I’m just looking for the boarding house, but I guess if I had wings and flew like a drunk goose, I’d complain too.” She lifted a brow, fighting a laugh.

    “I’m sorry. You’ll find the boarding house four blocks in the other direction, past downtown. You’ve come too far.”

    “Thanks.” Catherine hesitated, and then watched in fascination as he folded the wings behind his back. Her fingers itched to touch the feathers to see if they’d be as soft as down. “By the way, I wouldn’t consider you a freak. You just don’t know how to fly, and most likely you’ll never learn with that bad attitude.”

    “Oh, thanks for the tip.” Aaron’s face twisted with anger once more. “I’ll take it under consideration.” Without another word, he stormed into the house.

    Catherine frowned. Did she really just meet Cupid? Was there such a being? If that were truly the case, he wouldn’t make many matches with such a foul outlook. She shrugged. Maybe she needed to get her prescription for Prozac renewed…