(This is the opening paragraph the editors gave to all five authors:)
Charlotte winced as an inebriated party-goer stepped on her foot, but she kept moving determinedly toward the doors that led to the balcony. The Duncans would be delighted with their party; it was clearly the event of the season, and their daughter had been successfully launched into society.
Unfortunately, the noise, the heat, and the crowd combined with Charlotte's pounding headache to make her want to escape for a breath of fresh air. Reaching the balcony doors, she opened them to find two people engaged in a passionate kiss.
"I'm sorry." The words escaped her mouth before she realized it would have been better to make an exit without being noticed. The couple jumped apart.
Charlotte felt the blood drain from her face as she stared at her fiancé. "John! I thought you were dead!"
"The kids still aren't over your disappearance." She continued. "They missed Christmas. I got them that dog you promised them, but it wasn't the same. They named him Funeral, since we never had one for you. We call him Fun for short. But... wait a minute. You're not dead and you're kissing that...that..."
"Watch it, Charlotte." John looked fierce, despite the fact that he was wearing little gauzy wings pinned to the back of his black turtleneck sweater. Without the wings, his dark hair and eyes — along with the sweater — might manage menacing, but with the wings...
Charlie Martin simply laughed.
"My fiancé only calls me Charlotte when he's annoyed," she said to the woman John had been kissing.
"Which means I call her that most of the time since she's one of the most annoying people you'll ever meet," he said.
No, said wasn't the right word.
Growled.
Yep, that was closer to his tone.
Charlie grinned, and the woman John had been playing tongue hockey with said, "If you'll both excuse me. I think there's been some mistake."
"You bet there has been," Charlie said. "After all my poor kids and their little basset hound, Fun…and it's all a mistake. They should have named the dog Dodger. After all, that's what you did, isn't it, John? You dodged your commitments by pretending to be dead. I gave you the best years of my life and you promised over and over again to marry me, but ran away without me getting my ring. I gave you a son and a daughter. I —"
"She's already gone, so you can cut the act, Charlotte."
"Oops, there's that name again." Charlie giggled.
"What on earth possessed you?" He asked.
The growl was back, but it didn't intimidate Charlie at all. As a matter of fact, she giggled again.
"Why, you came to the party with me — you're even my pretend fiancé for the evening. Then I come out here to catch a breath of fresh air, and all I really catch is you playing tie-the-cherry-stem with another woman. It doesn't do my ego or my headache any good, let me tell you."
"Playing your fiancé wasn't my idea. You wanted to keep Stanley Duncan at a distance. And you made me come and fill in for your missing DJ."
"I didn't really make you. You lost the bet."
"You cheat. And not only that, you made me dress up like this..." He turned for emphasis, gesturing at the small set of wings. "Captain Cupid. What a stupid idea."
"Mr. Duncan's brother, Stanley, has hounded me throughout every stage of planning this party. I couldn't exactly tell Stan 'the Hand' Duncan I didn't want to date him because of his reptilian personality, so telling him I had a fiancé was a good plan. Having you pretend to be the fiancé was a better plan. And the Duncans wanted a four-piece orchestra for the party, but their daughter Michelle wanted a DJ and she won. Since it's Valentines, Captain Cupid was a great idea, if I do say so myself. But the outfit would have been cuter with the tights I bought you."
"Listen, I may have lost the bet, so I'm stuck playing your fiancé and Cupid for your party — I'm even wearing these," he gestured towards the wings on his back. "But I have to draw the line somewhere and tights are my line."
"Well, they would have completed the outfit, but the wings and the bow and arrow are cute enough, I guess."
"Cute? I hate being cute," he muttered.
"I know, I know. It's such a curse. You'd prefer being ruggedly handsome, or with dark, intriguing good looks. And you manage both most of time, but when you're wearing wings, I'm afraid you're just cute."
"You're perverse tonight, you know that?"
"Hey, my fiancé, the one I thought was dead, was sucking face with another woman. And you know what they say? All's fair in love and war."
"Ah, but we're not really in love; we're just pretending." His eyes pinned hers.
For a moment, just a fleeting second, Charlie thought she saw something in his look, something new that she didn't quite recognize. But it was gone in an instant and she was left wishing he'd had a different response, even though she knew better.
John was her buddy. Her pal.
He seemed to use those words — buddy, pal, even friend — for emphasis an awful lot, as if he wanted to constantly remind her that he wasn't her lover.
She remembered well enough by herself, thank you very much and drat the luck.
She'd lusted after John for years. This last year they'd moved beyond casual acquaintances and become close friends That's when she discovered what she felt for him was more than lust, it was love. Not that he noticed.
Men. They could be so dense.
"You're right, we're just pretending, but you should be able to control yourself for just a few hours," she said.
"Like I said, you suckered me into this."
"It was a bet. Fair and square."
"You cheated."
"Prove it." She placed her hands on her hips and grinned.
"You stacked the deck."
She clutched her heart for a dramatic touch. "John, I'm crushed to the core. To the very foundation of my soul. First you suck face with another woman and then you have the nerve to call me a cheat? What next?"
"Come on, Charlie. Let me out of this costume. I mean, it's your fault I was being kissed."
"My fault? You weren't kissing her of your own free volition?"
"No. Women have been chasing me all night. It seems half the Duncans' guests are single women."
"You're here to entertain the guests, to spin CDs — not to spin women. It's not like you don't have enough women."
John dated a lot. He never dated one woman for long, though. But come to think of it, Charlie couldn't think of any woman he'd dated recently. What was up with that?
"All women are desperate on Valentine's Day," he stated, as if he'd done some major study on the situation.
"Maybe, or maybe you're just too cute to resist."
"Either way, I want out of these wings..."
Charlie didn't listen to his plea for a wingless existence, which is why John Barrister found himself back at the mike...wings still attached.
"Captain Cupid's back at the turntable, ready to take requests and turn your thoughts to love," John said into the microphone. Actually, though he'd never admit it to Charlie, he thought he had a flair for DJing. If his career as a financial advisor ever fell through, maybe he'd give it a try for real...but without the wings.
He slipped Celine Dion into the player and listened to her mournful love song waft through the speakers as the Duncans and their guests partied.
"Hey there, Cupid. I have a request," a throaty voice said from behind him.
John turned, ready to fend off another ardent admirer. He'd certainly had enough propositions tonight, but unfortunately the only woman he wanted didn't seem to notice he wanted her. No, she cheated at cards, dressed him up like Cupid, and ordered him around, but didn't show the slightest sign of being attracted to him.
"Sure, what can I play for you?" he said to the brunette in a slinky black dress and fishnet stockings.
"It's not what you can play for me, but rather what you can play with me, if you like...and I guarantee you'll like."
Yep, he was right, another proposition. Valentine's Day was rapidly becoming the worst day of the year, in John's book at least.
"Sorry, I'm spoken for," he said, hoping to ward off a more aggressive assault.
"Yeah? I don't see any ring on your finger, or woman at your side," she said, stepping closer.
John would have stepped back, but there was a table in his way. Miss Fishnet licked her lips in a way that made John even more nervous.
"My girl..." he tried to think of some plausible explanation and finally hit on: "My fianceé, she's the one running this party. Parties, Inc. is hers. I'm working just so I could spend some time with her on Valentines Day."
It wasn't even his lie, it was Charlie's. He congratulated himself as Miss Fishnet took a step back.
"Too bad she's working so hard," he continued, on a roll. "I'd love to get her out on the dance floor, but I've had my 10 minute break and am stuck here playing CDs for the night."
"I could fill in for a few minute if you'd like to dance with her," a new voice offered. A man with a slightly receding hairline had joined them.
John recognized him immediately. It was Stan "the Hand" Duncan.
"You want to take over here so I can go dance with my fiancée?" he asked, putting a heavy emphasis on the fiancée part.
"Well, after the way Charlie's talked about you, I would like to see you two in action...on the dance floor." There was more than a bit of a sneer in his voice.
Charlie was right, the man was reptilian, but obviously Miss Fishnet didn't mind. Stan the Hand patted her bottom and she actually giggled.
"Maybe you'd help?" the Hand asked her.
"Well, I..." she glanced from John to Stan the Hand and suddenly smiled. "I think I can manage to help if you want to dance with your girl. It's Valentine's Day, after all. Go on, we've got things under control."
Trapped by his lie, but wanting to show the Hand just how off-limits Charlie was, John simply said, "Well, thanks," and forced a smile of gratitude on his face.
"Hey, wait a minute," said Miss Fishnet. "Let me get rid of those wings. It's hard to woo a woman when you're sporting fairy wings."
"Yeah, you've got to wonder what a woman sees in a man who wears fairy wings," the Hand muttered.
"They're not fairy wings, they're Cupid wings, but either way, I wouldn't mind losing them."
Miss Fishnet unpinned the wings and gave him a small slug. "There you are. Go get her."
"Thanks."
The CD ended and the Hand said, "Captain Cupid's taking a small break. I'm Stanley and this is..." he paused waiting.
"Gloria."
"My sidekick, Gloria. We'll be filling in. Let's start with this..."
"You Are So Beautiful" started.
John spotted Charlie across the room and fought his way through the crowd until he was at her side. "Hey, want to dance?"
"What are you up to now?" she asked, suspicion evident in her expression.
"Nothing. Stan the Hand came over and offered to let me dance with my woman."
"Which woman would that be? There are so many."
It was an opening for John to confess that there was only one woman for him. There'd only been one for a very long time, but unfortunately she only saw him as a pal.
"I think the Hand wants to see us together, make sure he doesn't have a chance with you after all. And I'm your date for tonight, remember? I mean, I'd be afraid to dance with another woman after the way you reacted on the deck."
"Dance with whoever you want," she said as she turned away.
John caught her by the shoulder. He stared into those beautiful blue eyes as he softly said, "There's only one woman here I want to dance with."
John led her onto the dance floor before Charlie could think of an argument against it.
She couldn't tell him that dancing with him meant she had to touch him, and touching John...well, it just made her remember how much she'd like to be more than just his friend. Wrapped in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder, she knew she would almost be able to believe that they were more than they were.
But she knew the music would stop, just as it always did, and the illusion would end. She'd go back to being good ol' Charlie, John's buddy and pal.
"Really," she said, just before his arms encircled her. "I don't have time for this. There are a thousand and one details to look after. It's a coming out party, and at any moment a dozen or more details could fall apart. That's why people like the Duncans hire me."
"I don't think the world will fall apart if you take two minutes to dance with me."
The world? No.
But Charlie wondered if she might fall apart right there in his arms. Just another party planner biting the dust. But she looked at John and couldn't think of any way to back out of dancing with him.
"Fine," she said, in her most ungracious response.
His arms snaked around her waist, pulling her tight. "There. That's not so bad, is it?"
Not bad at all, she thought, inhaling the scent of him, warm and spicy. He didn't just smell warm, he felt warm and she snuggled closer to his heat.
"Charlie?" he asked, obviously waiting for some response.
"No, not so bad. You haven't stepped on my feet...yet."
"Hey, I'm a good dancer. You can ask any woman —"
"Hmm, want to alphabetize the list for me so I can poll them?" she asked, her voice muffled against his sweater. "There are so many, after all."
"Come on. I don't date that many women."
"Every time I turn around you're spouting off some new name."
"Maybe I'm just making up names, hoping you'll be jealous."
Charlie tried to contain her laughter. John wanting to make her jealous? That would be the day.
"Why on earth would you want to do that? You're a — a friend." She spat out the word as if it were almost a curse. Not that she didn't treasure John's friendship. She did. But she ached for more.
"Yeah," he said, though he didn't sound any more thrilled with the description of their relationship than she did.
"Hey, if you want to end the friendship, just say the word."
If he said the word, her heart would break, but maybe that would be better. Get all the pain over with at once, rather than breaking it a little each time she saw him, every time he mentioned another woman.
"You're tired of our friendship?" he countered.
"I'm...I'm..." What she wanted to say was, I'm tired of just a friendship — I want more. But coward that she was, she couldn't force the words past her constricted larynx, so she settled for, "I've got to get back to work."
She turned and started walking across the dance floor. What she should have said was, I have to get out of your arms before I decide to stay and never leave.
"Oh, no you don't," John said, following right on Charlie's heels. He took her hand and pulled her toward the patio. "Come on, we're going to settle this."
He shut the sliding glass door and was grateful to see they had the patio to themselves. "Now, what was that about?"
"What? I don't know what you mean."
"Sure you do. You're not looking me in the eye, and the only time you do that is when you're hiding something. I've sensed that there was something you've wanted to tell me for a long time and I'm not leaving until I find out what it is."
She yanked her hand from his and rubbed it against her pants, as if he had some case of childhood cooties she was afraid of catching.
"Listen, John, maybe you can bully the other women you date, but you can't bully me. We've been friends too long for that to work."
"I don't bully the women I date."
"Ah, there you are. You deny bullying them, but don't deny that there are a lot of women."
"I never said there were," he argued.
"I do though. Let's see, there was the receptionist at the bank, the popcorn girl you met when you took me to the movies."
Charlie didn't mention that it was poor form to flirt with a popcorn girl while you were taking another woman to the movies...even if that other woman was only a friend. Of course, the popcorn girl had given them extra butter, but Charlie could barely force herself to eat the popcorn, so it didn't really matter to her.
"Shall I go on?" she asked.
"No," he said, back to his almost growling tone.
"Listen, I don't know why we're fighting about the women you date. It's not as if it matters to me."
Oh, that was a lie. A whopper of a lie. She was going to have to wash her own mouth out with soap for all the lying she was doing.
"I haven't dated anyone in about nine months."
Talk about lying. Maybe she should send John some soap for Valentine's Day.
"Come on. Tell me another one," she said, laughing.
"Nope, nine months. And that last date was...well, let's just say unsatisfying. I decided that I wasn't going to date again until I found a woman who really mattered."
"You're joking."
"No. And I could point out that you haven't dated for even longer than that."
"My business keeps me busy."
"Not too busy to see me, though. Right?"
"Are you complaining?" she asked.
"No. I'm just wondering how it is you're busy schedule leaves you time to hang with me, and not enough time to date?"
"You're a friend. I can't say no when you call and ask me if I want to hang — it wouldn't be very friendly, now would it?"
John was looking at her in a very uncomfortable way. Charlie suddenly felt almost naked under his scrutiny — and if she was going to be naked under something of John's, his scrutiny wasn't what she had in mind. "What is this? The third degree?"
"No, I'm suddenly realizing that maybe I'm not alone."
"Of course you're not alone, you fool. I'm right here with you. We're friends."
"We are, aren't we?"
"Of course."
"And you don't like that I date other women?" he asked slowly.
"I think you need to settle down with one rather than flitting between them like some butterfly trying to choose a flower."
"Butterfly? That's not a very manly analogy. I mean, after making me wear Cupid wings, manly might be the way to go for a while till I recover."
"Even with Cupid wings you look manly."
And even slimy popcorn girls and the knowledge that John only saw her as a friend couldn't make Charlie stop loving him, even though there was no hope he'd ever love her back.
Oh, darn, there he was, making her feel naked again with the way he was looking at her. What a stupid thing to say. "I mean, other women find you manly no matter what you're wearing. To me, you're just John, my buddy, my pal."
Buddy. Pal. She normally didn't have trouble remembering that was just what John was. Just a friend. But tonight was different. Maybe it was just a case of Valentine longing. Or maybe it was the fact that he looked so cute in his wings. Either way, she'd forgotten, but she was over her memory lapse as of this moment.
She met John's gaze and stared right back at him, and as her insides turned to gelatin, she cursed. She wasn't over her lapse. She would never be over it. She was officially, permanently lapsed over John. Most of the time she could pretend she wasn't, but tonight she seemed to be having problems.
"Charlie?" John said, his voice low and rumbly. It wasn't a growl this time. It was something else. Something she'd never heard in his voice.
It almost sounded like desire.
But no. Friends didn't desire friends.
Occasionally friends shared a meal, a video, or even popcorn, but they didn't share desire.
She gave herself a mental shake and forced a smile on her face, though she worried her face might crack. "Yes, John?"
"Remember when I said I hadn't dated in nine months?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I lied."
"Aha. I knew you had to be lying, that you couldn't go nine months without a woman."
She'd been right. Not that it made her feel pleased. As a matter of fact, Charlie felt...rather depressed. The sort of depression that even a couple pounds of chocolate couldn't soothe. "Well, thanks for telling me. Now, if you don't mind, I have a party to see to, and you have a pair of wings waiting for you."
He grabbed her arm. "Wait a minute. I need to tell you about the woman I'm dating."
"That's okay. You can tell me later." Like when hell froze over.
"No, I need to tell you. You see, she's special. I haven't told her yet, but she means the world to me. But there's a problem."
"A problem?"
Charlie tried to keep from smiling. Problems were good. Maybe Ms. Wonderful had warts, or some horrible skin condition. Or better yet, maybe she was moving to Europe. No, make that Siberia. Oh, yeah, she bet John's foxy Ms. Wonderful wouldn't look so hot wrapped in layers of fur to fight off the Siberian cold. It was hard to be a babe when you were all bundled up.
"You see," he said, "she doesn't know we're dating."
Of all the things Charlie expected to hear, this wasn't one of them. "What? How do you date someone without them knowing?"
"Well, I take her out to the movies and to dinners. We hang out together around our apartments just sharing a meal or watching a video. We talk a couple times a day on the phone. She thinks we're just friends."
Dawning awareness suddenly struck Charlie like an arrow hitting its mark and she swallowed hard. "You and this woman, you're not just friends?"
"Oh, no. I didn't even realize we were dating until tonight, but that's what we've been doing. A quiet sort of courtship that snuck up on both of us. We're both so used to just being friends that we didn't realize we were more."
"We...I mean, you are? How much more?"
"Charlie, do you think I'd wear fairy wings —"
"They're Cupid wings."
"— for just anyone?"
Charlie struggled to breathe normally — there seemed to be something huge growing in the center of her chest that impeded her oxygen flow. "John, I don't know what to say."
"Say you agree. Say we're dating, that we have been dating for months, even if we didn't realize it."
"Dating, huh?" The something grew bigger.
"Dating. Once you're used to the idea, we'll talk about the next step."
"You think there's going to be another step after dating? You've never had another step before." The something burst and a warm flow of love flooded Charlie's system.
Love. She'd been bottling it up for so long, and finally she was free to admit it. She loved this man — this man she'd been dating for months without even realizing it.
"Neither have you. And neither of us has dated without knowing before, so I think it's safe to say this relationship is unique, so it's bound to have another step. As a matter of fact, you know the non-Cupid role you have me playing tonight?"
"You mean the DJ?" she asked hesitantly.
"No. The fiancé role." He stepped closer, closing the distance between them. "I think we might want to talk about gambling again on making it real sometime soon. You cheat, so we're bound to get a winning hand."
"I don't cheat," she said. "You're just a horrible card player."
"Before we argue about your cheating, I think there's something that absolutely must be next on our list."
"What's that?"
He wrapped his arms around her, tighter than they had when they were dancing. This time she didn't try to ignore how good he felt, how good he smelled, how right being in his arms seemed. No, she didn't ignore it at all. She reveled in it.
"Kiss me," he said.
Gently their lips met. Tentative at first, then their introduction changed rapidly to something hotter as they stood locked in each other's embrace, lost in the moment.
"Wow," Charlie murmured when they finally parted.
"Yeah, wow." John grinned. "So now what?"
"Well, we finish off this party and maybe afterward we go on a date that we're both cognizant of."
"You're on."
She studied him a moment. Studied this amazing man who'd finally seen her, had realized she'd been waiting for him all this time. She grinned and asked, "And speaking of on...where are your wings?"
"Come on, Charlotte, you can't be serious about making me wear them."
"Hey, it's good to know you still plan to call me Charlotte when I annoy you, even though we're dating."
"I'm sure I'll call you Charlotte a lot, even though we're dating. You're an annoying woman."
"Yeah, I am." She grinned.
"Good thing I seem to be attracted to annoying women."
"Good thing for you that I seem to be attracted to guys who wear fairy wings."
"Cupid wings," he said, a mock-growl in his voice this time. "Which you aren't seriously going to make me put back on, are you? After all, I rescued you from Stan the Hand. I think he's gone for good."
"Really?"
"He was looking pretty tight with Miss Fishnet out on the dance floor."
"Who?"
"I'll tell you later. After the party when I take you out on a date," he said.
Just like that. So casual. When I take you out on a date.
"On a real date?" Charlie laughed when he nodded. "Wow, this is a Valentine's Day to remember... Speaking of remembering, let's talk about those wings."
"Charlotte!"
Charlie smiled as she continued arguing about Cupid wings with John.
Some things might change, and realizing she was dating John was a change for the better. But as she watched him sputter about her cheating at cards and the unfairness of wearing Cupid wings, she realized some things would never change — and that was good, too.
What a Valentine's Day, she thought as she silenced John by kissing him, her own personal Cupid, again. "Now, let's go find those wings...."
The End