Pucker Up - Softcover

Stapleton, Rhonda

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416974660 ISBN 13: 9781416974666

Verlag: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010

Inhaltsangabe

Felicity has racked up quite a list of matchmaking fumbles, but right now she’s beaming with joy. Not only has she learned that her longtime crush, Derek, is also a cupid, but he is now officially her boyfriend! But Felicity is terrified when she discovers her recent connection with Derek is due to the magical matchmaking of her boss at Cupid’s Hollow. Is Derek truly in love with Felicity, or is it all due to magic? Felicity has two weeks before the love spell wears off. And she’ll do whatever it takes to make sure this love match lasts!

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Rhonda Stapleton started writing a few years ago to appease the voices in her head. She lives in northeast Ohio with her two kids and their lazy dog. Visit her website at rhondastapleton.com.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Could a person die of happiness overload? Because if that were possible, I was so going to keel over any second.

But what a way to go.

My brand-new boyfriend Derek’s strong, lean fingers threaded tightly through mine as we strolled through the door of Starbucks. It was our first official date since we’d begun going out yesterday afternoon. We’d decided to grab some coffee after school to discuss how to help all the broken-hearted single people I’d hastily matched with each other when I was trying to reverse the effects of me accidentally making them all fall in love with him.

Yeah, not one of the better ideas I’ve had in the couple of months since being hired by my boss, Janet, at Cupid’s Hollow. But fortunately for me, I also found out yesterday that Derek was a fellow cupid, and he’d promised to help me out. And I just knew that we were going to make things right—together.

“Hey, Felicity, what kind of drink do you want?” he asked, turning those piercing green eyes to me.

I swallowed, wanting to pinch myself in über-glee. I was on an honest-to-God date with the guy I’d been crushing on since freshman year, something I’d fantasized about forever.

“Felicity?” he asked, one eyebrow raised.

Hey, dork! He asked you a question! I mentally chided myself, trying to snap out of my love haze.

“Um, how about a Mocha Frappuccino?” I suggested. “Those are supergood.” And super laden with caffeine. Yum!

He smiled, his cheek dimpling slightly. “Sure. Why don’t you find us a private spot to sit?”

I nodded, picking out a booth in the back corner where no one was around and settling into one side of the table. Plenty of isolation for us to discuss our top secret cupid business matters.

Digging through my purse, I pulled out my hot-pink LoveLine 3000, the handheld technology we cupids use to send matchmaking e-mails to our targets. I put it on my lap, turning it on. While I waited for Derek to return, I kept myself occupied by staring at his absolutely perfect butt.

After a couple of minutes Derek sauntered over to the table, drinks in hand, and slid into the booth seat across from me. I accepted my drink gratefully and forced myself to take a slow sip through the straw, not wanting to give myself brain freeze. That crap hurt.

“Okay, I’m dying to ask you a question,” I finally said, leaning over the table toward Derek in excitement. “When Janet hired you, did she take you to the bow-and-arrow room and give you a . . . demonstration?”

I rubbed the middle of my chest, remembering how it had felt at my interview to have the gold arrow hit me and disappear, leaving only a tingle. Janet, our boss, sure didn’t mess around . . . she’d wanted to make sure I knew the cupid powers were real. Not that I’d doubted her after she shot me, but over time I’d learned the reality of matchmaking all too well . . . both the ups and downs.

Derek laughed. “So she shot you with an arrow also. Glad I wasn’t the only doubter she’d hired.”

God, it was so awesome to be able to work with my new boyfriend. I’d finally have someone I could talk about my cupid woes with! Not that I wasn’t desperate to dish it all to my two best friends, Andy and Maya … but my contract specifically stipulated I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone the specifics of my job, upon pain of death.

Okay, the contract terms weren’t that drastic, but I just knew something awful would happen to me. I sure didn’t want to find out what, though.

“Janet’s kind of scary,” I whispered, almost afraid that by some weird voodoo she could overhear me talking about her.

“No kidding. She’s intimidating.” He took the lid off his cup, releasing a puff of steam into the air, and took a drink.

“So, how many matches have you made so far?” I asked him. We each had a weekly quota to meet, and I was eager for tips and motivation.

“Only a few.” He shrugged. “I’m trying to take my time and still perfect my profiles. It’s hard work, studying everyone and making sure I represent them accurately.”

I nodded in sympathy. “Yeah, it took me a while to do those too.”

A souring thought hit me, and I pinched my lips together. If I’d taken more time to add greater details to my profiles, like Derek was doing, maybe I wouldn’t have made so many bad matches since I’d started working as a cupid. And thus, there wouldn’t be so many desolate people grumping their way through school when their love spells had worn off.

Shaking my head resolutely, I pushed the thought out of my brain. All I’d been trying to do was get my classmates’ attention off Derek and back on one another, where it belonged. Besides, there were now two matchmakers on the job at Greenville High, ready and eager to get things fixed up before prom, which would be in just over three weeks.

And I couldn’t focus on my own prom happiness with Derek until I got these disaster matches resolved, once and for all.

I took my LoveLine 3000 out of my lap and put it on the tabletop, ready to get down to business. “Did you bring yours?”

“Sure did.” Derek tugged his out of his back pocket and turned it on. “Last night I made a list of everyone in school who is currently single and in need of a match. I’ll e-mail you half of the list.” He bent his head over the PDA, typing on the little keyboard.

Weird, I’d never thought about e-mailing another cupid. I wonder what would happen when he sent me the document. Would it make us fall even more in love? Maybe we would be like my parents were when I’d had a “brilliant” idea and decided to matchmake the two of them for their anniversary a few weeks ago.

I shuddered, remembering their feet sticking out of their bedroom doorway as they went at it on their floor. Time to push that gross little memory into the dark recesses of my brain, back where it belonged.

“Hey, you still here?” Derek asked, a crooked grin on his face. He reached over and brushed my hand, causing my skin to tingle.

“Yeah, sorry, had a bad flashback,” I said, drinking some of my Frappuccino with my free hand. I’d tell him about matchmaking my parents later, after I’d done another mental scrub or two or twenty.

My PDA vibrated. I opened my new e-mail from Derek, half expecting my chest to tingle—the surefire identifier of a love match.

Nothing happened.

After staring dumbly at the screen for several long seconds, I almost smacked my own forehead. Duh, Felicity. I’d forgotten that cupids can’t matchmake themselves, so Derek sending me an e-mail wouldn’t have any power over me, anyway.

I focused my attention on the list, scrolling down to check out the names. “Okay, I need to make matches for everyone on here, right?”

“Yeah. I think if we take our time and do some quality matches, they should hold together with better odds.”

My stomach twitched. He was right, of course, but I was embarrassed that Derek, who had been a cupid for only a few weeks, had managed to figure out more about matchmaking than I had.

He reached back into his pocket and pulled out his cupid manual. “Each person can be matched with someone else on the list, just to keep things simple. I prepared the two lists according to the manual. There was one formula that seemed overly complicated, but the one on...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2010
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1416974660
• ISBN 13: 9781416974666
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Auflage: 1
• Anzahl der Seiten: 272
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar