DADDY CUPID

  SARAH BLUE

  Copyright © 2024 by Sarah Blue

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover by @maldodesigns

  Edits by Bookends Editing

  CONTENTS

  Playlist

  Foreword

  Ladybird

  Cupiō

  Gloom

  Cupiō

  Ladybird

  Gloom

  Cupiō

  Ladybird

  Gloom

  Cupiō

  Ladybird

  Gloom

  Cupiō

  Ladybird

  Gloom - Epilogue

  Also by Sarah Blue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  PLAYLIST

  Her - Megan Thee Stallion

  Cockiness (Love It) - Rihanna

  Build a Bitch - Bella Porch

  Never There - CAKE

  Breakfast - Dove Cameron

  Use Me - Bill Withers

  National Anthem - Lana Del Rey

  Often - The Weeknd

  FOREWORD

  Hello, welcome to Daddy Cupid.

  This is the third book in the Love in the Veil series. You do not need to read Petty Cupid or Lucky Cupid in order to read this book, however, it is recommended for the best reading experience as there are cameos from all characters.

  The Love in the Veil Series

  Petty Cupid - MF

  Lucky Cupid - FF

  Daddy Cupid - MMF

  If you would like a full list of the contents in this book please visit my website.

  Why did the penis go into a cage?

  Every day in Cupidale is the same.

  Pink, miserable, and annoying.

  Every pink motherfucker here is so happy, and I’m the one they all avoid. Long ago, I tried my hand in being a matchmaking cupid, but I didn’t have the gusto for it. Then I tried working in retail and I was even worse at that. But it was extremely hard when the customer is never actually fucking right. Apparently, my skill set lies in being the bitch that gatekeeps the Head Cupid’s office.

  I sigh as I take a bite of the overly sweet croissant and take my place in my worn-in pink chair and wait for the man himself to get into the office.

  Cupiō shouldn’t be the only highlight of living in this cotton-candy-cesspool—but he is.

  While he might be Head Cupid, he isn’t overly excitable like the other cupids. He understands that life isn’t all about love, rainbows, and bullshit. It doesn’t hurt that he’s ridiculously handsome and smart.

  He just never notices me. At least, not in the way I want him to. He appreciates me as his secretary, always bringing me coffee and treats to thank me for my work. But just like everyone else, he doesn’t dive deeper.

  I know what people say about me. That I’m a bitch, that they don’t know how I was ever stationed as a cupid in the afterlife. What’s even worse is I’ve thought the same thing myself hundreds of times. At this point, I feel too far removed from the cupid community. I don’t see how I’ll ever fit in.

  I take off my glasses and wipe them with a pink microfiber cloth before putting them back on.

  As soon as the pink cat-eyed glasses are back in place, Cupiō is putting my coffee on my desk. He looks devilishly handsome today, wearing a rolled up pink dress shirt, covered by a deep pink harness that’s tucked into his trousers. His hair is darker pink on the top and fades to a lighter, nearly white-pink around his sideburns and beard.

  “What’s on the schedule today, Birdie?” he asks, calling me by my nickname. I swallow thickly and clear my throat. A nickname shouldn’t be important to me, but it is. He’s the only man who’s ever made me want to be slightly softer—but only for him.

  “The annoying happy one has a meeting with you in an hour,” I grate out.

  Love is the quintessential cupid, and it’s probably wrong to hate her for it, but I don’t really care. I know it’s rooted in jealousy. At least I’m aware of my endless character flaws. She’s so happy to be a cupid and to make Cupidale the best place it can be, while I just feel hopelessly lost.

  I don’t belong here. Being an outcast has started to weigh on me, am I truly incapable of experiencing true love? It makes me feel like a defective cupid, and I’m not sure how to turn this around. Maybe it’s because of the introduction of inter-veil relationships and everyone seemingly being able to find their person, but I just feel lost.

  “Play nice, Birdie,” he says, pushing the coffee closer to me on the desk.

  “Why do I feel like you have worse news?”

  “After my meeting with Love, there might be an influx of work needed to plan an event. I’d need you to work alongside her and I’d be a big part of the planning as well,” he says, and I wrinkle my nose.

  Cupiō gives me a bright smile, and I narrow my eyes at him.

  He sits on the corner of my desk and holds his hands up in surrender. “I don’t even know if I’m going to agree to her proposal, but you’re the best at being realistic,” he says, and I look away for a moment, wondering if it’s a compliment or a diss. “I need someone I can trust to make sure things are safe and orderly.”

  “She’s annoying,” I reply sharply.

  His smile lightens up his features as his eyes crinkle ever so slightly.

  “I’m doing my best to keep the cupids happy,” Cupiō says and I wonder even more what his meeting with Love is about.

  “What about you?” I ask him, the words just slipping out of me like nonsense.

  Cupiō tilts his head at me and sighs. “I’m fine, Ladybird.” He stands and dusts off his pants and grabs his own coffee. We both know it’s a lie. He’s been going through so much lately and just continues to run this ridiculous town. “Just play nice, okay?”

  “I can be nice,” I say, though it feels like a lie.

  “I know you can, Birdie,” he replies, and it seems like he genuinely means it, before heading to his office and shutting the door.

  I stare at his door as I grab my coffee and take a sip. It’s exactly how I like it. Too many of the cupids ply their coffee with way too much sugar, but this is just the right amount of hazelnut and cream. I remind myself he brings me the coffee because he appreciates my work, not because he wants to see me naked.

  No one in this horned up town wants to, and it makes me feel even more miserable.

  A groan escapes me and my mood worsens as a male cupid named Arrow comes strolling through the elevator doors and strutting over to my office.

  Cupiō is the only male cupid I can tolerate in this realm. I swear I have to swallow back coffee flavored vomit as Arrow leans down on my desk.

  “Hey there, Ladybug,” he says, and I blink at him. He waits for a long moment for a response, and when I just stare at him, he gets off my desk and stands straight. “I was hoping to have a chat with the big man.” He attempts to go around my desk, and I push out my leg. His ankle catches on my heel as he almost goes tumbling to the ground, his downy wings the only thing preventing him from falling face first onto the floor.

  Unfortunate.

  “You don’t have an appointment, Arrow.”

  “We need to discuss⁠—”

  I stand from my desk, my pink heels clicking on the marble as I adjust my pants legs and crouch next to the cupid.

  “I know you’re new here, but if there’s one lesson you ought to learn, it’s that I’m not someone you should fuck with. Would you like to make an appointment?” I say in an eerily calm tone.

  The male cupid blinks at me and slightly backs away. “Yes, I’d like to make an appointment.”

  I sit back in my chair and look over the ledger, ignoring multiple openings and skipping to August.

  “August tenth,” I say, picking up my gel glide pen that I covet dearly. If anyone so much as tried to steal this pen, I’d probably ruin their life.

  “That’s months from now.”

  “Would you like me to push it to October?” I ask sweetly.

  “Fine. August,” he grumbles, and I give him a wide smile that makes him take another step back.

  “Would you like an appointment card, or are you capable of remembering your obligations?”

  The cupid swallows and nods his head before retreating to the elevator. I smile to myself as I color coordinate Cupiō’s appointments for the next month. He’s too accommodating with his time, and if he needs me to put these unaware, self-absorbed cupids in their place, I’m fine taking that job.

  It’s blessedly quiet in reception for a few moments until the elevator dings. I expect Love to come strutting in with her giant reaper boyfriend, just letting everyone in Cupidale know that she is the cupid. But I’m surprised when a different reaper is standing next to her, walking toward my office.

  He whistles lowly. “This is the head honcho’s office?”

  He isn’t wearing the ridiculous robes the other reapers wear, instead he has on a tight black t-shirt and matching black pants. He doesn’t carry the same pretensions about him that I’ve seen from other reapers. He also doesn’t seem like the happy-go-lucky cupid next to him.

  He seems different, and for t
he first time in a long time, my curiosity is piqued.

  When they reach the edge of my desk, Love gives me a gigantic smile, while the reaper next to her tilts his head like a confused Doberman. I shouldn’t find it endearing, yet there’s something about him I find intriguing and different.

  I say nothing, forcing Love to speak first.

  “Right, hello, Ladybird. I have an appointment with Cupiō,” she says happily.

  “Yes, you have an appointment with Cupiō. The reaper isn’t on the meeting agenda.”

  The man in question smiles, a dimple forming in his cheek as he shows off his shining white teeth. His dark hair is short, nearly buzzed to the head, and I imagine what it would feel like under my fingers.

  “You’re different, cupid,” he says, his dark gaze appraising me like I’m a puzzle to be solved.

  When was the last time that someone looked at me with anything besides dismay or irritation?

  I push my glasses up my nose and clear my throat. “Being average is boring,” I reply, and his smile widens.

  “I thought all cupids were happy little⁠—”

  Love smacks a hand over her reaper friend’s mouth and she squeaks. “Right, about that meeting, I brought him as a reaper liaison.”

  “You can go in. Your little friend⁠—”

  “Gloom,” he interrupts, ripping Love’s pink hand from his face. “My name is Gloom.”

  “Charming. Gloom can sit in the waiting room like a good boy, unless the Head Cupid invites him into the meeting,” I say to the two of them.

  Gloom doesn’t stop looking at me, and Love’s jaw drops ever so slightly.

  “I’ve made some miscalculations,” Love says to no one in particular, but looks back and forth between me and Gloom.

  I raise my watch and tap it at Love.

  “You’re late.”

  “Right,” she says, looking back at Gloom. “I’ll call you in once I talk to Cupiō,” she assures him.

  She opens the door and heads toward Cupiō’s office as the reaper stands before me.

  “I said sit,” I tell him sharply, and I watch as his throat bobs. He follows my direction, taking the seat that faces my desk. No one ever chooses that seat.

  I smirk to myself, liking that he’s listening but also doesn’t seem afraid of me. Unlike so many of the cupids who don’t dare to make eye contact with me, or turn around the moment they see me stationed at my desk.

  He crosses his arms and watches me with rapt attention until I can’t stay silent any longer.

  “Is there something you’d like to say?”

  “I just haven’t met a cupid like you,” he says, glancing down to where I have my ankles crossed.

  I swallow and stand, my heels clicking as I walk over to the reaper. I bend forward, my hands clutching the arm of each side of the chair, and lean in.

  “How many cupids have you met?”

  “At least two dozen,” he replies.

  I’m not sure why a pang of irritation and jealousy ripples through me as I look into his half-lidded brown eyes.

  “None of them intrigued you?” I ask him, and he shakes his head.

  “I have very particular tastes,” he responds.

  “What? None of the death collectors are looking for an obedient reaper to boss around?” I clock him instantly.

  I watched as he stilled when I called him a good boy and told him to wait out here and sit down; he enjoyed it, probably as much as I did.

  He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing dramatically as he licks his lips and looks at me.

  I lean in closer, noting that he smells like cinnamon and other mouthwatering spices.

  “Am I wrong?” I ask, nearly a breath’s width away from his face.

  The door opens behind me, and I don’t move as Love clears her throat.

  “Gloom, you can come in now,” she says.

  The reaper’s eyes meet mine for me to tell him what to do and a smirk takes over my lips. “Go to your meeting,” I reply, backing away and strolling back to my desk.

  Gloom’s eyes don’t leave my form until Love basically grabs his arm to drag him into Cupiō’s office.

  “I thought you were gay,” she hisses.

  “No, I just like to be bossed around,” he replies, and I grin to myself.

  “Oh my gods, just get inside.” Love shoves him into the office.

  Maybe things in Cupidale are about to get a hell of a lot more interesting after all.

  Iget her a coffee every single day and she still doesn’t seem to be interested in me in the same way that I am her.

  Ladybird is different from most of the other cupids.

  Not just her demeanor, but she’s one of the few people in this realm who actually cares about me beyond my role as Head Cupid. She never asks for anything, and is always helping me in some form or another. While everyone else makes my life harder, Ladybird is the one person who actively aims to make my life easier.

  I’d hoped my acts of service and little nudges would indicate my feelings, but I’ve never outwardly expressed my interest.

  She works for me, and there’s no one else in this realm who would be a better assistant than Ladybird. I simply can’t afford to lose her.

  I’ve lost so much already.

  My son has not only been a disappointment with his actions toward other cupids, but now, he’s abandoned the realm all together and is living with a ghost he has supposedly fallen in love with.

  I rub my eyebrows and wonder where I went wrong? What could I have done to ensure he would have turned out a better person? The fact of the matter is Eros is older than the majority of cupids in this realm. My child rearing ended so long ago, there’s only so much nurturing that factors into how a person turns out.

  Dwelling on what my son has done to Love and Juliet, two cupids who weren’t interested in his advances, makes me sick. The only thing I can do now is work to make Cupidale a better place. To ensure that cupids are safe, that quotas are met, and love continues to conquer all.

  It’s why I agreed to this meeting with Love in the first place. Besides the fact that she’s the first cupid to have an inter-veil relationship, she’s also one of my top producing cupids, so it only seems right to hear her out.

  After I’m finished answering a few emails, the bubbly cupid comes strolling into my office.

  “Love, take a seat,” I tell her, holding out my hand across from my desk.

  “Thank you, sir, but I actually brought a friend to join us. Ladybird”—she says her name with more confusion than resentment—“said that he was not on the agenda and until you gave the okay, he can’t come into your office.”

  I smirk to myself. No one has ever been so protective of me in my existence, and as much as I’d love to return the sentiment and take care of her for a change, she won’t let me. Or maybe I just need to make my advances more clear. Could I continue just being friends and suffering unrequited feelings for the rest of my life? Probably.

  “Who is your friend? Not your boyfriend?” I ask, not wanting to deal with the over-protective reaper who has already given me enough shit.

  “No sir, his name is Gloom.”

  I take a sigh of relief and hope the reaper she brought with her doesn’t induce heartburn the same way her lover, Death, does.

  “Very well, tell Ladybird he can come in,” I tell her as I take my seat and wait for them to come back into the room. The pair are hissing at each other under their breath as they both take a seat, Love forcing a beaming smile on her face and the reaper looking back at the door.

  I observe the reaper, noting he is far more casually dressed and easygoing than the other reapers I’ve met—attractive, too.

  Interesting.

  I remove my gaze from the reaper and smile at Love.

  “Alright, Love. I’m ready to hear your pitch.”

  She smiles and takes a deep breath before speaking.

  “I’d like to host an inter-veil mixer here in Cupidale. I think it would be a great opportunity for people to mingle and get to know one another. There are so many lonely individuals in the veil and maybe this could be the love matchmaking event of the century.” She’s excited about the event and I take a moment to really comb through her words. She’s so eager and enthusiastic about making matches. I wish I still felt the same way.