At the check-in desk, Lauren—her ideal roommate and closest friend in the industry—sidled up beside her. “You ready for another?”
Melinda nodded, filled with a sudden excitement. “Always.” She’d met Lauren online through another author five years earlier, and while they lived hours away from each other, Melinda tried to meet up with her at least once a year at a conference.
After presenting her credit card, Melinda received key cards, passed one to Lauren, and headed toward the conference registration table, leaving her friends with their multitude of suitcases behind. She’d left her own in the car until she took care of all the registration details—the advantage of a con so close to home. After returning the valet cart to the lobby, she walked into her room and saw Lauren already rooting through her goodie bag on the other bed. Melinda removed her shoes and hung up her coat in the closet, already half-full with her roommate’s stuff.
“Hey, have you heard of 1Night Stand?” Lauren pointed to her laptop. “It’s a dating service run by someone named Madame Eve. I hear several authors attending the conference have dates using them this weekend.”
Melinda scoffed, tucking her luggage beside her bed. “Romance authors using a dating service? Seems weird, doesn’t it?”
Lauren shrugged. “Makes sense, though. Everyone here believes in soul mates and happily-ever-afters, right? Want to sign up?”
“Wait, what?” Lauren knew the type of guy she wanted and had been there to commiserate with Melinda through all her bad experiences with matchmaking sites in the past.
“C’mon. Sign up for a 1Night Stand. It’ll be fun.”
“No.” Melinda shook her head with vigor. “No way. I’ve had enough one-night stands in my life. You know that. I don’t need or want another. Ever.” She flopped back on the bed, trying to forget the sting of rejection at being kicked out of a warm bed at three o’clock in the morning and making the walk of shame to her car, or waking up alone. Worse yet, the guy who woke up beside her and didn’t even remember her name. She was done with it all. Done.
“But this is different.” Her friend tossed the paper at her. “It’s more like a blind date. The owner of the company chooses the guy you’ll go out with. No profiles to look at and no obscene messages from creeps.”
“Sounds too good to be true, if you ask me.” She’d been burned too many times trying new ways to meet men.
“Read the testimonials. From couples still together, many of them married shortly after their date.”
Melinda rolled her eyes. “Okay, so she got a few right, but how many mismatches did this woman make along the way? How many of her clients will tell you they ended up with an asshole? I don’t want to be an
Oops, I got it wrong
case.”
“C’mon, Mel, take a chance. I swear, if you don’t do this, I’ll do it for you. I’ve already started filling out my own application. I’m going to do yours next.”
With a sigh, Melinda read the testimonials on Lauren’s screen then reached down to grab her laptop case. Too good to be true, maybe, but Madame Eve did have a high success rate and had set up some very high-profile couples. “Fine, I’ll do it.” Besides, if she refused, Lauren would sign her up. She noted the cost of a 1Night Stand and didn’t want to be someone’s charity case, no matter how close they were.
Filling in the never-ending online form, she told almost truths, though she may have left a few pounds off her weight. And her height may have included her high heels. When asked to describe her ideal man, she paused. In every story she wrote, her hero came from outer space, as she didn’t believe any good single men still existed on Earth. Women who already knew what they wanted in life had snatched them up in their twenties without exception. If only she’d been ready to get hitched at that age.
A sexy, hard-working man from another planet.
There!
Let Madame Eve find her a man who fit her bizarre description. She tabbed to the next question before she could delete her words.
Melinda rushed through the rest of the questions and submitted her application. She glanced over at Lauren. “You done yet?”
“Yep.” Her friend bounced on the bed, releasing a high-pitched squeal. “I can’t wait to meet the guy Madame Eve sets me up with.”
“Me, too,” she lied. Though she had no doubt extraterrestrials existed somewhere in the wide expanse of the universe, they didn’t live on Earth and, therefore, could not be found for a 1Night Stand. Especially at such short notice. Her application would be rejected, leaving her worry free about another blind date. No money out of her pocket, and Lauren wouldn’t be hounding her all weekend about applying.
Melinda’s email tab blinked to show a new message. Her stomach rolled when she read the sender. She clicked over and opened an email from the owner of the matchmaking service. “I got a confirmation of receipt. Did you?”
Lauren sighed. “Yes. I thought she had arranged a date for me already, but I guess I was hoping for a lot, eh?”
“Considering she probably has several applications come in each day with all of those high-profile testimonials, I doubt we’ll hear anything until after the weekend.” Hopefully never, in her case.
While logged in, Melinda checked the rest of her inbox, deleting row after row of unimportant emails, nothing to take her mind off the numerous possible creeps she might be set up with. If, in fact, the woman found her a date. Maybe Madame Eve would set her up with a man who believed he came from another planet, one obsessed with space, the kind of guy her parents thought she wanted. They’d sweetly bought her a ticket for Fan Expo in Toronto last August, encouraging her to meet one. Epic fail. Dressed as Agent Carter, she’d had a guy claiming to be Captain America, wearing a beer case around his chest, stalk her the entire day.
In her other social media, a fan had mentioned being excited to meet her, a big squee in front with plenty of exclamation points. Such messages brightened her mood. Reader excitement fed her own and kept her muse’s ego soothed. She sent a quick reply.
@LindaReads Looking forward to meeting you. I’ll be a Mad Hatter tonight. Be sure to find me
. About to log off, Melinda noticed another message appear in her inbox. From Madame Eve again.
“Hey, did you receive a second confirmation?”
Lauren turned toward her, the side of her face scrunched in confusion. “No, did you?”
“I…I think so. Maybe.” Though the subjects were different.
Your 1Night Stand
the subject of the second said rather than
Confirmation of receipt of 1Night Stand application
.
“Let me see.” Lauren leaped from her bed to Melinda’s, not touching the floor on the way over.
Melinda waved her fingers over the touch pad. “There’s no way she could have found me a match already, or even read through everything I wrote. Should I click on it? I mean, what if it’s spam or a virus—I would lose all my stories.”
“Open it!” Lauren perched behind her, peering over her shoulder. “You backed up all your work before you left home, remember? Maybe Madame Eve predicted your application would come in today and is a speed reader. Who knows? Please don’t keep me waiting any longer.”
Hand vibrating from nerves, Melinda brought the pointer to the message, clicked, and read.
Bonjour Melinda,
I’ve been waiting a great deal of time for your application. I’ve had the perfect man for you all along. You will meet him at seven tonight in room 316 for dinner and an evening filled with whatever activities you choose. I have attached his photograph so you will know who you are meeting.
Affectuesement,
Madame Eve
Melinda’s lunch threatened to make a reappearance.
This is all wrong
. Her date had to be someone who believed himself an alien. No one else would match the description of her ideal man. Thank goodness she had a reason to cancel. “It’s not going to work tonight. I am having dinner with all of you, with my readers. I spent a lot of money on my Mad Hatter costume.”
Gripping her shoulder, Lauren squeezed. “Yes, I know, but you are going to skip it. No way I’m letting you pass on this opportunity. Besides, I’m sure your fans would love to read about how you met your happily-ever-after guy at a conference.” She clicked on the attachment. “Let’s see what this guy looks like.”
As the picture popped up on screen, they gasped, Melinda in pure shock.
“He’s hot.” Lauren leaned closer to the computer. “Look at those muscles. And such a strong jaw…. Wow! I’m so jealous. Can I pretend I’m you tonight?”
Melinda squinted at the screen, a headache developing in her temples. He wasn’t at all the man she’d expected to be matched up with. Not even a guy she’d expected to see again. “I know him. He’s my…. Oh God, I know him.”
Cooper Tate parked his truck in the lot of the hotel then pulled out his phone.
Okay, I’m here
, he texted. Awaiting Tabitha’s response, he got out of the vehicle to stretch his legs. A four-hour trip he’d made in three didn’t favor his bones and muscles. Why couldn’t his friend have arranged a closer meeting? And why a hotel, of all places? Any other guy might assume the arrangement to be a booty call, the beginning of a secret affair far away from prying eyes. But Cooper knew better.
Tabitha remained content in her marriage, expecting her second child with her husband of seven years. Yet, Cooper held onto information regarding Tabitha even the man she slept beside every night didn’t know. Information he planned on no one else
ever
learning.
His phone vibrated in his hand. Cooper clicked it on, thumbing the message, hoping to at last figure out what his friend had planned.
Check in at the desk. Don’t worry, everything has already been paid for. Once in your room, you will find an envelope on the bed with more instructions
.
Cooper pinched the bridge of his nose, his stomach clenching with worry. He wasn’t some spy on a secret mission. His entire existence had to be kept under the radar. One step into the spotlight, and people would start looking into his background. Tabitha, of all people, should have known better.
You can’t be serious.
I am
, she responded.
It’s a good surprise. Trust me
.
He had trusted her his entire life. If not for her, he would never have learned how to hide what he was from the rest of the world, an Earthbound child resulting from an extraterrestrial’s affair with a human. His father, thinking of no one but himself, had left Cooper’s mother pregnant and alone when he’d returned to his own planet. Tabitha and her alien father had taught Cooper how to integrate into society, look human by blending in rather than standing out. His mother refused to tell him how Frey had found them, yet, without the man’s help, Cooper would never have been allowed outside, remained a hermit living in his mother’s basement for all of his life. And not known he had any other options.
With a heavy sigh, he headed inside and had to wait in line to check in. Women of all shapes and sizes, ranging from eighteen to eighty-five, or close to it, flooded the lobby as if there for some kind of convention. And they all stared, some less obviously, taking a quick glance here and there, but most with their eyes locked on him as if he had a bull’s eye on his chest. Sweat beaded his back. Was this Tabitha’s surprise, a lobby full of women gawking at him? He eyed the area, seeking all possible exits. The attention of one or two proved bad enough, but being in the spotlight of so many left him antsy. One moment of distraction to let his projected image fade, and the mob would push closer, grabbing their smartphones to take pictures of the weird-skinned man or even call the authorities.
Tabitha
had
said to check in and go to his room. Maybe she knew the women would be there and tested his ability to retain his form when stressed. Or, he’d simply ill-timed his arrival.
After several agonizing minutes, Cooper arrived at the oak desk, his shirt soaked with sweat under his coat. “The name’s Cooper Tate. I-I have a reservation.”
At least he hoped so. He hated surprises and anything unplanned. Tabitha had rolled those factors together into the already unnerving situation. What else did she have in store for him?
The clerk set a piece of paper in front of him. “Yes, sir. I need you to sign this form in case of incidentals.”
Everything had been paid for? Shit. He’d have to make the cost up to her when he returned home. She’d never take his money, so he’d owe her dinner and a night of babysitting. Maybe more. Cooper signed and then received his key card, the ticket to his unexpected evening.
Rather than get stuck in an elevator with any of the staring women, he hiked up the stairs to the third floor. He had no suitcase to lug around, having packed nothing but an overnight bag when Tabitha had told him to rush to Ottawa. If he needed anything else, she’d failed to inform him.
Finding room 316, he held the key card in front of the lock, not quite ready to push it in. Did his surprise wait inside? Someone there he would meet? A setup? Someone from the government ready to take him to a lab? Perhaps the messages came from someone besides Tabitha, texting so he couldn’t identify a voice other than hers. At least the location at the end of the hall, near the staircase, offered a quick escape route if necessary.
His phone vibrated against his hip, indicating a new text message.
Don’t tell me you’re on your way back home. I put a lot of time, money, and effort into arranging this
.
“Dammit.” Cooper cursed under his breath.
Totally Tabitha
. She would make him feel guilty if he didn’t go through with whatever she had planned.
He opened the door and set his bag down in the foyer.
Just got in the room. Long line at check-in
.
After replacing his phone in its clip, he gazed around the space. Rather than a room, he’d been given a suite, complete with a living room and kitchen, an area larger and better furnished than his bachelor apartment. Why did he need such an expanse for a one-night stay? He didn’t mind the king-size bed tucked into a separate bedroom. Who didn’t want more space to sleep? But he didn’t need a dining table. Heck, he never used the one at home. All the space seemed a waste just for him. What had Tabitha planned? And why spend her money on him? She had enough to pay for with a young child at home and a baby on the way.