This is fine.

Zoe flashed an apologetic smile at the couple sitting across from one another inside the party tent as she scooped up a green gecko from their shared table. They had been doing so well, laughing and connecting during their short five-minute speed date. Until the small lizard had suddenly appeared between them.

This is fine.

If she repeated the mantra enough times, maybe it would come true. Everything had started so well. Together with Billie, she had managed to turn the garish pink party tent into something at least somewhat cosy. Every client had shown up on time and they didn't have a single no-show. The dating had gone off as planned. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and moved to the next person without grumbling. There had been no sign of Mr Grumpy Restaurant Owner.

That one little tidbit made her smile. Mall management obviously had not granted his request to revoke her permits. Ha! Or maybe he had changed his tune when he realised he was getting business, as her clients were all nervous enough to keep buying fresh drinks.

Drinks... She'd kill for one right now. But no drinking on the job. Her frazzled nerves really could have done with a nice strawberry daiquiri right about now. They had been doing so well...

Then all hell broke loose.

Or perhaps the gate of a zoo? She wasn't quite sure, but by now she had been forced to evict two bunnies from the party tent, wrangle a snake from the drinks cart, and scoop up at least four geckos that seemed intent on joining the speed-daters in their quest for love.

Not knowing what to do with the random influx of animals, she'd begun collecting them in their empty boxes. The snake was currently snoozing in an empty wine cooler—kindly provided by a waitress at the restaurant. The bunnies were hopping around in an empty cardboard box—supplied by the same lovely waitress, she'd been a godsend—and the geckos were being collected in a large salad bowl, covered with a colander.

"Zoe!" Billie's stage whisper made her whip around. Her purple-haired assistant stood at the tent flaps with a small animal cradled between her hands. Was that a... hamster?

Hurrying over to her, Zoe put the gecko in her dress pocket, praying he would stay there until she had time to put him—her?—in the salad bowl with its friends.

"I'm running out of places to put these little guys," she muttered. "We need to find out where they're coming from and who we can return them to, but we can't leave until the event has finished. Just another half hour now. We can do this!"

Frantically looking around, she couldn't see anything suitable to put the little furry animal in. "Shit!"

Finding her handbag, she poured the contents out on the drink cart before holding it open to Billie, who dropped the hamster inside. "Don't pee or poo in there," she begged, before handing the bag to Billie.

The assistant stared at the leather handbag. "What do you want me to do with this?"

"I don't know. Just... Just put it aside for now and we will deal with everything as soon as everyone has left." As she turned to leave, a thought struck her. "Don't put it anywhere near the snake."

"Got it." Billie moved away, leaving Zoe to survey the speed-daters.

This is fine.

She forced herself to take a deep breath. They were nearly at the finish line. While somewhat bewildered by the appearance of animals during their short dates, most of their clients seemed amused rather than angry about the situation. And, if nothing else, at least it gave them something to talk about. Hopefully, their reviews afterwards—what her managers truly cared about, other than how many matches they found—would still be favourable. If not, then Zoe could kiss her promotion goodbye.

"Zoe."

She turned around, plastering a fake smile on her face as Billie's whispered voice came from behind her. "Yes?"

"The angry dude is back."

Looking over at the tent flap, the angry dude was indeed back. He stood at the entrance to the tent with his tattooed arms crossed over his wide chest. Shit!

"Please keep an eye on everything while I talk to him."

Billie nodded. Steeling herself and plastering yet another fake smile on her lips, Zoe walked over to the tall man. "Hello, again," she said, making an effort to sound pleasant. "I hope the event hasn't been too disruptive to your restaurant."

He grunted. "It hasn't helped. Pre-bookings have been fine. They know where to find us, but it's not as if anyone would see us to do a walk-in."

"It's Valentine's Day... How many walk-ins do you usually have?" Didn't most people make reservations for a busy night like Valentine's? If you aren't fully booked on Valentine's, maybe your restaurant just isn't that good. Not that she'd say that out loud. Though it was tempting.

His dark brows knotted as he glared at her. Apparently, he didn't appreciate the implication. "There are always a few," he muttered, "and I like to try to accommodate them even if fully booked. Not everyone has the chance to plan ahead, and they still deserve a spot of romance on Valentine's, should they want it."

"That's..." She couldn't help smiling. "That's surprisingly sweet. I wouldn't have taken you for a romantic."

"I'm not. I'm simply..." His voice trailed off and he sighed, his arms uncrossing and falling to his sides. "Look, I've seen situations where romance and planning ahead wasn't always possible. So I want to help if I can. Few restaurants will allow walk-ins on busy nights like tonight."

Zoe looked away, feeling a little guilty for possibly having kept someone from having a nice meal out by blocking the view. "I'm sorry. When this was approved, I don't think anyone realised how much of an inconvenience the party tent would be."

He ran a hand through his dark hair and gave her a lopsided smile. "That's fine. I'm sure it wasn't your idea."

"Well..." She made a wry face. "It kind of was. But I didn't choose this party tent. This pink monstrosity was someone else's idea. I just wanted to hold a pleasant event in a suitable location that many people can easily get to. The mall seemed perfect."

He looked around the inside of the tent. "It looks better from the inside," he admitted. His dark brown eyes returned to her. "Maybe next time, talk to me first and we can arrange for you to hold it in my restaurant."

If it had been possible for one's jaw to hit the floor, Zoe was fairly certain hers would have right about then. "In... In your restaurant? Your fancy restaurant?"

He chuckled. A warm sound that somehow made it all the way into her stomach and set off a bunch of fluttering. "It's not really that fancy. We're in a mall, remember?"

With her cheeks heating, she nodded. "Well, I'd love to take you up on that offer for a future event. It would be so much better than a party tent. Especially a pink one."

"Great. I'll give you my number. I'm Hunter Frost." He held out a hand.

After staring at it for a moment, Zoe took it. His grip was warm and steady and she hoped her hands weren't sweaty after running around catching a veritable circus of animals recently. "Zoe Bishop."

"Well, Zoe, I—" His eyes caught something behind her and his brows crinkled. "Is that my wine cooler?"

"Oh!" Shit! "Yes. Well... There was an incident, and your waitress was ever so helpful and..."

"What sort of incident?" Moving over towards the wine cooler as if he was about to open it, she rushed forward to block his way.

"Don't open it! There's a snake inside!"

Halting, he stared at her. "Pardon? A snake?"

"Yes... There's... I don't know what happened, but we have had to avert something of an animal disaster here recently." She tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear. "They must have escaped from somewhere. Maybe a pet shop? I don't know, but they all seem to be inexplicably drawn to this tent."

"Maybe they like pink." The deadpan comment was somewhat ruined by the unmistakable tug at the corner of his lips.

"Heh. Maybe. After we're done here, I will deal with this, but can I please use the wine cooler until then?"

"Of course. I don't want to be responsible for setting a snake on the loose. However, I would suggest leaving the door slightly open if you don't want to suffocate him."

Her eyes widened. Shit! She had not even thought about that! Was it already dead? It hadn't been very long. Rushing over to the wine cooler, she stared inside and was happy to see the snake moving slightly. After dragging a chair over, she used it to wedge the door with a pen in between to leave a small opening. Enough to let some air in, but too small to allow the reptile to escape. After eyeing her handiwork, she turned back to Mr Grumpy Restaurant Owner. Who wasn't so grumpy anymore. Hunter.

"Did you say there were more animals?" he asked.

"Unfortunately, yes... There's ra—aaah!" She squealed as the gecko in her pocket must have tired of his new surroundings and escaped her pocket to crawl up along her dress.

Hunter quickly scooped up the lizard. Watching it in his hands, he raised an eyebrow. "So, geckos, huh?"

"Yes." She flashed him a smile even as mortification at her ridiculous reaction made her want to sink through the floor. "Also, bunnies. And a hamster."

"Right." He seemed strangely unfazed by the impending-doom-find-Noah's-ark level of animals. "I reckon they're from the pet shop. The owner is a right bastard and doesn't care enough to ensure he does everything right. I've warned him again and again that his store is a disaster waiting to happen."

"Oh, great. I can return these animals to him once we're finished here."

Hunter held up his cupped hands. "Where do I deposit this in the meantime?"

"In the salad bowl with the colander on it."

"Where else?" He chuckled again before depositing the gecko in the bowl with its friends. "Right, I had better return to the restaurant. Good luck here."

Zoe smiled wryly. "Thanks."

He moved towards the tent flap, then stopped and turned to her. "Find me when you're finished and I'll get you my number for setting up a future event."

"That'll be great. I'll do that." She watched him leave, praying her cheeks weren't as red as they felt.

"He's fiine," Billie suddenly crooned next to her.

"Shh!" Zoe nudged her gently towards their clients. "Let's focus on the event. We're nearly done and have to make sure we collect all the scorecards. I hope we made some matches tonight."

"I know a match I want." Billie grinned.

Zoe muttered something unintelligible. She didn't want to admit that she wouldn't mind matching with a certain restaurant owner, either.

~~~~~~

EmilyMorgans
Emily usually writes steamy romances in several sub-genres and is incapable of writing a story without throwing in a healthy dose of humour. On her profile, you can find a mix from a contemporary about a failing Cupid, to her more popular regency romance books (The Howertys), or why not check out her fantasy romance series (Spellbound).