Cursed by Cupid
by Wendy Sparrow
Copyright © 2013 by Wendy Sparrow. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.
Chapter One
It probably wasn’t the best idea to punch your blind date in the face but, first of all, he hadn’t blocked her and, second of all, she didn’t know he was her blind date. Okay, so possibly he’d been distracted by their instructor coming in right after he’d said, “Oh, you’re my blind date?”
When he went down like a sack of stones, Tilly Morrow gasped and dropped down beside him, apologizing. “I’m so sorry, but I thought you were going to block me.”
Their instructor, an ancient Japanese man, knelt down, too. “I’m five minutes late, and you already are sparring?”
The guy who’d introduced himself as Cody was blinking at the ceiling in a way that said he probably wasn’t used to getting punched in the face. That was good. It spoke toward his moral fiber. On the other hand, he might back out of their date for Valentine’s Day the night after this. Crap. Tilly had been looking forward to a date for once.
“He said he could help me with my punch strength,” Tilly said.
Master Ito examined Cody’s nose while Cody continued to blink at the ceiling.
Her prospective date seemed like a nice guy, too. A bit prickly, but with a curse like hers, she couldn’t be as choosey as she once was. Sure, he seemed uptight, but he was also her age, healthy, and…well, she hadn’t had a second date in three years, so that made him perfect. His mouth dropped open to reveal even teeth and no dental work—so he had that going for him also.
Her last date had seven piercings…and those were only the ones it was polite to show her. So by comparison, Cody, with his short brown hair, no visible piercings, and bland, untattooed appearance, was appealing. He looked normal.
“Are you okay?” Master Ito asked.
“She punches really hard,” Cody said slowly.
Master Ito laughed and propped him up to sitting.
Cody rubbed his fingers along the bridge of his nose. “I think she broke something.”
Tilly looked away so she could roll her eyes. She hadn’t punched him that hard. Even if she had, he deserved it for underestimating her because she was a woman.
“No, you’ll be fine,” their instructor said.
“I think I should go.” Cody got to his feet, looking down at Tilly where she was still kneeling. “I’m sorry, I…I should go.” And he ran. There was no other word for it. He ran as if she’d grown another head and was chasing him with an axe. He didn’t even bother changing out of his karate gi. He just ran out of the dojo.
“I don’t think that went well,” Master Ito said, helping Tilly to her feet.
Tilly sighed. “Actually, that was about par.”
“Par?”
Gesturing at the large picture windows as the car peeled out in a fury and sped off, she shrugged. “There’s a reason I agreed to let you set me up. I broke a chain mail thread three years ago, and all of my dates have ended that same way. I think I might be cursed. No, I know I’m cursed.”
“But you’re so beautiful and sweet and charming,” Master Ito said, clearly baffled.
She was sweet…looking…with this stupid, naturally-curly, Shirley Temple look she had going on. It tended to make men think she was a pretty thing they could push around or stick on a shelf.
“Yeah, that’s what they always start out thinking. Usually, I get to go out on the date, though. This is really a new low for me. I’d just told him that you’d asked me to come in here and wondered if it had something to do with my blind date.”
Master Ito pointed out the window. “I thought you might appreciate meeting him in advance. He’s in my beginner class.”
Tilly tipped her head and considered that. “Even a beginner shouldn’t have been that distracted. I don’t think he was at all prepared. He expected me to be a sissy because I’m a girl and short.” Plus, there was the hair. She should shave it off—that would really throw people.
He nodded. “Many seem to misjudge you.”
“In so many ways. Well, I guess I’m dateless again for Valentine’s. That sucks.” She tossed her hands into the air.
“I apologize. I tried.”
“I know, Master.” She bowed toward her instructor—it felt right.
He smiled widely. “I have something for you, though.”
“Oh, is it my patch?” Well, if there was a consolation prize for having no date, she could spend the evening sewing her patch onto her gi. A lame consolation prize, but it was something.
“Yes. Yes. It came—along with several others.” He pulled a box from the bag he’d dropped beside the door.
Outside, cars were pulling up. Another class was arriving. A much younger class if the kids spilling out of cars were in it.
Master Ito was sorting through the patches for participation in the tourney and muttering their names as he went. He was near the end of the patches when he said a word…a word you didn’t expect to hear from an elderly man’s mouth, an elderly man she looked up to, an elderly man who never even said a mild swear word. Holy freak, had he really said that?
“What?” Tilly squeaked, looking at the doors. He hadn’t really said that with a horde of impressionable kids coming in. He wouldn’t.
He said it again, and held the patch up.
“Master Ito, I don’t know if you know what that means, but it’s not really a word you say…out loud…even if you want to…not that you do…and I don’t know why—”
He waved the patch back and forth. “It’s yours.”
“It’s mine?” He’d gotten her a patch to put over her right breast on her gi that said that? It wasn’t meant to be a label for crying out loud.
“They must have thought the Ls in your name were Ts,” he said.
Oh, well, that made a bit more sense. She almost giggled, but slapped a hand over her mouth.
Master Ito pulled out the paperwork and shuffled through it. “Oh…see! Their fax machine printed out a line right through your Ls.”
Perhaps it was the recent disappointment or that she was feeling a bit punchy, but Tilly did laugh then. She took the patch from his hand as well as the fax print-out. No, he was right. Her patch had a lovely outline of a person performing a roundhouse kick with the words “Second Place Titty.”
“We should have them make a new one,” he said, pointing at the word.
“I think so. I’d hate for people to make assumptions.” She tried so hard to keep a straight face, but she was failing.
“Maybe we shouldn’t use a fax.”
She looked at the address on the packing slip. “No, but the embroidery shop is here in Portland. I’ll stop on my way home,” she said, pocketing the patch before anyone else saw it.
Her instructor nodded and then tucked the rest of the patches away. “Very good. I will see you Saturday?”
She nodded.
“Maybe Cody will call you tonight.”
Tilly shrugged. She’d punched him in the face. It was doubtful there was a recovery there—especially since he ran off. One last bow to her instructor, and she left the dojo. Since the dressing rooms would be full of kids, she decided to stay in her gi.
The embroidery shop was only a couple blocks from her house, but she’d stop on the way for a milkshake. If ever there was a time for dairy fortification, it was right after you’d punched out a blind date then been told you were second rate in…other areas. Hopefully, they’d let her keep the patch. Everyone at work would laugh their asses off.
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