Free Thwarting Cupid by Lori Crawford

The icing on the cake had been his newfound appreciation of women. Granted, he was a bit more discerning than George had been. Then Carissa had been assigned to him.
    Quincy couldn't ever remember seeing such a perfect woman as she. Given his centuries of service, that was saying something. Her big, brown eyes were fringed with thick lashes. Her full lips were a perfect compliment to her full breasts and hips. Her skin was the color of burnt honey that always seemed to glow. Sooner or later, he'd find her a match. But for now, he was keeping her to himself.
    Quincy popped into Carissa's living room, where he expected to find her at this time of morning. She always ate breakfast on the couch while catching up on a few of her favorite television shows before heading off to work.
    He smiled at the pizza box on her coffee table. He didn't get her obsession with that particular food, but she had it quite often. He paused to consider the box for another moment. It wasn't like her to leave it out overnight. She always put the leftovers in the refrigerator and munched on them for the next few days. Something strange was going on here. He wondered if she was still crying over her back pain. Maybe that's all it was. He’d hoped she'd be over it by now, though. It would totally mess up his plans if she wasn't.
    The apartment wasn't that big. Her keys were still by the door so he knew she hadn't gone anywhere yet. The door to the bathroom was open and the kitchen was silent. That just left the bedroom.
    What in the heck? Quincy stopped short in the doorway and stared at the bed, where his precious Carissa was curled up in the arms of some bare-chest Neanderthal. All of a sudden, he understood why the second in command had to die the night before. Who was this man and where had he come from? Why was he asleep in Carissa's bed? Why was she asleep in his arms? Didn't she have to get to work?
    Quincy snapped his fingers and held out his hand expecting a file to drop into it. He frowned when his hand remained empty. He snapped again. Still nothing. What was going on here? Wasn't there a file on this guy? He tried to still the growing panic in his heart. Of course the guy had a file. They all had files. He wouldn't be able to do his job if they didn't.
    The barest hint of a breeze stirred the feathers on his wings. Miss C. materialized beside him. She had a large smile on her face and a file in her hand. So that's where the file had been. He was getting a very bad feeling about all this. Miss C. rarely, if ever, left her office. Now, all of a sudden, here she was in the field. In the middle of his assignment. What was going on here? Had she decided he couldn't be trusted after all?
    “Aren't they cute?” She held out the file to him and sighed while watching his Carissa sleeping with another man. Quincy gritted his teeth and nodded.
    “Adorable.” He almost choked on the word, but he got it out since he knew that was what she expected to hear.
    She turned and studied him for a moment. Quincy worked to keep a benign expression on his face. “It seems records may have been at fault for the failure on this assignment. We found his file in the deceased pile. It was no wonder you were having such a problem finding her soul mate.”
    Quincy swallowed hard. Carissa's soul mate? This dude? The one who had his hand on her ass like it belonged there and they weren't even committed to one another yet, much less married? No way could this be her one and only. Quincy didn't like him. He frowned when a memory tickled his consciousness. Deceased pile, huh? Why did that ring a bell? He flipped open the folder and found the guy's name. James Hutchington. Everything came flooding back to him.
    There'd been a charity event a few years back. Carissa and Hutch had both been stressed out working to make things run smoothly. He'd started flirting with her. To Quincy's surprise, she'd flirted back. She never flirted back. It had made him take a harder look at