Page 11 of Hercules

Horror struck fast. She’d actually lost count.

“Ms. Korra?”

The sweet little peep came from the event manager assigned to her by DeLux, a more upscale place than she’d originally expected. But LA was like a lot of other big cities in how it was always evolving, including the existence of this gem she’d never known about.

“Ermmm…hi,” the adorable girl continued once Lo pivoted all the way around. Lo smiled at once, drawing from the same affinity they’d struck upon first introduction. And it wasn’t just because they were the only insecure half-Asians in a room of people who didn’t speak a syllable of insecure. But yeah, that had helped.

“Are you doing okay?” Mira queried. “Do you need more water? Something else to drink?”

Lois summoned as much energy as she could, going for one of Nat’s trademark twinkle smiles. Judging from Mira’s expression, she’d only gotten halfway there. Maybe that was for the best.

“How about a chair?” she murmured past tight teeth. “Because Sugar, my little yaba-daba-doos are about to revolt and head for Bedrock without some soonish wiggle room.”

Her quip flew straight over the horror-struck young woman. With eyes like a snared rabbit, Mira blurted, “Oh my goodness, of course. Let me see what we can arrange. They’re nearly set up for the speed dating part of the event, so maybe we can just get you seated early. One sec?”

“Take two.” She attempted the grin again, sensing more success this time. “Even three.”

“Ha!”

More endearing than all the passion in the girl’s exclamation was the way she spun and set back off like a figure skater determined to land a quadruple axel. Trouble was, the poor thing was instantly summoned by ten other VIPs since their assigned managers were nowhere to be seen. Mira had mentioned the set-up for the speed dating stuff, but Lo suspected their absences had more to do with the new wave of A-list arrivals at the other end of the long entranceway.

She scowled about that—at first.

Until recognition brought revelation.

The flurry of flashes at the hall’s opposite end was actually a great gift. For the first time in an hour, nobody was paying attention to her. Freedom at last, even if it only lasted for a few minutes before Mira came hunting for her again. With that on her side, finding her own chair wasn’t going to be difficult at all.

Except for one tiny issue.

Her choice of pathways was limited. She could either go right, toward a food and bar prep area that sounded more like a war zone, or a stairway that led straight down. Granted, the steps were as luxuriously lined as the elegant walls that bordered them, but…

“Really, guys? A basement? In LA?”

Her mutter was only answered by the screams from her feet, hating every tenuous step to which she subjected them in her platform peeptoes. The stairway wasn’t short either—or maybe that was her poor toes still sounding off.

“Thank God,” she rasped once the descent was done, though there was a sumptuous swath of red velvet still in her way. She guessed it was a genteel disguise for a subterranean storage room.

Yesss.

Because in storage rooms, there were always extra chairs.

“What…the…”

She did see plenty of chairs—except they weren’t down here to be stored.

This seemed to be the room for the speed dating event itself.

“Just freaking perfect,” she muttered—until connecting a movement in her periphery to the realization she was being carefully watched. “Oh! Perfect!” she repeated, infusing every Natasha-ism she could muster for it.

“Hello there. Ms. Korra, right?”

The greeting was issued by a stunning blond woman behind a long table to Lo’s right. The hostess was gorgeous but not in a bimbo-ish way. Her rich blue gaze didn’t miss a thing, and there was a proud posture beneath her cute figure. Most noticeably, her beauty was balanced by a smile that was a rarity in LA. Its warmth felt authentic.

“Well, aren’t you as quick as you are cute,” she exclaimed, pouring on more of the Nat-tastic charm. “Guess I’ve hit the happening place, hm?” She added a sassy flip of her own “blondish” hair, though dialed back the energy by a notch to avoid catching rings in her wig and whipping the whole thing at her newest gal pal. Since she’d nearly done the same thing to Dua Lipa in the bathroom at Bardot last month, it was a necessary precaution.

“You definitely have.” The hostess matched her vibe for vibe on vivacious confidence. “Now if you’ll just help me out by signing in…”

“Oh. Uh…” Her hands were already raised to her chest, sheepishly curled in. “I mean, is that all…necessary?”