Scavenger Hunt Capricorn Read online

  SCAVENGER HUNT

  Mystical Signs: Capricorn

  By

  MICHELE IMIOLA

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  SCAVENGER HUNT

  Copyright © 2006 by Michele Imiola

  ISBN: 1-59836-101-5

  Cover Art © 2006 by Croco

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form without permission, except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law. Printed and bound in the United States of America.

  For information, you can find us on the web at

  www.VenusPress.com

  Dedication:

  To Brian, with love and thanks

  Chapter One

  Mia Maxwell entered Hannigan’s, weaving her way through the crowded room until she reached the bar. A couple moved, taking their drinks with them, and leaving an empty stool which Mia hopped up on. Her skirt rode up and as Mia got settled, she pulled at the stretchy black material, tugging the hem down over her thigh-high stockings.

  The bartender was serving at the other end of the bar, so she scanned the crowd until he moved down to her. Hannigan’s was busy for a work night and it was still before six. Mia grinned; perhaps everyone had fled to the bar after a day equally as bad as hers. There were tall tables scattered throughout the room, groups clustered around them drinking, talking and laughing, the partying started early. Just then, a loud yell followed by cheering rose from the private room at the back of the bar. Mia looked through the open doorway and saw a large contingent of men screaming and hollering, giving high-fives to each other about something they thought worthy of a hand slap. Leave it to the L. A. crowd to start early, Mia thought, as she laughed to herself.

  She had arrived early, her friends were not due for another half hour but she couldn’t sit at work any longer. Her boss, Veronica Blake, in her typical wicked-witch form, drove Mia to seek out a drink. After nine hours of hearing the witch shriek like a hyena, ranting and raving about everyone’s stupidity but her own, Mia had left to find that drink. She knew the projects would be waiting for her in the morning, along with whatever the witch decided to dump on her desk overnight.

  I’ve got to get published. Working for the witch was causing serious harm to her mental well-being. Six months prior, Veronica had been a Senior Copy Writer, like Mia. Now, she was Mia’s boss and a poor one at that. Mia wasn’t jealous of Veronica’s promotion but she found it frustrating to work for a boss who had no ideas, poor management skills and provided zero direction to her people. Veronica started complaining the moment Mia walked in the office and didn’t let up until Mia fled for the night. Mia couldn’t understand how a person who gave no guidance, no help or support, expected her employees to be happy and productive. Mia and the others spent their days trying to give Veronica what she wanted but more often than not, Veronica herself wasn’t sure what that was. Therefore, everyone, especially Mia, suffered.

  When the position for Creative Director became open, Mia applied, knowing her resume was solid with many completed projects under her belt. However, Philips & Kepner Designs promoted people based on time in service and Veronica had Mia beat by four months. It didn’t matter that Mia’s packet and job performance outshined Veronica’s; Veronica got the job and much to her chagrin, Mia was now her assistant.

  Mia knew she should have quit immediately but she didn’t. The pay was good and she wasn’t willing to change her lifestyle because her pride was bruised. She wanted to fight the antiquated promotion practices Philips & Kepner were using but after talking with a seasoned VP, she decided to bide her time. He told her that people came and went in the advertising business and if she waited instead of hightailing it, she might get what she wanted.

  The rejection stung for a while and Mia felt sorry for herself. After a couple of weeks of sulking, she realized the only one hurting was her, and she could either sink or swim with the decision. She couldn’t do anything about Veronica being her boss but she could take steps to make herself happy. That was when she sat down and started to write. In the past she’d talked of writing stories but never actually sat down and did it. Veronica’s promotion turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

  Writing lifted Mia’s spirits and gave her a sense of purpose. She put up with Veronica during the day so she could afford the apartment where she wrote at night. Not a perfect plan and certainly not one Mia wanted to live with forever but for now it was working. However, with days like today, Mia wished she’d just packed it in and walked. Some days were harder to deal with a bad boss, and today was such a day. Thank God she had her writing.

  After three months, she completed her first manuscript. She shared the first draft of Forever Yours with Tina and Jules, the two friends she was meeting tonight. They loved the story, telling Mia to submit it for publication. Mia sent the manuscript off to several publishers but so far, nothing. There were moments when she worried that the story was horrible, that no one would read it, and that she’d be told it was the worse piece of junk ever written. Those were hard days to live with, too. To keep her anxiety level controllable, she began writing another story to take her mind off the one sitting in someone’s in-box or worse, their garbage can. It didn’t matter; she was determined to write, even if it was for herself.

  She felt herself come alive on her computer screen, passion and excitement flowing in her words. It was the same passion she felt on the job, proofreading ad copies, knowing she could make them better. Some were horrible but Mia ensured that when they left her desk, they were sparkling with energy and creativity. Veronica’s were the worse and Mia gave them the attention they needed. It may have made Veronica shine but Mia didn’t do sloppy work. She might be ticked about not getting the promotion but she wasn’t vindictive.

  Joe, the bartender’s nametag clearly stated, approached Mia. She ordered a double vodka tonic and then thought better and ordered a triple. She asked Joe what was happening in the backroom with all the yelling and hollering.

  “They’re a bunch of ex-college fraternity buddies. They used to hang out here years ago, before my time. They’ve been showing up regularly for the past couple of months.” Joe said as he poured her drink.

  Mia nodded, understanding the need to be connected with old memories and old friends. She was meeting two of her college buddies herself tonight.

  Joe placed her ‘triple’ on the counter and moved down the bar. One of the men from the fraternity reunion party approached the bar and Joe went to wait on him. Mia studied the man out of the corner of her eye. She wondered if he looked the same years ago when he was a student because now, he was downright sexy.

  He stood close to six feet, with dark blond hair cut short at the sides. His long bangs fell over one eye. He wore a grey polo shirt that hugged his body, with khakis that molded to his legs, and work boots on his feet. Mia’s eyes scanned back up his pants as he turned slightly, and got a nice view of his more manly parts pressed against his zipper. She smiled in approval. Very nice, she thought.

  As she continued to smile, she looked back at his face and noticed he wasn’t talking to Joe anymore but was staring right at her. Her smile faltered, wondering if he thought sh
e was smiling at him. Well, she was, but she didn’t want him to know that. She just happened to be admiring the view. She quickly turned on the barstool and took a sudden interest in her drink. Joe passed by, off to mix another drink and she allowed her eyes to wander around the bar again. Ex-college boy had gone back to his party.

  Thank God, Mia thought. The last guy she’d smiled at like that she ended up having a bad relationship with. She’d first seen Morgan at another bar and found herself drawn to his dark looks. They played eye tag for most of the evening while Mia waited for Morgan to approach. When he didn’t, she decided to approach him before she left for the night.

  Morgan gave her the cold shoulder, which left Mia feeling rather stupid, wondering if she had misunderstood the signs he was giving. She didn’t like to be teased and when Morgan approached her the following week, she was prepared to cut him at the knees. He apologized for his behavior and then politely asked her out to dinner. Mia accepted, mentally telling herself to walk away from this guy but she said yes anyway. Dinner was the beginning of a relationship that turned out to be bumpier than rocky-road ice cream.

  After two months, Mia cried ‘Uncle’, not able to take any more of Morgan’s mood swings. He changed the rules too often for her. He was close, then distant; loving then mean, apologetic, then snarly. Mia was going through her own turmoil with Veronica at work and Morgan’s issues were more than she could handle. She first thought he was going through his own life-crisis like she was but when Jules and Tina pointed out that his behavior was a 24/7 kind of thing, Mia listened and took notice.

  She looked at her own behavior, saw herself riding waves of highs and lows along with Morgan and she didn’t like it. In bed, things were fine; it was outside of sex, in normal, every day life that Morgan wasn’t happy. Mia decided he wasn’t going to be happy and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. He wasn’t good for her mental health either, so she ended their relationship, wishing she could do the same thing with Veronica. One day, Mia. One day.

  After Morgan, Mia stopped dating and focused on her writing. She saw men who interested her, or rather their looks interested her, but she never pursued, preferring to observe rather than participate. However, ex-college boy was certainly nice looking, more handsome than the other men she’d noticed. She had to give him that; he piqued her interest but she wondered what emotional baggage he was carrying. Mia had gotten herself back in form and didn’t want to carry anyone else’s issues. She knew everyone came with baggage; she just wanted a guy who limited his to the size of a makeup compact. Who knows, maybe college boy was that guy.

  Mia checked her watch. It was still twenty minutes before Tina and Jules would arrive for their weekly girl’s night out, a night of laughing themselves silly over the misfortune of not having a guy, at least right now; of not having the job they wanted and working for bosses who made their lives miserable. It didn’t solve any of their problems but it did release a lot of stress. Now, if her two friends would show up on time, Mia could get a head start on her complaints about the day’s typical unfortunate events.

  She took a sip of her drink, the cool liquid burning her throat. She’d needed this all day. Drowning her sorrows in alcohol had never been one of Mia’s escapes but today, she needed this drink and she was going to need another. Mia tipped back the glass, finishing the vodka and raised her hand to Joe.

  ***

  Jason went to the bar to get another round for the guys. To his surprise or rather, to his delight, a gorgeous redhead sat drinking alone. He watched her as he approached, her pointed heels angled with her crossed legs, the way she pulled at her tight skirt which rode up, exposing her shapely thighs, the white blouse that hugged her body and the Peter Pan collar that opened to give a nice view of her breasts. But it was her hair that caught his eyes in a roomful of women; the way the lights glistened on her curls. He was partial to redheads.

  He ordered and turned, catching the redhead eyeing him. She wore a smile as if she saw what she wanted, staring at his crotch. It made him laugh. Being out with the guys the number one objective was always to find a woman along with the other things on the list. Tonight, the redhead was number one on his list of people to meet.

  Mike, their ex-Delta Tau Delta president had gathered them earlier, explaining the rules of tonight’s scavenger hunt. The ex-frat members met every couple of weeks to hunt and tonight wasn’t any different, except the target would be harder to acquire. Tonight’s targets were women of the sun sign. Mike excused all married men or men with significant others, knowing most wouldn’t or couldn’t participate if they expected to stay in those relationships. He gave those men targets that didn’t require anything sexual in nature. The rest, seven men including Jason, would take their assignments like the ex-fraternity men they were and do their best to acquire the target and win.

  Tonight’s pot was three thousand dollars. Jason wanted to win badly. He would use the money as a wedding gift to his sister, Janine. She and her fiancé, Gary, didn’t have a lot of money. Jason figured this money could be a little nest egg for whatever they needed. Janine wanted to make it on her own and refused any support their father offered. As a wedding gift, they couldn’t refuse the money. He could tell her he’d earned it himself and not through their father’s company, which would be true. Now all he needed was a Capricorn and the first woman he was asking was the redhead at the bar.

  Chapter Two

  Mia turned her head, looking for her friends and saw her college boy standing right next to her. Her last glimpse of him had been from ten feet away. Up close and personal he was even more gorgeous. His eyes were a piercing deep blue and a wicked smile covered his face.

  “Are you a Capricorn?” he asked.

  “Excuse me?” Mia had heard a lot of come-on lines from men but this was the first time she had actually heard the corny old phrase about astrological signs.

  “A Capricorn. You know, someone born between December twenty-second and January twentieth.” He grinned slightly and she noticed he had a dimple on his right cheek. And small lines that formed around the corner of his eyes when he smiled that she found strangely endearing.

  “Why do you ask?” Wasn’t this a seventies pick-up line?

  “Well,” he said, looking back at his group of college buddies, “I just need to know if you’re a Capricorn. If you aren’t, let me know and I’ll ask someone else, though I don’t really want to.” Mia glanced over his shoulder at his friends and saw several of them staring at the two of them.

  “Why don’t you tell me your name and we’ll go from there,” she said, smiling. He was the first man she’d been even remotely interested in months. What would it hurt to get to know him a bit?

  “I’m Jason Kingsley,” he said, holding out his hand.

  “I’m Mia Maxwell and yes, I’m your standard Capricorn; cool and collected, determined and business-like. Born on January first to be exact,” she said, quoting a by-line she’d read about her sun sign in one of the women’s magazine, realizing it described her exactly. Mia shook Jason’s hand, noticing the calloused fingers on one side, his smooth skin on the other.

  “A New Year baby, thank God.” He let out a rush of air. “You’ve just made my life easier.”

  “Why don’t you explain that to me,” She said seductively. He had the body of an athlete, a body that she wanted to know more intimately. With that boyish charm and his easy expressions, she found him intriguing. Plus, she was curious about the Capricorn thing-y.

  “You see the guys over there?” He pointed to his friends watching them. They were huddled together, laughing with each other. “We’ve got a hunt going on and finding a Capricorn is the first objective. Which I’ve just found, thanks to you.”

  “A hunt?” she asked. “What do you mean? Like a scavenger hunt?” She hadn’t done one in years. She had loved those games.

  “Yes, that’s it exactly. My old fraternity brothers of Delta Tau Delta and I get together every couple of weeks to play. Th
e one who finds everything on the list wins big.”

  “Really?” The rules sounded pretty simple. “So you mean just asking me if I am a Capricorn means you win.”

  Jason paused and then grinned sheepishly.

  “Yes…and no.”

  Maybe it wasn’t so simple or maybe the rules had changed dramatically since she was a kid. Mia raised an eyebrow. He obviously needed more than her sun sign to win.

  “What do you mean, yes and no?” She wasn’t sure she was going to like this.

  “Well, you see, I needed to find a Capricorn, which is you, but there is another thing that has to happen before I win.”

  “What’s the other part?” she asked slowly, wondering how this group of ex-college buddies could tarnish the innocent game of scavenger hunts.

  Jason pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket and started to read.

  “You first must find a female born under the sign of Capricorn. In order to win, you must take her to bed and provide proof of said conquest.”

  Mia’s jaw hit the floor. She never expected this answer for the objective of a scavenger hunt. The ones she’d done as a teenager told her to find something on a specific street or find a certain kind of candy or even a specific colored pair of underwear. But taking someone to bed and providing proof? That never showed up on her lists of things to hunt for. But then again, she hadn’t done a scavenger hunt in a long time and she wasn’t a kid anymore. Boy, the rules had changed.

  However, she thought, taking Mr. College boy, who wasn’t really a college boy anymore, to bed held a certain appeal. She hadn’t had sex in months and it might provide new ideas for a story.

  “What proof are they looking for?” she inquired. If she was going to consider it she should have all the facts.