“So, I take it the date went badly?” Claire asked as she rang up my books.
“Yep. Shocking. I swear, I don’t know if I’m ever going to find a date for Ania. She’s already gotten her money back and then signed up for another round. How long is Julia going to let her stay a client?”
Claire smirked. “I’m sure this is the last time. It was probably hard for Julia to turn her away when she offered to pony up the money again. But I can’t see her letting it continue much longer.”
“Well, if she does want to go another round, I hope they assign her to Belinda. They deserve each other.”
“Hey, maybe you’ll be in charge by then, and you can make the decision to cut them both loose.”
I wagged my eyebrows. “If only.”
“You just need to match up your three clients faster than Belinda, and girl, Dex is hot. I guarantee you won’t need to work too hard to hook him up with someone.”
I swallowed, hating the way my stomach turned at the idea of hooking Dex up with anyone. This was my job for crying out loud. It’s not like he was the first handsome guy I’d ever found a match for. He wasn’t even the first Marine who’d used our services. But he was, without a doubt, the first guy in a long time who had the power to pull my focus away from work. And that was scarier than Claire on a juiced-up rage over the community watercooler being empty.
11
Dex
“So, I’m a little nervous,” Jordan said, batting her eyelashes at me. “I hope you don’t mind me admitting that.”
I shook my head and handed her a plastic ring so she could take a turn tossing it toward the collection of glass bottles in front of us at the carnival booth. “I don’t mind at all. I like your honesty. And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous, too.”
“Really? You don’t strike me as the type to be nervous about anything.”
She took her time taking the ring from my hand, letting her hand linger on mine for a moment longer than necessary. I wasn’t an expert or anything—as Amy loved to remind me—but I thought maybe I was supposed to feel something. Like a spark. It had only happened to me once before, but I knew what an instant connection felt like, and this wasn’t it.
Disappointment coursed through me as I looked into Jordan’s flirtatious gaze. She was pretty, sure. In a Lara Croft Tomb Raider sort of way. She had an edgy style with chin-length, jet-black hair and tattoos. She had several piercings that I could see, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more that I couldn’t. Despite the hardcore exterior, her personality was bubbly and nice.
I wasn’t one to judge a book by its cover, but she wasn’t exactly what I’d described to Amy when we’d talked about physical preference. It had been a conversation that left me with the uncomfortable feeling of picking a date out of a magazine. Plus, there was the added awkwardness of feeling like I was describing Amy to herself. The thing was, I didn’t even know if my answers would have been the same if someone else had been sitting across from me or if I couldn’t imagine a more appealing woman than the one I happened to be looking at. The whole thing had really messed with my head.
Either way, as I stood before Jordan on my second date, I knew right away that she wasn’t for me. Was this another miss on Amy’s part? Or was I the problem? Maybe I was single because I was too picky and not because I hadn’t found the right one. Whatever. I was here now, so just as I had last Friday with Ania, I’d finish the date as planned even though I knew there was no chance for a second one.
“Everyone gets nervous,” I said, gesturing to the bottles in front of us. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Jordan tossed the ring in the general direction of the playing field, but she completely overshot the bottles and the attendant caught it before it hit him in the chest.
“Nice try,” the guy said, a pitying smile on his young face. “That was your third toss. Better luck next time.”
“Thanks,” I said with a wave as Jordan and I turned away from the booth.
“If this were a movie, you would have won me the big giant teddy bear. What gives?” Jordan bumped me with her shoulder.
“I was trying not to be too cliché.”
She giggled, and the sound grated on me. She sounded like one of the popular girls in high school who would giggle as they flipped their hair and flirted with the quarterbacks. Well, really it was the sound of any girl who liked a guy, I guessed. He didn’t have to be a quarterback. Even the drama geeks heard that giggle more than my friends and I did. Sighing inwardly, I chastised myself—I needed to snap out of it. I really wasn’t giving this thing a fair shake. And if I didn’t take it seriously, I was just wasting everyone’s time.
I mentally resolved to be more open to the idea of finding a relationship through First Comes Love. This was only my second date, and Jordan was definitely a better match for me than the first girl had been. That date had gone from bad to worse in a hurry.
It started with her asking about my watch and my money, but by the time we got our food, she’d already told me about three friends who had the nerve to accuse her of sporting a faux Louis Vuitton. Oh, the horror. She’d assured me it was real; in case I’d been wondering. But I hadn’t.
By the end of the night, my ears had been bleeding, my bank account had experienced a sizable dent thanks to her expensive taste, and I’d prayed she wouldn’t demand a good night kiss. Don’t get me wrong, I was still a guy and she was still cute, so kissing her wouldn’t have been the end of the world. But I had a feeling that considering the amount of garlic she’d eaten with her meal, my experience would have been highly unenjoyable.
My stomach turned at the memories, so I shook my head to clear the garlic-breathing gold digger away. Today was a new day. Jordan didn’t seem to be my type on the outside, but that wasn’t more important than the inside. And in that area, I hoped Amy had done a better job for me. The only way to find out was to talk to her and see what she was like.
“So, are you from California originally?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I was actually born in Canada.”
“Oh, wow. What brought you here?”
“My dad’s job. We moved here when I was eight.”
We strolled along with the rest of the crowd at the open-air carnival. I was grateful for the sights and sounds to make the awkward silences a little less awkward. There was plenty to look at and lots of commotion to distract us.
I may have told my friends I wouldn’t need an earpiece to talk to women, but they knew as well as I did that wasn’t true. I hated that I had no idea how to talk to women. I never had. If we weren’t dueling in an RPG, I usually didn’t know how to relate to them. And even in those situations, romance was the last thing on my mind. I glanced at Jordan out of the corner of my eye. Maybe if I just pretended she really was Lara Croft … nah, that might be taking the comparison a bit too far.
“This is a fun spot for a date,” Jordan observed. “Did you pick it?”
“No, but you’re right. It’s a cool idea.”
“Ah, man. I’d hoped it was your idea. That would have definitely made you my perfect guy. Fun stuff like this makes me feel like a kid again. I can see my future as freely traveling, having adventures, and acting like a kid forever. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”
I frowned, then recovered before she noticed. I’d spent the last seventeen years traveling and having adventures with the military. My goal was to settle down. Or, at least, that’s what my mother and I talked to Julia about that first day. The idea was for me to find a nice woman to start a family with so my guilt-tripping, pushy, meddling, pain-in-the-rear mom would be happy. And since I loved her despite all of that, I was here trying to make it happen. I could just picture her reaction if I told her she’d spent like five grand for me to find a girl who wants to travel the world and act like a kid forever.
“Dex?” she asked, taking me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry, yeah. It sounds awesome, but that’s kind of what
I’ve already been doing with the Marines. My plan was to start settling down.”
Jordan arched a pierced brow, making her look even edgier. “What, like, have kids and be a soccer dad?”
I chuckled. “I’d be more of a Pokémon dad, I think. Teaching my kid not to walk across the street with his face in his Game Boy. That kinda thing.”
“Game Boy? Aren’t those not even a thing anymore?”
A familiar twinge of embarrassment appeared. Was she nerd shaming me now? I shrugged. “I still have mine from back in the day. Games, too. Figured I’d save it for my kids. It’ll be vintage. That’s a thing now, you know.”
“Wow, that sounds cute and all, but I’m not sure why Amy would pair us up. She knows I don’t want kids. My matches are always guys who either don’t want them or already had them and don’t have custody. You know, that way we could pretend they didn’t exist as long as it wasn’t their birthday or Christmas or whatever.”
I fought back the urge to comment on why she’d want to date a guy who’d shirk his responsibilities as a dad and zeroed in on the other big bomb she dropped. Amy knew the goal here was for me to settle down with a family, and she knew Jordan didn’t want kids. So, why had she paired us up? Was she really this bad at her job?
I looked around, hoping she was lingering close by like at the restaurant last week. After only a moment, I located her and her long chestnut-brown hair that was piled on top of her head in a loose bun. Like that night, she wore a jewel tone that made her skin glow. This time it was a red sundress with a halter neckline that made her shoulders look—wait. Why did I care to notice how her shoulders looked? She wasn’t my date. She was my completely incompetent matchmaker, and I had a huge bone to pick with her as soon as I could get away from Jordan.
“Do you mind if we cut this short?” Jordan asked, her lips twisted over to the side like she was totally over it. Totally over me.
My brows rose. “I’m sorry?”
“I’ve been with First Comes Love for about a month now, and this is the first time they’ve paired me with someone who wanted kids. I’m sure there was a mistake or something. But I don’t really want to waste my Saturday hanging out with you if we’re not going to work out. No offense.”
“None taken.” I pursed my lips to keep from laughing. If this were about making friends and not finding love, I bet I would probably like Jordan. Her bluntness told me I’d never have to worry that she said one thing but meant another.
“Great, see ya.” She gave me a small wave and headed back the way we’d come.
Bewildered and feeling slightly rejected despite my own lack of interest, I turned to the spot where I’d last seen Amy. Her full lips were pulled into a thin line and she slowly walked toward me. I could tell by her body language that she already knew what the issue was. The only thing I couldn’t understand was why she’d let it happen. And I needed to focus on my annoyance about that because the alternative was picturing how perfectly my hand would fit on the curve of her hip as she walked toward me in that red dress. She came to a stop in front of me, so I tucked my hands into my pockets.
“Amy.”
“Dex,” she said. “How was your date? Is it over so soon?”
I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest. “Really?”
Amy threw her hands in the air then let them flop back down to her sides. “Okay. I’m sorry. I have no idea what the heck is going on with your dates.”
That brought me up short. She didn’t know what was going on? Wasn’t she the matchmaker? Didn’t that mean she was the puppet master pulling the strings on this whole thing? How could she not know?
I let my crossed arms fall to my sides. “Go on.”
“Dex. I spent hours hand-selecting the perfect matches for you. I planned the perfect dates, keeping not just your preferences in mind, but also your date’s preferences. Take today, for example. I picked this carnival because the woman you were supposed to be with wants to have a whole boatload of kids, and I thought it would be a cute, family-friendly day for you guys. You know, like a glimpse into what your future together would be like when you had a couple of kiddos of your own.”
It seemed like a reasonable assumption, and I liked knowing she had actually put some thought into this stuff instead of the less-than-stellar impression I’d gotten so far. “And what about the restaurant with Ania?”
She looked at the sky. “After the way she ordered the most expensive items on the menu on her last date, I actually didn’t plan to let her go to that restaurant ever again. I didn’t want her to bankrupt the next guy, too. Good thing you’re loaded, huh?”
I snorted. “Good thing for you.”
“Look, I’m sorry. I really don’t know how you’ve managed to go on two dates with the wrong women. I had two completely different matches written down, but somehow their names in the computer keep getting swapped out with women who I know for sure aren’t right for you.”
“Like a known gold digger and a free spirit seeking a deadbeat dad?”
Amy chuckled. “Yes. Ugh. I’m sorry, Dex.”
I scratched my head. “So, the women I was supposed to meet … they would have been more my type?”
“Yes.”
“You think it was a security breach on your company’s computer network?”
Amy laughed, and the melodic sound did funny things to my insides. “No, take it easy, Special Agent Computer Crimes Guy. I’m sure it was just a glitch.”
Narrowing my eyes and crossing my arms again, I tried not to laugh. I grunted to cover the sound. “That’s not my name.”
She bit her lip. “Gunnery Sergeant Computer Crimes Guy?”
“That’s better.”
Amy laughed again and it made me feel like I’d won the big giant teddy bear after all. I cleared my throat. “So, Jordan cut the date short because she didn’t want to waste her Saturday. Is your Saturday fully booked with dates today?”
“It is,” Amy confirmed, checking her watch. “My next one is scheduled to start in about two hours.”
I looked around the carnival, inhaling the comforting aroma of corn dogs and funnel cakes. “Well, I ditched the gym with my buddies for this and I’m starving. Have you had lunch?”
12
Amy
I hadn’t had lunch. In fact, I’d been about to head over to grab myself a bag of curly fries from a food truck when Dex and Jordan had stopped walking. I wasn’t surprised to see the looks of confusion cross their features. I’d known the date wasn’t going to end well the moment Jordan got out of her car that morning instead of Erin, who I’d been expecting. But just as I had with Ania, I let the date progress, just in case it would go better than the embarrassment of stepping in and admitting to the mix-up.
“Lunch?” I asked.
Dex stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I just figured if you had to hang out here and wait for your next date, maybe we could grab a bite.”
It definitely shouldn’t have been directed at me, since I wasn’t on a date with him, but I couldn’t help being impressed with his smoothness. He was a self-described computer geek with no dating game, yet here I was ready to jump into his arms and let him buy me a corn dog. If I wasn’t careful, his baby blues and innocent expression could very well get to me, and I’d find myself pulling him onto the Ferris wheel. Or into the funhouse. Or both.
I blinked up at him, trying to remind myself that this was my client and not some swoony guy I could actually date. He was smiling as his eyes held mine, though I could see he was nervous behind his confident facade. Even though he was very honest about his lack of practice when it came to women, he was also the embodiment of the word dashing. Looking at him now, I couldn’t believe he was still single and in need of First Comes Love’s services.
He’d chosen a basic black T-shirt and jeans with Chuck Taylor sneakers for his carnival date ensemble. His biceps strained against the sleeves of his shirt, taking the boy-next-door outfit to a dangerously tempting level. His video ga
me obsession and complete understanding of computer systems made him even more complex. And delicious.
Ugh, stop it, Amy.
All of that dreaminess aside, this was still business. And it needed to stay that way. I shook my head and sighed. “It’s a no for lunch.”
“You’re not hungry?”
“I didn’t say that.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Look, I’m hungry. You’re hungry. We’re at the same place at the same time. It makes sense.”
“You’re my client.”
“I am. And I think you need to get to know me better. You suck at arranging dates for me.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and cocked a hip. “Oh, is that so?”
“You’re oh-for-two now.”
Pursing my lips, I knew I couldn’t argue with him. Thankfully, he now knew I wasn’t bad at picking women. I was just bad at catching a glitch in the system before it resulted in a crappy date for him. And I really needed to get to the bottom of it before it messed up any more of them.
Why hadn’t the glitch impacted any of my other clients? I’d scheduled a couple dates before and after Dex’s, and both had been with the right partners. I had two more scheduled for this afternoon at the carnival, and I prayed they would also be correct. But one thing was for sure, I was going to give Claire my handwritten notes for Dex’s next date so she could use that info to schedule it. No more relying on this shoddy network.
Clearly impatient with my silent deliberating, Dex sighed. “Come on. It can be like a repeat intake interview.”
“So, this is like a business lunch?” I asked.
“Yep.” He pointed to the leather portfolio I always carried. “And this time, when you write it all down, don’t lose your notes.”
A Match for the Marine: A Sweet Romantic Comedy (First Comes Love Book 1) Page 7
