Perfect Match Read online

  She reopened the laptop and made sure the right screen was up. Dylan started to say something, then bit his lip, shook his head. “Fine,” was all he said as he sat down and pulled the device closer. He started reading the questions and quickly selecting his answers.

  Fia’s voice was soft. “I’ll be back to check on you in about an hour. There’s water and snacks if you want them, and bathrooms are down the hall.”

  She closed the door quietly behind her and retreated to her desk. Pete met her back in the main office area. “Great footage, thanks!” His face was lit up. “Grace is a cool mamma jamma.”

  “Yes, that’s me.” Grace’s face looked pink.

  “So, did you get enough footage, or do you want to wait or get some shots of him filling in surveys?” Fia bit her lip, wondering what the hell “cool mamma jamma” even the fuck was.

  He ran a hand through his messy blond hair. “Naw, I think we’re good. I’m going to get a lot more footage on the dates. Chelsea said that’s what people really want to see, and I think she’s right.”

  Grace stepped closer. “That’s so fascinating, Pete.”

  Pete smiled. “Thank you. Well, I’ll see you two soon.”

  “Of course.” Fia nodded, and the two of them watched as Pete gathered his gear and headed out the door.

  Once he was gone, Grace gestured down the hall. “Well? How’s he doing?”

  “Terrible!” Fia sat down in her swivel chair and spun. “He accused me of running a scam service for pretty babes to land rich dudes. He’s worried that I’m going to hook him up with a woman who will just squeeze him and watch the dollars drip out. And then I spit on him when he made me laugh.”

  “But he’s still doing the surveys?” Grace peered down the hall as if the carpet could answer.

  “Well, supposedly. But he was working pretty quickly. I hope he’s taking this seriously.” Fia opened her main laptop. “I’m not going to worry about him.” She closed the laptop. “Gracie? I’m a little worried about him.”

  Grace shot her a look. “You don’t say.”

  “You know what? I’m not worried after all. It will be fine. I’m just going to focus on doing the matches for our other new clients, Gary and Paul. I’m excited about matching them up with just the right woman.” Fia nodded to herself.

  And if images of Dylan’s handsome face and dark hair popped up a little too often in her mind, she pushed them back down, trying to focus on her goal: finding him true love on national TV before Connie Birnbaum did it first.

  Later that day, once Dylan had gone, Fia sat at her computer to examine his data. She tried to convince herself that she was extra interested in his survey results because he was such an important client, but something in her stomach fluttered even as she logged into the secure system and typed his name to pull up his profile.

  According to the data, he was an extroverted introvert, highly intelligent. And the initial numbers showed that he was a seventy percent or higher match for at least ten women in her system. She sucked in a breath—that was high. Well, she considered he was sort of the perfect package: Handsome, so fit it was ridiculous, with those abs and biceps. That sexy smirk that curled his lips, lit his face, turning him into a devastatingly irresistible—to other women, of course—catch. That little grin. The way he smelled.

  Wait, scratch that. Obviously his odor had nothing to do with it. But he was smart and funny, rich, successful, lived in a great neighborhood, and had wide interests that seemed to encompass most people’s wants. He liked to travel; he liked beaches. He loved eating out and he was, according to his survey, an excellent cook. He liked women of all ethnicities and professions.

  She bit her lip when she pulled up a detailed list of his potential matches. “Fuck.” Her eyelid twitched.

  “What?” Gracie looked up.

  “Nothing.” Fia hesitated. “Well, I mean, good news for the show. I have two matches for Dylan that are better than ninety percent.”

  “Holy shitballs!” Gracie popped out of her chair. “No way. Let me see.” She rushed to peer over Fia’s shoulder. “Which ones? Who’s the highest score? Is it that gorgeous woman from last week, the lawyer? She was so awesome.”

  Fia’s shoulders stiffened. “Yes, she got the highest match score with him.”

  “Oh, cool, I loved Altera. Let’s do her with him first. Right? she was so….perfect.”

  Gracie pointed at the screen to see the numbers. “Wow, that’s awesome. God, that’s even higher than the couple who got married last month!” She squeezed Fia. “We’re totally going to marry him off like that.” She let go to snap her fingers. “You’re going to win this contest before Connie even gets her first date set up. You fucking rock.”

  “Yeah.” Fia crossed her arms.

  “So let’s set them up for…what were you thinking? I bet…” Grace paused to look out the window, thoughtfully, then whirled back around. “Yes! Remember that place called Maxine’s where we sent that couple a month ago? Totally romantic and live music guitar. They’re both into wine, and it had the best wine menu in the city. And afterwards, since it says they both like dancing, we’ll send them to that ultra-private and super sexy club, Groove. Karla who owns it owes me a favor, and besides, this won’t even be a favor. It’s like we’re doing HER a favor, because she’ll be on TV. What do you think?”

  “You always have a knack for setting up the best places.” Fia’s voice was flat, and she tried to inject enthusiasm into her tone. “Yes, totally. Maxine’s will be great because they have those cute semi-private rooms with trees and flowers and lights, and then the sommelier comes over to talk to each couple about wine and food pairings. I bet they’ll love it.”

  She imagined Dylan and gorgeous Altera together. When she’d met Altera, she’d felt excited and eager, because Altera was literally the kind of woman men fell over their feet to get to. They’d cross the street, cross an ocean, switch religions to get a woman like Altera…and she’d joined Fia’s dating service! The only problem was finding a man good enough for such an amazing, talented woman. She had a feeling that Dylan would match well with Altera with so many interests in common. And she couldn’t help but admit that they would look good together, too, both tall and attractive, both the kind of person who caught eyes and drew in stares and friends.

  “So usual process? I’ll book the reservations, you call the two of them and set everything up?” Gracie flipped her hair. “And, of course, we’ll have to alert Chelsea and the photographer and stuff about places and time, so they can be there to film for the TV segment. Do you want me to do that?”

  “Sure, you go ahead and contact the Morning Brew team. I’ll talk to Dylan and Altera.” Fia tapped her foot.

  “I wonder if we’ll see the same photographer? You know, Pete?” Gracie sat her butt on the edge of Fia’s desk. “He’s super friendly, and he seemed so into the project. And so nice!”

  “Mmm hmmm.” Fia blinked as she started a dating file for Dylan and maneuvered his picture next to Altera’s, each of their profiles pulling in below.

  When Fia didn’t answer, Gracie tilted her head. “Everything okay, Fia?”

  “What?” Fia blinked. “Oh, no, I’m fine. I really want to do better than Connie. I need Dylan to fall for one of my women, not hers.” She made a face. “Although that makes me sound kind of like a madam who loans out whores.”

  “No!” Gracie protested. “It’s about the love. Don’t say stuff like that.”

  “I know! I was just joking.” Fia tapped her keyboard. “And you know with numbers this high, I have a feeling they’re really going to hit it off. I mean, ninety-four percent? That’s higher than every couple who got married using our service to meet each other! Those were just in the eighties.”

  “Right? So it’s like we should almost be buying the champagne right now.” Gracie giggled. “I mean, I’ll wait and all. I’m just saying, I think we have this thing wrapped up.”

  Fia nodded. “Set it up for this we
ekend if you can, and do it fast before Connie can book him with someone. I want him to meet our woman first, because that way she’ll be special to him, as the first one.”

  “On it.” Gracie sashayed over to her desk. “I’m going to get those places to set up the best VIP treatment ever. Dylan won’t know what hit him.”

  Fia leaned forward to stare at Dylan’s picture, then swallowed hard and picked up her cell phone to call him. To her surprise, he answered before the ring tone even sounded at all, and she was taken so aback that she didn’t know if the call had even gone through, and she ended up asking, “Hello?” even after he said “Hello” first.

  “Hello?” he repeated, amusement in his voice.

  “Did you—is this Dylan?”

  “It is. But since you called me, you probably should have known that.” It sounded like he was grinning.

  “No, I did know, it’s just, you answered so quickly.”

  “Phones can be quite complex.” He sounded now like he was smirking. “I recommend that you take a refresher course, Fia, to get up to speed on the technology.”

  “I promise I’m entirely up to speed,” she huffed.

  “You push the little buttons in the special order, and then you can talk to a real person!”

  “Dylan, God. Please. Thank you. Look, the reason I called is to tell you that I have a date for you, and we’re setting it up for this Friday. I assume you’re free? Chelsea said that you’d be available every weekend, Friday and Saturday, for the next four weeks. Connie and I will alternate with Friday and Saturday each week.”

  “I know the date. It’s July 17.”

  “No, a woman.”

  “Well, actually, July was named after a man, an Emperor. Julius Caesar.”

  “Dylan, stop! A date for the show. A real date. Okay?”

  He was silent, so she continued. “I put all of your data into the system, and I’m really excited about this.” She cleared her throat, aware that her voice was not that enthusiastic. “You hit over ninety percent with several women, so I have a great feeling about these dates.”

  “Sure, if I were a robot, the number thing would be super,” he agreed, his voice wry. “But seeing as how I’m an actual human, and I like to assess people based on actually meeting them, I can’t guarantee that there will be any spark with these ninety somethings.”

  She rolled her eyes even though he couldn’t see it. “If you give this woman a chance, you’re going to really find out you have a lot in common.”

  He cleared his throat. “Tell me about her, then.”

  “Well. Her name is Altera. She works for the UN as a lawyer. Like you, she’s very liberal in her political views. She has a PhD in addition to her law degree, so she’s smart, like you wanted. She’s very fit; she runs marathons. She’s done the Boston three times. She loves travel and dogs and cooking and she’s fluent in several languages.”

  “She sounds amazing.”

  “I’ve met her, and she’s funny and nice. I think you’ll really like her.” Fia swallowed hard, not sure why her stomach felt upset. “So we’re going to set up a great night at a restaurant and dance club. My assistant has been able to get both venues comped to our company because of the TV presence.”

  “So basically you had to pay for my date because you didn’t trust me to do it, right? Is that you warning me not to feed this woman Ramen from a dumpster?” He laughed.

  “I really think that wouldn’t go over very well with anyone, Dylan.” She kept her voice neutral. “So you know the camera crew is going to follow you around to dinner and the dance club and get shots of you two interacting.”

  “Are they going to be there for the whole date?” He sounded displeased.

  “Well, according to Chelsea, yes.”

  “How about after the end of it?” His voice was low.

  She kept her voice neutral. “If you choose to go somewhere after either of those venues, you know the crew won’t follow you. That’s up to you and Altera.”

  “And you’ll be there?”

  “What?” A mental image of herself and Dylan in a private place popped into her mind, mixed with herself and Dylan in a bed, naked, limbs entwined.

  “At the dates? Will you be there for the TV crew to film as well?”

  “No, I didn’t plan to be.” She touched her cheek.

  “Well, I really think you should be. You know, to wish us well.”

  “Dylan, you’re not going into a sealed biodome for three months. You’re going on a date. I don’t think you need me to send you off.”

  “What if I said I won’t do it unless you come?”

  A different thought rushed into her head and she coughed. “Excuse me?”

  He laughed. “I only will go on the date if you personally come along to introduce us.”

  “Well, I don’t usually like to be there for the introduction. I feel that when couples interact organically from the start, without any interference from me, it’s a more authentic beginning.”

  “There’s nothing authentic about matchmaking.”

  “Dylan, we really can’t argue about this again.” She tried not to sound annoyed.

  “I guess I did promise,” he said, his voice low and teasing. “But actually, Chelsea said she thinks it would be really cool footage for the show to have you show up for the first date with me and your date choice, and then Connie will show up to talk at the date with her choice.”

  “She did?”

  “She’s going to tell you when you chat and all, so I figured I’d tell you first. Get you prepared.”

  “Fine. I guess I’ll be there.”

  “So, I guess I’ll see Altera…and you…Friday.”

  “Yes, Friday.”

  “I look forward to it.” There was a tone in his voice, a sort of sexy, dangerous tone, that made her stomach flip even though he was only seeing her for a second on his way to a date with another—perfect—woman.

  “Fia, can you step back here, please?” The photographer gestured. “The light is perfect right here, and I want to catch the setting sun behind your hair. Your highlights really flare.”

  “Okay.” She stepped into the spot and wrapped her hands together. “Ah, how should I stand?”

  “Try to stand naturally.”

  She crossed her arms, uncrossed, them, put them at her sides.

  “Try to look looser.”

  “I am incredibly loose.”

  The photographer smiled, and Chelsea stepped up. “And here we have Fia Martin of Perfect Profiles, sending Dylan on his very first date of the challenge! Fia, tell us about the date you’ve set up tonight with our superstar, Dylan.”

  Fia took a breath. “Well, I’ve chosen a date for him who I think matches many of his interests and likes. Her name is Altera, and she’s pretty amazing, so we’ve set them up at this great place.” She gestured to the restaurant behind her.

  “And is she super pretty?” Chelsea smiled, and to Fia it looked more like she was baring her fangs. The question, as always, made Fia squirm, but she answered the best she could.

  “We match people up on shared interests and personality styles, and we allow them to discover whether they have the unique chemistry and attraction.”

  She didn’t want to admit that yes, Altera fucking rocked, because she didn’t want to get into the whole deal about how women were admitted to this matching system, and that, yes, she did sometimes deny women based on physical characteristics. It sounded shallow, but it was necessary in L.A. Connie did it too, although nobody talked about it openly. Theirs, and several other expensive matchmaking companies, were for the thin, beautiful, successful women and the sexy, handsome, rich men.

  “Well, let’s hope that they hit it off for your sake. Because tomorrow night he has a big date with a woman from your competitor’s matchmaking company!” Chelsea laughed, and Fia smiled gamely.

  “Altera, can you please join us?” Chelsea gestured, and the lawyer came up, smiling broadly, looking far more
comfortable in front of the camera than Fia felt.

  “I’m glad to be here, Chelsea, thanks so much,” Altera said. “Fia! This is fantastic. And I haven’t even met the man yet,” she joked, gesturing at the restaurant behind them.

  Fia felt that Altera was a natural on TV, good at it like everything else she did. When she’d contacted the woman and asked how she felt about doing a date on a televised show, Altera was not only okay with it, but also excited. Dressed in a gold gown and heels, her glorious hair cascading down her back, she was so pretty that even random passersby were staring.

  “And here comes the limo with the man of the hour, Dylan!” Chelsea, exuberant, pointed, and the camera operator panned to capture a car driving up. “Let’s get the first shot of him meeting his fabulous date…Altera! Oh, isn’t this exciting? Is this love at first sight, people? You could be the first to witness the start of a forever couple. Oh, I can hardly stand the suspense!” She giggled.

  The door opened and Dylan stepped out, his face handsome but not smiling. Chelsea said something else, but Fia didn’t hear it, because she was staring at Dylan and how incredible he looked in his suit. It seemed tailored to his body, his muscles strong and lean beneath the fabric, his broad shoulders and lean hips set off by the cut of the clothing. The line of his jaw, the shape of his lips—her stomach started to butterfly even though he was here to meet with another woman…an amazing woman. A woman with whom she wanted to match him up.

  His eyes locked with hers and a pulse of excitement shot through her veins. Then he smiled a slow, dangerous smile. He still hadn’t looked at Altera. Fia caught her breath and flushed, put a hand to her face, and looked away for a second. When she looked back up, he was approaching Altera, a smile on his face. “It’s great to meet you!” called Altera, stepping forward, giving him both hands. Fia thought the curve of her waist was the prettiest thing she’d ever seen.

  Dylan leaned in to kiss Altera’s cheek. “A pleasure.” He smiled, but it was sort of tight. “Great to meet you, as well.”