Matched to Her Rival

He could have scripted this date ahead of time and not missed a trick. Wearily, he eyed Candy’s plumped lips, knew how good it would feel when she melted into him. On paper, they made sense together, for the short term anyway.

And he had no interest in her whatsoever. The perfect woman wasn’t so perfect. What was wrong with him?

Elise was wrong with him. She’d set him up on a date with a woman who had all these long-term, soul-mate, mumbo-jumbo expectations and it was seriously cramping his style.

And okay, it pricked at his conscience too. Which had picked a fine time to surface.

Elise had ruined his ability to have fun on a date. She’d pay for that.

“I’m sorry, Candy, but this isn’t going to work out.”

“Oh.” Candy straightened, her face hardening. “But we were matched. By Elise. I was really happy with her choice. But you’re not?”

Obviously she’d not been clued in that this date was also part of an experiment. And a wager. Yet another mark against Elise.

“She did a great job matching us. You’re exactly the kind of woman I like.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“I’m not interested in a relationship, and it would be unfair to you for us to continue.” The standard excuse rolled from his tongue.

“You forgot to say it’s not you, it’s me.” Candy had obviously heard the excuse before too. She flung his jacket at him with surprising force. “Thanks for the drinks. Have a nice life.”

She flounced to the valet and tapped her foot while the uniformed kid raced to get her car. Then she roared out of the parking lot with a screech.

Not only had Elise ruined him, she’d set him up in a catch-22. There was no way he could have fallen for Candy, not when it meant he’d lose the wager. Plus, all of Elise’s profile questions kept getting in the way, making him think about his intentions. That was the problem, not the sound bite he’d spieled off to Candy.

The valet pulled Dax’s car into the lane and hopped out. Dax slipped him a folded bill and got behind the wheel. The closer he drove to his loft, the deeper his blood boiled. Thanks to a certain matchmaker, he’d be spending yet another night alone, his least favorite thing to do.

He pulled onto a side street and hit the call button on his phone before checking the time. Almost nine.

Elise answered on the first ring, so he didn’t worry about interrupting her plans too much.

“Expecting my call?” he said with as much irony as he could. She must have been sitting there watching her phone like a hawk. On a Friday night. Looked like Elise could use a bit of her own magic to find a date.

“Um, yeah,” she said, her voice husky as though she’d been running laps, and it sent heat to his blood in a whole different way. “You said you’d give me the full report. Isn’t this it?”

He’d totally forgotten about that, but it was absolutely the reason for his call now. “Text me your address. It’s an in-person kind of report.”

He ended the call and an instant later, the message appeared.

Who said I was at home?

She was not allowed to make him laugh when he was still so furious with her.

The address came through a moment later and the grin popped out before he’d realized it. Let’s rock and roll, Ms. Arundel.

Looked like he wouldn’t be returning to his empty loft just yet after all.

* * *

Elise answered the door of her uptown condo wearing jeans and a soft yellow sweater, all perky and cupcake-y though she’d only had a few minutes’ warning before Dax appeared on her front porch. He tried really hard to not notice how the sweater brought out gold highlights in her eyes. He was mad at her for...something.

“That was fast,” she said and raised her eyebrows in that cool, infuriating way that said she had his number. “Did you observe the speed limit at any point on your way here?”

“Gonna give me a ticket?” He crossed his arms and leaned a shoulder on the door frame, because she’d very pointedly not invited him in. That was okay. The view was pretty good from here.

“No, a guess. The date must not have gone well if you were in that much of a hurry to get here.”

“You think I wanted to see you instead?”

How had she arrived at that conclusion?

But then hadn’t he compared Candy to Elise all night and never found a thing in Candy’s favor? Hadn’t he anticipated this showdown with Elise during the drive over and looked forward to it far more than he’d anticipated having a naked Candy in his arms?