Matched to Her Rival

Until she remembered this was all designed as a distraction.

Pulling away was harder than it should have been. Chest rising and falling rapidly, she put a foot of couch between them. Not enough. She hit the floor and kept going, whirling only when the coffee table was between her and the hot-tongued man on the couch.

“Good kisser,” she said breathlessly and cursed her fragmented voice. “I’ll note it on your profile.”

His heavy-lidded gaze tracked her closely. “I wasn’t finished. Come back and see what else I’m good at. You want to be thorough on the profile, don’t you?”

“I can’t do that.” If he triggered such a severe reaction with merely a kiss, what would her body do with more?

“Scared?”

“Of you? Not hardly.” The scoff was delivered so convincingly, she almost believed it herself.

A light dawned in his expression and she had the distinct impression he’d just figured out exactly how much he scared her. That sent another round of panic into the abyss of her stomach.

“There’s just no need,” she clarified, desperately trying to counter the effects of being kissed senseless. “We put it to the test, and while the kiss was pleasant, it certainly didn’t distract me from the next steps. When do you want to schedule the last session?”

Dax groaned the way someone does when you tell them they have to get a root canal followed by a tax audit. “I’d rather kiss you some more. Why are you all the way over there?”

“We’re not doing this, Dax. Hear me now, because I can’t stress this enough. You and I are not happening.” She held up a finger as he started to speak. “No. Not any variation of you and I. We have a deal, a wager, and nothing more. I have to do my job. It’s my life, my business. Let me do it.”

He contemplated her for a long moment. “This is important to you.”

“Of course it is! You threatened to destroy my reputation, which will effectively ruin the company I’ve built over the last seven years. How would you like it if I had the power to do that to you and then spent all my time trying to seduce you into losing?”

“Elise.” He waited until she glanced at him to continue. “I’m sorry. That was not my intent. I like kissing you. That’s all. If you want to do another session, I’ll be there. Name the time.”

Oh, how dare he be all understanding and apologetic and smoky-eyed? “How about if I call you?”

She needed Dax gone before she did anything else stupid, like set off on an exploratory mission to see if he still had underwear-model abs under that suit.

“Sure. I can give you some space. Call me when you’re ready to pick up where we left off.”

Of course he’d seen right through her and then dumped a heck of a double entendre in her lap. Pick up where they left off with the sessions—or with the kiss? And which way would he interpret it?

Which way would she mean it?

She’d just realized something painful and ridiculous. The text messages during his date, letting him kiss her, the supreme sadness of imagining him blissfully in love with his soul mate; it all rolled up into an undeniable truth—she didn’t want Dax to be with anyone else.

And she couldn’t let herself be with him, even for what would undoubtedly be the best night of her life. It was the morning after when she woke up alone, knowing she hadn’t been enough to keep him, and all the mornings alone from then on, that she couldn’t do.

That was the best reason of all to get him matched with someone else in a big hurry.

Six

At precisely seven-thirty the next evening, Elise’s doorbell rang. And yes, Dax was exactly who she expected to see grinning at her on the other side of the door, both hands behind his back.

“I said I’d call you.”

Not that she’d really thought he’d wait around for the phone to ring, but he could have given her at least twenty-four hours to figure out how to call him without creating the impression she wanted him to pick up exactly where that kiss had left off.

Which would be really difficult to convey, when truthfully, she did. And now her house was spotless because every time she considered picking up the phone, she cleaned something instead.

“I know. But I’m taking this seriously. For real. Your office isn’t the best place to get answers to your questions. So we’re going to do it here.”