Matched to Her Rival

“But you kept driving.”

He nodded once. “I kept driving. Until tonight.”

After a long pause, she voiced the question he obviously wanted her to ask. “What was special about tonight?”

“I can’t—I don’t know how to give you what you want,” he bit out. “And I don’t know how to stay away.”

Her heart stuttered and shoved all her suppressed feelings to the surface. That’s why she’d missed him—when he showed her glimpses of his soul, it was more beautiful than the ocean at sunset.

“I never asked you to stay away. You shouldn’t have.”

“Yes. I should have. I absolutely should not be here on your doorstep.” His chest shuddered with his next deep breath. “But I can’t sleep. I can’t concentrate. All I can think about is you naked, wrapped around me, and that brain of yours firing away on all cylinders as you come up with more inventive ways to challenge me.”

The image of her unclothed body twined with his sprang into her consciousness, sparked through her abdomen, raised goose bumps on her skin. She swallowed against the sudden burn in her throat.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she joked and nearly bit her tongue as fire licked through his expression.

“It’s ridiculous. And I’m furious about it, so stop being so smug.”

His glare could have melted ice. All at once, his strange mood made sense. Normally when he wanted a woman, he seduced all her reservations away. But he respected Elise too much to do that to her and he was incredibly conflicted about it. The effect of that realization was as powerful as being the object of his desire.

Combined, it nearly took her breath.

“Poor thing,” she crooned. “Did that bad Elise tie you up in knots?”

One brow lifted and every trace of his ire disappeared, exactly as she’d intended. “Don’t you dare make a suggestion like that unless you plan to follow through.”

“Uh-uh.” She shook her head. “This conversation is not devolving into foreplay.”

“Not yet.” Lazily, he swept her with a half-lidded smoky once-over. “But I appreciate the confirmation that talking dirty to you counts as foreplay.”

Now she should slam the door in his cocky face. Except she’d shifted the mood on purpose, to give him a reprieve for confessing more than he’d probably intended. And the last thing she wanted was for him to leave.

But did she want him to stay? This wasn’t some random drive-by; it was a showdown.

Between his mercurial mood and the hum in her core, this night could end up only one of two ways—either she’d let him into her bed and into her heart, or she’d give him that final push away.

Dax was still on the porch. Waiting for her to make the decision. And Dax would never let her forget she’d made the choice.

Who was tying whom up in knots here?

“Why are you here, Dax?” She took a tiny step behind the door, in case she needed to slam it after all. Of course there was a good chance he’d slam it for her, once he crossed the threshold and backed her up against it in a tango too urgent and wild to make it past the foyer. “And don’t feed me another line. You know exactly why you got out of the car this time.”

His reckless smile put her back on edge. “Why do I find it so flipping sexy when you call me on my crap?”

He thought her no-filter personality was sexy. He really did. She could see the truth of it in his expression. The wager was over and there was no reason for him to say something like that unless he meant it.

“Because you’re neurotic and deranged, obviously.” When his smile softened, she couldn’t help but return it, along with a shrug. “We both must be. If you want the real answer, you said it yourself. You like that I challenge you. If it’s easy, you don’t value it as much.”

His irises flashed, reflecting the bright porch light. “I would definitely classify this as not easy.”

“And you still haven’t told me why you’re here.”

He crossed his arms and leaned on the door frame. “Have you ever followed up with any of the couples you’ve matched?”

“Of course. I use them as referrals and I throw parties every few months for both former and current clients as a thank-you for being customers. Many become friends.”

“They’re all happy. All of them. They’ve all found their soul mates and say you were one hundred percent responsible.” He said it as if Elise had single-handedly wiped out a small village in Africa with a virus.