Finding Forever (9 page)

I looked up, surprised that it was Tori, instead of her receptionist who was greeting me in such a formal way, but I guess we weren’t exactly friends— or
friendly
, really. I hoped to change that, but Des had made it very clear that Tori was doing this as a favor. It wasn’t shocking that I wasn’t her favorite person in the world, but it had been nearly six weeks since the… uh… incident at the wedding. Surely, we could put it past us.

I’d been remembering Tori the way she was that night at the beach, in a sundress, wild hair, barefoot with her toes in the water, and the last light of the sun reflecting across her skin, moaning, unable to stay still against my fingers. That Tori had appeared unreserved, natural, and free, but that’s not the woman that stood in front of me. She wore slim black pants, a blazer, and a pristine white t-shirt with the
Matched
logo emblazoned across the front. Glasses with thick black rims covered her pretty eyes, and somehow, she had tamed her hair into the neatest bun in existence. And she was still fine as hell.

When I realized she had extended her hand towards me, I quickly returned the gesture, not expecting the surge of electricity the contact sent pulsing through my veins. My heart felt like it was pumping in slow motion as we finished shaking hands, and she immediately pulled hers away.

“Thank you, for your punctuality, Mr. Anderson. That’s a quality I like to encourage in my clients— potential or otherwise.”

There she was with that ‘Mr.’ crap again.

“Do we have to be so formal? Just call me Avery.”

An emotion I couldn’t pinpoint flashed in her eyes before she turned away to gesture toward her office door. “Whatever makes you most comfortable, Avery. Let’s get started, shall we?”

Front desk cutie interjected. “Actually, can I speak to you for a moment, Tori? I’m sure
Avery
won’t mind if I take up a few seconds of your time.” Tori and I both turned toward her and she had those dimples on full blast as she stood between us and the door.

I smiled at her, an action I immediately regretted when I saw Tori’s jaw clench as her eyes shot between us. Was that… jealousy? “Take your time, ladies,” I said, stepping past the receptionist into Tori’s picture-lined office. When the door closed behind me, I ambled over to the wall, studying the images in front of me. I assumed the smiling couples were people she had matched.

Hey, maybe she’s the real deal.

I counted at least thirty portraits, some of them from weddings, some of them featuring kids, but it was the framed pictures on her desk that caught my eye. I immediately recognized Tori and the receptionist, with an older couple I assumed to be her father and stepmother made frequent appearances. My eyes fell on one of a young Tori, maybe eight or nine years old, standing on the beach with a woman who didn’t look anything like the older one in the pictures. She looked just like the Tori I knew now. I picked it up to study closer, remembering she’d told me about her memories of her mother and the beach. I was wondering whether the house in the distance on the picture was theirs when I heard her voice behind me.

“What are you doing?”

I nearly dropped the frame, startled by her sudden appearance. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude, I …” I turned the picture around for her to see. “This one, it made me think of—”

“Yes, I know,” she interrupted. “We’ll be over here for our meeting.” She indicated a small sitting area in front of the large window that made up one wall of her office.

Nodding, I returned the picture to its place and followed her, taking a seat across from her. “Uh, Tori… before we start, I have something I probably need to say.”

She remained silent, which I took as permission to continue. “That morning, at breakfast… I lost it. I know that’s not an excuse, and I’m not trying to make it one, I want to tell you again that I’m sorry for what I said to you.”

There was a second of awkward silence before she spoke, with a distinct edge of anger lacing her response. “Again?”

“Yeah,” I said, confused. “The flowers… the note.”

She gave a derisive snort of laughter. “Oh, you mean the note that doesn’t acknowledge that we slept together?”

Oh boy, here we go. I knew this shit was a mistake.

“So that’s what we’re gonna do here?” I tossed up my hands. “Tori, we agreed on a one night thing. Now you want to go all woman scorned? What exactly do you want from me?”

“No, I’m not going ‘scorned woman’ on you!” she spat. “Do you not recognize that what you did at breakfast wasn’t just you going off on your sister’s friend? I gave you my body, Avery. I would think a man with any sense of decorum, or manners, or hell,
common freaking courtesy
would hold a woman he’s slept with in a
teensy
bit higher regard, but I guess I thought wrong.” She took a moment to let out another joyless laugh before she continued. “And then for you to send me some half-assed apology note that doesn’t address what we shared the night before… it felt hollow, and it made me feel like shit, Avery.
Especially
after I found out you lived right here in the city. I don—” Tori stopped, holding up her hand in an obvious attempt to check her anger. “But, I guess that’s what I get for expecting someone who cared nothing about me, to display the actions of someone who did. That’s
my
bad.”

“It wasn’t like
that
,” I insisted. I hadn’t been able to keep this woman off my mind, yet here she was accusing me of not giving a damn. “I told you, I had a moment. Before I found out about your job, I wanted to ask you—”

Ask her what, Avery?

To spend another night? To cancel her flight, and go back home with me instead?

“What’s so wrong with my job?” She appeared calmer, but the slight tremor in her voice told me she was still angry. The least I could do was give her real answers.

With a heavy sigh, I tossed my head against the back of the chair. “I’ve used a matchmaking service before. Back when I started making money, I was having a hard time finding women who weren’t after me for that, so I decided to get a little help. I found a service online and that’s how I ended up meeting Natalie.” Tori’s expression was still impassive, but she wasn’t kicking me out of her office. She was listening.

It started with the police at the door, and charges of soliciting a prostitute. That was only a misdemeanor, but it could have been devastating for my
reputation
, and that of my company, which I’d busted my ass to build. I had argued bitterly, calling up a team of lawyers to fight the claims. I didn’t know what the hell was going on until finally, they told me they were talking about Natalie.

My sweet, beautiful Natalie was— when she wasn’t with me— a professional escort, with dozens of aliases, in dozens of states, but the worst part was finding out I was one of dozens of men she had been stringing along, and getting paid to do it for some. I was lucky my legal team was able to clear me of any wrongdoing
without
a formal arrest, and keep the entire ordeal quiet.

My relationship with Natalie started during the first whisperings of expansion possibilities outside the Midwest, before I realized how cautious I would need to be. She took advantage of the fact that I was extremely busy during that time, lavishing her with gifts in an attempt to make up for the attention I wasn’t able to give her while I focused on building my business. The magnitude of the betrayal still made me sick. I had devoted every free moment I had to her, but for Natalie, it had been another job. I loved Natalie, with everything I had to give for three years. I’d been planning to propose to her when it all came crashing down.

When I was finished with my story, Tori leaned forward in her seat. “So you’re telling me you decided to pop off at
me
because
you
were too either too sprung or too stupid to recognize that
two years ago
, you were being played?”

It took a moment for me to register what she’d said, but when the look of disgust on her face connected with the words, I didn’t say anything. I
couldn’t
say anything, because I didn’t blame her for taking the opportunity to take the low blow. Still, I wasn’t about to do this shit with her, so I stood up to leave.

“Avery, wait.” She waited until my hand was on the doorknob, poised to turn before she spoke. Despite being pissed, I hesitated, waiting to see what she would say. “I’m sorry. That was insensitive, and uncalled for, and … nasty. And I didn’t
mean
it. I’m… I’m sorry.

I ran a hand over the ridges of my waves after I brushed her apology away. “I get it, Tori. You’re pissed at me, and you have every right to be. I’m sorry to put you in this position, because I know it’s awkward. I’m doing this to get Des off my back, you have to know how she is. I need your help, Tori.”

She stared at me for a moment, probably not realizing her internal battle was playing out right on her face. Pushing out a deep sigh, Tori picked up one of the two electronic tablets on the table in front of her, placing it on her lap.

“Sit down, please. Let’s get started.”

— Tori —

After sitting in my office for nearly two hours, going my standard Matched interrogation, I was sure Avery felt like all of his secrets were laid bare for me to see and judge. I was certain he felt exposed, but it was all part of the process. The first meeting was usually the longest and most intimate one. I spent this time getting to know the client, and digging deep into what they were looking for in a partner, and from a relationship.

Full disclosure was a vital element of making sure the people I matched actually worked. I’d heard many times from clients — including Avery— they had been afraid that once I learned everything my invasive interview could tell me, they would be turned away. It never failed that people held things back, making the first few dates a little shaky, but it all eventually came out. Surprisingly, Avery was very open.

I didn’t bat an eye when he told me about his weird hobbies, and love for reality TV housewives. I didn’t think anything of the fact that he loathed carpet, and
had
to have hardwood floors, a little tidbit that came out during a series of questions about what — to him— made a house a home. In fact, the only thing that made me shift in my seat was the questions about his sexual proclivities, and it wasn’t because his answers were making me uncomfortable.

They were turning me on.

At first, I’d wanted him to leave. Seeing him in person only added fuel to the flame of my anger, and who gave a damn about his sad little sob story? It was no excuse for him to be rude to
me
, or to use something I had told him in confidence against me. Then… sympathy crept in. Now that I knew his history, and
why
he’d had such a strong reaction… I wasn’t mad anymore. I asked the sexual questions aloud because it helped me gauge how comfortable the client
really
was with certain things, including talking about sex. Avery was completely at ease. Once my anger dissipated, it was hard to sit across from him while he told me about how much he enjoyed giving oral sex without giving in to the urge to tell him that, in my
personal
experience, his enthusiasm showed— and was appreciated.

I was relieved when I made it through that without embarrassing myself, and handed him the tablet computer to complete his profile for my database. I left him at the couch and went to sit at my desk, where I could review the information I’d gathered. When I turned it on, I immediately received a message on the internal chat server meant for my clients.

*
Tori, are you alive in there? Are you decent? You’re not screwing him are you, selfish ass? You are, aren’t you? YOU DID NOT mention that the new client was
this
fine! Seriously. I thought we were sisters, but I see you’re out here keeping stuff from me. Just selfish, that’s what you are. -MatchedMel *

I rolled my eyes at the message from Melanie — my ‘step-sistant’ as the bubbly young twenty-something old called herself— then pushed out a short breath as I glanced over at Avery. He was hunched over the tablet in his lap, working through the questionnaire.

He was probably going to be easy to match. I could think of two women right off the top of my head he would definitely be attracted to, based on the physical description he gave me.

“I think I’m done.”

I blinked, then gave him a smile. “Great. I’m going to review all of this, and I’ll have you coordinate with Melanie about your schedule so we can start setting up your dates. Do you have any questions?

“None I can think of,” he said as he handed me the tablet. “Got any questions for me?”

“Actually, I do.” My eyes fell on his beautifully tailored suit. “Umm… you do have clothes that are a little more casual, right?”

My heart sank at the confused look on his face. “Something wrong with my suit?”

“No,” I said quickly. “It’s very nice, and it looks expensive…but that’s the problem.”

He dropped into the chair across from my desk. “Explain.”

“Well… part of the challenge with you is finding a woman who won’t be blinded by or unhealthily attracted to your wealth. One way we can ensure that is by making it a little less obvious. Don’t you have clothes you wear to hang out?”

“Tori, I hang out with mechanics or play basketball. We wear shop clothes, or sweats, tee shirts. Stuff that’s gonna get dirty.”

I cocked my head to the side. “So you don’t have like… khakis and a polo?”

He considered it for a moment, then shook his head. “I have a few, but I’m … usually in a suit. If I’m not, I’m in sweats. I’m not
that
guy, that’s all into the clothes and stuff. I mean, I know what looks good, but mostly I just go to Neiman’s and let them tell me what to buy.”

Of course he casually uses a personal shopper. Of course.

“Well, there’s no need to go to Neiman’s for what we need. I’m going to introduce you to a little place called TJMaxx. We’ll schedule a shopping day.”

“Is that common? To take your clients shopping?”

I shrugged. “I’ve done it quite a few times. Some people need a little assistance with that, like others may need help talking to women, or not biting their nails, whatever. I make it happen.”