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I could finally see why my grandmother might have left the company to my parents instead of to Kyle and Vanessa. This was definitely not the vision Grandma had in mind when she first started her company with my grandfather all those years ago. In fact, they had been so much in love that they couldn’t wait to open a business that shared the same principles and values as their love inspired in them. They wanted others to fall in love, to find that special someone who fulfilled them and gave them hope to see through each new struggle at the end of the day.
There was nothing wrong with arranged marriages, of course. But it simply wasn’t what my grandparents had in mind. This new concept seemed cold—mechanical. Far too much like a business arrangement and unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
“Irma will give you your client list,” Vanessa said, ushering me into the conference room. “We have a couple new ones with some special requirements. However, I’m sure with your resourceful nature, you’ll have no trouble at all finding them a match.”
“Of course not.” It figures. She was sticking me with all the worst clients in order to bring about my failure even quicker. I was already starting behind the eight ball. My parents had to know she’d try something like this. Was this all a part of the test? Me being able to smile and succeed in the face of adversity?
You can do this. You helped talk people through jitters and fears before. You’ve helped people find their perfect match even when they didn’t know it at first.
Though this was different. Could I really force someone into a marriage, a lifetime commitment, when it wasn’t really what they wanted?
Vanessa opened the door to the conference room and held her arm out for me to enter. A small woman no larger than four-foot-eight stood before me. Her soft white perm stayed completely intact as she moved, held together by some sort of adhesive hairspray even I found impressive. Before introductions could even be made, Vanessa disappeared back behind the door, leaving me alone with the petite woman who’d likely been employed at the office since it opened in the seventies.
“You must be Lyndsey,” the woman said, adjusting her spectacles along her nose before extending a hand out to me. The other arm held a clipboard firmly against her chest, as if containing vital information unfit for civilian eyes. “I’m Irma. I knew your grandmother. She spoke very highly of you. I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you.” I shook her hand, surprised to find one ounce of kindness in this cold new world I was being forced to accept. Irma’s eyes stared back at me through her spectacles, a calm sympathy spilling out of them as if she knew a truth I did not. I wondered how close she and my grandmother really were. I had heard of Irma in passing, though nothing in depth. Grandma cared more about telling the family stories, passing on old traditions, and leaving behind a legacy worth fighting for. She never spent much time in the present.
At least not with me.
“Now, your first client is waiting for you just beyond those doors,” Irma said, pointing to a series of doors along one side of the wall in the conference room. They were likely the holding areas for new clients, especially when the matchmaker was so new, she didn’t even have her own office yet. “He’s a special client. Not really receptive to anything that we’re doing here, but Vanessa insisted that he stay on board.”
Of course, she did.
And of course, that’s why she was giving him to me. If this client decided to run away, or got cold feet, Vanessa would have no other choice but to terminate my contract. I wouldn’t get my inheritance, or rather what little would be left of it after my parents were through with me.
The whole of my family was conspiring against me. First, my grandmother leaving me this house, then, my villainous cousins with the fire. Then, I couldn’t forget my parents, who were forcing me into this whole situation with my inheritance, and then, back to my loving cousins who were trying to sabotage all attempts of me reclaiming my normal life.
I hated this town.
I grabbed the dossier Irma held out to me and made my way to the door. It opened, revealing a specimen not only too handsome for words, one I knew all too well. I instantly recognized my client as the firefighter the cafe worker referred to as Hunter. The same man who had been the subject of the past two hot and steamy sex dreams that had left me panting in my empty bed without an explanation each night.
So, it wasn’t just my family who was out to get me. It was the universe.
Perfect.
Chapter Seven
Hunter
The day couldn’t possibly get any worse.
Not only was I stuck doing the ridiculous matchmaking ordeal my sister forced me into, the woman assigned to helping me find my perfect match was the one woman I couldn’t get out of my head.
Not to mention she looked damn near ready to either pounce on me or run out of the room at any given moment.
I wasn’t entirely sure which would have been preferable. I only acutely grew aware of my entire body reacting to her presence, wanting to scoop her up into my arms and take her right there on the desk separating us. She wore a tight little skirt and a blouse with loose sleeves. I could faintly make out the shape of her breasts beneath the top, though she’d done a decent job at being conservative. Especially when compared to the outfits I’d seen her in when outside of the office environment.
“So,” she said uneasily, inching her way toward the desk between us. “You’re Hunter, I take it.”
“That I am,” I said, rising to my feet and extending a hand toward her. “Hunter Carson.”
She took my hand, hesitating only when I said my last name. Her head tilted to the side, inspecting me as if I had just played a cruel joke on her. “Carson? As in Vanessa’s maiden name Carson?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “Vanessa is my sister.”
All color drained from the woman’s face, quickly replaced by a dull pink. She turned her face away and whispered something that sounded like “son of a bitch,” but I couldn’t be sure. With one long inhale of breath, she faced me once again, this time with a smile to rival a dental ad.
“Wonderful.” She claimed the seat across from me. “I’m Lyndsey, your matchmaker.”
