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“Oh, yeah.” Hunter shook his head as if waking from a daydream. “I’m not sure about all that. My friend Gerald would know more about that than I would.”
The silence drifting between us was no longer awkward. Instead, it was a quiet challenge waged between two men completely oblivious to the fact they were even at war. This was all my fault. I never should have told Hunter I was seeing someone.
As for Flynn, who knew what the hell he was doing? The man was incapable of being controlled.
“Well, nice meeting you,” Hunter said, and turned to face me. His steel blue eyes spoke to a part of my soul, and I knew he was leaving me in more ways than one. “Lyndsey.”
He disappeared behind the entrance door. This was all for the best, wasn’t it? I shouldn’t be harboring feelings for a man I could never have. A man who very soon might be engaged to a woman who deserved her happiness just as much as he did.
“Well, that was awkward,” Flynn said. “Boyfriend of yours?”
“Client.”
Flynn burst out into a fit of laughter. “Right. And I’m the Queen of England.”
I turned to face him, the effectiveness of my glare evident in his instant sobriety. He coughed into his hand and peered about the room to deflect my anger.
“You can leave now, Flynn,” I said, turning on my heels to go back into the offices. “Thanks for dropping by.”
* * *
After getting rid of Hunter and Flynn, the rest of the day moved along smoothly. The majority of the clients who came to the agency knew exactly what they were getting themselves into when they signed up. They felt comfortable saying “yes” or “no” to matches and seeing where the next steps would take them.
I already had two couples, besides Hunter, who’d entered into the next phase. I’d been at this for almost two weeks now, and it all felt easier with each passing day—which only bothered me more.
Love shouldn’t be easy. It wasn’t like fitting two puzzle pieces together. It was messy and full of crazy, chaotic disasters, and connection.
Maddening sparks that drove a person insane. It was about wanting to be with someone despite all the odds stacked against them.
None of what my cousins offered here at the agency felt real. These relationships, if I could even call them that, were based on superficial needs. Things people thought they wanted, what they thought were essential in their lives.
They didn’t know what they were missing.
I sighed, slamming the door to my home behind me and collapsing on the couch.
When did I become so sentimental?
I never wanted something long-term. That was my burden to bear. But for people willing to make a lifelong sacrifice, a long-term commitment, this felt like such a waste.
I dozed off for what must have been an hour or more. The pale shades of dusk descended into darkness, and when I awoke, only shadows remained in the house. A noise stirred me awake. Still in a dreamlike stupor, I could barely make it out. It sounded like a thud.
Thunder.
A knock.
I rose tentatively to my feet, reaching for the baseball bat I kept by the door. Whoever it was may have come to finish the job. I whipped open the door, baseball bat poised over my head in defense.
“Oh my gosh! It’s just us,” a woman shouted, covering her face with her hands.
“I told you we should have called her first.” A man’s voice came from amidst the darkness outside.
I squinted through the starlight, my eyes adjusting slowly. “Aly? Zach?”
“Jesus, Lyndsey. Turn on a light or something.” Zach leaned inside, doing a quick scan of the side of the door for the lightswitch. He flipped up all the notches on the plate at once. A flood of light tumbled in from all sides, showering the living room and the porch with a healthy glow. “Don’t you know that’s how all those women die so quickly in horror movies?”
“I fell asleep and heard a noise,” I explained. “I didn’t really have time to think about all that. I just reacted.”
“Someone knocks on the door, and your initial reaction is to grab a baseball bat?” Aly asked. “What haven’t you told us?”
