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I stare into the image of Twenty-One’s blue eyes. Val was right. His gaze could steal a soul, and I want him to take mine. “I’m totally hooked on him now.” I imagine his deep male voice and a low growling sound, as if he can’t wait to devour me, and my heart flutters. But that’s crazy. I shake my head at the absurd idea. “Twenty-One’s bound to be snatched up in an instant.”
A green button glows at the bottom of the screen, taunting me with the words Meet Me. Suddenly I want Twenty-One with an ache I’ve never felt before, and the button clicks when I impulsively jab it.
Chapter Two
A progress bar on the Life Shift app pops up and I gasp. “Oh my god!”
Abby grabs the cell from me. “What did you just do?”
“I hit the Meet Me button.”
“‘Oh my god’ is right.” Abby scowls at the phone in her hands. “You’ve asked to meet him for real.”
What? “I thought you said it was pre-beta.”
“It is. But this feature went live today.” Abby gets up and tosses her phone onto the couch, then she begins to pace. “This is bad. This is so, so bad.” Luckily, both Val and I are holding our drinks, because Abby’s bottom thuds onto the coffee table when she returns, sitting and facing us. “Wait. No. This might actually be okay. If you aren’t seventy-five percent compatible, no contact will be made. Otherwise,” she sighs, “I’m so fired.”
“Then you might want to start searching the job sites,” Val says. “Look.”
I glance at the phone screen she’s holding up for us and see the progress is at forty percent while compatibility is at thirty-nine. Crap! I’m no math whiz, but it seems like we’re going to hit seventy-five easily. My stomach lurches. “Can’t we cancel this thing?”
Abby frowns. “Yeah, an Abort button might be a good idea.”
The phone rings like a bell, and a female voice announces, “Congratulations! Charlie Sawyer, you and Boyfriend Twenty-One are a match.”
I swallow hard against the bile that burns in my throat, but the rest of my body betrays me. A tingle of physical attraction races through my veins just thinking about sexy Twenty-One, but so does a tinge of fear. A blind date couldn’t be all that bad, could it? Hadn’t I just been complaining about not having a man in my life?
What am I afraid of?
It’s not like I’m committed for life. After all, this is just beta testing. A little frolicking with a hot body like Twenty-One sounds like fun, and I really do miss having a man in my bed. If I’m honest, that’s the only part of relationships I like, anyway.
And since Twenty-One is eager to please...
I smile. “What happens now?”
“This is so not good.” Abby’s nails click on the screen of her phone. “Damn it! He’s already read the message. Twenty-One knows he’s got a—crap!” Her phone lets out a small ding, and she inhales sharply. “He accepted your invitation.”
“Cool,” I say. “I’ve got a date with a hottie.”
Abby jumps up and hovers over me. “I don’t think you understand. He’s moving here for you.”
I grin at her. “Well, that’s good, right? Isn’t that what you planned?”
Abby gets in my face and practically growls out, “Forever. He is now your soon-to-be husband.”
“They call that a fiancé,” Val says.
My chest tightens like the oxygen has been sucked from my lungs. “Whoa. Back up. What?” Then I croak out, “Husband?”
Val leans between us, facing Abby, as if blocking me from hurting our friend.
“I’m not going to kill her,” I tell Val. “At least not until she returns my pink sweater.”
“A dating app that signs you up for a husband you’ve never met?” Val settles back in her seat. “Whose bright idea was that?”
“Kevin’s.” Abby scowls. “He said if the boyfriend?—”
“Or girlfriend,” Val interjects.
