A week had passed since they’d met at the bar, where they’d stayed for much of the evening, becoming acquainted with one another. They’d both grown steadily drunk, gradually discovering more things they had in common, from artists to architecture, from travel to rock music. The only subject both were reticent to go into any detail about was their relationships with their partners. And as the conversation flowed, neither of them brought up their Match again, although it wasn’t far from their thoughts.
Their time together had only been cut short when Alex’s girlfriend Mary called asking when to expect him home. For the briefest of moments, Nick felt jealous.
They had parted with a polite but lingering handshake, each secretly fearing that this touch might be their last. Neither suggested meeting again, nor keeping in contact; however, it seemed to be enough, for now, to know the other was out there, albeit leading their lives independently of one another.
In the meantime, Sally had arranged for her and Nick to take a surprise trip to Bruges. The first Nick knew of it was when on a Friday afternoon, she turned up at his office with two suitcases, Eurostar tickets and print-out confirmation of a hotel she’d booked. There’d been a distance in their relationship recently and he felt that he’d let this business with Alex come between them. But the way Sally had arranged their sexy getaway made him feel as if she were trying to make up for something too. She was much more distracted than usual and he could onlyassume it was that she was upset he had been Matched. He tried to put the thought to the back of his mind.
In Bruges, her sexual appetite was almost insatiable and, when they weren’t sightseeing, they were in bed. Part of him wondered if she suspected he had seen Alex again and that she was trying to compete. But neither mentioned his name.
On their return to Birmingham, Nick didn’t justwantto see Alex again, heneededto. It had been eight days since they had last been in each other’s company.
Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a rugby ball flying through the air which smacked him square on the shoulder. ‘Shit,’ he yelled in surprise. The crowd in front of him parted and left him exposed.
‘Pass us the ball, mate?’ a stocky, shaven-headed man yelled through his gum-shield and, just as Nick threw it clumsily in the player’s direction, Alex saw him. Nick looked back apprehensively, promptly regretting his decision to crowbar his way into Alex’s private world.
But when Nick saw the smile slowly creeping across Alex’s face, his own didn’t lag far behind.
Chapter 40
ELLIE
Tim had a bowl of cereal in his hand when he answered the front door.
Ellie could just about imagine how it looked to him, to discover a tall, shaven-headed burly man standing rigid alongside a nervous-looking Ellie. Two black Range Rovers with tinted windows were parked on the kerb outside Tim’s modest semi-detached home. She didn’t know if he could make out the shapes of people in both of them.
‘Hi,’ Tim mumbled, and swallowed his mouthful of breakfast. His shirt sleeves were rolled up and a yellow tie hung loosely around his neck. He looked taken aback by her sudden appearance, probably wondering how she’d gotten his address.
‘Hello,’ Ellie said. ‘I’m sorry to turn up unannounced. Do you have a few minutes before you go to work?’
‘I’ve been trying to talk to you for the last few days but you’ve been ignoring me.’
‘I know, and I’m sorry. That’s why I’m here to explain. Please?’
Tim moved to one side. Andrei was the first to enter. He removed his dark glasses and scanned the entrance hall and various rooms before he let Ellie follow. Tim frowned at the man-mountain, then at his DNA Match.
‘He’s my security detail,’ she offered, almost apologetically.
‘In that case I should make you aware of the family of ninjas living in the dining room and the barrels of mustard gas I’ve been cooking up in the conservatory.’
An unamused Andrei shot him a disapproving glance.
Ellie had taken four days to muster the courage to approach Tim after the events of their second date had culminated in red paint being hurled at them. She’d bunkered down in her London townhouse since and remained there, embarrassed and deeply humiliated.
Had Tim been just a run-of-the-mill date, she’d have made sure to never see him again. However, he was far from ordinary. Besides, she liked spending time getting to know him and the kiss they shared shortly before the attack was nothing short of wonderful.
Ellie was accustomed to public speaking, and thousands of people had attended some of her keynote speeches around the world. But, try as she might, as she had in her many rehearsals in front of the bathroom mirror, she still didn’t know how to begin to explain to Tim what had happened.
‘Can I offer you or your pet giant a coffee?’ Tim asked, eyeballing Andrei.
‘That’s what I call him.’ Ellie laughed, trying to lighten the mood. ‘Andrei the Giant. You know, like the famous French wrestler? He was inThe Princess Bride? It’s one of my all-time favourite films …’
Tim shook his head and made his way into the lounge, muting the sound of breakfast television presenters with the remote control. He put his bowl down on the coffee table and invited Ellie to sit.
‘So what happened the other night?’ he asked. ‘Why did a complete stranger throw red paint at us and yell that you have blood on your hands?’
‘Because that’s what many people think,’ she replied. ‘You’ve probably guessed by now that I haven’t been completely honest with you about who I am or what I do for a living.’
‘Uhuh.’
