“That's because you’re used to being the one telling people what to do and what not to do.”
Yes, there was some truth in that.
She slowly turned and looked through the window into the bar. Maddie was sitting at a bistro table, waving and smiling. She looked so happy. She was sitting next to her hockey giant, whom she was going to marry in two months, in September. She was grinning as Hailey leaned toward her to say something...
Maddie had always struggled with the feeling of not being good enough and not being allowed to say what she really thought without people hating her for it. But now she seemed freer and happier than ever.
“Give me two weeks,” Rachel said firmly. “I want to at least spend some quality time with my sisters.”
Maya sighed.
“I’m busy anyway.”
“Oh really? With what?”
“Finding five dream men,” she said absently.
“Finding… Wait, what?”
Oh, shit, she hadn’t meant to admit that. “Maya, I have to hang up now,” she said quickly.
“Rachel! You…”
“The others are waiting, and say hello to your toothless husband for me!”
The next moment, she hung up.
No, it wasn’t the best way to end the conversation, but she didn’t have the time or nerve to explain to Maya why it was vital for her and Match Me! that she meet her potential husband within the next few weeks. Although, honestly, she knew shestood a good chance, and it wasn’t somebrainless,chicken-crapidea, as Hailey had suggested.
It took two hours to fill out her own psychological questionnaire and sign up for Match Me! The results were perfectly satisfactory: two matches over seventy percent and one just under sixty. That was a good average. It was rare to find people with whom you were more than seventy percent compatible, and that percentage was sufficient for a solid base. She was still missing her fourth and fifth matches, but, with any luck, a few more men would sign up with Match Me! in the next few weeks, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Just as Maddie wasn’t a problem because she wasn’t mad about the bet. No,delightedwas a better word. “Oh my God, are you ready to find your dream man? Hey, if you find him here in LA, you’re staying forever, right? I’ll help you.”
Rachel sighed and glanced at her watch. Date number one was in ten minutes. Dwayne was a high school math teacher, and he loved long walks through Ikea just as much as she did. He’d looked very likable in his profile picture: Friendly and moderately attractive, but not too handsome. Just the way she liked them.
Unlike a certain divorce lawyer, whose eye caught her eye as soon as she entered the bar. That wasn't because she was looking for him, but only because Connor was too big to miss. No pirate would choose him as his treasure because he’d be too easy to find. In fact, the wordtreasurefit Connor as well asuglysuited the date he’d brought with him. Rachel recognized the jogger from yesterday and had to admit that she looked incredibly beautiful. She had a friendly smile, and her face glowed even without too much makeup. It was a shame that life was punishing her with a date with Connor Stone.
Sunny Umbrella was one of those bars where you weren’t afraid to break something. The whole interior looked ready toexpire already. Maddie had told her that it normally was a cross between a club and a cocktail bar, but for the weekly trivia night, the disco ball was turned off and the bistro tables were brought in from the palm-lined terrace and distributed inside, with each assigned to a team.
Consequently, Connor wasn’t alone with his date. On his other side sat a handsome man with reddish-brown hair, and next to him, a very petite woman with purple hair, and then another man in his early thirties. Rachel would have bet her cacti collection that this man was also a lawyer, not because he was frowning as he studied a brown folder, completely ignoring the loud music and conversations around him, and not because he was wearing a tailored, dark blue pinstriped suit and a tie that looked like it could pay Rachel’s rent for a month. No, it was his cool, rational aura of indifference and superiority that betrayed him as a lawyer. It was the same aura she'd noticed surrounding Connor yesterday, even if it was now gone.
Overall, he seemed different. He had taken off his tie and jacket and was wearing jeans and a tight white shirt. And why had the guy not admitted he could smile like that? He should have told her before making the bet. It enormously increased his chances of a normal woman falling head over heels for him.
Rachel, of course, wasn’t a normal woman, but… Shit.
As if Connor sensed she was thinking too intensely about him, he raised his eyes and unerringly found her.
His smile broadened and he raised his hand to toast her. Rachel returned the smile and scratched her nose with her middle finger. The bastard just laughed, and she heard the stupid, deep, raspy tones coming from his mouth, even over Taylor Swift’s plea to shake off his worries.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she quickly turned her back on him. The man irritated her to no end, with everything he did and said. Which was strange initself; typically, she got along well with everyone. She was a psychologist, so she understood when people were insecure, or behaved badly or unpleasantly out of self-doubt. Everyone had weaknesses and she recognized most at first glance. But with Connor… She found it disturbingly difficult to assess him. What’s more, she had been so completely unprofessional in his presence. She had spent half the night thinking about what kind of psychological profile she would give him after their first meeting, but he didn’t quite fit into a box yet.
He’d been temperamental yet controlled. Principled, but too willing to take risks. He obviously had a lot of friends, so he couldn’t be completely obnoxious all the time. Objectively speaking, though, his personality was about as pleasant as being punched in the face.
But since she wouldn’t admit that the man fascinated her, she filed him away under the psychological termeveryday asshole.
“Rachel, we’re over here!” Maddie said, interrupting her thoughts.
“She knows that, babe. You almost dislocated your arm waving earlier,” her fiancé Matt said, patting her neck.
