Page 132 of The Match Faker

‘What about a matchmaking service?’

‘My friends try to set me up and Mum and Dad are always suggesting men. But I haven’t tried a professional service. They’re expensive, aren’t they?’

That was one of the good things about when I’d started the agency. To build up that pool, I hadn’t charged, so I was able to help people from all backgrounds find love.

But I couldn’t do that forever. A lot of work went into what I did, so obviously I had to charge for my time. I had bills to pay, but I also hated that my services would only ever be accessible to people with money.

Now that I was working from home and my overheads were much lower, maybe I could take on a new pro bono client.

I hadn’t found my own Mr Right, but I knew how to find the right match for others. As well as benefiting Kelly, it’d distract me from worrying about my own love life.

‘I’m a professional matchmaker and I’m looking for a pro bono client. Should we go and grab that coffee? I believe I can help you.’

47

Liam

Islid off my shoes and collapsed on the sofa.

It’d been a long day. And the fact that I had to do it all again tomorrow and the next day and the next for another seven weeks filled me with dread.

We’d started shooting the new movie and as I’d predicted, I hated it.

When the car took me to the set that first morning, after yet another sleepless night, I’d convinced myself that getting back to work properly would be a good thing. It’d take my mind off Mia, who had dominated my thoughts every second, minute and hour since I’d returned from London.

The nights were the hardest. Everything felt empty without her. This house. My bed. And I wasn’t talking about the sex.

Yeah, of course I missed it, but it was more than that.

I missed waking up in the middle of the night and feeling the heat from her body beside me or her warm breath tickling my skin. I missed her laugh. I even missed her whooping my arse at Connect 4.

Usually, I didn’t get attached to women. As bad as it sounded, by the next day I’d forgotten about them. But not Mia. She’d lived rent-free in my head for years before we got together.

Now she wasn’t renting space in my head. She’d taken out a lifetime mortgage.

I was kidding myself to believe I could forget about her. It’d been a month and instead of thinking about her less, every day that passed I loved her more.

Yeah.

Newsflash.

I loved Mia.

So damn much.

I rubbed my jaw and blew out a breath. If I was being honest with myself, I’d fallen in love with her all those years ago and never stopped.

But back then it was puppy love. This right now was the real deal.

It was weird. Whenever I’d heard that stuff about finding a person so special that they were the first thing you thought about when you woke up and the last person you thought about when you went to sleep, I’d thought it was bullshit.

And I’d never understood how you could spend all day with someone, go to sleep and still be excited all over again to spend time with them the next day. But that was how I felt.

I wanted to spend today with Mia. And tomorrow. And every day after that.

I wanted to play games together, go to shows together…

I just wanted us to be together.

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