Page 46 of The Match Faker

‘No. It’s the truth.’

Her eyes widened, then she started fidgeting with her handbag. Something told me she wasn’t used to getting compliments.

‘So.’ Mia broke the silence. ‘How was your day?’

‘Busy. I had an early start with my PT, then calls with my agent and the shoot people all day.’

‘You have a personal trainer?’

‘Yeah, Nate. I’ve known him for years and he’s helping to get me in shape for my next movie.’

‘Right… so if you’re not preparing for a film, do you just look like an average guy, with a beer gut and moobs?’

‘Not really. Even if I’m not filming, there’s always some kind of shoot or something that demands I take my top off.’

Some days I thought about how freeing it’d be not to have to worry about what I ate, but this was how my life was, so I didn’t have a choice.

‘Admit it! You love the attention. Women wanting to jump you, men wishing they could be you.’

‘What can I say?’ I shrugged my shoulders. ‘There are worse ways to earn a living.’

That was what I told myself every day. Maybe one day I’d believe it.

‘And you?’ I deflected the focus onto her. ‘Do you enjoy your job?’

‘I love it!’ Her face brightened. ‘Well, the matchmaking part. The business side of things, not so much.’

‘When I heard you’d left banking, I was surprised.’

‘How did you hear?’

‘Oh, you know. On the grapevine.’

Otherwise known as Google. She used to work in a local bank. But she didn’t need to know I’d regularly looked her up over the years.

‘At least you didn’t hear that I was running a brothel.’

‘What?’ My eyes bulged.

As Mia filled me in on how her relatives gossiped about her job, I caught myself smiling.

This was how it used to be. Her chatting about something crazy her family had said and us finding it funny. Her brown eyes sparkling, her face animated. This was the Mia I always liked. Not the version that avoided me.

‘I know people can change, but to go from a goody-two-shoes to a madam would be a stretch, even for you.’

‘I’m not a goody-two-shoes!’

‘You were…’

‘Okay. Maybe.’

‘So what made you get into it, then?’

‘Running a brothel?’ Her mouth turned into a smile. I wished she did that more often. As much as I enjoyed sparring with her, I liked smiley Mia a lot more. ‘I always loved how my gran set people up.’

‘Granny E., right? How is she?’

‘She passed a few years ago.’

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