Page 4 of The Cowboy's Second Chance Bride

I pulled myself to the desk and leaned forward on my elbows, my bandage pulling tight, meeting the man’s eye. “You really think we need to bring a love consultant on board? Do those even exist? Am I supposed to date or get myself an arranged marriage or something? No offense, Jace.”

He smiled. “None taken.”

Jace’s loving father had put him in a quandary at one time too. A workaholic like me, Jace had been given an ultimatum by his dad, who said he wouldn’t leave Jace the family ranch unless he had a better work-life balance. Enter arranged marriage. That was Jace’s idea, and it was supposed to last until… well, I wasn’t sure when, but it didn’t matter because Jace was madly in love with his mail-order bride, Meredith. They were a perfect match.

Paul put his hand on Jace’s shoulder. “This is kinda where the idea came from. We bring in a love expert to help you test the app in real time. You know nothing about dating, so no one is gonna buy it if it was just you. But pair you, the security expert, with the love expert, and we have a social media reality show told through reels and posts that people will love to watch. This also builds consumer trust, so even if Hitchens relaunches his revamped product, we have the home-field advantage.”

“And maybe you’ll get lucky like Jace,” Mom said.

“Hard pass, Ma.” Yeah, marriage wasn’t in the stars for me. There was no way we could do this plan. I would never subject a woman to my company. How awful for them. “Won’t anyone I show attention to be caught up in this mess too? That doesn’t seem fair. And am I supposed to date with no real intention of it going anywhere? With a love expert over my shoulder? Too weird. See? Stupid plan.”

“Do you not want to settle down, Cal?” my mother asked quietly.

I pressed my fingers to my closed eyes. We’d had this discussion so many times. Then I looked back at Paul. I shook my head.

He pushed off the wall with a jerk. “I see where you’re coming from. The expert won’t be over your shoulder. She or he will be behind the scenes, guiding you on how to navigate the dating landscape. But it has to be you navigating the landscape. It’s a true test that way.”

“Do love experts really exist? How do you find one of those?” I really thought I had the win here with this one. It’s not like these were easy to find.

“We use a matchmaker,” he said.

I snapped to attention, my hands slapping down on my desk involuntarily. My gaze jerked toward Jace. He straightened and, with a tiny shake of his head, told me this was the first he’d heard of Paul’s plan to use a matchmaker.

“A matchmaker, huh?” Jace asked.

Mom leaned toward Jace. “I gathered a list. Meredith said you two used a friend. We were hoping maybe we could use her too. I like the idea of bringing in someone who has already been vetted.”

I shook my head, silently pleading with him to keep his mouth shut. Yeah, Jace had used a matchmaker to find Meredith. But it wasn’t matchmakers that were the problem—it was a specific matchmaker I had an issue with. She was a secret and needed to stay that way.

Jace cleared his throat. “Uh, I happen to know the one we used isn’t available. I’m not even sure she’s in the country.” He was talking to my mom but looked at me the entire time.

Paul looked between us, probably trying to listen in on our silent conversation.

I needed to quash this fast. “Can’t we use a psychologist or something?”

Paul smiled. “I thought of that, but typically, they’re there to deal with dysfunction. A matchmaker is perfect. We need to lean into what’s been said. You admit you’re a workaholic. You know nothing about dating—that’s our expert’s job—but the core value of ProtectedLove is the safety of dating in this current age. People are meeting online and getting catfished. How safe is an app? You can’t help but wonder about the risks. So you’ll be killing two birds with one stone—ensuring dating safety and building your knowledge in this—making you and Optium a good fit for this project and app.”

I shook my head. “Why does this feel like it’ll go over like a turd in a punch bowl?”

“Because you’re a pessimist.” This from Jace.

“If you’re determined to use a matchmaker, let me see your list. I want a say in the pick.”

Paul nodded. “But we need to pick soon.”

“I’ll text you my list,” Mom said.

“I’ll get on it ASAP. I know we are battling a ticking clock. I’m still skeptical about this plan working.”

Paul’s smile was smug. He was very sure of his plan. “We lean into the fact that you can’t just stifle the need to protect people. It’s who you are. And maybe if Citra’s sister is willing, we share her story, which showcases the fact that women are the most vulnerable. How could you not look to find ways to protect them and anyone else who is most at risk of being taken advantage of?”

I stood. I needed to go home and get some sleep. “With all this leaning, it’s a wonder I don’t fall over flat on my face and all this blows up around me.”

“Crisis averted,” Jace said.

My mother and Paul clearly thought Jace was talking about the plan, but I knew he wasn’t. Jace was talking about them wanting to bring Sabrina in to help. An impossible option. I’m sure deep down Jace would like to see his two closest buds be friendly again, but I’d destroyed any chance of that when I walked away. It didn’t matter that I’d done it to protect her. Jace knew Sabrina needed to stay as far away from me as possible.

The trouble was, she was the only girl I’d ever wanted.The one girl I’d thought I would be spending forever with. In my desk drawer, under several files, was a worn-out picture of her, taken the day before we were supposed to get married. She was getting a piggyback ride from me and smiling over my shoulder, looking like all was good in the world. Jace was in the picture too.

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