Page 7 of The Cowboy's Second Chance Bride

“You were going to tell me what my role in this would be.” Now came the juicy stuff.

“Optium has put a lot of time and money in this new division. We’re not willing to lose it now. So the plan is to launch early but test the products and classes in real time, be honest about the flaws and show the fixes. Build customer trust. And since our CEO is a securities expert, and not an expert of relationships or love, we thought to pair him with one. And that one is you.”

“Will he be doing the dating? Will he be the one having these in-real-time experiences?” This might be the weirdest potential client ever.

“Yes. I’ll be honest. He’s not crazy about the idea. He’s a lone wolf. But he’s the perfect test subject, as he’s not dated in long time. He’s very rusty. Though if a match were to genuinely happen, no one will really complain.” She sounded more like a mother than an employee.

“He might. People don’t like getting handled unless they ask for it.”

She waved away my words. “Falling in love would be good for him. He’s such a loner, and he’s not the easiest person to get to know. But that is not the objective. What we want to do is to develop a safe online space for people who are looking to find love... among other things.”

“Okay, so how long is this job, and what are the hours? And is it located here?”

This was an interesting proposition, and I was intrigued. I was a pro at helping people find just the right fit for their emergency. Make-believe wives and fiancées were a niche specialty of mine. My success rate of those ending up in happy and fulfilling marriages was over ninety percent, all of whom are still married to this day. But helping the everyday person—that would be a new challenge. My clients had a range of things they wanted in a partner. Often I worked for the wealthy, who put money at the top of their list, believing if each person entered the arrangement with their own money, then the other would be more comfortable signing prenups. And those potential partners were limited. Matching on an app, on the other hand, involved a massive number of people. It was inevitable that things would go wrong.

“We can work all that out tomorrow if you’ll meet with us and decide to take the job.”

She was hedging.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I was the kind of girl who believed in just saying it all up front. When people didn’t communicate, lives were ruined and hearts were broken. I should know.

Morgan chuckled. “You have me figured out. I think maybe I didn’t emphasize enough about the… um, shall we say, abrasive exterior of the CEO.” She put up both hands to stop any comments. “Don’t get me wrong—he’s amazing with clients. It’s the personal-life stuff where he’s a bear. He’s resisting this, even though he knows it’s the right thing to do.”

I liked prickly men. They usually had a story to explain their attitudes, and I was good at finding the right person to heal the wound. And these prickly men were looking to be part of pair. “Do you know what his deal is?”

Morgan reached into the seat cabinet and pulled out a bottle of seltzer. She took a long drink from it before speaking. “Besides a cold and critical father, who I believe to be at the root of all the problems? I can’t say. Maybe a lost love, but that could just be rumors.”

I pressed my lips together as I studied the woman. My success rate was high because I knew what clients to not take on. This situation was straddling the fence. I wouldn’t be matching—I’d be coaching, trying to get a guy to change who didn’t want to change. That was hard on a good day, when the guy wanted it, but damn near impossible if he was fighting it.

As much as I liked a good challenge, I did not like one that required me to bang my head against the wall. This situation had the markings of just that, with a difficult CEO who purposefully avoided entanglements. Changing that mindset was sometimes like pushing a two-ton truck up a hill in high heels. Impossible unless you were Superwoman. And I was good—just not that good.

The car pulled into the hotel’s porte-cochère and glided to a stop at the sliding glass doors. I squared my shoulders as I prepared to let the woman down, putting on my calm yet compassionate face. I’d found that if I appeared this way, the other party would as well. Crazy how one person’s state of mind could affect other people’s.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I’m a good fit. I’m not sure?—”

“Wait. I have done a terrible job describing him.” Morgan picked up her phone and started tapping the screen. “He may sound hopeless, and maybe that’s how I think of him, but perhaps fresh eyes would see him in a different light. You could meet him and decide then, no?” She slid the phone across the seat toward me. “He’s quite handsome, don’t you think?”

I smiled at her as I picked up the phone. It took my brain exactly 1.2 seconds to register the picture. Thank heavens I had already schooled my expression, and praises to my daddy for teaching me how to have a poker face at the tender age of five. Those two skills came together in perfect harmony.

I didn’t gasp. I didn’t look at Morgan in surprise. I didn’t even lick my lips or shudder in revulsion—a reaction I had once upon a time hoped to have if I ever saw his face again.

No. I blinked once. Then again.

Calvin Beckett.

The one and only man who’d broken my heart. That thought made me want to snort in anger. Broken my heart? More like ripped it out and batted it around with a wiffle-ball bat. Those dang holes made the sting hurt a thousand times more.

Before that, our relationship had been perfect, or so I’d thought. Hindsight was twenty-twenty and all that.

So Cal was a security expert. I found that interesting. Apparently, blocking notifications about him on all my devices had panned out. I was totally oblivious to Cal’s life, and I wanted it that way. Doing a Google search out of curiosity and finding Cal married—or even worse, married with children—was something I wasn’t sure I could cope with. So I’d set my life up to limit, and hopefully negate, my chances of ever having that experience.

Yet here was the universe, delivering the notification in person. That bitch.

I set the phone down and tapped the picture with my nail. “This is your CEO?”

Morgan nodded. “Handsome, right?”

She’d get no commitment from me. “Mmm.”

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