Page 4 of It Had to be You

With her free hand, she gave him a whack on the arm. "Alexander Wen! I can’t believe you said that!"

He gave her a pointed look and she managed to soften the stark outrage of her expression. They both knew how competitive she was.

"Fine, I can see why you would ask the question, Alex." She leaned into his arm as they continued to walk and looked up at him through the long lengths of her bangs. "But other than discovering the match ahead of time, this is all Martina’s doing."

He believed her. For the moment.

But a woman capable of hacking into his office computers was someone worthy of caution. He’d make sure to speak to Martina as soon as possible and make sure everything was on the up and up, but there was something to the idea of the match, he supposed. He’d always admired Blair’s drive. He just hadn’t known exactly how much effort she put into getting what she wanted.

CHAPTER 2

There wasn’t much that could throw Martina off her game. While she’d never worked this closely with the matchmaker before, Tatum Hansen had been friends with the magnetic woman since she’d walked up to Tatum at a ballroom exhibition and offered to hire her for special events in her business. Since then, she’d worked with clients of all ages to polish up or begin their relationship with dancing. Martina and Tatum both agreed that a man who could handle himself on a dance floor was just about as sexy as a man could get.

But the man who walked up to the dining room entrance was worth looking at even if he had two left feet.

Too bad he had a woman on his arm that looked like a million bucks. Okay, a billion, but that’s what they were dealing with here. Tatum knew she was way out of her league.

She could tell without looking that Martina wasn’t just on edge, she was probably clenching her teeth together. One look at the normally graceful line of Martina’s back spoke volumes. She was holding herself tight enough to snap if she didn’t take a breath soon.

"Hello, Martina!" The woman’s voice was bright, but while she looked like a perfectly nice woman, there was a sharp edgeto her energy that put Tatum on guard. "I’m so glad I caught you. I found Alex, so you don’t have to worry about the whole ‘introduction thing’ for us. All you have to do is show us to our table and we’ll be out of your hair."

Martina’s indrawn breath was a little short, but her smile was flawless. "While I’m not going to ask how you found out that Alexander was the gentleman who we matched you with… I’m afraid there’s an order to all of the events tonight."

"Yes, yes," her laughter was lovely, and every finger that smoothed over his sleeve was perfectly elegant and graceful, "but Alex and I have known each other for what seems like forever! I’m sure whatever you have planned is going to be lovely and will be designed to excite and titillate your other clients, but I hope you’ll agree that separating us now would be a waste of time and likely stall the momentum that we’ve already created.

Tatum couldn’t help but sneak a look to see how he was handling the ‘conversation’ between the two women. His expression wasn’t exactly open, but that wasn’t something that bothered her. She’d probably used a similar expression herself when she was scoping out the lay of the land at a competition. You didn’t wear your heart on your sleeve and not expect people to descend on you like lions on lambs.

While he wasn’t ignoring the not-so-subtle battle of wills, he didn’t seem to be that eager to jump in the middle.

And maybe it was just her imagination, but she thought she might have seen the littlest lift at the corner of his mouth. He might just have a bit of a wicked sense of humor.

Nice.

Very nice.

She sighed silently and stopped short when his gaze shifted over to her.

She tried to school her expression before he saw her open curiosity, but when he gave her a little nod, she knew she’d been too slow.

Her cheeks warmed as he continued to look at her for a long moment, but as soon as he turned back to Martina and his match, she wanted to find some reason to excuse herself, but she had a feeling Martina would strangle her later for abandoning her.

"Right now," Martina was still explaining, "the other ladies are seated in the dining room at their private and very romantic tables. As soon as you sit down, we can start to bring in the men and make the introductions. I know it’s not the most private situation, but we really do know what we’re doing and there’s a process to the events."

Tatum could tell that they were reaching an impasse and she felt for Martina. She worked so hard to make the whole cruise as beautiful and romantic as possible.

"So, you’re saying that I have to go in there and sit alone at our table until you bring him over to me? Am I supposed to pretend I don’t already know him? Or that I don’t already know he’s the one you matched me with?"

Martina nodded, tilting her chin down barely an inch. "Just for a few minutes, really. It wouldn’t be fair to the other ladies if they see the two of you already together. It really does short-change the whole process of making this match."

Tatum knew what Martina was saying and she was right. Her experience was invaluable.

"Please, Blair," Martina touched her hand over her heart, "it would be really helpful."

"Helpful."

There was no mistaking the tone of voice of a woman who wasn’t used to doing something contrary to her own interests, and Tatum was wondering if she’d read the man correctly. If shewas really his match, she couldn’t help but question what kind of man he really was.

"Well," she let go of his arm and reached into a pocket in her LBD that Tatum hadn’t even noticed before, "I have an alternative solution that should make us both happy."

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