Page 26 of Under His Touch

“That’s because it’s confusing,” I say, and lower my voice. “Alec hired me to find him a wife. Technically his grandfather hired me.”

“That’s insane,” she says. “Alec has no trouble finding women on his own. I read the tabloids.”

“Yeah, but he wants a nice girl, a girl-next-door type. Tonight he’s on a date with an elementary schoolteacher. I set it up.”

“Since when did you become a matchmaker?”

“If I find him a woman I get to plan his wedding. Imagine what that will do for my career.”

“That’s amazing,” she says, “but a nice girl doesn’t seem like his normal type. Not anymore, anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

“When you came to live with us, you had girl next door written all over you, and I assumed he liked that since you two were inseparable.”

“We were just friends,” I say.

“Yeah, tell that to the million girls who wanted to go out with him senior year, but he only had eyes for you. We all had a crush on him.”

“He never once hit on me. We were friends.” I learned that the hard way. “I kind of thought you had a crush on him.”

“Who didn’t. I wasn’t going to do anything about it, though. You’re my cousin and I’d never do anything to hurt you. I thought you liked him.”

I loved him.

“I didn’t know,” I say.

“So why is he looking for a nice girl now? I don’t get it.”

“He needs a ‘suitable’ wife if he wants to step into the CFO position at Blackstone. He doesn’t believe in love or happily-ever-after. He wants a wife in name only.”

“I never knew he was so romantic,” she mocks.

“Right?” I give a sad shake of my head.

She snorts out a laugh. “Oh, well, at least whomever he marries will get good sex out of it. I’m sure that man fucks like a god,” she says, and I nearly spill the wine in my glass as I bring it to my lips.

Don’t blush, Megan. Don’t think about the way he fucks and give yourself away.

Too late.

Fortunately, before Sara notices the color on my face, the waiter comes and takes our order. He jots it down and I close my menu and hand it over. When he disappears, I turn my attention to Sara. “How are things with Doug?”

She groans. “We’re done. Doug turned out to be a dud.” She gives a humorless laugh. “Maybe Alec is on to something, because I’m beginning to believe there is no such thing as love or happily ever after either.” She glances out the window. “What about you? How’s your love life going?”

“Let’s just say I’m about to buy shares in Duracell.” She laughs at that, and I pull a notepad from my purse. “How’s work going?” I ask.

“Busting my ass 24/7, but the senior partners keep overlooking me. I have more experience than Laura Sweeny, but her husband golfs with them, so she got the last promotion.” She scoffs. “I need a husband who golfs. Maybe that will help me get ahead, but there are just no decent guys out there and I’ve given up on trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

“I hear you. Okay, so two weeks to plan a party. You’re not giving me much time.”

She crinkles her nose. “Sorry, I was out of town for work, and time just got away from me. Will you be able to pull it off?”

“I’ll get the invitations out the second we secure a venue, which might be hard this late in the game.”

“Don’t kill me, but I was actually hoping to have it at the Skylark.”

“Sara—” I’m about to tell her there’s no way in hell I could get that last minute when she blinks at me and cuts me off.

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