Page 30 of The True Love Experiment

“You know why. Our goal is to find your soulmate. I already—” He breaks off. “We can’t.”

“The show hasn’t even started yet. Consider it more homework.” I reach forward, rest my hand on his side. God, he’s so solid under my touch. “Finding joy. I promise you’ll enjoy it.”

“That’s not what concerns me.”

“It’s been so long,” I admit. “I’m so relieved towantthis. I—”

“Fizzy.”

“Trust me. I’m great at compartmentalizing.”

“That’s the thing,” he says, and bends to press a soft but definitive kiss to my jaw. “I’m not.”

fourteenCONNOR

What does a man do after being propositioned by one of the most beautiful women in San Diego and then turning her down?

He considers slamming his head into a wall because he’s an idiot for deciding casual sex doesn’t work for him.

He has a wank so many times imagining it that he wakes up a bit chafed the next morning.

He goes to work—where he has been tasked with finding the soulmate of the very woman he wants, and who apparently also wants him—because his livelihood and access to his child depend on it.

He makes a mental note to get very drunk afterward.

And a plan for drinking later is wise considering the once-familiar office I walk into suddenly looks like a beefcake sweet shop.

There are men everywhere: in the lobby, clustered in conference rooms, and just casually—albeit attractively—leaning against cubicle partitions. In front of me stands every possible male phenotype—businessmen in suits, surfer dudes in shorts, inked-up blokes in torn jeans, cuddly-looking lads in jumpers—and each has the potential to be Fizzy’s soulmate. Wonderful.

My phone rings as I round the corner near my office. I take a calming breath, unsure whether I’m ready to put out any fires yet this morning, but relax when I see a photo of Nat and Stevie filling the screen.

“Hello—”

“I have a favor to ask,” Nat says immediately.

“Go on then.”

“Insu was asked to speak at a convention in Vegas this weekend and invited me to go. I’d have to leave Thursday, so I was wondering—”

“Of course. You know I’ll always take her early.”

“Thank you,” she says on a relieved sigh. “Stevie mentioned you had a date last night, and I didn’t want to assume anything.”

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