Ashley

Any large event will have unanticipated glitches. This one was no exception. We had a party of gate crashers I had to call security about. We had many confused match seekers who couldn't figure their clues out and needed help. And I'd thought we'd been too obvious.

Lottie was the genius behind many clues. She'd been so clever with them. She and I spent a lot of time pointing people in the right direction. Despite all that, by dinnertime, a healthy percentage of the attendees were settling down at two-person tables with the match we'd intended for them. I felt very proud of us. We were going to be so busy for the near future.

Usually I was available to coach clients while they were out on dates. Tonight I happily had too many clients all out at once to be an effective coach. Prior to the ball, I'd notified all clients that for this night only, I wouldn't be available to talk them through a dating problem. Unfortunately, I had to break my own rule when several clients sent me panicked texts. All of this kept me even busier.

I'd been keeping a close eye on Dylan and Cam, but Dylan in particular. The match I had for Cam was decent, but Laura was definitely someone I could see Dylan marrying.

Dylan was being Dylan. He was being perverse—dancing and flirting with every other swan in the room while avoiding Laura. He was toying with me, the little turd. He was obviously smarter than the average bear-sized guy and had figured out Laura was one of the swans from the beginning. I was pleased to see that he'd finally relinquished his pride to fate and was sitting down to dinner with her at the table I'd reserved for them. Now to keep an eye and make sure the course of true love bloomed and ran smooth, despite Shakespeare's gloomy, but generally accurate, statement that it never did.

I would have loved to spend the evening with my true love, but Lazer was equally engaged helping people, mostly the ladies, find their matches. He was dressed as the King of Hearts and was certainly playing the part, mopping up tears, sympathizing with frustrated women, smoothing egos and ruffled feathers, and dancing with the brokenhearted. He was just being Lazer. I had to love that about him, but…

Lazer was charming and flirted without realizing it. It was part of his appeal, but it had its downside. Without meaning to, and even knowing it was irrational, I was feeling neglected and a little jealous when I was waylaid by Knox, dressed as a man in black. Seeing his familiar, deeply dimpled smile lifted my spirits. "Sunglasses for a mask? Really, Knox? That's cheating."

"Expensive, very dark mirrored sunglasses. They hide my eyes and the upper part of my face. That's the only rule, right?" He hugged me and kissed my cheek in the affectionate way he always had. "It's creative and shows I'm a catch—I have money." He tugged on the lapel of his black suit. "And I get a chance to wear this suit."

"Mmmmm," I said. He looked incredibly handsome in his tailored suit. "Where is your match? Having trouble with your clue? I can help. I have the key." I held up my phone.

He sighed and shook his head. "Matches, it turns out, are as hapless and fickle as aliens. I found mine all right, but she ran off with a guy whose idea of a costume was similar enough to mine to confuse her, charitably speaking. He dusted his beard gray, put on a suit coat and an open front shirt, and became the most interesting man in the world. You know, from the beer commercial?"

I didn't know, but I took his word. "I'm sorry to hear it," I said. "Granted, it's hard to compete with the most interesting man in the world."

"Small consolation. But I guess love is blind and unable to tell the difference between a man in black and the most interesting man in the world. Similar costumes to the untrained eye. She tried him first, liked what she saw, and stayed with him." Knox casually pointed to a table where the most interesting man in the world was, quite naturally, drinking a beer and chatting with the pretty nurse I'd had in mind for Knox. "Unless you have another match and clue for me, I'm sitting at the lonely hearts club group table tonight."

"Which means I also have a lonely match for Mr. Interesting around here somewhere," I said.

"Is she my type?"

I pursed my lips and brought up the spreadsheet on my phone to check. "No, unfortunately not. If it's any consolation, the most interesting man in the world and your nurse probably won't last. They're highly incompatible."

"Damn. Some people are clueless and can't be helped."

I looked around for Lazer. He was occupied with a group of women fawning over him. I took Knox's arm. "My king is busy for the moment. Come keep me company at my table while I try to find another match for you. I can't promise I'll be able to sit long, but at least neither of us will be lonely."

It was impossible to read his eyes behind the mirrored sunglasses, but he smiled. "My pleasure."

---

Dylan

Ashley and Lazer had coached us and drilled into us how to make conversation on a date and spark intimacy. There are questions you can ask and discuss that make bonding easier and faster. Techniques you can use to cut to the chase. I'd watched Lazer operate enough years to see that the method worked. I was using those questions now to build a bond of friendship between us. With some women I'd dated, it still felt like work, but with Laura, it was like play.

Neither of us admitted to knowing the other, although it was obvious she knew who I was and I knew her. The thought of being two strangers meeting added to the thrill and allowed me to get to know the Laura of now. And I wanted to know everything about her.

I wasn't much of a talker. I preferred to listen to her and watch the way her smile lit up as she shared. I could have watched her all day. She was beautiful when she got excited, and funny and witty. There was nothing about this grownup Laura I didn't like. She was still the captivating Laura I remembered, but surer of herself, more independent. The more she talked, the deeper I fell for her. I was skating into dangerous territory, but I let myself go there.

She hadn't been on any match dates, nor had she been taught the intimacy questions, which was apparent by the way she warmed to me and looked at me like I was the most sensitive guy around. Those questions made me look like a dating superstar in her eyes. It was a refreshing image change from the nerdy version of me she must have had from when we were kids.

Eventually, Laura noticed she was doing most of the talking. "I've been chattering away. Tell me something about yourself."

This was where it got tricky and I had to answer an intimacy question she hadn't asked. I had a message I wanted to get across. This was as good an opportunity as I was likely to get, but even so, my heart hammered. "I grew up in a small ranching town on the other side of the mountains."

She tensed.

I had to proceed carefully. "It was a nice place with a lot of good people and expectations that weren't me. The town's idea of success was being the star of the annual stampede and rodeo."

I couldn't see her eyes, which made this heartfelt confession of who I was that much more difficult. But I'd blown one chance with her and wasn't about to blow this one. If things were going to go forward between us, I had to open up and let her see inside me. Yeah, she could reject me, but that was a chance I had to take.

I waved my hands over my torso. "Look at me. I'm way too large to be a cowboy. I was even larger then." I laughed. "My uncle was a rodeo star. I wanted to be like him. Followed him everywhere. Idolized him, but there was no way I was physically ever going to be a rodeo star. I sure wanted to be one. I'm not the right size. I'm way too tall and big-boned. I don't have the personality, either."

Growing up in the same town as I did, Laura would know that. But we were pretending not to know each other. I had to make the deception authentic.

"I did, and do, like tech stuff and gaming. I have a good head for math. I buried myself in games and coding and became a couch potato kind of kid as a way of rebelling and protecting myself. People expect big guys to be athletic, especially in a small town where every guy is needed to field a team of any sort. I'm not particularly athletic and didn't like team sports.

"I put on weight as a means of opting out. The fatter I got, the less pressure people put on me—and, unfortunately, the more I was made fun of. If there was one thing I'd change about the way I was raised, I would have liked my parents to build up who I was more and ease off what the town expected from me. I would have liked them to express more clearly that it was okay to like school more than rodeo."

Laura sat still as she listened. She dabbed her nose with a napkin. I assumed that meant she was moved.

"Sorry. I've said too much." I cleared my throat, a nervous habit.

"No." She reached across the table and took my hand. "I was raised in a small town, too, and have my regrets. If I could change one thing about the way I was raised, I'd make it clear that I didn't need to care so much what my peers thought. That high school is only one small, silly, insecure part of life. It's less important to be popular then and more important to follow your heart and not care so much about what others think, even family. Particularly strong-willed, opinionated family members."

I hoped she was telling me what I thought she was. Her grandpa had been in a feud with mine since before I could remember. He'd never liked me just by virtue of my family. Something about a horse deal gone bad. Over the years, the details had been blurred and exaggerated so badly that I didn't think anyone knew or remembered the full truth. All I knew was that my granddad was one of the biggest-hearted, most honest men I knew. I'd always been on his side, naturally.

"You know what my biggest regret from my high school years is?" She focused on me, completely earnest. "Accepting this really sweet, funny, big guy's invitation to prom and backing out later, cruelly, when a more socially acceptable offer came along." Her voice became soft. "The folly of youth."

I swallowed hard. I wasn't an emotionally vulnerable guy, but her admission touched me. I swallowed hard. Maybe I'd misjudged her.

"Our class had so few girls that we were required to take our turn being the dance queen of the moment." She laughed, but it was at herself, continuing the ruse.

I knew damn well how our prom queens were chosen.

"It was my bad luck that my turn came up for senior prom. Just when I was about to tell people where to go and do what I wanted for once. It's not an excuse. It just is what it is. I went with the local rodeo star, a guy who'd graduated a few years before. A guy who wasn't…" She looked away.

I sat quietly, letting her process.

She shuddered. "Prom night is my worst memory ever."

I squeezed her hand. It was one of mine, too.

"Fortunately, prom was just weeks before graduation. I got out of that town as fast as I could. Graduated and left." Her voice shook. "My parents moved away. My grandpa still lives there, but I seldom go back."

I looked her in the mask. It was impossible to look her in the eye. I put my heart in my voice. "We've only just met, but you know what I like about you?"

She tilted her head.

"Your strength. Your honesty." Which was almost a joke, because we were both lying about not knowing each other.

She laughed and softly shook her head. "Am I honest? Are we being honest?"

Yeah, she got the irony. I smiled. "Honest where it counts. I'm not finished with my list of what I like about you already. I admire your willingness to put your heart out there and be vulnerable. The way you admit your mistakes and weaknesses."

Her smile wobbled. "I was just going to say the same about you, cowboy."

A waiter came by and cleared our dessert plates. The band took the stage and began to play.

"Do you dance, Odette?"

"I do." Her smile deepened. "Is that an invitation?"

I laughed, knowing how much she loved dancing and how good she was at it. "It is if that's a yes."

She laughed too. "I love dancing, and I'd love to dance with you." She slid her chair back and looked at the dancers filling the dance floor. She turned to me. "That's a bachata. It's a dangerous and tricky dance."

"Are you warning me? Don't think I can handle it?" I lifted an eyebrow.

"It's not like your typical country line dance."

"Are you stereotyping cowboys?" I pushed my chair back. "Because I'll have you know, space cowboys can dance. Zero gravity makes us light on our feet. And I've taken a few lessons."

"With a challenge like that, how can I refuse?"

I held my hand out to her.

As she took it, she said, "Bring it on, cowboy. Show me what you got."

---

Ashley

I was up and down at dinner, leaving Knox to keep the waiters from clearing my plate while I put out fires and stole bites in between. Lazer and Lottie were as busy as I was. At last, just as dessert was being served, I managed to rejoin Knox at our table. He'd been very sweet and gotten the waiter to put a plate cover over my meal.

He looked apologetic as I sat down. "I tried to get them to put a Sterno under it, but they wouldn't have it."

"Nice of you to try." It felt good to be off my feet and just relax with an old friend for a few minutes over dinner. I hoped the calm lasted long enough for me to enjoy the remains of my meal. I slipped my Queen of Hearts slippers off and sighed happily.

Knox slipped off the glove he was wearing on his left hand to hide his missing fingers. He held his hand up and stretched it. It was scarred from the explosion that cost him the fingers. It tightened up and needed to be stretched with specific exercises his physical therapist had given him. After being a military wife, I knew more than I wanted to about war injuries, physical therapy, and healing. Knox was doing a competent job of messaging his left hand with his right, but it was really a job best done with two hands.

"Here. Let me." I held my hand out for his and scooted my chair around closer to him to make the job easier.

When Ruck was alive, I'd had the reputation for being one of the best massagers around. I had strong fingers and hands. I'd messaged Knox's wounds before, but not his hand. This was just a friendly gesture.

He stretched his stump. "I still feel phantom pain in my phantom fingers."

I tried not to wince. He didn't want my sympathy. That would only wound his pride. But a tender touch was something else.

He slipped his hand into mine and relaxed as I stroked his palm and messaged his hand with strong upward strokes.

"You think this scared my match off?" He nodded to his arm.

"Your hand?" I shook my head. "She couldn't have seen it beneath your glove. Her loss that she didn't get close enough to you to realize what's beneath the glove."

"You make this seem like a good thing." He tried not to wince as I worked a knot out.

"It's a unique thing," I said. "It makes you human and heroic. To the right woman, it will be a beautiful symbol of courage and heroism. It makes you look badass and dangerous. Women love that." I realized too late how it looked with his hand in mine.

His answering smile was a little too intimate if you didn't know our history. This was just the way it had always been between Knox and me—a little flirty, but only in a friendly way. He understood the limits. Anyway, I didn't flinch, and neither did he.

"You still have the touch." He tipped his head back and groaned with delight, letting me massage his hand in silence. Finally, he clasped his right hand over mine and patted my fingers, squeezing them for good measure. "I'm keeping you from eating."

"So you are." I relinquished his hand and dove into my meal.

"You keep looking back at a particular spot in the room," Knox said. He'd always been observant. "Keeping an eye on a special client?"

"You caught me. I am." I pushed my plate away. "I'll have to learn to be stealthier."

"So you play favorites?"

"This one's a personal friend, a longtime friend of Lazer's, and one of our original clients. It's a matter of pride to get him matched." I smiled, satisfied. From what I could tell, Dylan and Laura were getting along well. "I think I might finally have succeeded. I hope so, anyway."

Knox lifted his wine glass. "To your success and many happy matches."

I clinked my glass to his. "To love and destiny."

Yes, I was pleased with the spark I saw blossoming between Laura and Dylan. I knew I hadn't been wrong. This was the perfect way to get them together. My heart swelled with love for Lazer and the lengths he went to in order to make his friends happy. Even if Dylan and Laura were the only couple to get a match out of this, the whole event would have been worth it. But from what I was seeing, I was going to have many, many happily matched couples. Our lovelock statue in the lobby was going to bend under the weight of all the locks that would soon be added to it.

The waiter cleared my plate and brought me coffee and dessert. Knox had already had his dessert. We chatted pleasantly while I finished eating the luscious chocolate concoction, totally uninterrupted. It may have been my imagination, but I thought Knox was scaring off anyone who dared approach me, and Lottie must have been handling any forest fires that popped up.

When I had finished every last bite, the band began playing.

Knox extended his hand to me. "May I have the pleasure of this dance, my queen?"

I laughed and took his hand. I loved to dance, and so did Knox. Before Ruck died, Knox had always been my dancing partner of choice when Ruck wasn't available. I knew his moves and he mine. Better yet, the two of us knew how to move together. Though I preferred to dance with my late husband because of the intimacy and romance of dancing, I had to admit that Knox was the better dancer. When you dance with someone who knows what they're doing, dancing is one of life's greatest pleasures.

"I'd be delighted." I took the hand he offered and let him help me out of my chair and lead me onto the dance floor. "Do you remember the time we won the officers' dance competition?"

He grinned. "Do I remember? We danced a bachata then, too. I'm a little rusty, but I think I can still manage."

"Where you lead, I'll follow. I think I can still remember some of our more dramatic moves. Your nurse is going to regret throwing you over for the most interesting man in the world."

He took my waist in his hands. "Let's show them what we've got."