“Okay,” Jill says. She’s shown up at my door with a sly smile and a bottle of her favorite cherry vodka. “What’s the big emergency?”

I usher her in. “It’s not an emergency, exactly. I mean . . .”

“It’s definitely an emergency,” Tessa pipes up cheerfully from the living room sofa. “McKenna wants to boink Jack Callahan’s brains out. Total crisis.”

“I don’t want to ‘boink’ him,” I protest. “That’s the problem.”

“Oh, honey.” Jill shakes her head teasingly and nudges me toward the sofa. “First I make drinks, then you spill.”

She mixes cocktails with the lime soda she knows I always have in my fridge and carries them over. “So what has the stud muffin done now?”

I accept the glass and take a large gulp. “Nothing worse than usual. The problem is me.”

I tell them about the rock-climbing excursion and the maybe-near kiss. “It’s the serotonin,” I insist. “I’ve said it before, life-threatening encounters make you release all kinds of crazy hormones.”

“That explains your side of things,” Tessa points out. “But what about him?”

“I must have been imagining it,” I say. “I’m so not his type.”

“I don’t know,” Jill says with a thoughtful expression. “You’re pretty great. Why wouldn’t he want to boink you?”

I cover my face with my hand. “Can we please at least stop saying ‘boink’?”

“Jill’s right,” Tessa says. “Sure, he goes for lots of women—so why not you? Do you really think it’s impossible he’d be interested in making sweet, sweet love with you?”

“Rocking your world,” Jill adds, grinning.

“Playing hide the salami—”

“OK!” I protest, laughing. “ ‘Boink’ is allowed. And you’re wrong,” I inform them. “I shouldn’t want to hook up with him. I can’t. He’s only just starting to respect me as a businesswoman. Even a one-night stand would make things so messy. And I don’t even like one-night stands!”

“Ah,” Jill says sagely. “So it’s not just that you want to boink him, it’s that you want to boink him continually, but you don’t think he’d be up for that.”

I glare at her. “Even if he would be, going for a relationship with him would be even more unprofessional. And contradict my entire goal. I want him falling for one of his matches, not for me! If I hook up with him, I might as well throw any chance of him funding Perfect Match away.”

“That makes sense,” Tessa says. “Of course you don’t want to screw up your business.”

I push my hands back through my hair. “What I need is to figure out how to get rid of these feelings,” I declare, determined. “How can I stop being attracted to him? Or at least make sure it doesn’t get any worse. I’m trying to work with this guy. And he’s just so . . .”

Sexy. Handsome. Infuriating.

“Hmm.” Jill purses her lips. “Usually when I want to get over one guy, the easiest thing is to fall for another. But you’re not really the fall-fast-and-often type.”

“Can you spend less time with him?” Tessa suggests. “The less you see him, the less it’ll come up.”

“I don’t know.” I sigh. “I fought so hard to get any meetings with him, I don’t really want to start turning them down. And Jack doesn’t seem to like to talk except in person. I’d rather take a whole lot of cold showers than jeopardize our deal.”

“Then you’ve got to end it fast,” Jill says. “Find him his match, land his investment, and then you’re done. And you’ve won!”

“If only it were that easy.” Even if I do convince him to invest, he’ll want to stay involved. But I could put more buffers between him and me then. Hire an operating officer, some corporate liaisons . . . Besides, if I could find him a match he’s really into, then there won’t be anything to hope for. He’ll be hooked on someone else.

“Or you could fuck him and see what happens,” Tessa suggests. “Just once, so it won’t get in the way of the matching.”

Jill and I both turn to stare at her.

“What?” She grins. “I’m allowed to have controversial opinions. He’s obviously not McKenna’s type. Right, Mac? It’s just about . . . physical temptation, or whatever. Wondering what it’d be like. If you go for it and then you know, there’ll be less temptation. I’d think, anyway.”

“I . . . don’t know about that,” I say. “Jack seems like he knows what he’s doing.”

Jill grins. “She could end up addicted to that hot stud-muffin body.”

I roll my eyes at her, but, yeah, that’s a possibility. “It’s too risky. For the business.” And for my heart. But my mind is still stuck on Jill’s suggestion. Finish the deal, land the investment.

There’s no acceptable way out of this except through to the end. I need to crack Jack’s soulmate code, and fast.

---

“I’ve entered the new data into his profile,” I say to Warren the next afternoon. “You’ve made the adjustments to the deal-breaker and psychological measures I asked for?”

“All finely tuned and ready to go,” he says with a salute from his desk.

“All right.” I clap my hands together, wishing the jittering inside me felt more like excitement and less like nerves. This is good. I’ll find Jack is absolute perfect match, and we can all move on. No reason to feel anything but happy about that. “Let’s run this baby.”

Warren sets the match function running. My feet want to pace the office. Instead I make myself sit down beside Warren. The thumping bass of porno music and a particularly loud moan filters up from the studio below.

Don’t think about Jack making those sounds . . .

A new list of women pops up on screen. The one at the top is highlighted with a red border. 99% confirmed compatibility.

“Wow,” Warren says. “I don’t think I’ve seen higher than a 95 before.”

My heart starts to thump along with the bass. I can only see the woman’s picture in thumbnail, but she’s obviously gorgeous. Lush chestnut hair, creamy skin, a bright smile. I can already picture her at Jack’s side.

“Let me take a look?”

Warren scoots to the side. At my click, Miss Perfect’s profile expands on the screen. Claudia, age 28. Lit major turned style blogger. She loves travel (check), culture, (check), and horror movies. She also likes vintage Seinfeld, new indie music, and rock climbing.

“She looks good.” Riley’s voice comes from over my shoulder. She’s behind me, leaning in. “Confident but not arrogant.”

“Adventurous but not flighty,” I agree.

“And don’t forget smokin’ hot,” Warren finishes. “Damn, we’re good.”

“Uh huh,” I agree, taking it in.

“This girl is perfect for him,” Riley exclaims. “So why aren’t you happier?”

“I am,” I lie, fighting the urge to close her profile and delete her right off the system.

I’m being ridiculous. I have to find Jack a match. And even if I wasn’t in this situation, he couldn’t be further from perfect for me.

“What are the date activities?” Riley asks.

I open up the list. “Learning to sail . . . An escape room . . . No, this one,” I say, smiling. “Dining in the dark.”

“Really?” Riley wrinkles her nose. “Don’t you just get food everywhere?”

“It’s an experience,” I tell her. “All the other options, Jack can show off and pull his whole ‘master of the universe’ thing. This will even the playing field and get him out of his comfort zone.”

Even Jack can’t see in the dark.

I select that one and send him the info, then dial. I’m not letting him delay another few weeks: the countdown is on, and besides, I need him safely coupled up with some other woman ASAP—and out of my fantasies.

“McKenna,” Jack answers, sounding cheerful. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I just sent you a new match,” I say, jumping right into it. “And I’m not taking no for an answer on this one. She’s perfect for you.”

There’s a rustle and a tapping of fingers over a keyboard. Then a pause. I realize I’m holding my breath.

“Hmmm.” He makes an approving noise. “Looks good to me.”

“So you’ll arrange the date?” I press. “Not next week, or next month. But soon.”

He chuckles. “Trying to get rid of me?”

Anything but.

“Fine, I have an opening in my schedule tonight . . .” He pauses, and I can hear more typing. “OK, she’s free, we’re all set.”

“Just like that?” I blink. I was expecting more resistance, somehow. Chasing, and arguing, and more of that infuriating banter that makes my blood boil and my heart race and—

Well, heats up other parts, too.

“She looks great, on paper,” Jack continues. “Who knows? Maybe she’s my perfect match, after all. You may prove me wrong yet.”

My heart sinks. “Maybe.

I hang up. I should be pleased. I couldn’t have asked for the situation to go better. But somehow I just can’t get my head back into work. I putter around the office for another couple hours, checking over marketing plans and recruitment data. Then I call it a day early and send Warren and Riley home, too.

I head home, but I can’t shake this restless feeling—or the buzz of thoughts wondering about Jack and his perfect date. I picture them meeting up outside the restaurant, his eyes lighting up as he gets that spark he’s been looking for.

No, that’s not helpful at all.

I go into my bedroom and grab Sense and Sensibility off the shelf. It’s my favorite comfort read, and I could definitely use some Austenian sense knocked into my head. Now, she was a woman who knew about matchmaking—and what made two people perfect for each other. But even curled up on the couch, I can’t focus on the pages. Jack’s voice keeps ringing in my head.

Who knows? Maybe she’s my perfect match.

Argh. I need a more mindless distraction. I turn on the TV, zoom through my Netflix list, my foot tapping on the floor. I try to tell myself I’m just anxious about whether it’ll go well because I want to settle this deal and secure my funding, but I know that’s a lie.

I’ve cycled through the list twice without settling on anything when my phone rings. I check the screen—shit.

It’s Jack. It’s barely dinnertime. He can’t have ended the date already, can he?

“Hey,” I answer. “What’s up? No last-minute cold feet, I hope.”

Jack chuckles, and damn, damn, damn, that’s all it takes to make my blood run hot. “Not on my end,” he says. “I just got a text from her asking to reschedule. Unexpected family emergency, apparently. She was very apologetic and said she’d let me know when the crisis is over.”

“Oh,” I say, unable to stop my smile spreading. “That’s too bad.”

“Especially since I have this reservation now.” He pauses. “Want to join me?”

My heart leaps in a way it very definitely shouldn’t. But before I’ve even thought twice, I’m saying, “Yes, sure. That sounds great.”

“Wonderful. I’ll text you the address.”

And just like that, I have a date with Jack Callahan.