Australia when he got home and hope that his aunt would respond somewhat soon. He didn’t know what Belle would do with regard to Rhi wanting to buy Matchmaker, but it cost him nothing to put the message through. He owed it to his colleague.
She hadn’t felt like his colleague when he’d stood behind her, when he’d brushed his arm against hers.
That spark of attraction had started a heat low in his belly, a heat he’d thought he’d banked when she’d run away from him. No wonder he’d been too distracted to properly talk to poor Rachel.
He still wanted Rhi.
“She’s pretty too. Prettier in person. You two seemed comfortable with each other. We’ll find you someone we can replicate that with.” Tina came to her feet. “Too bad you can’t date her.”
“Yeah—” He stopped. Tina had already turned away and was walking to the door.
“If we can’t edit you and Rachel, we’ll trash tonight’s footage. I’ll see who the next girl is on the list,” Tina said, over her shoulder.
Too bad you can’t date her.
There were a few milliseconds before someone hit your body with the full force of theirs, when the world narrowed to nothing but the other person. He was there, in that tense, panting moment. “Things may not go any better with the next woman we find on Matchmaker.”
She stopped and gave him a sympathetic look. “One bad date can make you feel that way, I know. We can expand past entertainment people. It might give you a wider net. You can also work on your acting skills before the next meetup.” She rested her hip against the back of a chair. “What’s the last great date you had? Pretend your next date is her.”
The last great date he’d had.
He thought about sitting next to Rhi in that dive bar. That heart-pumping, soul-destroying connection.
The truth came upon him like a body blow.
Rhi may have gotten closure, but he hadn’t. That connection was still there, the connection that had urged him to beg her for a second date, even though he’d known she was a tourist in his beach town.
I don’t want to get together with you again.
That was what closure implied, huh? That she was done.
“That’s it. Like that.” Tina made a square with her fingers and peered through it. “Whatever feeling’s making you look like that.”
His brain churned. He wanted to help Belle vis-à-vis this campaign.
Rhi wanted to use him for his connection to his aunt.
He wanted to see Rhi again. Maybe as more than colleagues. No. Definitely as more than colleagues. It didn’t have to be for forever, forever was terrifying. What fell between colleague and happily ever after?
Lovers. Temporary bedmates. Platonic friends. Lots of things.
Why couldn’t they all get what they wanted?
Why should he have to remember his last great connection? When they could re-create it, exactly. “Can you actually stay for a little bit? And get marketing and William on the phone. I have an idea.”
Chapter Ten
YOUR MOTHER’S on the phone, and she said if you don’t answer, she’s going to start posting your most embarrassing baby photos on ‘the Facebook,’ one every hour until you pick up.”
Rhi looked up from her laptop. She was curled in the window seat of her office. “Did you give her that idea?”
Lakshmi shrugged. She was wearing a rose gold crop top and overalls today. “I like your mom.”
“Everyone does.” Rhi rolled her eyes and held up her hand, catching the vintage pink phone headset Lakshmi threw into it. They had normal phones, but since Rhiannon used her desk as a catchall more than an actual workspace, this was how she did her business. This or her cell.
She put the earpiece on. “What’s up, Ma?”
“Young lady, you are avoiding me.”
Rhi cringed. She might be thirty-seven years old, but young lady always made her want to look for the closest cupboard to hide in. “I’m not.” She was.
“Your brother responds to all my phone calls and texts immediately, you know.”
Because Gabe is perfect.
That was unfair. Her little brother was far from perfect, but he was filled with an innate sweetness Rhi lacked. Sweet, kind, and loyal. Yeah, Gabe was sweet, kind, and loyal to a T.
Gabe understood both Sonya and Rhi. He kept in constant contact with their mother, happy to talk to her for an hour or more about nothing, and he kept his texts to Rhi short and to the point and with purpose. He truly was a code-switching saint, able to make his way through