Page 12 of In Your Dreams, Holden Rhodes

Hi.

Hey, baby,she responded.

Uh. Okay.How are you?

I’m sitting in the bath, thinking about you. If you want to know more about me, check out my website:

I pictured a woman in the bath, but it was Sadie in the tub, giving me that hot, appraising look. My cock stirred.

Why would anyone go for Holden when they could have one of his brothers?

I blew a long breath out, shoved her words out of my head, and deleted the app.

I could throw money at this problem. I could hire someone to set me up, like a matchmaker. I leaned back to see down the hall outside my office. Emmett still dropped by sometimes. If my brothers found out I was doing this, I’d never hear the end of it.

I typedVancouver Island + matchmakerinto Google before clicking the first link.

A video played on the site. A woman with short, bright red hair and a suit in the same color stared into the camera. A harp began playing through my speakers.

“Are you lonely, lack confidence, and terrible at dating?” she asked in a seductive tone.

A strangled noise scraped out of my throat, and I rushed to hit mute before sending another nervous glance out the door. Her mouth kept moving in the video and words appeared beside her.

Matchmaker and Life Coach. Speed dating events every Friday!

Speed dating? Fuck, no. Cold dread trickled down my spine. The idea of speed dating made my skin crawl. I wasn’t like Emmett, who could strike up a conversation with anyone. It would be a disaster. I could already tell I’d go home frustrated with myself.

I returned to Google and stared at the blinking cursor. Self-hate rose in my gut.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” I muttered to myself.

How to find a wife.

Zara stood at the glass door of my office. I hit lock screen as fast as I could.

“The candidate for the senior architect position is here,” she told me.

“Right.” I stood and gathered my things.

* * *

After the interview,I returned to my office and froze in the doorway.

Sadie Waters lounged in one of the chairs across from my desk, a sketchbook balanced on her lap. She wore a cheerful yellow sweater. Lost in concentration, she erased something on the page in front of her before grabbing one of my pencils off my desk to fix whatever she had erased.

The familiarity of her grabbing the pencil made my heart shoot into my throat.

Be normal,I told myself.

At a loss for words, I cleared my throat.

She glanced up and gave me a bright smile. Not a sincere smile, but one of those fake ones she did when she was trying to annoy me.

“Good morning, Holden.”

I scowled at her, gaze traveling over her perky ponytail and bright eyes. “I thought you were leaving.”

She shrugged and smiled wider. “I guess I didn’t.” She put her hands up like,whatcha gonna do?before she adjusted in her seat. “On account of us inheriting an inn together and everything.”

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