Page 12 of Falling for My Matchmaker

I couldn’t.

Because if I opened my mouth, I wasn’t sure I could still pretend I didn’t want exactly that.

Chapter 4: Say Yes to Maybe

The Matchbox consultation room still looked like a spa pretending to be a therapist’s office—soothing walls, a Himalayan salt lamp in the corner, and a throw pillow embroidered withopen hearts attract open doors. I dropped into my usual chair. Nate glanced up.

“Just to recap—while wewillbe introducing you to curated matches from our network, we also support clients with anyone they meet on their own. Apps, setups, rogue baristas—you name it.”

“Rogue baristas,” I echoed. “Good to know.”

“We call this part recon,” he said cheerfully. “We will review your week, spot patterns, and maybe recalibrate the radar a bit.”

I shrugged and opened my last dating app on my phone. “Behold,” I said. “The worst of humanity, conveniently sorted into swipeable thumbnails.”

I slid my phone across the table.

Nate accepted it with the glee of someone opening a mystery box. “Great. Let’s do some recon. Ready?”

“Oh, I was born ready,” I said. “To mock people.”

He scrolled—and flinched. His eyebrows did the slow, horrified lift of a man encountering the worst of humanity, one profile at a time.

First profile: mirror selfie, glistening abs, captionedJust ask ;).

"This guy," I said, pointing, "calls women 'females' and thinks emotional intelligence is a tequila brand."

Nate chuckled. "Strong start."

Next: a conversation starting with a lone "Hey."

"Auto-ban," I declared. "If your opener doubles as a dial tone, we’re done."

Swipe. Bio:Work hard, play harder.

"Translation: won’t text back unless his Wi-Fi is down or he’s out of pre-workout."

Nate snorted.

Then there was a "How was your weekend?" message. Sent on a Tuesday.

"What am I supposed to say? 'Longer than your attention span'?"

He grinned but set the phone down. "You're great at spotting red flags," he said. "When’s the last time you spotted a green one?"

I blinked. "I’m just trying to avoid wasting time on sentient warning signs."

"Sure," Nate said, calm as ever. "But if your whole system’s set to Deflect and Destroy, how do you ever let anything in?"

I crossed my arms. "I know what I’m doing."

"I don’t doubt it," he said. "I just think your radar might be a little...overcalibrated."

I shrugged. "Better paranoid than partnered with a guy who says 'no drama' but has three exes in a group chat."

"Okay," he said. "So what’s a green flag to you?"

I raised an eyebrow. "He doesn't live with his mom. Doesn’t call his ex ‘crazy.’ Isn’t allergic to sarcasm."

---