Page 29 of Sunset Serenade
A laugh burst out of him. “Close. Thirty-three.”
“Oh good. For a second, I was scared you might be younger than me. That’s been freaking me out recently.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Who freaked you out by being younger than you? Did you have a surgery done by a child prodigy or something?”
“As my employer,” Rose said slowly, wagging a finger, “you’re not allowed to ask those kinds of questions. But yes, I had my funny bone replaced. What do you think?”
He laughed again and shook his head. “Phenomenal work. Top notch funny-ness.”
“Thank you.” It was a lame joke, but she couldn’t stop herself sometimes. “It was Seymour, actually. The client. He was only twenty-five. Practically a baby.”
“That baby was thrilled with your matchmaking services. How’d you do it?”
He didn’t have to ask her twice. Rose told him how she’d gone through the system’s matches, spent time talking to him, and even though she’d made up her mind not to tell anyone what she’d done, she confessed to meeting up with Seymour to help fix his wardrobe.
“I’m not going to do that with every client,” she rushed to add, “so don’t yell at me. It just seemed like he needed the help, and he really appreciated it.”
Craig’s eyes were focused but soft. “I’d never yell at you. It’s not really my style.”
Huh. No yelling. That was something.
Rose released the tension that had built up in her shoulders. She’d gotten used to yelling, for the most part. Her old boss liked to yell. It was the only way he knew to get his point across.
Now she wondered if all that yelling had made her preemptively afraid with everything she did. Perhaps that was the point.
Craig went on. “I’m blown away by how dedicated you are. I don’t want to scare you, but you’ve even caught the attention of our potential buyer, Brett.”
Rose Woodley would’ve been spooked. But Rose Woodson, imaginary as she was, wasn’t scared of anything.
“Really?” She forced herself to sit up straighter. “Do you need me to meet with him? Show off a little?”
Show off a little?Who was she even pretending to be? She needed to tone it down.
“No.” He cleared his throat. “I’m going to protect you from him as long as possible. He’s…” Craig shook his head. “Hard to like. I don’t want to put too much pressure on you.”
Rose let out a breath. As thrilled as she was that Seymour’s match had gone well, she had no idea if she could do it again.
In fact, the more she thought about it, the more it seemed certain that shecouldn’tdo it again.
“Seymour said you asked him questions he’d never thought about before,” Craig said.
“It wasn’t anything earth-shattering. I asked him why he hadn’t found a partner, and with some pushing, he was able to tell me. He was pretty self-aware.” She paused. “Well, except for how he saw himself. People are so hard on themselves.”
Present company included– but she kept that to herself.
He wiped his hands on his napkin and shrugged. “Maybe you just knew the right questions to ask.”
She couldn’t help herself. Rose leaned in, a smile tugging at her lips. “If I looked you in the eye right now and asked whyyouhaven’t found a serious, successful relationship, what would you say?”
Craig sat back. “What makes you think I’m not in a serious, successful relationship?”
Shoot. She’d done it again.
Rose shut her eyes. “I’m sorry. I was making assumptions. You’re probably happily married.”
After a beat, Craig’s stern expression broke into a smile. “No, I’m messing with you. I’m single.”
Interesting. The handsome, wealthy tech guy was more into the theory of relationships than he was into actually having them. He probably didn’t have time.
