Page 18 of Fling

MATCHING 1%————50%————100% COMPLETE

‘OK, here’s the moment of truth,’ Emily said as she opened the list of matches. Tara began pacing around the room once again. Her heart was going ninety. She didn’t intend on having an affair, so why did she feel so excited to see her matches? Where was all this adrenaline coming from?

‘OK, first up we have Cormac, with a seventy-one per cent match. His profile says he likes long walks on the beach and hardcore bondage.’

‘Oh for God’s sake,’ Tara said, making a face. ‘Next, please.’

‘OK, next up we have Eamon, with a sixty-five per cent match. Eamon likes cosy afternoons . . . and has always wanted to make a sex tape.’

‘NEXT!’

‘We also have Ray clocking in at a fifty-three per cent match. OMG he just sent you a message!’ Emily said.

‘What did he say?’ Tara said a bit too eagerly.

Emily tilted the phone towards Tara and showed her the message.

Ray: Got any feet pics?

Tara winced at the screen. ‘That’s disgusting!’

‘Keep an open mind. A feet cute could be the new meet cute,’ Emily joked.

‘Is this the best this app has to offer?’

‘You do have more matches but they’re all under fifty per cent.’

Tara was officially finished with Fling. If this was the standard, she didn’t want to be part of its marketing campaign. It was yet another sleazy dating app designed by men, for men.

So why did she feel a little disappointed?

Was there something on the app that she was hoping to find? And why had she felt a rush of adrenaline while she was waiting for her matches to appear? The idea made her feel incredibly guilty all of a sudden. She was a married woman, for God’s sake. Sure, her marriage was going through a rough patch, but she still loved Colin. She reminded herself once again that she had downloaded the app purely for research and that the experiment was officially over.

‘OK, that’s enough,’ Tara said, grabbing back her phone and closing the app.

‘Oh come on, they’re not that bad,’ Emily said, not wanting to go back to work.

‘Sorry, Emily, but not a single one of those men are my type.’

‘You’re looking for an affair, not a blood donor.’

‘Actually, I’m looking for neither. I hate to ruin the fun, but faceless perverts on the internet have nothing to offer me. The Lads can have the account,’ Tara said, losing interest.

‘Still, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were disappointed you didn’t find a good match,’ Emily said with a knowing smile.

‘Oh please, it was just research. Nothing more,’ Tara said.

‘Could have fooled me.’ Emily smirked. ‘I like this Claire persona. Seems like she has a lot of repressed desires bubbling under the surface.’

‘Well, you can apply your degree in psychology somewhere else because I am not looking for an affair,’ Tara insisted.

‘I don’t know,’ Emily said, sauntering out of Tara’s office. ‘Even a dormant volcano can still erupt.’

Chapter 6

Colin spent the rest of that morning producing a few reports, with his brain on autopilot. He had done the job for so long that he didn’t really have to focus his mind all that much. He often got that feeling you get when you’ve been driving for a while and then suddenly remember that you’re driving.

His thoughts kept drifting towards Fling. He wished he had asked Rory for more information but he didn’t want to appear overly interested. He wondered what the whole thing entailed. Was Rory exaggerating when he said a quarter million people had downloaded it? Would it be weird to talk to people without knowing what they look like? He felt guilty for having such an interest in an infidelity app. He was married to the love of his life, after all. What business would he have on such an app?

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