A Match Made by Cupid (Harlequin Special Edition) (7 page)

“That’s why we’re here,” she said, trying to figure out what Jace could possibly be nervous about. “What’s up?”

“For starters, we need to determine how many couples we want the article to focus on. It’s always good to have a goal in mind early in the process.”

“However many are necessary for me to win the bet,” she said in part jest, part seriousness. “Other than that, I’m not particular.”

“I could say the same,” he retorted. “But I was thinking three. Say, one couple who are engaged or newly married, one couple who are five or ten years in, and one who have been together for decades.”

“That sounds good.”

He flashed her a grin, once again the cool, collected guy she knew. “Glad we’re on the same page. Now, I guess we should toss around a few ideas of where to find our candidates.”

“We could pull aside couples getting married at the county courthouse.” She chewed her bottom lip in thought. “Maybe contact a few senior-citizen retirement-type groups, as well.”

“Both good ideas,” Jace said, typing while he spoke. “Also, I think we should interview my brother and his wife. They’ve been through hell and back, and are still together. I’d need to ask to see if they’re willing, but—”

“No.” Melanie narrowed her eyes and shook her head. “Absolutely not. The interview subjects should not be family members or friends of either of us.”

“Any reason why not?”

“Unfair advantage.” Mimicking one of Jace’s habits, she tapped her pencil against the table. “Your brother and sister-in-law are probably lovely people, but using them for the article—in your mind, anyway—proves your side.”

“Grady and Olivia are exactly the type of couple this feature is about.” Jace crossed his arms over his chest. “If we talk to them, we’ll only need two more couples. You’re worried about the time we have available to finish the piece, correct? This will save us time.”

Of course her words would come back to haunt her. Her logical side pointed out that his argument was one-hundred percent valid. If she agreed, that would mean fewer hours spent with Jace
and
fighting her suddenly sex-crazed libido. But her stubborn side refused to give in.

Using her feminine wiles, rusty as they were, she fluttered her eyelashes. “I’ll agree to that if you agree to forget about the bet. That way, I only have to focus on the article.”

“So you can’t focus if we keep our bet in place?” Jace’s mouth twitched in amusement. “Wow, Mel. I had no idea you were so worried about going out on a date with me. Afraid I’ll bite?”

“N-no. Of c-course not,” she stammered as the image of his mouth nibbling on her skin took control. Heat swarmed her cheeks and trickled down her neck. The faint scent of his cologne wafted over her, and it was all she could do not to lean in and inhale. Deeply.

Shoving herself as far back as she could against her chair, she frowned. “I am not worried. Nor am I afraid. What I am is competitive. You’re going to have to choose, Jace. Do this my way or do it your way, but the bet goes bye-bye.”

“You’re blushing.”

“I am not!” Flustered, Melanie rubbed at her cheeks. “It’s, um, warm in here. I’m a little overheated. That’s all.”

“It is warm, but I’m wondering if it’s that or if my comment about biting you is the culprit. I promise I don’t bite…unless—” He swallowed. Hard. “Sorry. No sexual innuendo. I keep forgetting that.”

Focus,
she told herself. Lifting her chin, she put steel in her voice. “That doesn’t surprise me. Stripes, spots…the inability to learn new tricks.”

A laugh belted out of Jace. “You wouldn’t be calling me an old dog, now, would you?”

“Tiger. Leopard. Old dog. Take your pick…the meanings are basically the same.”

“Not really, Mel,” he said with a delighted, now-I’m-having-fun grin. “The inability to change one’s stripes…or spots, as the case may be…is about personality. The pieces that make up the whole of who we are, pieces that cannot be changed no matter how hard we try. But the other is more along the lines of being too set in our ways to be able to institute a successful change.” He had the audacity to wink. “So you tell me, which are you accusing me of being?”

She arched an eyebrow. “As I said, take your pick. From where I’m sitting, you easily fall into both categories. There is nothing that says a person can’t be both.”

“You’re right.” His grin widened. “But you don’t know me well enough to determine what traits of mine can or cannot be changed, so the stripe and spot comparison is out.”

“Oh, the entire city knows you well enough to make that claim.”

“As for the other…I’m not old, darlin’. And trust me when I say that I am more than willing—and capable—of learning new tricks.”

She searched for a comeback and found nothing. Probably because her mind was centered on his statement…on what type of new tricks he was willing to learn. She chomped down on the inside of her mouth, thinking the pain might startle her dazed brain into coherency. When that proved unsuccessful, she swallowed a large gulp of coffee.

The rush of hot liquid burned the back of her throat, settled and refused to go down. She clamped her lips shut to stop herself from spewing coffee everywhere. Tears filled her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. She reached blindly, searching for a napkin as the coughs she couldn’t contain came free. Her cheeks grew hot again, this time in embarrassment.

Jace was at her side in heartbeat. He placed his hand on her back, in the space between her shoulder blades, and rubbed in wide, firm circles. “Drank too fast, didn’t you?” he said calmly, almost as if he were trying to soothe a child. “I’ve done that before. Sucks when it’s something hot. Just give yourself a minute, and you’ll be fine.”

Melanie nodded and took in careful, small breaths. When she was able to talk, she said, “Some water might be good.” She stared at the table, not wanting to turn toward him until she had the chance to clean herself up. “Do you mind getting me a bottle?”

His hand dropped away, and she felt his body shift. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him walk toward the front of the coffee shop. The second she knew he wasn’t going to look at her, she found the napkin and dried her face. Bemused humor replaced some of her humiliation. It was a darn good thing she wasn’t trying to seduce Jace, because choking on coffee could not be described as sexy.

One little comment, and she’d forgotten how to drink. Awesome. Dabbing at her shirt, she sopped up some of the dampness and tried to work out why Jace had this…power over her. It was more than his good looks, his charm. It had to be. She’d met plenty of handsome, charming men in her lifetime. She’d dealt with relentless flirters before. She’d walked away from every single one of them without a second thought.

But Jace seemed to be of a different species. A man whose mere presence made her feel as if she’d been struck by lightning. God help her, she understood for maybe the first time in her life why women did such crazy things to get the attention of “the perfect man.”

Good grief. Jace was not the perfect man. He wasn’t irresistible. He couldn’t be. He was nothing but a novelty. Probably, she thought, after spending the next several weeks with him, she wouldn’t find him any more appealing than any other man.

Maybe, instead of trying to avoid spending time with Jace, she should be spending as much time as possible with him. Wouldn’t she get used to him quicker that way? Wouldn’t his…appeal…become less intense as she acclimated herself to him?

“You doing okay now?” Jace asked with a considering once-over when he returned. He handed her the water bottle and sat down. “No need to call nine-one-one or anything, is there?”

“Much better now.” She unscrewed the top from the water bottle and took a careful sip. “Thank you for this. I…tend to be on the clumsy side.”

A faint smile appeared. “I’ve noticed. How many broken bones did you have as a kid?”

“None, actually. I’m clumsy around normal, everyday objects. Like flat ground and invisible globs of air.” She shrugged. “But dangerous stuff like climbing trees I never had a problem with.”

“You’re an interesting woman, Mel.”

“In what way?” she asked, genuinely curious.

He blinked. “In every way.”

“Oh.” What was she supposed to say to that? “Interesting good or interesting bad?”

“Good, Mel.” His voice thickened and lowered. “Very, very good.”

“Oh,” she said again, still at a loss for words. “Thank you. I think you’re…interesting, too.” Before he could quiz her on what she meant by that, she said, “Is there anything else you wanted to go over?”

“We were talking about Grady and Olivia,” Jace reminded her, stubborn man that he was.

Melanie expelled a sigh. “I’d rather keep this entirely impartial.”

“Why not meet them before deciding?” he pushed. “Something informal, like lunch?”

“And if I don’t change my mind?”

“I’ll stop badgering you, but the bet sticks.” Finishing off his coffee, he crumpled the cup in his hand. “They’re a special couple. I can promise that they’ll be celebrating Valentine’s Day because they love each other, because they choose to be together.”

“Okay, okay.” She decided this battle wasn’t worth fighting at the moment. “I’ll meet them and then decide, but I doubt doing so will change anything.”

“Good enough.” Jace glanced at his watch. “Crap, it’s getting late. I have to take off soon, but there is one more idea I’d like to run by you.”

Take off? Disappointment clouded around her before settling in her stomach like a lead weight. Where was he going? More to the point, why did she care? “Shoot,” she said.

“We should publicize the bet, make it a part of the article. In addition, we could approach the feature with a ‘he-said, she-said’ mentality.”

“Meaning?”

“We state up front that we have a bet going and what’s at stake.” Jace’s brow furrowed as he talked. “If you win, they’ll all see the damn Snuggie photo anyway. And if I win…” He trailed off and glanced away, apparently having second thoughts about completing his sentence.

“It will just play into your womanizing reputation, is that it? If anything, that will help your columns get more attention.” She scowled and fought to keep her temper in check. “What then, Jace? Supposing a miracle happens and you somehow manage to win, will you use our
date
as fodder for your column?”

“I…hadn’t really thought about that,” he said carefully.

“Okay. Think about it now.”

“No, Mel. I wouldn’t ‘use our date as fodder’ unless that was something you’d already agreed to.” The furrows in his brow deepened. “You continually assume I’m out to deceive you, in one way or another. Why?”

She let out a breath. If she was going to get through the next several weeks, she needed to relax. “I don’t know,” she admitted in a soft voice. “But come on, Jace, you write a dating column that is…fairly free with the details of your dates, so why wouldn’t I wonder?”

“Maybe because we’re coworkers? Maybe, just maybe, you could give me the benefit of the doubt for once.” His eyes darkened, grew steely. “I sure as hell don’t need to be sneaky about using a date for my column.
Any
date.”

“Right,” she fired back. “The women you date probably love having what they wear, what they say, every move they make dissected in your damn column for public consumption. Hell, they probably beg you for dates. They probably cut the column out of the paper and show it off to their friends and neighbors before framing it and hanging it on their wall.”

“Some of them, maybe,” Jace said quietly. “Others prefer to stay out of the limelight. Regardless, have you ever seen an actual name printed in my ‘damn column’? You haven’t, because I keep that information private. I respect women, Mel.” He swore under his breath. “Stop expecting the worst from me.”

She stared at him for a minute, letting his words filter through her temper. He was right. Sort of. To the best of her recollection, his dates were never named. Well, not with their given names, anyway. “I’ll try,” she said. “But I can’t promise anything.”

“Someday, I’m going to prove to you that I can be trusted.”

The sincerity in his voice caught her off guard, softened away the rest of her anger and, in a way she didn’t understand, made her
want
to trust him. She shrugged and played off the moment as no big deal. “Sure, Jace. Good luck with that. Maybe you’ll win the lottery, too.”

He closed his eyes for a millisecond and pushed out a sigh. Then, with his playboy grin solidly in place, he put them back on familiar ground. “Anyway, if we lay the bet out right in the beginning, the readers will get involved. Actually, we should do that now as a way to get some buzz going on the article. I figure I can mention it in my columns, and you can in yours.”

She nodded. “Then what?”

“Simple. We share our massively different viewpoints going in, drop in our opinions throughout—how we feel before the interviews compared to how we feel after.” Jace fiddled with his crushed coffee cup and checked his watch again. “I’m fairly sure Kurt will give us the extra page space, and I know he’ll like the approach.”

“It’s a fantastic idea,” she said honestly. “Okay, if Kurt agrees, I’m in.”

“I’ll give him a call later to get the go-ahead.” With that, Jace glanced at his watch for the third time. “I really need to get going. I’m thinking we’ll start interviews on Monday.”