An Unlikely Match (The Match Series - Book #1) (16 page)

She glanced up to see Nina waving to her from a table with Chad. Morgan tensed beside her.

Amelia smiled
and waved back, and Nina motioned them over.

“We don’t have to,” Amelia whispered to Morgan.

But Nina was rising from her chair. Chad stood as well, though he stayed at the table.

“Please join us,” said Nina. “They can join our table,” she told the
hostess. “There’s room,” she said to Amelia.

Amelia looked to Morgan.

“Sure,” he said tightly, but Nina didn’t seem to notice his hesitation.

As Nina ushered them across the room, Amelia tried not to feel deflated. But Morgan had been in such a good mood, and she’d been feeling so satisfied, so buoyed, so ridiculously excited about spending the next few hours with him, she couldn’t help resenting the intrusion.

“Sit here,” Nina put Amelia next to Chad at the round table.

Her place was on the opposite side of her husband, creating buffers between the two men. Not a bad strategy in Amelia’s mind. But that brought up the question of what Nina
thought she was doing. She was too smart to miss the undercurrents between the two men. And after Rudy’s behavior last night, well, inviting them to sit at the same breakfast table seemed nothing short of dangerous.

“Hello, Chad,”
said Morgan, his tone dead-flat.

“Morgan,”
said Chad.

The two women sat down,
then the men both took their seats. A waiter immediately arrived with glasses of ice water for Amelia and Morgan.

Out of the corner of her eye, Amelia caught Nina nudging her husband with her knee.

Chad seemed to brace himself.

“I’m very glad we ran into you,” he opened, looking directly at Morgan. “I wanted a chance to apologize for Rudy’s behavior last night.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Morgan responded, his tone still icy.

“
I hadn’t seen him in years,” Chad continued. “I didn’t realize. I mean, I had no idea. I guess what I mean is, when I watched his behavior last night, I realized what colossal assholes we’d all been back then. Not just to you, but to other people as well. I’d deluded myself into thinking it wasn’t as bad as I’d remembered.” He gave a shake of his head. “But then I watched Rudy last night. He was exactly,
exactly
the same as we all were in high school. It was unforgivable.”

Chad’s gaze moved to Amelia. “I am so sorry, Amelia.”

“You didn’t do anything,” she pointed out.

“Rudy was once my friend. If it helps at all, I gave him my unvarnished opinion of his behavior last night, and I’ve cut off all ties.”

Nina reached out to squeeze her husband’s arm.

Chad returned his attention to Morgan. “
I need to tell you that I am incredibly impressed with what you’ve achieved. When I learned you were in Pasadena...”

Amelia stole a surreptitious glance at Morgan, but it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

“Do it,” Nina ordered Chad.

Chad took a sip of his water. “I have no right to ask this.
And I’ll understand if you tell me there’s no way in hell. But I’ve been pulling together a student technology center in Pasadena.” He began speaking more quickly. “We’ve managed to get donations of equipment and materials. The focus is on prototyping for innovation, whether it be wood, metal, plastics, electronics, engines, the whole range. I want to give high school and college students a place where they can put their ideas into action. And, well, what I need most is mentors, people who can give a few hours a week to provide expertise. Give a leg up to the next generation of entrepreneurs. And I wondered, that is, I hoped...” Chad stopped.

Morgan didn’t answer. He hadn’t moved a muscle.

Amelia squelched a ridiculous desire to wave a hand in front of his face.

“You want my help?” Morgan asked Chad.

“I would love your help. On the ground, absolutely. And with a name like yours attached, we can attract attention from companies willing to provide equipment.”

“My name?”
Morgan seemed confused.

“Your name, Morgan
Holbrook, PhD, Caltech researcher.”

“
You think it would help?”

Chad smiled and seemed to relax a little. “Are you being modest, or do you really not know?”

“Know what?”

Chad leaned slightly forward. “You don’t get letters from corporate
headhunters?”

“Sure. Doesn’t everybody?
”

“
How many are well into six figures? How many do you get a week?”

“Maybe a dozen.”

Amelia drew back, staring at Morgan in awe. “You get
a dozen
job offers a week?”

Morgan shrugged. “Like I told you,
an ability to understand science and technology is something that happens to be of value at this particular point in history.”

“I
didn’t think guys who forge weapons and handle broadswords got job offers like that.”

Chad and Nina both looked confused.

“Sorry,” said Amelia. “Kind of an inside joke.”

“I don’t know how Rudy missed it,” said Nina.

Now Amelia was confused. “Missed what?”

“That you two are
a serious item.”

Amelia and Morgan glanced at each other.

“We’re—” said Morgan.

“I’m—
” said Amelia

They both stopped at the same time.

“It’s
so
obvious,” Nina laughed. “It practically oozes from your pores.”

“What do you say?” Chad asked Morgan. “Any chance I’m going to be able to talk you into this?”

Morgan seemed to relax for the first time since Nina had called out to them. “It sounds like a very worthwhile thing you’re undertaking. I’d love to help.”

“Fantastic,” said Chad, smacking his hand down on the table.

A sweep of relief and satisfaction flowed through Amelia. Coming to the reunion had been the right thing to do after all.

After breakfast, Morgan and Amelia had seven hours before their flight. So he rented a sports car to drive them toward Napa Valley so he could show her the sights. They were cruising along the edge of a river with the top down. Amelia’s ponytail was flying, and her eyes were covered by sunglasses as she gazed at the passing scenery.

“I’m not used to you being so quiet,” Morgan noted.

She turned, angling toward him. “I’m not used to you being quite so intimidating.”

Her answer confused him. “I’m not being intimidating. Is there something wrong with my driving?”

“Twelve job offers a week?”

“They’re not all good offers.”

“You must laugh at me.”

“When?”

“Burning offers by the dozens while I trudge home, all discouraged and deflated after trying desperately to land a thirty-second spot on a commercial.”

“I never laugh at you,” he
told her sincerely. “And we both know breaking into acting is a lot harder than breaking into applied physics.”

“I’m sorry.” She gave her head a little shake. “Would you care to repeat that ridiculous statement with a straight face?”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t.”

He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. “I mean the competition is stiffer in acting. More people want to be actors.”

“
That’s because more people can’t pass the exams required to get a PhD in physics. Any idiot can wake up one morning and decide they’re an actor.”

“You went to school for acting,” he pointed out.

“Fat lot of good it’s done me.” She looked genuinely depressed.

“What’s more,” he continued, “
you’re a natural. You act every day, in every little thing you do.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Take yesterday,” he said. “You have Nina completely convinced we’re an item. It’s obviously nothing I did. And at work. I’ve seen you in action at Sapphire Sunday. You make each and every customer, no matter how obnoxious, think they’re witty and debonair.”

“That’s for the tips.”

“Of course it’s for the tips. But you’re the one who pulls it off. Maybe during your next audition you should pretend the casting director is a customer at Sapphire Sunday.”

She gazed at him for a long moment, obviously contemplating his suggestion. “You’re serious?”

“When you rehearsed with me in the backyard, especially when you played the bad girl, you pushed it too far, you were trying too hard. When you’re angling for tips, you seem to let it flow more naturally.”

She slumped down
a little in her seat. “That’s not the worst suggestion I’ve ever heard.”

He smirked. “Thanks.”

“You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t,” he parroted her earlier words then waited.

She arched a brow at him, obviously getting his sarcasm. “I mean, of all the suggestions I’ve ever heard in my life, yours isn’t the worst.”

Morgan couldn’t help laughing.
“You’re so good for my ego.”

“You get twelve job offers a week. Your ego is doing just fine, thank you very much.”

“Yeah? Well, you get twelve wolf whistles an hour, so your ego is doing fine, too.”

“Nobody
wolf whistles anymore.”

“They do it inside their heads.”

“You think I should feel complimented when guys check me out?”

Morgan swung the car into the parking lot of a vineyard. “
I think you’re a beautiful woman. Life gives certain advantages to a beautiful woman.”

Her eyes narrowed, and he could see she was framing up a rebuttal.

He stopped the car and pulled on the emergency brake, shutting the engine down. “If nothing else, you get free drinks at bars.”

She dragged the elastic out of her ponytail, raking spread fingers through her hair. Even windswept, she looked fantastic.

“I’ll give you that one,” she said, opening her door. “But if I could earn a six-figure salary, I wouldn’t need anyone to buy me drinks. I’ve stopped feeling guilty about the dress, by the way.”

He stepped out the driver’s side. “I never wanted you to feel guilty about the dress.”

“Answer me this,” she said as they approached the gates of the vineyard. “Would you trade my beauty for your brain?”

“Since I’m not secretly a woman trapped in a man’s body, no.”

“Well, I’d trade,” she told him.

“You’d become a man?” He couldn’t begin to tell her how much he’d hate that.

“I’d become a mousy-looking brainiac in a heartbeat.”

He drew back, making a show of eyeing her up and down. “I’m trying to picture that.” He paused.
“Nope. You still look sexy to me.”

“Oh
, my God,” she breathed.

“What?”

“Look.” She nodded up ahead, and he turned.

He smiled in satisfaction at the view.

Spread out in front of them was row upon row of grapevines, sloping downhill toward a crystal-blue lake. At the edge of a forest, overlooking the estate, was a massive castle with turrets and towers, and a massive patio covered in restaurant tables.

“This is amazing,”
said Amelia.

“Do you want to taste some wine?”

“Absolutely. Did you know this was here?”

“Only from reading it on the map.
I’ve never been to this vineyard before.” He’d chosen it because the brochure had described wine-tasting, a restaurant and a scenic waterfall.

They paid an entry fee and found themselves a small, round
, bar-height table on the deck. There, they chose a wine-tasting package of four varieties. They were next to the rail, with a view of the lake and the waterfall.

“Let’s practice,” Morgan suggested while they waited for their wine to arrive.

“Practice what?”

“Be the bad girl again.”

Amelia glanced around, a blush coming into her cheeks. “Here?”

“Why not?
It’s a lot like your home turf.” He cocked his head to one side. “What did you do with the painting?”

She straightened in her chair, and he could see she was thinking through the role.

“Don’t,” he cautioned. “Don’t overthink it. Just roll with it. What did you do with the painting?”

She tossed back her hair, reaching out to finger the clean wineglass in front of her. She didn’t quite meet his eyes. “I never even saw the painting.”

“You were at the party.”

She gave a coquettish smile, with a hint of hardness around her eyes. “I’m
always
at a party.”

The waitress arrived with their wine, four glasses on each of two trays, all labeled.

Morgan didn’t break the scene. “You seem like the kind of woman who’s always upstairs.”

Amelia’s eyes went momentarily wide with surprise. And the waitress faltered for a second but quickly regained her composure.

“What an insulting thing to say.” But the expression on Amelia’s face said that she might very well be the kind of woman who was always upstairs.

Morgan perfected the arrangement of his
wineglasses. “Are you denying you stole it?”

The waitress quickly withdrew.

Amelia leaned forward, placing one elbow on the table and bracing her chin with her hand. “I am categorically denying I stole the painting.”

He also leaned slightly in. “You are categorically lying.”

She lifted one of the glasses. “That’s not something you are going to be able to prove, Captain.” Then she placed her lips on the rim and took a sip.

He copied her action, choosing the same wine she had. “I
’ve got my best men out looking for evidence against you.”

He suddenly felt her calf against his.

She brushed his leg up and down. Then she pouted, pulling ever so slightly down on her bottom lip with her index finger. “Does it have to be your best men?”

Morgan broke character to laugh. “Okay, you nailed it.”

She sat up straight. “I did?”

“That was perfect.” He held his glass out to toast.

She responded, clinking her glass against his. “You sure?”

“Go get
’em, tiger.”

o
o o o

Amelia
got a callback. She could barely believe it. When the text had arrived, she’d read the message three times over, closed it, and hugged her phone to her chest. Then she’d reopened the text message, read it and double-checked the phone number of the sender. It hadn’t appeared to be a hoax.

Her first instinct was to tell Morgan. But it
was Tuesday morning. For the rest of the week, he was working all day and she was working all night.

She could have called him
at work. But she didn’t want to be presumptuous. Sure, they’d had a great weekend together. They’d made love, but she had all but thrown herself at him to get him there. Okay, so there was no “all but” about it. She had completely thrown herself at him. She wasn’t going to turn into a stalker on top of everything else.

So, she went to the callback audition on Thursday, then hoped he’d come into Sapphire Sunday on Friday so she could tell him
all about it. It was true that he’d come into Sapphire Sunday only the one time. But it didn’t stop her from hoping every Friday that he might show up.

He didn’t show, and Saturday morning, she debated whether to
call him, go knock on his door, or just hang around by the pool and hope he’d show his face. She wasn’t used to feeling this kind of insecurity. But after finding out Morgan was more brilliant and accomplished than she’d ever imagined, she was even less sure of where she stood.

Her phone chimed, and she experienced a wild second of hope that it was him. But the number was unknown.

“Hello?”

“Amelia Camden?”

“Yes.” She braced herself for anything.

“Hi, Amelia.
My name is Jennifer Sephora. I’m an agent with Westerway Talent.”

Amelia’s breath froze in her chest. Jennifer
Sephora? Westerway Talent? Was this a joke?

“I hope you don’t mind me calling like this. I heard through the grapevine that you tested for
Cavalier Cop
.”

“You did?” The idea that someone had mentioned her name
in some restaurant or corporate office somewhere in the business was astonishing to Amelia.

Jennifer gave a light laugh. “We all know how small this town can be.”

“Yes,” said Amelia, even though she had no idea.

“I’ve been given to understand they’ll be calling to offer you the part.”

This time, both Amelia’s breathing and her brain-wave activity sputtered to a halt.

“So,” Jennifer continued
, “I’m calling to pounce. I wondered if you might be interested in representation.”

“I...uh...” Amelia shook her head to shock her brain back to action.

“Have you heard of Westerway?”

“Yes
,” Amelia blurted out. Who hadn’t heard of Westerway? “Yes, I’ve heard of Westerway. And,
yes
, I’d be interested in representation.”

Jennifer laughed again. “That’s great.
Fantastic. I expect you’ll hear from them today.”

“
Today?”

“These things happen fast. I’m going to text you my contact information. When the casting director calls, tell her you’re working with me, and I’ll take it from there.”

Amelia’s stomach contracted to a mass of swirling butterflies. “You really think they’ll call?”

Jennifer’s tone turned soft and kind.
“I really think they’ll call, Amelia.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything. It’s my job to keep my ear to the ground, scope out promising young talent and find them work.”

“I’ve heard very good things about you.”

“I’m glad. I heard the director loved your second screen test. Not so much the first one.”

“The
director
director?” Amelia’s screen test had actually gone up the line? That alone was mind-boggling.

“The decision-maker himself,
” Jennifer confirmed.

“I need to sit down.”

Jennifer laughed again. “You should sit down and breathe for a while. Then give them my name, and I’ll take good care of you.”

“Thank you, Jennifer.”

“Thank
you
, Amelia. I’ll talk to you later on.”

Amelia sank down onto her ugly couch, holding the phone in her hand and staring at it. She might get a part. She might
actually get a plum part offer today.

It felt like she should do something. But there was nothing to do except wait. And she couldn’t just stare at her phone for hours on end.