Harte Strings: The Billionaire Matchmaker, Part Two Read Free Page A

expected to make the moves and pop the question. Part of my job as a matchmaker was to coach them on their role, encourage the more timid among them to make their moves. An eager male client base would put me on the fast track to matchmaking success.
    But it was more than money for me. It was a passion, my life’s calling, a way to make others happy. Now that my heart was coming to life again after my husband’s death, seeing hard-to-match, desperate people finding their special someone gave me hope that maybe, just possibly, there was another man out there for me. He wouldn’t be Ruck. No one would ever be Ruck. But having loved so well once, I wanted it again.
    Okay, I had made a classic mistake of sleeping with Lazer just hours after meeting him. I mean, come on. How could anyone resist a guy as hot and seductive and gorgeous as him? But any good matchmaker, including me, will tell you that if you want a serious relationship with someone, you should hold off on sleeping with them as long as possible. There are scientific studies that back up the anecdotal evidence we, as professional matchmakers, see all the time. Marriages where people have waited until they got to know and trust their partner before sleeping with them have also been proven to last longer and be happier than those of people who jumped in the sack immediately.
    I’m not making any moral judgments, obviously. Just repeating the finding of the studies. I want all of my clients to have the best possible chance of finding the right mate.
    If you want to hook up, realize that it falls under the just-for-fun category. A fling. There are exceptions always, of course. But expect to be the rule, not the exception.
    I knew all that when I hooked up with Lazer. At the time, all I was looking for was fun. Or so I thought. It was hard to pass up a night with a hot, intelligent billionaire. I hadn’t expected my night with Lazer to be more than a one-time hookup. I went in with eyes wide open. And got blindsided.
    I’d been wrong. About my relationship with Lazer ending there. I couldn’t get him out of my mind.
    Now there was only one way to correct the mistake I’d made in sleeping with him mere hours after meeting him. Become a hookup virgin. Reset the relationship clock by remaining strictly hands-off with him.
    What could possibly go wrong? Besides everything .

Chapter 2
    L azer Grayson
    Lazer Lodge, my mountain retreat, was more than a quiet cabin in the woods. It was where I thought most clearly and plotted my next investment and business moves. Where I entertained friends. Seduced beautiful women. And hosted retreats for my various business ventures. Something about the clean, fresh mountain air, the scent of fir trees, and the views that extended seemingly into eternity inspired creativity. And romance. Being away from the clutter of the city gave me clarity and vision. And the edge in romantic liaisons.
    Lazer Lodge had become so popular that I occasionally rented it out or loaned it to friends. I’d held my buddy Justin’s inauguration into the prestigious billionaires’ club EIEIO here. And made it double for a wedding reception. The lodge was the perfect place to lay out the groundwork for my new matchmaking venture with Ashley Harte and the guys.
    Ashley Harte . Something about that woman had worked its way into my very blood. The thought of her made me hot. Made me smile. Made me want more with her than I had ever wanted with a woman. The intensity of my feelings was frightening. There are women you burn for. Women you fantasize about. And women who you simply want to be with, or so I’ve heard, not personally having had the experience before. I’ve had female friends. Women I liked to hang with. But I’d never been a friends-with-benefits kind of guy. Women were either platonic friends or women I wanted to sleep with.
    I’d never found that elusive combination of the two. Friend and lover. Soul mate, as Ashley would call it. Generally when