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Rhett exhaled slowly, seeming to slouch in his chair. “I do trust you. Wholeheartedly.”
“Then let go.”
His mouth once more set in a grim line, he nodded.
Heart racing, I poked the woman our creation had chosen to fulfill my desires.
6
Skylar
Less than forty-eight hours after I signed up for Missing Link, I had a dozen matches and seven pokes. I didn’t dare return a poke to open lines of communication. Instead, I browsed through the profiles of those reaching out to me, quickly deleting a few partners and husbands whose write-ups sounded more like they hoped to find a live-in maid rather than an equal, shared lover.
Yes, I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom who cooked and cleaned, but I refused to bend the knee and submit like a woman from the fifties would.
I had a life of my own to live—I just wanted to share it with two sexy someones and spoil them rotten in return for loving me.
A rare occurrence had Nora and I both sitting on the couch, her with her nose in a physics book, me on my phone, enjoying the quiet of a Sunday afternoon. I’d yet to find a job although I’d landed interviews at two retail stores in the mall the following afternoon.
I pulled up the final profile the app decided would be a good match, zooming in to get a better look at the two men who hadn’t yet poked me. Partners for fifteen years, they were hoping to find a woman open to sharing their lives and carrying their children. They wanted a love match, not just an egg donor.
My heart thrummed at the possibility.
Their picture didn’t reveal their faces as they stood barefoot in the sand with their backs to the camera, watching the sun set over the ocean. They clasped hands between them, both broad-shouldered and dark haired, one a few inches taller than the other.
Something about the way the shorter of the two leaned into his partner tugged at my empathy—like he needed the solidity of his lover’s steady stance.
A smile curved my lips as I studied the men, imagining myself included in their peaceful moment by the salt water. Daydreams filled my mind of walking hand in hand along sandy shores, sitting together for meals I’d cooked for them, my belly swelled as they snuggled me between their hard bodies in bed.
Longing so intense and deep broke open inside me, stinging my eyes yet dampening my panties.
A red heart notification pinged in the app’s top corner, and I tore my focus off the two men to see what Missing Link wished to share with me.
The very profile I studied had poked me—
A tiny squeal burst from me.
“Hmm?” Nora asked, lowering her book, but I couldn’t be bothered to glance up and take in her sure scowl over my interruption.
“Finally, a promising match,” I breathed the words as my pulse raced.
“What are you talking about?”
Oh shit. I’d spoken my thoughts out loud.
Nora’s stare seared me like a laser beam, seeking every wrong thing about me.
Stomach churning over the conflict to come, I lifted my chin. “The other night you suggested I get on a dating app, so I did.”
“What a foolish—”
“It was your idea, so don’t go all self-righteous on me!”
Nora exhaled as though exasperated with me, which wasn’t anything new. “I suggested a hookup in a moment of exhaustion and retracted the unwise advice almost immediately.”
She knew better than to toss a bone and think I wouldn’t chase it like an unmanageable puppy.
My chin once more jutted outward. “I got matched up with these two men who are looking for a woman to share their life and carry their babies.”