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“No, the other one. It’s weird, but when I think about the problems in my life, I always think of Rachel. We used to be incredibly close, but then Mom died, and…” She didn’t finish the sentence.

Matt put his arm around her and gave her a quick hug. He didn’t say anything; he didn’t have to.

“Oh man, I’m a total mood killer,” she said. “Sorry. Let’s talk about something else. Hey! Have you asked your teammates about the agency?” She knew it was too much to ask, but had she mentioned how desperate she was?

Matt shifted in his seat and suddenly concentrated on his beans. “This is really delicious.”

“Matt.”

“Yes, I asked,” he said, sighing. “Nobody wants to. Sorry, Maddie.”

Her heart sank and she swallowed. “Of course.” Hockey players were workaholics who believed they had no time for true love. Most of them were young and thought getting laid by groupies was the best thing in the world.

She put down her fork and leaned back against the pillows, sighing.

“It’s so exhausting,” she murmured. “Staying positive. Maybe Hailey and I are fooling ourselves. Maybe we should just give up. I’ve tried so hard, and it’s not working.

Maybe it’d be better if I were more realistic – about my dream job and my dream man. ”

“What are you talking about?” Matt asked, frowning. “Of course you’re not giving up.”

“I don’t think I have no choice.”

“But…you’ve worked so hard.”

“I know. But I’m failing, Matt!” she said, frustrated. “I’ve been trying for fourteen months, placing my whole personal life on hold, and still, it’s not going anywhere. It’d be better to give up than to work myself to death for another useless year, right?”

He stared at her, his lips pressed together. For a minute. For two minutes. Then he groaned loudly and put a hand over his eyes. “Okay, fine!” he shouted. “I give up! You can use me shamelessly for Match Me!”

Instantly, she bolted upright on the couch, her heart pounding. “Are you serious?”

“Yes,” he replied, pained. “I can’t stand to see you so sad. But just to be clear, we’re faking it. Just use my face. I don’t feel like going on a hundred dates.”

“One date. You probably have to go on one date,” she said excitedly, pressing her fists against her legs. “And we need a photo shoot where the press can take your picture and announce that you’re our client.”

“Fine,” he growled. “One media circus and one date. That’s it! And you’re going to fill out that stupid questionnaire for me, is that clear?”

“Oh, Matt.” Her face glowed. She was so filled with gratitude that she was surprised the emotion didn’t knock her off the couch. “This is going to be…to be…”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said roughly. “I’m a hero. Damn, how did you manage to talk me into this?”

She laughed loudly. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Yes, but your expression and posture were screaming for help.” Displeased, he waved his hand in front of his face. “Seriously, you could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo!”

“Actually, the Inuit use refrigerators to keep their food from freezing, so it’d be easy to sell them one,” she replied with a grin.

He looked at her darkly. “Smartass.”

She grinned broadly, moved nearer to him on the couch, and then spontaneously threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Matt! Honestly. It means everything to me! This could give us a real chance to dig ourselves out of this hole. God, women are going to be beating down our doors.”

Matt patted her back in his weird is this touch platonic? way and pushed her back to her seat.

“That’s all well and good, but I don’t want to go out with a groupie, okay? Not someone who just likes me because I’m a hockey player and rich.”

“You forgot hot.”

“Maddie! I’m serious. Those dates are exhausting.”

“It’s okay, I know what you mean,” she replied, laughing and hitting his leg with a pillow. “But, Matt, that’s the reason I started Match Me! in the first place: To give people like you a chance to find something long-term. Not something that’s doomed to fail.”

“Yeah, but normal women won’t sign up because of me.”

She opened her mouth, astonished. “What makes you say that?”

“Because normal women never hit on me. Normal women want something…normal.”

“You’re normal!”

He gave her a wry look. “My work hours are impossible, Maddie. I’m always gone. I can rarely eat out without being chatted up by a fan.”

Okay, he was right about that. Still. “Normal women like you, too,” she promised, amused, because the idea that it might be true was absurd!

He frowned doubtfully. “No one has yet.”

She snorted. “Nonsense.”

“No,” he said, seemingly surprised. “It’s the truth. The only normal woman who didn’t idolize me because I’m a hot hockey player, with whom I had something like a date…” He blinked — then grinned. “Well, the only woman in that category was you. And you didn’t like me.”

Stunned, she opened her mouth. That couldn’t be. “I was the only one who treated you normally?”

“Yep.”

“You haven’t dated anyone who didn’t treat you like a famous, hot guy, and put you on a pedestal?”

“Nope.”

God, that was awful! Matt couldn’t seriously believe that he wouldn’t be attractive and appealing if he didn’t play hockey. She couldn’t let that stand.

“Well,” she replied lightly, smiling and squeezing his shoulder. “Then you don’t have to worry, because of course I liked you.”

He whipped his head around to face her. Blinked, opened his mouth, and blinked again. “What?”

She had to laugh and elbowed him in the side. “Don’t look like that. It’s no secret. You were funny and intelligent and, of course, hot back then. Nobody could resist you. I was certainly no exception.”

“But…” He was still blinking, looking as if she had hit him right between the eyes. “What the hell are you talking about? You didn’t like me. I tried to kiss you, Maddie, and you wouldn’t kiss me back.”

Her cheeks turned pink and she swallowed.

Yes, she remembered that very well. “It wasn’t because I wasn’t attracted to you.

To be honest, I was a little torn. If I hadn’t promised myself that I only wanted something serious or nothing at all, I probably would have slept with you that very night.

But we wanted different things and…it was obvious that we would be better off as friends.

” She was right about that, wasn’t she? They were great as friends!

“So, you don’t have to worry at all that normal women might not like you, because I’m the most normal thing out there. ” She looked at him encouragingly.

Matt, however, didn’t seem convinced. His forehead was furrowed and his eyebrows met above the bridge of his nose.

“It’ll be fine, Matt,” she assured him. “The whole thing won’t be unpleasant at all.

Now eat – your food is probably cold by now.

Do you want to watch something? You can choose.

You’ve earned about half a year of favors from me.

” Tonight, he truly was a hero and, for the first time in weeks, Maddie had the feeling that everything might be okay.