Dating by Design Series Box Set Read online

  I smacked the back of his head. “Don’t ever use that word in relation to me. You can tell him you are a relationship manager or gatekeeper, take your pick.”

  “Doesn’t sound very masculine.”

  “I thought you liked your job. You seem to enjoy the perks of it all. An unlimited expense account and dates with beautiful women. Most guys would love to fill your shoes.”

  “I’m not complaining, but think about how it looks on the outside. And not all the women are beautiful.”

  “Everyone deserves to be loved, whether you find them beautiful or not.”

  He glanced my way quickly, which made me nervous. I wasn’t sure why I ever rode with him.

  “Does that include you? Because I find you to be quite beautiful, by the way.” He reached over and smoothed my hair. “I love that you’ve grown your hair out again. It’s much softer. It suits you.”

  I touched my dishwater blonde hair. I had tried a trendy blunt cut last year. There was something to it. It made me look and feel like a legit businesswoman, but I didn’t feel like myself. It was now close to shoulder length, but in a layered long bob, with some soft highlights. “I have all the love I need, or want.”

  He didn’t respond. He knew me well and it was a dead-end conversation that we had been having for the past seven years.

  As if to prove my point about what I needed, my cell phone chimed. I knew who it was. She had her own special text tone. My Lana Leigh, teenage niece extraordinaire.

  I got asked to prom today! I need your help picking out a dress. Can you please take me shopping this weekend?

  I smiled down at my phone. I hoped it was Eli who asked her, not that idiot Max. If I had my way, I’d steer her away from the entire male species until she was at least thirty, but I had to swear to my brother and single dad, Rick, that I would keep my personal relationship tragedies out of the equation when helping Lana navigate high school. Most of the time I managed all right, but I knew people. It was my job to know people, and I wanted to keep her away from any morons I saw come her way.

  I will block off all of Saturday for you. By the way, who asked you?

  Thanks Aunt Kenadie, you’re the best. Max, of course.

  No, not Max, of course. He had heartbreak written all over his pretty boy face. I had to control my impulse to tell her to back out of it as soon as possible. I can’t wait until Saturday is all I texted back. That was at least true. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday than to spend it with her.

  “Who are you texting? Everyone you know is in this car.”

  “You’re not the center of my universe.”

  “Now Kenz, we know that’s not true.”

  I laughed somewhat sarcastically, because there was a hint of truth there. Maybe he wasn’t the center of my universe, but he had been my rock.

  We pulled into the crowded lot of his favorite barbecue joint. I should have known this was where he would choose. Besides the barbecue, that I admit was drool-worthy, they had a bazillion flat screens that showed nothing but nonstop sports. Since it was March, that meant March Madness. At least I liked basketball and knew a thing or two about it. Bless my older brothers and dearly departed dad for always including me, even if I was a pesky baby sister.

  Zander wrapped his arm around my shoulders as we walked in. “Jason knows you’re not my girlfriend, so be yourself. Or maybe a little more pleasant than normal.”

  I didn’t respond because I knew it was true. I didn’t really categorize myself as unpleasant. In fact, I thought I used to be considered quite pleasant. It’s not that I was unkind—I was indifferent. It was a survival skill, nothing more, nothing less.

  He kissed my cheek. That was the only kissing we ever did after that first disastrous experience in high school. Sometimes I wished I did feel more for him, or that his kiss would have set my world on fire. How different my life would have been. But like Momma said, everything happens for a reason, even the crappy stuff. I supposed she was right. Without my crap, Binary Search would have never happened and I probably would have been a lowly software developer for some tech company making less than a third of what I make now, so there was that.

  We walked into the crowded restaurant and Zander took my hand and deftly led us through the chaos to the table his friend was already occupying.

  Jason Hadley stood up and I immediately read him like a profile page, the kind we created for clients at work: six feet tall; aqua eyes; styled, short brown hair; nice smile and teeth; rugged; attractive, but not overly so. He looked like an everyday sort of man. The kind who was good for business, because he wasn’t unapproachable.

  Zander let go of my hand and firmly shook his old friend’s hand. “Jase, how are you, man?”

  Jason pulled him in for a bro hug, or whatever you call men embracing, but not really embracing. He smiled pleasantly at me as he answered Zander, “Doing well. Trying to get adjusted.”

  Both men turned their attention to me.

  “This is Kenadie or Kenz as I like to call her.” Zander inched me forward by pressing on the small of my back. “Kenz, this is Jase.”

  Jason held out his masculine looking hand and I shook it. “Kenadie, nice to meet you after all these years. Zander has spoken of you often.”

  “Same, Jason.” I liked that he called me Kenadie and not Kenz. I didn’t mind when people called me Kenz, but I had always felt you should know someone better before you began using nicknames. I wondered if he thought so, too, because he didn’t ask me to call him Jase.

  After introductions, Jason politely pulled out my chair for me. It was situated between the two of them.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he responded casually back.

  Zander was already sitting down and looking at his menu. As I wasn’t pretending to be his girlfriend tonight, I guess manners went out the window.

  “So, what’s good here?” Jason asked.

  “Everything,” Zander said without looking up.

  I rolled my eyes at him. It was true, but sheesh, give a guy a little help.

  I looked over at a still smiling Jason; apparently, he was used to Zander’s personality as well. “Everything I’ve had here is really good, but I especially like their dry rub ribs. Their chicken with white barbecue sauce is great, too. But whatever you do, you have to try their carrot apple slaw.”

  “Sounds terrific.” Jason grinned.

  Our server showed up after a few seconds of conversation. She introduced herself as Mila. “What can I get you to drink?” She looked at me, but Zander, being Zander, jumped right in.

  “I will take a Corona.”

  I noticed Jason look at him like he may very well be a jerk, not for ordering Corona, but for his lack of etiquette.

  “And for you, miss?”

  “I’ll take one of your gourmet root beers.” I wasn’t normally a fan of soda, but I loved root beer. It reminded me of my daddy, summers, and better times.

  “Same,” Jason said.

  I looked over to him as the server took our orders back.

  “Root beer is my favorite drink. Reminds me of home.”

  How odd that we’d basically had the same thought.

  “And where is home?” I asked.

  “I’m originally from New Mexico, but I settled in Texas after school.”

  “I’ve always wanted to go to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.”

  “You’ve never told me that,” Zander interrupted.

  I glared over at him. “I’m sorry to have kept that secret from you.”

  Jason laughed briefly before saying, “You should check it out. My parents live near Albuquerque and it’s worth seeing.”

  “She never will, she’s a workaholic. I get her to take one vacation a year and that’s to the beach to visit my parents in Florida,” Zander said.

  I ignored Zander and looked wryly at Jason. “Maybe this will be the year. I’m thinking of firing some of my current staff and repla
cing them with more reliable help.”

  “You’re all talk, darlin’. You wouldn’t know what to do without me.”

  Jason looked between the two of us and our war of words. I think we intrigued him. “That’s right, you two run some matchmaking service.”

  Zander grabbed onto my hand. “Now don’t hurt the poor man, that’s what I told him.”

  I wasn’t sure why the term bugged me so much. Maybe I had watched Fiddler on the Roof too many times. Sure, I loved the matchmaker character, but she did a terrible job. But that’s what made her character memorable. That, and the song that I had also tired of hearing when people referred to me.

  “I’m sorry. Did I say something wrong?” Jason asked.

  “No, not at all,” I responded.

  Our server returned with drinks and took our orders.

  “I’ll have the full rack of dry rub ribs, with a side of carrot apple slaw,” Jason informed our server—who I could tell had an eye for him, but I could immediately tell they were wrong for each other. Our server, though pretty, slouched, she seemed very unsure of herself, whereas Jason sat up straight. He was confident, definitely not cocky, and he had a commanding presence. Mila, our server, would not have been happy with him—she would have been insecure—and Jason wouldn’t have been happy with her, as he would have constantly fought against those insecurities. Of course, that was just my professional opinion.

  I had already ordered the same as him, but with the half rack.

  Jason smiled at me and held up his root beer. I did the same and we clinked bottles. “Cheers,” he said.

  “Why are you so cheerful, tonight?” Zander butted in again. “If I didn’t know better I would think you were actually a real person.”

  I ignored him.

  Jason looked intrigued again, as he looked between the two of us. “So, explain to me what you do?”

  “Go ahead, Kenz.” Zander’s eyes were glued to the screen nearest us.

  I rolled my eyes at him. He was being rude. Now I know why he only had two friends. I knew that was the pot calling the kettle black, but I did it by choice to protect myself.

  I turned to a thoughtful-looking Jason. “We are personal relationship managers.”

  He arched his eyebrow as if confused.

  “We go beyond a regular matchmaking service by doing a comprehensive analysis using our software. But beyond that, we do extensive background checks and a psych evaluation. We even require that each client go on a date with one of our relationship managers. Once we aggregate all the data, we meet together as a team and pair people together.”

  His eyes danced between amusement and curiosity. “And this works? Where did you get this software?”

  “Yes, it works. I designed it.”

  He was definitely amused now. His eyes were practically smiling.

  “In the event that someone is dissatisfied with who we have chosen for them, we have a three strikes rule. After three setups, if you aren’t satisfied, we will refund your money.”

  “How many refund checks have you written?” A smile played on his lips.

  “To date, not one.”

  “So, you’re telling me you’ve created software that infallibly matches the right people one hundred percent of the time?”

  “Of course not. Never once has the program given a perfect match, that’s why we do our homework. The closest probability we get is around sixty-five percent. Once we got seventy-seven, but that was on the fringe.”

  “What would you do if you did get a one hundred percent match?”

  “I guess book a chapel for their first date.”

  He laughed heartily.

  “Honestly, I would look at the data, see where we went wrong. It is statistically improbable. I would point to human error first.”

  Jason looked at me as if I were some type of enigma. I didn’t like people trying to figure me out. I was cut and dry. What you saw is what you got, or at least what I wanted you to get. “So tell me about your job,” I said as a way of deflection because I kind of already knew what he did.

  “It’s nowhere near as interesting as yours.”

  “Try me.”

  He leaned forward some and grinned. “I’m a structural engineer; I design homes. You use software to design relationships and I use mine for brick and mortar.”

  I smiled in return.

  “Do you want to see some pictures of my work?” It was almost as if he were asking me to look at pictures of his children.

  “Yeah.” I was somewhat caught off guard by his easy mannerisms and openness.

  His eyes lit up at the acceptance. He pulled his iPad out of a bag next to his chair and navigated to his masterpieces. He handed it to me. “You can scroll for the next picture or you can tap on a house to get a more detailed plan and layout.”

  I eagerly took the tablet from him. I was blown away. He was a master designer. No wonder he was so eager. I leaned toward Zander and held up the tablet to him. “Have you seen these? They’re incredible.”

  Zander glanced at the two-story brick home. “Yeah, it’s nice,” he commented before he went right back to watching two teams he wasn’t even invested in.

  I turned my attention back to Jason. “I particularly like this one.” I scrolled over to the French Colonial-style home with the magnificent balcony.

  “That’s my favorite, too. It’s the showcase home for the development I’m currently working on. It’s just about finished.”

  I handed him back his tablet. “Well, it’s beautiful. You’re very talented.”

  “Thank you. Do you have some pictures of your work to show me?” he teased.

  “No.” I felt myself smile. “Not unless you count my wall of bliss, but you’d have to come to our office to see that.”

  “Maybe I will.”

  Chapter Three

  “I’m going to say, Kenz, I can’t believe how personable you were tonight.” Zander screamed down the interstate, going way too fast on our way home.

  “And what is that supposed to mean?”

  “I’m saying, if I knew you could be so likable, I might introduce you to more of my friends, maybe even set you up.”

  “I’m surprised you have any friends at all. You hardly said two words. You were unbelievably rude.”

  “You had it covered, and I didn’t want to interrupt. You hardly took a breath tonight.”

  “Are you saying I talked too much?”

  “No. Just more than I’ve heard you say in years. What was going on with you tonight?”

  “Nothing was going on with me. We seemed to have a lot in common, and it was nice to have some intelligent conversation, for once.” I smirked over at him.

  He reached over and rested his hand on my thigh. “Whatever it was, it was nice to see the old Kenz tonight. I think I even heard a laugh once or twice.”

  I rested my hand on top of his. “Have I been that bad?”

  “Yes, and it’s time for you to get over it.”

  “Geez, don’t sugar coat it.”

  He squeezed my hand. “What Brian—”

  I whipped my head around and stared at him vehemently. We never, ever mentioned his name.

  Zander didn’t care. He glanced at me for a half second, like what are you going to do about it, you have nowhere to go. “Yes, I said his name. You need to get over that, too. What he did to you was unforgivable, but it wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, you should be grateful you didn’t end up with him. You’re better than him. Don’t let him continue to control you. He doesn’t deserve the honor.”

  I hated when Zander was smarter than me and when he made sense. It’s was a rarity, but when it happened, he was spot on and the only one brave enough or stupid enough to call me on it. But as I was good at ignoring sound advice from those who loved me, I tucked it away in the very nether reaches of my mind. Maybe someday I would listen to him, my momma, and even my brothers, but for now, I would keep up the walls that had kept me safe for these past sev
en years. Or at least had given me the illusion of being safe.

  ~*~

  Fridays at the office were dubbed our connection day. It was the day we all met together and paired people based on all the data we had collected on them, including the impressions our relationship managers gathered on their “test” dates. Sometimes I wondered how mortified people would be if they knew the conversations we had about them—discussing the annoying habits we picked up on, like eating with your mouth open or not letting the other person add a word to the conversation. I think most people tried to put their best foot forward, but it was the relationship manager’s job to get them to relax and be themselves so we could make the best possible decision regarding who we paired them with.

  I know it may sound odd, or maybe even off-putting, that we delved into the intimate details of our clients’ personalities and behaviors and then discussed it in a business-like manner, but that’s what we were hired to do. It’s what made us successful.

  We had a large conference room that was fully surrounded by glass, except for one wall that we projected images on. We used the glass walls to mount pictures and write our stats below each person’s photo. You could see lines drawn between those we felt would be good matches. Then the haggling began, in a manner of speaking. Sometimes it got out of hand when there was a disagreement. Zander was usually the ringleader; he was highly opinionated, but more often than not, he was right. He had a knack for knowing people, especially women.

  Once each pair was decided on, we sent their respective information to each person in our relationship portal. Each client had his or her own login. After making our recommendations, we left it up to them to make the initial communication with their potential match through our system. Any communication they had on our system was completely confidential. We followed up by corresponding with each client to see if the match was successful, or if we needed to try again. I would like to say we picked accurately one hundred percent of the time, but love is anything but an exact science. With that being said, we had a great track record for choosing right the first time.