My Fair Billionaire(21)
Author: Elizabeth Bevarly

Now Caroline looked at Ava, as if daring her to come up with something that might challenge the woman’s pedigree. When Ava only smiled benignly, the matchmaker continued, “Peyton, I think you and she would be perfect for each other.”

He tried not to think about how Caroline had considered the three candidates ahead of Francesca more perfect, and instead took the file to look over the rest of the woman’s particulars. He liked that she had built her own company, the way he had, and her knowledge of computers and software design could definitely come in handy with regard to his own work. She was outdoorsy—she cited a love of scuba diving, rock climbing and horseback riding. She preferred nonfiction over fiction, rock and roll over any other music, eating out over eating in. And she was a fan of both the Florida Panthers and Chicago Blackhawks. There wasn’t a single thing in her vitals to dissuade him from agreeing with Caroline. She really did seem perfect for him.

So why wasn’t he more excited about the prospect of meeting her?

A movement to his left caught his eye, and he found Ava trying to read the file from where she sat. Instead of making her work for it, he handed it to her.

“What do you think?” he asked as she turned to the final page.

“Ivy League–educated, accomplished pianist, member of the United States Dressage Federation, one of Chicago’s One Hundred Women Making a Difference. What’s not to love?”

Funny, but she didn’t sound as though she loved Francesca.

“So on the Jackie Kennedy scale,” he said, “where do you think she’d fall?”

Ava closed the file and returned it to the matchmaker. “Well, if Jackie Kennedy were a young woman today, I think she’d be a lot like Francesca Stratton.”

“So…maybe eight?”

With what sounded like much resignation and little satisfaction, she said, “Ten.”

That was exactly what Peyton wanted to hear. So why was he disappointed hearing it?

In spite of his reaction, he turned to Caroline and said, “Sounds like we have a winner. When can you set something up?”

The matchmaker looked both relieved and happy. “Let me contact Francesca to see what works for her, and I’ll get back to you. What evenings work best for you?”

“Just about any evening is fi—” Peyton started to say. But the delicate clearing of a throat to his left him kept him from finishing.

He looked over at Ava, who was shaking her head.

“What?” he asked.

“You said you didn’t think you were ready to meet any of your prospective dates just yet,” she reminded him.

“No, you said that.”

“And you agreed. We still have several lessons we need to go over.”

He said nothing. He had agreed. And really, he didn’t mind that much putting off the meeting. Odd, since he really did want to get out of Chicago and back to San Francisco. Maybe he hadn’t felt as antsy over the past few days as he had when he’d first arrived, but he did need to get back to the West Coast soon. So he and Ava needed to wrap things up pronto.

“How long do you think we’ll need to get me through them?” he asked. And for some really bizarro reason, he found himself hoping she would tell him it would be weeks and weeks and weeks.

Instead, she told him, “Another week, at least.”

“So maybe by the weekend after this one?”

She looked as if she wanted to say, No, it will be weeks and weeks and weeks. Instead, she replied, “Um, sure. If we work hard, and if you follow the rules,” she added meaningfully, “then we can probably get you where you need to be by then.”

Following the rules. Not his favorite thing to do. Still, if it would get him a date with a modern-day Jackie Kennedy…

He turned to Caroline again. “How about next Friday or Saturday if she’s available?”

Caroline jotted the dates down on the top of the file folder. “I’m reasonably certain that one of those days will be fine. I’ll let you know which one after I’ve spoken to Francesca.”

Great, he thought without much enthusiasm. “Great!” he said with much enthusiasm.

He stood, with Ava quickly following suit, thanked Caroline for all her work, and they both started to make their way to the door. They halted, however, when the matchmaker called Ava’s name.

“Ms. Brenner,” she said tentatively, “you, ah…you wouldn’t happen to be looking for a job, would you? Something part-time that wouldn’t interfere with your work as Peyton’s assistant? You’d be an enormous asset to us here at Attachments, Inc.”

Looking a little startled, Ava replied, “Um, no. But thank you.”

Peyton told Caroline, “The reason Ava knew all those women is because she moves in the same social circles they do. Her family is loaded. She doesn’t have to work.” Unable to help himself, he added, “Never mind that she’s bleeding me dry for being my assistant at the moment.”

Caroline suddenly looked way more interested in Ava than she had when Ava was just a prospective part-timer. Funny, though, how Ava suddenly looked kind of panicky.

“I see,” the matchmaker said. “Well then, maybe I could help you. Introduce you to a nice man who has the same set of values you have?”

In other words, Peyton translated, a nice man who had the same value that Ava had. Cha-ching. For some reason, he suddenly felt kind of panicky, too.

“What do you say, Ava?” the matchmaker added. And it wasn’t lost on Peyton that she had switched to the first-name basis she evidently only used with her clients, not to mention the almost genuinely warm smile. “Would you like to fill out an application while you’re here?”

Ava smiled back, but somehow looked even more alarmed. “Thank you, Caroline, but I’m really not in the market right now.”

Her response made Peyton wonder again if she was seriously involved with someone, and if that was why she wasn’t currently in the market. During the week the two of them had spent together, she had never said anything that made him think there was a significant other in her life, and she seemed to have plenty of time on her hands if she was able to work with him every day. Call him crazy, but he didn’t think a guy who had a woman like Ava waiting for him at home—hell, who had Ava waiting for him at home—would be too happy about her spending so much time with another guy. If Peyton had Ava waiting at home for him, he’d sure as hell never—

But he didn’t have Ava waiting at home for him, he reminded himself. And he didn’t want her waiting at home for him. So what was the point of even thinking about it?