Matched For Love (Rocky Mountain Matchmaker Book 3) Read online

  Matched For Love

  Rocky Mountain Matchmaker

  TAMRA BAUMANN

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2017 Tamra Baumann

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Tamra Baumann

  Cover design by: Clarissa Yeo

  Printed in the United States of America

  Matched For Love

  Tamra Baumann

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my critique partners, Robin, Sherri, and Louise. You ladies make my life brighter. Thank you for all you do for me!

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also By Tamra….

  1

  BEING A SINGLE MATCHMAKER ISN’T NECESSARILY GOOD FOR BUSINESS.

  Lori Went wished she had a clone. Or the money to hire a housekeeper, a handyman, and a cook. Being a single mother was a challenge she hadn’t signed up for. Lately, she felt like the roadrunner in those cartoons competing against that wily coyote, running all the time, destined for nowhere in particular.

  Shivering from the January cold, Lori jogged beside her daughter through the doors of the busy cafeteria at Emily’s school in the burbs of Denver. The science fair was in full swing, and they were late.

  As usual.

  Emily looked a little pathetic holding her project, or what was left of it, as they searched for their assigned spot. The box top holding clear plastic cups filled with her daughter’s lima beans in various stages of growth had spilled some in the car. The sprouts lucky enough to have survived leaned a little like drunken sailors. And Em hadn’t finished gluing on the result cards per the instructions. Hopefully they could hurry and do that before the judges came by her table.

  Thankful for her height, Lori peered over other heads and finally found Emily’s name card. When they got to their table and she saw the complex project next to Em’s spot, she pulled up short.

  Emily’s face lit up. “Look, Mom. We’re next to Asher and his dad! Hi, Mr. Cooper.”

  Asher’s dad, Deek Cooper, glanced Lori’s way and sent her one of his panty-melting smiles. “Hi, ladies, great to see you again.”

  “Hi. That’s an impressive display, Asher.” Lori tried to keep the sigh from her voice. Em’s project looked a little lame compared to that.

  Deek nodded. “Asher worked really hard on this.” Pride for his son shone in Deek’s big smile. The pure joy on Deek’s face made her lips tilt too. Deek was a nice guy, and all the kids loved him.

  Asher’s dad was also the perfect “class mom.” He claimed to have time to help because he worked from home designing video games or some such. Whatever he did, he was very successful and donated tons to the private school both their kids attended. To top it all off, he was the preferred chaperone for all field trips because, apparently, he was fun. He was an amazing single parent and always made her feel a little inadequate.

  But really? Could a second grader, all on his own, create a display showing how the first personal computer came up with its answers? Asher was a bright kid. Maybe he had done it all by himself.

  That thought made Lori feel even guiltier than she already did. She should have spent more time with Emily on her project. But when would she have fit that in? She had her matchmaking business to run so she could pay the bills her military widow’s benefits wouldn’t cover, along with trying to keep up with her on-line accounting degree classes. There weren’t enough minutes in the day.

  Deek bent down to Emily’s level. “Wow. This looks awesome, Emily. Good job!”

  The man was a super cute, gym built blond who wore T-shirts with funny sayings, and jeans most of the time. The shirt he had on showed a picture of molecule rings, and it said: Never trust an atom, they make up everything.

  Despite her harried day, it made her chuckle.

  She’d always appreciated the way those silly T-shirts stretched across his big chest, and it was appropriate for a science fair, but really? It was the dead of winter. A button-down flannel would’ve been more appropriate for the snow still falling outside. But then, he could probably afford the best coat money could buy.

  The blond, blue-eyed mini version of Deek, Asher, scrunched up his nose. “Your plants are kinda crooked, Emily.”

  Emily looked up at Lori and shook her dark-haired little head in censure. “You drive too fast, Mom.”

  When Deek cringed, Lori wanted to crawl under a rock.

  “I’m sorry, Em. Let’s see if we can fix them up.” Lori started to take one of the more pathetic plants from Emily, but Deek beat her to it.

  His hand, surprisingly rough for a computer programmer, brushed against hers as he accepted a cup from Emily. Then he glanced up and said, “You need to go check Emily in at the registration table.” He turned his focus back to Em. “How about I give you a hand until your mom gets back? The winners go to regionals, right, guys?” Both Asher and Emily nodded. Asher much more enthusiastically than Em. Probably because he had an actual chance to win.

  “Oh. Right. Thanks. I’ll be right back.” She knew Em had to be registered. What was wrong with her lately?

  Lori shook her head at her forgetfulness and shrugged out of her coat as she weaved through the kids and parents preparing their displays for the judges. When she got to the registration table, her friend Shanan was standing in line. Lori leaned over her shoulder and whispered, “You’re late too, huh?”

  The petite brunette turned around and rolled her eyes. “Got two at home puking up their guts with the flu. Then my mom was late to sit with them. I was just trying to decide what’s worse, science fairs or visits to the gynecologist. At least at the gyno, I can lie down for a bit and get some rest.”

  Lori loved her friend’s sense of humor. “Did you see Asher’s display? I don’t think I could have come up with that, much less Emily.”

  Shanan laughed. “Asher got his father’s smarts, but really? I told Deek he’s making us all look bad. He actually made the cupcakes for the winter party from scratch. Who does that anymore?”

  “I know, right?” Lori’s cupcakes had been sort of homemade, though. Her friend Jo had made them. Jo’s café was still under construction from a fire, so she’d offered to help Lori out. “But Deek is sweet to the kids, so I guess I’ll give him a pass. Has he ever asked you out?”

  “No.” Shanan finished signing her daughter up and then stepped to the side. “He’s so damned cute, I asked him out, but he said he’s tired of pointless dating. Maybe he just wasn’t interested in me, but in case you’re interested in him, he’s off the market. He’s going to try to work things out with Asher’s mom. She’s some archeologist who never comes home. She uses the computer screen to visit with Asher now and then, I guess.”

  How sad is that?

  Lori stepped forward a
nd greeted the volunteer, then got busy signing up Em. “I’m on Deek’s team. I’m not interested in dating right now either.” She wasn’t ready to move on from her husband.

  That, and learn to trust again. Having a father and a husband who cheated made it hard to think about putting her heart out there again. She’d found out Joe had cheated on her—with her former best friend—right before he’d been deployed, so they’d never worked their feelings out fully. Then he was killed, so they never would.

  Never was a long time.

  “It’s been two years, Lori. You could be like me and just date for fun. It doesn’t have to be a long-term thing that messes with your heart.” Shanan studied the number card in her hand. “Do you think 666 is a bad sign?”

  Lori laughed. “It’s just a number. But speaking of numbers, when are you going to start letting me give your number out to some of the nice guys I have all picked out for you? Those men you’re dating are just using you for sex.”

  “You’ve got it backward. I’m using them. I’m basically going to act like a player until I get it out of my system, then we’ll talk. But you’re not wired like me, so it’s time to use your matchmaker skills on yourself and get back out there. We’re not getting any younger, you know.”

  “True.” Lori sighed. Thirty-three wasn’t that old. Was it? “I’ll think about it. But back to you and Deek. Maybe things won’t work out with his ex, and you’ll finally be ready to settle down by then, so it could be a win-win. Don’t rule him out. Friends fall in love all the time.”

  Shanan shook her head. “Deek probably just isn’t attracted to short, big-boobed, brown-haired women with three kids, but was too nice to say so.”

  “You’re a doll. So I know that’s not it. And it’s been almost two years for you too. It’d be the ultimate revenge on your cheating ex to be in a happy relationship.”

  Lori felt a little hypocritical saying that when she wasn’t moving on, but she believed in the truth of her words…for everyone else. She had bad choices in men running in her gene pool. Look at her poor mom. She’d picked the wrong guy too.

  “I suppose.” Shanan shrugged. “But for now, I’m happy to just look at Deek when we volunteer together. The dreams later that night aren’t too shabby either. See you after for yucky punch and stale cookies?”

  “Can’t wait.” Lori made her way back to Em with her number in hand, dreading the judging that was about to come. Pizza at their favorite place for a consolation dinner probably loomed in their near future.

  When she got back to the table, Deek was busy using a glue stick and fixing up the poster board for Emily’s project. The rules said parents shouldn’t help, but Deek wasn’t Em’s parent. After he had finished his magic, everything looked tidy and neat and not nearly as sad as when they’d first come in.

  “Thanks, Deek.” Now that she knew he was safe and not going to ask her out, she wanted to repay him for his kindness. “Would you and Asher like to grab some dinner at Papa G’s with us after?”

  He glanced her way and blinked as if he was surprised she’d asked. They’d known each other for over a year, and she always enjoyed talking to him, but they’d never shared a meal before. So she quickly added, “Just as friends, of course. Not a date or anything.”

  Relief crossed his face, and that sexy smile of his was back. “We’d love to, right, Ash?”

  His son, busy repotting one of Em’s plants, nodded. “Yeah. That’d be good.”

  “Great. Then it’s a date.” When Deek’s blue eyes cut her way again, she said, “I mean it’s a non-date?” She lifted her palms in frustration. “We’ll go eat after?”

  “Sounds good.” Deek returned his attention to making Emily’s science fair project judge ready.

  Deek breathed in the aroma of garlic, red sauce, and juvenile sweat that hung in the air at Papa G’s pizza parlor. It was a noisy, fun place for kids. Since theirs were both off feeding the machines tokens while they waited for their pizza to come, he’d have to hold up his end of a conversation with a beautiful woman. Lori was way out of his league. Tall, built, dark-haired beauties like her always made him a little tongue-tied.

  Drawing a deep breath for courage, Deek pulled out a chair across from Lori and settled in, hoping for once he could manage not to be awkward while eating dinner with a woman.

  When Lori grinned at him, his heart rate spiked. Showtime.

  She said, “Thanks for all the help with Em’s project. Science stuff would’ve been my husband’s forte. It’s certainly not mine.”

  Should he comment about her dead husband? Was that bad form? Man, he hated small talk. “It was no trouble.”

  That was a lame response. He wished Annie would just change her damned mind about them and come home so he wouldn’t have to go through the torture of having dinner with single women.

  Lori had said it wasn’t a date, though. He needed to relax and act like he was having pizza with one of the guys. “I mean, I was the biggest math and science geek there was in school. I enjoyed helping Emily.”

  “You were a geek in school?” Lori’s eyebrows lifted. “I’d never have guessed that.”

  He nodded. “I was skinny, gangly, had glasses, and everyone copied off me whether I liked it or not. The kids called me Derek the geek, and eventually, it morphed into Deek. They called me that for so long, I didn’t think to change my nickname when I went to college.”

  Lori’s green eyes danced with amusement. “I think it’s a great nickname. And you’re hardly gangly now.”

  “My dorm mate in college took mercy on me. He showed me the wonders of the free gym privileges that came with our tuition. And how to hide my geekiness in public. I only geek out now when I’m home. It’s the only place I still wear my glasses too.” He was babbling and should shut up. “Was that too much information?”

  “No.” She took a sip of her iced tea. “And since we’re confessing our at-home quirks, ever since my husband died, I started wearing yoga pants every day. He hated them. But now I have ten pairs.”

  The tension drained from his shoulders. Lori was easier to talk to than most attractive women. She’d always been nice, and he honestly liked her, so why had he been nervous? “I’m all for being yourself, especially at home. And you look very nice tonight, even though those pants probably aren’t as comfortable as yoga pants.” Lori wore a pretty blue sweater and gray slacks that showed off some impressive curves. But maybe he shouldn’t have said that? Crap. Did he just put his foot in his mouth?

  Lori’s right brow popped up. “Thank you.” She glanced in the kids’ direction. “They should be running out of tokens any minute.” She kept her gaze diverted from his.

  He had put his foot in his mouth. “That wasn’t a pickup line… I mean.” He closed his eyes and ran a hand down his face to compose himself. When he blinked his eyes open again, he said, “I should just apologize in advance for the dork I can sometimes be. You and I usually talk about school stuff or our kids, but personal things trip me up. I never know how much to share. It’s why I hope Annie, Asher’s mom, will come back home and finally marry me. We’re both giant nerds and meant for each other.”

  “No worries.” Lori’s smile returned. “So you were never married to Asher’s mom?”

  “I asked. But she has big dreams she wants to fulfill before she settles down. I can understand that, I guess. But I grew up without a mom, and I don’t want that for Asher. It’s why I stopped dating. My heart just wasn’t in it. Asher would be better off with Annie.”

  He hated that Asher only talked to Annie once a week if that. If they spent more time together, surely she’d bond with her son and make them a cohesive family.

  He really needed to figure out a way to convince Annie she loved him enough to come home. Being himself certainly wasn’t doing the trick.

  “Yeah. I hear you.” A slight frown creased Lori’s forehead. “I should probably try to date again. Find a man who’d want to make a family with Em and me, but I’d need one who
came with a no-cheating guarantee. I wish there were such a thing.”

  He did too. He suspected Annie was attracted to another scientist on the dig. His name came up way too often. She’d always avoided commitment and liked keeping her options open. “My mother ran off with a guy and never looked back. I’d never do that to a spouse, much less my kid. But then, what did I do? Went and fell for a woman who loves archeology more than us.” He was a top-notch programmer, won awards left and right for his mad skills, made more money than he could spend, yet he couldn’t figure out how to get Annie back.

  “So you’re trying to woo her via the internet?” The pizza showed up, so Lori thanked the kid who brought it and then stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled for Emily. The sound was so loud and shrill, her daughter looked up, grabbed Asher, and headed for the table.

  The whistle impressed the hell out of him. Who’d think a classy woman like Lori would do something like that?

  He mused so long that he’d almost forgotten to answer her question. “Yeah. It’s tough dating on the computer. But maybe if I could whistle like that, her heart would be mine.”

  Lori smiled. “I could teach you how to do it.”

  “I might take you up on that.” It wasn’t the only thing she could probably teach him. He’d recently heard Lori was a matchmaker.

  Deek silently ate his pizza while mulling over the pros and cons of asking Lori for some help to get Annie back. She’d probably be able to give him some tips to appear more attractive. But would that make him look like a suck up to Annie, who knew him so well?

  By the time he’d worked out all the angles of asking the mother of one of Asher’s schoolmates and friends for help, Lori stood to throw the trash away. “That was awesome as always. But it’s a school night, so we better run.”

  He nodded around his last bite. “This is one of our favorite places too.” He turned to his son, who’d borrowed Emily’s cell phone. He was busy playing a video game. “Right, Ash?”

  Asher’s blond head just nodded in response, so Deek snatched up the phone and handed it back to Emily. “This is why you don’t have one of these, Asher. You turn into a zombie when you play.”