Jennifer Probst - Baby, It's Cold Outside

Searching for You BY JENNIFER PROBST

It’s a Wonderful Tangled Christmas Carol BY EMMA CHASE

Saving Grace BY KRISTEN PROBY

Safe in His Arms BY MELODY ANNE

Rekindle the Flame BY KATE MEADER

Kate Seymour studied the computer in front of her, squinted, and read the entry again.

And again.

Her heart beat faster and that familiar electrical buzz tingled under her skin. Impossible. They were completely different—a match made in literal hell, not heaven. Yet numbers like this didn’t lie. Time to bring in the troops.

She hit the intercom button. “Hey, Arilyn? Can you come in here? And bring Kennedy.”

“Sure.”

A few minutes later, her business partners and best friends joined her in the office. Her face softened into a smile at their presence. Their drunken plans years ago to start their own matchmaking agency in Verily, upstate New York, sounded impossible, but they’d made it work. More so. With over a dozen marriages, and endless statistically proven committed happy relationships, they’d made the dream a reality. Kinnections was an exclusive matchmaking agency that catered to the twenty-five-to-forty crowd, and had already been featured in local newspapers and television stations as the new “hot” way to meet a mate. Hell, it had actually worked for her and Kennedy. Now if only they could find Arilyn her match.

Kennedy Ashe, the social recruiter and makeover expert, slid into the chair and let out a sigh. Her burnished hair, whiskey eyes, and plum Donna Karan suit screamed polish and success. “Please let this be good news. I’ve already depleted my hotel bottles of liquor. Is it Friday yet?”

Arilyn shook her head in sympathy, her strawberry hair streaming down her back in pin straight strands. Green eyes shone with concern. She was both counselor and computer guru, and dedicated her life to living a natural, healthy pathway to happiness. She wore her usual outfit of organic cottons, and spent her free time in yoga classes or with the rescue shelter. “Do you need some chocolate, sweets? I have a Kashi bar in my purse.”

Kennedy flashed her a grateful smile. “No, thanks. I’m saving my calories. I’m bummed over the breakup with Sally and Tom. I thought they were perfect together. I hate when I screw up.”

Kate tapped her finger against the desk. “We can’t be one hundred percent all the time. We’ll rematch them and maybe find a better fit.”

“I guess.” Kennedy pouted. She hated when one of her own matches failed. They all took their jobs seriously, knowing the journey to love was filled with a mix of emotions that included heartbreak too many times.

“Which brings me to why I asked you in here.” She swiveled her Apple screen around so her friends could look. “Remember I told you about my neighbor Riley Fox?”

Arilyn nodded. “CEO of Chic Publishing. Named Fortune ’s woman of the year, gorgeous, smart, and completely kick-ass. Can’t believe she still lives in Verily. Aren’t her offices in Manhattan?”

“Yes, but Riley prefers to stay out of the limelight. She’s been a longtime resident here. I’ve been trying to convince her for years to sign up with Kinnections, but she always refused.”

Kennedy cocked her head. “Riley probably doesn’t need us. With her background, I bet finding men isn’t a problem.”

“Guess again.”

Arilyn let out a small sigh as an inner lightbulb cranked on. “Ah, that’s the problem, isn’t it? Plenty of quantity but little quality?”

Kate grinned. “Her last date drove her to the Ben & Jerry’s and a weekend marathon of Top Chef . She’s thirty-three, and her biological clock just turned on.”

“Ticktock,” Kennedy said. “Rotten piece of machinery if you ask me. If it was up to me, I would’ve pulled the batteries long ago.”

Kate’s lips tugged in a grin. “How many times has Nate proposed this month?”

Her friend grunted. “A few.”

Kennedy had found her soul mate and the love of her life in Nate Dunkle, but she was still refusing to surrender to the final step of marriage. Kate was enjoying watching her friend’s barriers crash down one by one as Nate first moved in, then dedicated himself to proving marriage wasn’t a deadly trap for females.

“Well, Riley has a different approach. I’ve done her intake, and she’s refused counseling and makeover.”

“The woman was on the cover of Fortune . She doesn’t need a trip to the mall,” Kennedy pointed out.

Arilyn pursed her lips. “But everyone could use some counseling. What is she looking for, Kate?”

This was where it got delicate. Kate steepled her fingers and stared at her friends. “She was the most thorough client I’ve ever met with. Knows everything she wants, everything she doesn’t, and is so specific I thought we’d never be able to match her. I used that new computer profiling system you built, A, and the craziest thing happened. I got a full match.”

Kennedy leaned forward. “Full? You mean, one hundred percent?”

The room grew quiet. The system of matching people with the computer was a delicate balance of science, gut instincts, and social networking. A top-rated match was 80 percent, and they already had three marriages from the statistic. But this time it was different.

Arilyn’s face lit up. “That’s wonderful. We found her perfect match. Who is he?”

Kate tapped a key and pointed to the screen.

Arilyn and Kennedy gasped in unison.

“Full name: Ryan Dylan McCray,” Kate announced. “Preferred to be known as, and called, Dylan.”

Arilyn looked pale. “There must be a bug. That’s impossible.”

Kennedy let out a humorless laugh. “Arilyn’s right. Dylan’s been with us for over two years now. He’s had twelve mixers, five socials, thirty-two dates, and multiple sessions of counseling. He’s a Peter Pan billionaire playboy who says he wants a wife, but calls us within twenty-four hours of the first date and tells us there’s no chemistry. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

Kate motioned again to the screen. “I know! I checked it numerous times, pulled their files, and manually went over each point. Their personalities are completely contradictory, yet the computer assigns them a perfect match.”

Arilyn shivered. “Maybe there’s something bigger going on here. The universe is trying to tell us something.”

Kennedy walked over to the screen, dropped into the chair near the desk, and began studying the charts and data. “I don’t trust the universe, I trust Kate. Why don’t you bring them both to the office, lay your hands on them, and confirm whether they’re a match?”

Kate groaned. Her ability she termed the “touch” had been passed from generation to generation. She was able to sense an immediate electrical connection between two soul mates. It had been more of a curse in her endless dating years, until she touched Slade Montgomery, a client of Kinnections and her total opposite, and realized they were meant to be together. “Ken, I told you we don’t run our business like that. I’m not going to touch every couple and try to match people that way. We rely on our all assets here—we agreed on that point when we opened.”

Arilyn chimed in. “She’s right. No using Kate for a shortcut. I say we set them both up on a date. They have nothing to lose. If it doesn’t work, we know there’s a glitch in the system and I’ll rework it. If they fall for each other, it’s a win-win.”