Page 26 of Seductive Heat

"Since when?" His friend Max asks, smiling.

"What do you like best about our Theo?" Anne asks.

"He's very thoughtful and treats me like I'm royalty. He's spoiling me rotten."

My answer puts them at ease, and then they start telling me all sorts of stories about Theo in college, and during the years they were building their business. Theo takes it like a man and doesn't stop them from sharing all the details. In the end, they made me feel like I was a part of their group, and I'm really grateful for it.

Back at Theo's apartment, he does exactly as he promised me, and I end up with my dress worn like a belt. And I’m thoroughly ravaged by the man I'm pretty sure I'm falling in love with.

Chapter 9

Theo

You have one new message.

I check on my phone and see a red dot on the corner of The Perfect Bride agency's app. That's weird. I click on the app only to find a message from Helene. I focus on the message, and it says Helen, not Helene. I click on the message.

Hi Theo, this is Helen, your match. I had to leave for a family emergency and was never able to respond to your messages in the app. I hope it's not too late for us to meet. Let me know of a date and place, and we can see if we're truly a match!

I read and reread the message many times. The one thing that jumps out at me is the name. My match's name is Helen, without an e at the end and she's just getting back to me. So, who in the hell is my goddess? I messaged Helen back and set us up for a coffee date, to which she quickly agreed. Meanwhile, my thoughts are going wild.

Clearly, I got the wrong person on social media, but Helene went along with it. Why? For fun? Did she know who I was and take advantage?

I get several messages from her during the day, but I don't text her back. I don't know if I should be angry or disappointed. What I need is to focus on my date with Helen.

I meet her at a fancy café. She is already there, waiting for me. I like that. She's prompt. She's also very beautiful. Long dark hair, amber-colored eyes and a lovely smile. But she does nothing for me at all.

She gets up when I approach the table and puts her hand out.

"Hi, you must be Theo."

"At your service. It's lovely to meet you, Helen."

"I'm so sorry we lost all this time, Theo, but it was inevitable. My mother lives in San Diego with my grandmother, who takes care of her. My mother broke her arm and wasn't able to be there for Grammy, so I had to step in. Her recovery was slow, so I had to stay longer than expected. I have my own business, so I was okay with working from San Diego, but everything is more complicated when you're a caretaker."

She's beautiful, has her own business, and cares about her family—three things that should move me but don't. She's a stranger, and there's no chemistry between us. I think I'm just upset that the woman I want is not who she's supposed to be, and it's driving me crazy. I try my best to be charming to Helen and ask her questions about herself and her life so that we can get to know one another.

In the back of my mind, a platinum-haired, violet-eyed beauty won't leave my thoughts. Our coffee date ends and we agree to meet again for dinner in a few days. She promises she'll text me, and I nod and walk her to her car.

My first instinct is to go directly to Helene and shake her for not telling me the truth. My second instinct is to stay away from her. What if everything she's said to me is a lie? But I've got proof of everything because I've been following her on social media for three months. I try to remember back to the first time she showed up at the club, and she was genuinely surprised when I went to get her from the line so she could come into the club.

This situation is truly messing with my head. Helen messaged me to thank me for coffee, and I gave her a random reply. It was polite but nothing more. Not knowing what to do, I go back to the office and do a deep dive into our accounts. Maybe if I lose myself in the business, I can forget everything else. I do this for three days, and tomorrow is my second date with Helen. I really need to talk to Helene.

I check out the time and it's after school hours, so I call her up.

"Hey stranger, how have you been?" she answers.

"Hi. I'm good, thank you, just busy with work."

"I thought as much. That's why I haven't texted. I knew you were busy. Do you think we can get together tonight?"

"Yes, I want to see you and talk to you about something. Can I come over to your house around seven?"

"That'll be wonderful.” She says happily. “I'll fix us something to eat."

"Don't go to too much trouble. I'll see you later."

I hang up and find that my heart is beating a mile a minute. This is how I react to this magnificent goddess. It's how I reacted when I first saw her image on social media and how she makes me feel whenever we are together. There's a battle going on inside me. I just think I owe it to Helen to give her a chance. There was a reason we were matched.