An Unlikely Match (The Match Series - Book #1) by Barbara Dunlop Page B

counts.”
    “I wanted to graduate college.” Her sports and social life hadn’t left much time to study, and she’d sometimes worried about passing classes.
    “Congratulations.” He held up the wineglass in a mock toast. “You graduated. Now what?”
    “Now I want to get a good acting job.” She found herself frowning, as she remembered his criticism.
    “Why?” he asked softly.
    “To earn money and be successful.”
    “Why acting?”
    “I li ke acting. It’s fun.”
    “You could struggle for years and not make any money.”
    She knew it was true, but she didn’t like to dwell on the odds. “I always got good parts in school.”
    “You’re in a bigger pond now.”
    She strove to put confidence in her voice. “I can swim.”
    He quirked a smile. “I’m sure you can.”
    “Wh at about you and rocket science?” she found herself asking. “Why did you pick that?”
    “I’m curious,” he answered. “I want to figure out how things work and how to make them work better.”
    “That sounds very noble.”
    He gave a shrug. “ To be honest, I picked it because it’s fun.”
    “You think rocket science is fun?”
    “I do.”
    “ You’re a super nerd, you know that?”
    He grinned.
    “Speaking of which.” She rose and crossed to his chair, taking his wrist to check the time. “Yep. Your two hours are up.”
    His eyes grew guarded. “That’s your deadline, not mine.”
    “You gotta do it, Morgan.” She didn’t know why she was so certain, but she was.
    “I don’t have to do anything.”
    “You’ll regret it if you don’t.”
    “That seems unlikely.”
    She hadn’t let go of his wrist, and for some reason she didn’t want to let it go. She liked the connection between them, even if it was flimsy at best. Giving in to temptation, she wrapped her hand more fully around his wrist.
    His gaze flicked down for a second.
    “I’ll practice acting if you’ll go to your reunion.”
    “I already have a good job.”
    Though he was sitting and she was standing, she was only slightly taller than he was. “I know you have a good job. You should show it off.”
    “I don’t need to impress them.”
    “They need to be impressed.”
    His gaze narrowed in puzzlement.
    She eased into the space between his spread knees. “They need to see what you’ve become, who you are, that they were idiots not to have respected you back then.”
    “ Why do you care?”
    Good question. Why did she care? She mentally cataloged a range of flippant responses before deciding to go with the truth. She gazed into his midnight-blue eyes. “I don’t know. There’s something about you...”
    The thick night air closed in around them.
    “There’s something about you, too, Amelia.”
    “ I could come with you,” she impulsively offered.
    His eyebrows jumped about an inch up his forehead.
    “As your date,” she elaborated , warming to the idea. “It’ll be perfect. You can’t go to a reunion without a date. And I’ve got a great dress, black and silver. Or, I’ve got something in pink with rhinestones. I know. I’ll do a fashion show. You can pick. And you can pick the shoes. Hair up?” She swished it up behind her head. “Or down.” She let it fall. Then she couldn’t help laughing.
    His expression turned critical. “I’m not going to lie to them.”
    “Who said anything about lying ?”
    “You’re not my girlfriend.”
    “No,” she agreed, thinking an exceptional guy like Morgan would never be interested in an ordinary girl like her. She lowered herself to perch on his knee. “I’ll only be your date. We won’t claim anything more than that.”
    “I’m not going,” he stated emphatically.
    “Sure, you are.”
    He shook his head.
    “Think about it, Morgan.” She brushed back a short lock of his hair. “We tame this mop, get you some contacts. I’ll help you pick out a suit that doesn’t involve plaid.”
    “I like plaid.”
    “I know you do. That doesn’t mean plaid likes