Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love by Ariana Hawkes Page B

mean, like gentle giants, you know? Maybe a little dreamy? I’m not so into guys who are aggressive and always want to be the center of attention.”
    “That sounds nice,” Lauren said with a knowing smile. “You should put that in too.”
    “Ok, I’m done,” she said after another couple of minutes. “Whew, that was hard. I feel like I’ve bared my soul to this app.” Lauren laughed.
    “And Tamika will be very grateful to hear that.”
    “What happens now?”
    “You tap that little button to process your results, and we wait.”
    The three of them crowded around the screen while the little timer icon popped up.
    Suddenly, the screen filled with thumbnails of half-naked men. Smoking-hot half-naked men. Raven gasped.
    “Wow! What is this?” She flashed Lauren a suspicious glance. “This isn’t just a personality profiler, is it?” Lauren pressed her lips together.
    “Not exactly,” she said. “It is a dating app, but I thought you wouldn’t want to try it out if I told you the whole story, with you being pregnant and all.” Raven handed the phone back.
    “Yeah, you’re right. I’m happy to be a beta tester, but dating is the last thing on my mind right now.”
    “I understand, totally. But would you just look at this one last screen, and give me your opinion on the look and layout?” Raven shrugged.
    “Ok. I guess it can’t hurt.” She looked at the app again.
    “So I’m looking at a ton of thumbnails. Kind of cool how all these dudes are shirtless. And every one of them looks like a god. And to the right of the thumbnail is a rating, starting with 100%, then 79%, 76%, 72%, etc.” She pursed her lips. “Is that supposed to be my compatibility level with these guys?”
    “Yes.” Reflexively, she tapped on the thumbnail beside the 100%. “Holy hell!” she exclaimed, blinking very fast. Then she dropped the phone in her lap.
    “What is it?” Lauren asked innocently. Raven picked the phone up again.
    “It’s the guy I had the one-night stand with. The father of my baby. This app says that he’s 100% compatible with me!”
    “No way?” Lauren said, unable to hold back a grin of triumph, mingled with relief. She’d had a very strong feeling that this would be the case, but a little seed of uncertainty had been niggling away at her.
    “Hold on, let me look at his profile. It says that he wants a family, and he loves hanging out with his clan and being a part of his local community. He works as a carpenter, and a volunteer firefighter. It doesn’t mention anything about him being a stripper. Weird. Maybe he doesn’t want to admit to it on a dating profile.” Lauren took her hand.
    “Raven, I have something to tell you. Something that will make you happy. I wanted to tell you yesterday, but I needed to confirm my suspicions first. I know Timo very well.” Raven gaped.
    “But how?”
    “He isn’t a full-time stripper. He actually lives here in Hope Valley. The current tour he’s doing is a charity thing, to help raise enough money to save our local stores from being bought out by big corporations. My husband is also taking part in the tour, along with eight other guys that we know really well.” Raven’s face was frozen in shock.
    “So he’s not some sleazy dude who tours the country, sleeping with a new girl every night?” Lauren laughed loudly.
    “No, not at all. He’s the really lovely, genuine man that he seems to be. And, what’s more, I learned from Connor last night that Timo has been moping around ever since he met you, beating himself up because he didn’t get your number before you took off.” Raven clapped her hand over her mouth.
    “Oh my god. This is so much to take in.” 
    “This is great news, Raven,” Caitlyn said, eyes shining.
    “I know. I’m just stunned. And the app – I don’t understand – did you set it up so he’d appear as my number one match?”
    “Nope. It’s all genuine. Timo said he felt like you were the one for him, and if that