A Matchless Romance Read online

  A Matchless Romance

  By Christi Barth

  Tabitha Bell is the face of Chicago’s premiere matchmaking service. At least, she hopes it will be someday, once business really takes off. What she needs is more clients, so when she meets a sexy gamer in need of help, it’s the perfect opportunity.

  His discomfort talking to women almost cost Drew Watson his job. He’d be happy holed up in his office, designing blockbuster video games, but his boss considers talking to investors a nonnegotiable requirement. Who better than a matchmaker to teach him how to be comfortable around the opposite sex? Trouble is, Drew wants to get more than comfortable with Tabitha, while she’s determined to keep their relationship all business.

  Soon Tabitha learns that beneath the geek-chic hoodie lies six feet of sexy physique—and the more time she spends with Drew, the more she appreciates his brainy brand of charm. Will she succumb to his sweet-but-nerdy charm offensive or will it be game over before he can win her heart?

  41,000 words

  Dear Reader,

  My vow to you is to not mention the holiday that starts with a V in this letter for the February releases. If you’re like me, you’re probably on holiday overload after all of the winter festivities, and you wish you could just blank out all of those advertisements for diamonds and chocolates and fancy dinners. Of course, if someone wanted to buy us any of that, that would be okay…

  Instead, let me tell you about the sometimes-romantic and sometimes-not lineup of books we have for you this month! Fans of Alison Packard’s The Winning Season will be glad to know that JT and Angie’s story releases this month. Look for sparks to fly in Catching Heat. Author Christi Barth finishes up her Aisle Bound series with A Matchless Romance. You won’t want to miss this playful story about a sexy gamer who just needs a beautiful Chicago matchmaker to help him see how hot he really is.

  Also in the contemporary romance category is Party Girl by Tamara Morgan, following up her well-reviewed romance The Derby Girl. When a good-time party girl meets a backwoods hermit, the only thing bigger than their differences is their attraction. Fan favorite Inez Kelley joins the contemporary romance offerings this month with smoking-hot lumberman Jonah Alcott, who wants to do more than fight with gorgeous mountain activist Zury Castellano in The Place I Belong.

  Lynda Aicher brings her trademark sizzle to a new erotic romance story in her Wicked Play series. In her first male/male romance, Bonds of Denial, security nerd Rockford Fielding finally finds a man worth coming out of the closet for, but Carter Montgomery has to move past his own insecurities before they can claim a future they both thought was impossible.

  Opium addict and Victorian bounty hunter Cherry St. Croix is back again in Karina Cooper’s Tempered. Dragged to a neglected estate and forced to dry out, Cherry tries on the role of helpless Gothic heroine—and tumbles headlong into danger when she takes to meddling in her family’s alchemical history instead.

  Returning to Carina Press with a new series is Eleri Stone with the first book in her new paranormal romance series. In Reaper’s Touch, Jake and Abby work together to find a cure for the infection that turns men into flesh-eating monsters. We’re also welcoming back Jody Wallace with her newest paranormal romance, Witch Interrupted. Wolf shifters heal from tattoos as if they were never inked, so why is the same sexy wolf back in Katie’s tattoo parlor for more? And last but not least in the paranormal romance category, we’re also pleased to bring back Victoria Davies and her newest novella Demon by My Side. When a tempting demon prince crashes into her life, a demon hunter struggles to figure out who she can trust and one wrong move will cost her not only her heart but the safety of the human world as well.

  Concluding her wonderful epic fantasy series, Shawna Thomas wraps up with Journey of the Wanderer in which to save Anatar once and for all, Ilythra must risk everything she loves.

  But with every ending there’s a new beginning, and we’re happy to welcome male/male romance author A.M. Arthur to the Carina Press team. A reformed troublemaker meets his match in an inexperienced bookworm when what was supposed to be a casual relationship starts to look a lot like love in No Such Thing.

  And we’re happy to introduce debut author Holly West. Holly delivers a fascinating, well-plotted historical mystery, the first in a new series. In Mistress of Fortune, Isabel Wilde, a mistress to King Charles II who secretly makes her living as a fortune-teller, is threatened when one of her customers is murdered after revealing a conspiracy to kill the king and the diary of her illicit activities as a soothsayer goes missing, a page of which turns up in the dead man’s pocket.

  Coming in March: look for the newest installment in Marie Force’s Fatal series!

  Here’s wishing you a wonderful month of books you love, remember and recommend.

  Happy reading!

  ~Angela James

  Editorial Director, Carina Press

  Dedication

  To the most romantic man I know, my darling husband who spoils me rotten and showers me with love.

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to Adam Dray & Laura Welling for sharing their technical expertise of gaming and the tech world. Big hugs to Lea Nolan for beta reading. I owe the MRW Scribblers and Angela James a huge debt of gratitude for making me re-start this book. Immeasurable thanks to Stephanie Dray—she knows why.

  Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  No matter how fast Drew Weston ran down the tree-lined Chicago street, he couldn’t escape his problem. Even if he managed to strap turbo thrusters to his shoes, it wouldn’t make a difference. Aside from looking kick-ass cool, that is. Huh. The row of old brownstones behind black wrought-iron fences faded out of focus as his mind clicked into designer mode. Turbo sneakers. Interesting idea to work into his next video game. That is, if his boss-from-hell gave him the chance to come up with a new game after he got Quest rolled out. Thinking about Keiko fueled his frustration, and he put on a burst of speed.

  Which plowed him right into the soft curves of a woman. Moving solely on reflex, Drew grabbed what he could. It happened to be her lush ass. He spun to slow his momentum and keep them both from crashing to the ground. They ended up plastered against a glass storefront. Late afternoon April sunlight haloed around her deep red hair. The sensual hits didn’t stop there. Her thighs were tight to his, breasts crushed to his chest, and glossy peach lips parted in surprise. Wow.

  This was the closest he’d been to a woman in ninety-four days. Ninety-four endless days—and endlessly frustrating nights—since he’d last had sex. ’Cause yeah, he’d been counting. They might be vertical right now, but the position definitely put Drew in mind of horizontal hijinks. Made him wonder if the thick black lashes on those green eyes of hers would flutter shut if he pressed his mouth to hers.

  “Did you run into me just to cop a feel?” she asked in a husky voice. One that sounded like the beautiful redhead had rolled out of bed after screaming her pleasure to the rafters for three rounds.

  “No.” What kind of creep did she take him for? For God’s sake, this wasn’t some sleazy alley at midnight. Sure, he’d gotten off of the El at the wrong stop, so Drew couldn’t pinpoint his location. But this street was only a block away from what the bumper-to-bumper traffic he’d seen lurching below the train indicated was a main drag. He’d jogged by a couple of boutiques and art galleries as he tried to run off his irritation. All he’d really done was feel stupid for running in
jeans.

  Her eyes narrowed. “Then is this your lame signature move? Did you figure that once we sidewalk snuggled, I’d be putty in your hands?”

  “No.” Drew knew just enough about women to know it was never that easy. “I figured running into you was better than making you fall down. Lesser of two evils. But I’ve gotta say, the result doesn’t suck.” After all, the hot mystery woman still hadn’t pulled out of his loose embrace.

  “Thanks.” High, arched eyebrows gave her a look of being in on a joke with the rest of the world. “Now do you maybe want to let go of my ass?”

  “Wouldn’t be my first choice. It’s a pretty terrific ass.” Nevertheless, Drew dropped his arms to his sides. He didn’t want to scare the pretty woman Fate had dropped into his path. Maybe she was a karmic present to balance out the barely five feet of nasty-tempered, impossible-to-please female back at his office? Which of the three Greek Fates would’ve been responsible for creating that balance, he wondered. Huh. They’d be good to work into a game, too. Or maybe the Norns of Norse mythology. Then Drew wondered why he was thinking about game design at-freaking-all when the most beautiful woman he’d ever been lucky enough to hold still touched him from shins to shoulders?

  A smile flitted across her lips. “You do say whatever crosses your mind, don’t you? That’s both unexpected and refreshing. I think I’ll give it a try.” To his surprise, she still didn’t step back. Instead, she slid a hand between his hoodie and his T-shirt, fingers splayed across his heart, then stood on tiptoe to whisper into his ear. “Next time, cutie, just ask first.”

  Could she feel his heartbeat kick up about a zillion notches? The statement, though full of potential, demanded clarification. Drew didn’t want to risk screwing up. “Next time I accidentally cop a feel, or next time I see you?”

  With a laugh, she finally put some breathing room between them. Just enough for Drew to notice the color slicking her lips matched her fitted jacket. It nipped in at a waist he could probably span with his hands. And damn if he didn’t want to try. Beneath it, a cream, lacy thing dipped across the swells of her breasts. Not that he was looking or anything.

  “I’m surprised you’ve got time to flirt.” She made a big show of looking down both ends of the street. “The way you were running, I figured there was a horde of zombies after you.”

  Talk about a fantasy come true. Or at least a really great sequence from his best-selling video game, Trolls Under Tribeca. A sexy, gorgeous woman who could also talk zombies? Willingly? Drew’s inner nerd took over his brain’s joystick. “You know about zombies?”

  She crossed her arms. Took another step away from him. “No more than anyone else with a love of schlocky horror movies. Why? You’re not going to try and convince me they’re real, are you?”

  Uh oh. He’d lost her. Now she thought he was one of those lunatics who couldn’t tell the difference between fantasy and reality. The ones who put the crazy candy coating around the all-natural fun of gaming conventions. Drew scrambled to regroup. “Of course not. I wouldn’t have moved to Chicago if it had a zombie problem.”

  The twinkle in her emerald eyes faded. Shit. Lame joke. Big mistake. A minute ago, he’d had his hands all over her, and now the possibility of that ever happening again seemed all but impossible. Drew decided to go with the truth. It couldn’t make the situation any worse. He shuffled his scuffed sneakers and jammed his hands in his pockets.

  “Seriously, I don’t believe in zombies. But I spend a lot of time thinking about them. For my work. And in my experience, most women don’t think about zombies at all.”

  Her posture didn’t relax, but the corners of her mouth tugged upward. “Color me intrigued. What on earth do you do for a living? Dig graves? Embalm people?”

  “Something far worse. According to my parents, anyway.” The degree from MIT he’d worked so hard for was just another piece of paper to them. At least if he dug graves, he’d be doing something physical. Something they could understand and respect. “I design video games. One, in particular, that’s chockful of zombies. And trolls.”

  “Oh. My. God.” To his utter disbelief, the redhead reached out to wrap her small, soft hands around his. God, what else was that incredibly soft? Vanilla pudding, maybe? Or a drop of liquid mercury? “Don’t tell me that Trolls Under Tribeca is your game?”

  “Yeah,” Drew spun the word out cautiously. ’Cause suddenly this whole thing felt like a setup. A prank. Some new-guy hazing by his team back at Game Domain. Because women who looked like her never cared about the fantasy-filled video games he designed.

  “I love it,” she said in an excited rush. “It scares me silly, but also makes me feel like a badass warrior. Whenever I have a bad day, I come home and kill zombies for an hour to smooth out the mental kinks.” She shook her head, smiling. “Talk about a stroke of luck. I mean, at first, I thought you were just another good-looking guy, but now I realize you’re brilliant, too. Lucky me.”

  Now Drew was certain it was a prank. Women looked at him and saw a nerd, not a jock. Brains, not brawn. Out of a nervous habit that wouldn’t quit, he started to push up the glasses he’d discarded only a month ago after laser surgery freed him from a lifetime of frames.

  “Who are you?” he asked. If his team was behind this little encounter, she’d say something like Mona Lott. It took no time to discover he headed up a group of creative geniuses. Geniuses, however, with a sense of humor firmly lodged in the eighth grade. On Drew’s first day he discovered toilet paper stamped with a photo of the current president. In a bi-partisan spirit, the next roll was stamped with a picture of the former president. On day three, his office chair was replaced with a replica made out of carefully stacked toilet paper rolls. But Drew rolled with it. He’d expected to take some licks as their new boss.

  “Tabitha Bell.” She pulled back her hands to criss-cross them over the cleavage he was not, repeat, not staring at. Drew felt like he’d diverted every single synapse not responsible for cardiopulmonary support to the job of keeping his eyes off her chest. “Huge fan. I’m on level thirty-seven of Trolls. Having a hell of a time stopping those sea monsters trying to batter a hole in the Lincoln Tunnel. A friend gave me An Eye in the Shadows for my birthday, but I won’t let myself get sucked in until I hit level fifty of Trolls.”

  Dropping specific game detail meant she might be for real. If so, her love of gaming, combined with a body that put Jessica Rabbit to shame, made her the most perfect woman in the world for a nerd like him. Drew still found it hard to believe, though. The tantalizing Tabitha belonged out at swanky wine bars, chasing troubles away with champagne bubbles. Or dancing them off in a classy club. Not working her way toward carpal tunnel with a controller alone in her apartment.

  “Drew Weston.” He gave a short nod. “It’s, um, great to hear from a fan.”

  “The pleasure’s all mine.” Tabitha wrinkled her nose. It connected her freckles into a straight line. One that Drew wanted to lick. See if they tasted like cinnamon. “Well, sort of. Selfishly, I want to picture your days spent locked in a Batcave. Hunched in the darkness, the only light a glow from your three monitors while you mastermind the next game in the Trolls series.”

  He bit back a laugh. “You’re not too far off.” From day one, it had been drilled into Drew that Game Domain had different floors for a reason. Executives on the top floor, sales and marketing below them, then an entire floor for player testing. Drew hadn’t even seen any of those floors yet. He and the rest of the creative/design team were kept in lockdown in the basement. The ground floor, with the mailroom and cafeteria, acted as a buffer zone to keep the creatives away from the rest of the staff.

  Did it make him feel like a mutant, a genetic experiment gone wrong? One hidden away not for its own protection, but to protect the world from knowledge of its very existence? Oh, yeah. Which Drew kind of got off on, honest to God. Made him feel in sync with the creatures in his best-selling games.

  “So what’s a brilliant game designer
doing in my neighborhood?”

  “Your neighborhood?” He looked past her at the elegant buildings, most converted to shops. “You live here?”

  “Nope. You’re at my work. Or should I say, you’re on it.” She tapped the glass behind him with a long, orange-tipped nail.

  “Oh.” Drew moved to the edge of the sidewalk to take in the storefront. Tabitha stretched her arms wide, like a game show hostess.

  “Can you guess what I do?”

  Wide picture windows were draped in silky fabric that matched the barely budding tree leaves. A kimono, a couple of shades deeper green, had two fantastically detailed golden dragons snarling on each lapel. Since Drew had never heard of a bathrobe store, he kept looking. Puddled next to it was a much smaller sheer kimono, with pale pink flowers vining from top to bottom. They both lay on top of a heart-shaped blanket next to a pair of overturned champagne glasses.

  It didn’t take Drew’s overzealous imagination to picture a sexed-up couple shucking those robes after the bubbles went straight to their heads and getting busy. Unfortunately, the Asian tone of the scene also shot his brain straight back to the cause of his current problem; his boss, Keiko Nakamura. Jerking his eyes away—’cause who wanted to think about sex and their boss at the same time?—Drew flicked his gaze up. Bright red script across the top of the door read A Fine Romance.

  Logic, which Drew pretty much lived and died by, said the name tied in to their products. Not that he had any clue what those would be. “You sell…romance-type stuff,” he guessed.

  She clicked her tongue against her teeth. “Too vague. No points for you. But yes, this is a romance store.”

  “Seriously?” Perfect. Problem solved. In his aimless wandering after getting off the El, he’d literally jogged straight to the solution. Romance and women were practically synonymous. So maybe Tabitha could help him figure out how to deal better with women. Especially since Tabitha gave every appearance of being the perfect woman in every single way. Drew put a hand at the small of her back. “Can we go inside? I need your help.”