The Dating Experiment (The Experiment, #2)(3)

That was life. The natural order of things.

I should know.

I tapped my fingers against the desk as I stared at my screen. I wanted to tell this woman no, but, how could I? She needed help. It was my job.

I had no choice.

I replied to her with an extensive survey designed to help me match her with her perfect guy. Every word felt like bullshit.

Did perfect exist?

Of course, wine and wearing no pants were right up there with perfect.

If only this were as simple as that.

But guys? Were soulmates a thing? Was there genuinely somebody out there for everybody? And if there was, how did you find them?

Was it a coincidence? Did the universe plan it all? Or were some of us destined never to find our other half?

Ugh. This was too much soul-searching before lunchtime. I needed at least another two cups of coffee and half my body weight in carbs before I tackled the mysteries of the universe.

Maybe even then it’d be questionable.

I blew out a breath and walked into the small kitchen just off the side of Dom’s office. A glance at the clock told me he was late, something I wasn’t surprised about, even though he lived up-freaking-stairs.

I switched on the coffee machine and leaned against the small counter. The kitchenette was only big enough for a coffee machine, a microwave oven, a sink, and a small mini-fridge, but it was perfect to keep me from killing people on a semi-regular basis.

Why had I gone into a business that required me to be nice to people?

Oh, that’s right. I’d been desperate for a job and unable to get one.

Desperation makes you do stupid things. Like open a dating website with the guy you’ve been in love with almost your entire life.

I should have had coffee before I made that choice.

Or a therapist.

Good lord. Why had nobody stopped me doing this? And why was I now questioning it?

Because I had to move on? Because I knew there was no chance that Dom would ever see me as anything other than his sister’s best friend?

Yes. Because this was awkward.

I mean, hell. I still had the lingering frustration of a dirty dream from last night. My alarm had blared at me like a freaking siren before I’d been able to, well, finish the dream. And Dom had been the person in the dream doing all kinds of deliciously dirty things to me.

Shit, I had a problem. A big, big problem.

How could I get over him if I was dreaming about him?

How the hell was I supposed to ask him to find me a date?

And what the fuck did I do if he said yes?





Chapter Two – Chloe


There aren’t enough carbs in the world to counteract the amount of bullshit.

Trust me. I’ve tried to eat them, and all I got was an extra five pounds on my ass.



I was saved.

Dom hadn’t shown up to work yesterday—and he hadn’t been home, either. On one hand, it pissed me off because I had to explain to the woman who’d shown up for a meeting with him that he was sick. On the other hand, I stole her from him.

Cha-ching.

You snooze, you lose.

As it stood, he was late today, too.

How could you be late when you lived upstairs?

Oh, that was right. You made sure you weren’t home.

Seriously, it was his funeral if he didn’t show up today. I knew how to kill people. I’d even do time for his death at that point. I’d long since passed any ability to be empathetic with the giant child I called my business partner.

I also needed another job. The lack of my own love life was unsurprisingly uninspiring, and if I had to watch one more romantic movie to get that inspiration, I was going to puke.

The sound of the front door opening had me looking up. Dom entered the office with a big, shit-eating smile on his face.

“Oh, look. He remembered he has a job.” The veiled insult jumped off my tongue before I could stop it.

He froze, still holding the door open. “Can that wait?” he hissed. “I’m with a client.”

My nostrils flared, and I gripped the edge of my desk, ready to push my chair back.

I was stopped by the arrival of a tall, beautiful woman with a smile that was either a thousand-watts or the result of too much whitening.

I knew which my pick was.

She pushed some of her voluminous brunette hair behind her ear, her smile widening as the red lipstick she wore only made her teeth look whiter. It was almost too dark for her pale complexion.

Boy. I was judgey today.

“Why don’t you take a seat, Ruby?” Dom said, motioning toward his side of the partitioned room.

“Sure.” The smile she offered him was entirely too flirtatious, and I barely hid a snort as she walked on heels over to where I couldn’t see her. The clicking of the stiletto heels against the wooden floor grated on me—mostly because she sounded uneasy on them.

“I’ll be right with you,” Dom said, smiling in her direction.

“Sure, honey,” she said with a voice that was, like her affectionate name for him, a little too sweet.

Dom nodded, still smiling, and turned to me. His smile dropped instantly, and he closed the distance of my space, stopping on the other side of my desk.

The desk I was still gripping.

I didn’t care that he knew I was pissed.

“What was that?” Dom asked in a hushed tone. “You can’t—”