I rationalized that I could be wrong. Lazer could be completely taken with her and refuse to date anyone else. There was nothing in our contract about him having to date multiple people. Who was I to deny Vanessa her chance?
"I take it this means I can let Lazer know he can call you?" I said.
She leaned toward me and looked me in the eye, beaming. "Absolutely."
Had another spoken word ever sounded so breathless with anticipation?
The Seattle evening TV entertainment show was hosted by three men and a woman. During segues between segments, the four of them sat around at some local establishment and bantered about the stories on the show that night. Usually only one host went out per story. Tori Branson, the sole female cohost, took our segment.
The PR firm Lazer hired had carefully constructed our media plan. We'd already gotten buzz in Manhattan, and worldwide, when we recruited the women to come to Seattle. Word had "slipped" out about the app we were developing and our new business model and business objective. Our goal, our mission, really, for reshaping the country—grand goal, admittedly—was that there were ample supplies of both men and women throughout. We were redistributing the dating pool. Something rarely attempted with any great success. But then, none of them had had our brains, creativity, or initiative power. Or technology. Technology was what allowed us to have such big dreams.
The first steps of our local PR plan were simple. The city had already been primed with anticipation of the app and the arrival of the women. The press had met us at the airport, and we'd gotten good buzz from that. This evening magazine show was set up to chronicle our journey to success. It was a human interest story focused on following the men and women in our group as they used our matchmaking and job-hunting services, and our app, to find personal happiness and career fulfillment, and to document the success or failure of a new Seattle startup. We presented ourselves as offering a balanced life, the old "you can have it all" philosophy.
It may have been naïve of us. Or overly ambitious. Time would tell. But I firmly believed in our mission. We might only succeed on a modest scale. But we would succeed in making at least a few people ridiculously happy. The thought made me giddy. That was my life's dream.
This first segment with Tori was geared toward introducing our star client, Lazer, and the women. The men would get another segment sometime later when the app passed the first stage of beta and went to a citywide test. Our intentions were to entice Seattle men to sign up when we dangled beautiful women in front of them. And Lazer, with his charisma and billions, was the carrot for Seattle women. We were focusing on matching first, and would introduce Peter and the job searches later.
Tori and the show producers were keenly interested in the experiment. How many of the women would stay? How many would find true love? They were betting their ratings that the people of Seattle would be eager to follow they story.
Tori met us in the lobby of the building where the Pair Us offices were located. Her segments were always fun and filled with her enthusiasm and practical joker nature. The segment was supposed to look like she'd ambushed us as we introduced the women to Pair Us. In reality, the whole thing was scripted and rehearsed. It took us several takes, and a stop by makeup, to get it right. But eventually we managed.
The segment opened with Tori alone in the lobby as she explained what she was up to and gave a brief description of Pair Us and our goals for it. She was charming and roguish. Filled with the kind of enthusiasm that was catching. No wonder her audience loved her. Tori was a perfect choice for us.
On cue, Lazer and I strolled into the lobby, followed by the women, who looked around the lobby with wide eyes, laughing among themselves, full of anticipation.
"There he is," Tori whispered in an aside to her audience. "Seattle's hottest bachelor, Lazer Grayson. What do you say? Should we see what he's up to?" She waved at the camera like she was encouraging the audience to follow her.
Tori strolled toward us and stuck a mic in the "unsuspecting" Lazer's face. "Lazer, fancy running into you here!"
"Tori, I could say the same about you." He used that tone of voice that had charmed the panties off too many women.
Tori laughed. "I'm here to get to the bottom of a rumor I've been hearing." She made a point of looking at the women and back to Lazer. "Out on a date?"
He laughed. "I'm a one-woman-at-a-time kind of guy, Tori. That's what adds to my appeal. I'm here on business."
She laughed with him. "Business, is it?" Her eyes sparkled with as much mirth as her voice. "Now we're getting to the heart of the matter. Word on the street is that you've taken on one of Seattle's direst problems. An issue so sticky and tricky that even the mayor has refused to tackle it."
"You have to give the mayor a break," Lazer said magnanimously. "He has his hands full with soaring rents and the homeless issue."
"But no time to tackle the problem of Seattle's lonely hearts?"
"Lonely hearts weren't part of the platform he ran on," Lazer said.
"No?" Tori looked completely charmed by Lazer. "Maybe they should have been. You, however, are singlehandedly dealing head-on with Seattle's dire shortage of single women desperately seeking male mates."
"Not singlehandedly. I have an amazing team and partner." He pulled me forward. "This is Ashley Harte, matchmaker extraordinaire, and my partner in remedying crimes against the heart."
"It's nice to meet you, Ashley." Tori smiled at me. "Welcome to Seattle. We hear you're one of Manhattan's top matchmakers."
I gave my thirty-second elevator pitch for my services and talked about Cameron, Austin, Dylan, and Jeremy, and what they added to the team.
"Wonderful. Can't wait to see how matchmaking works from a front-row seat," Tori said when I finished. "You didn't bring these genius men with you?"
"We'll spring them on you later," Lazer said.
Tori returned her focus to him. "You're repeating a page from Seattle's history book and bringing brides to Seattle. That's the old Seattle spirit!" She pointedly looked over his shoulder at the women. "Are these the lovely ladies?" She waved at them. "Very nice."
She cupped her hand around her mouth in an aside to the camera audience. "Look at them! Glad I'm not single and in competition with them." She turned back to Lazer. "We want the scoop. Fill us in and bring us up to speed on this new experiment of yours. You've conquered the gaming world and now you've set your sights on love. How does this all work?"
Lazer laid out a brief version of our story and mission.
"But," Tori said, "aren't there already mail-order brides and multitudes of online dating services?"
Lazer laughed, charming Tori and the camera. How had he learned to make eyes at the camera like that?
"None like our model. And in our eyes, all inferior and flawed in some way." He indicated the women and pulled them forward. "These beautiful, talented women aren't mail order or email order or any of that," he said in a deep, sexy voice. "No guy has gotten online and ordered one."
Lazer looked like a man who was so completely comfortable in front of the camera that he'd never needed media coaching at all.
"Marriage isn't the first consideration or goal of these women. They're looking for personal happiness and satisfying relations and careers." He looked at the women for confirmation.
They murmured their agreement.
"They're here for an adventure. They're here because it's insane to continue in the same rut, doing the same thing and expecting different results. New results and success. Sometimes you have to mix things up and make changes. Take chances."
It was like he was giving a campaign speech and riling up his base.
The women were completely behind him, both literally and figuratively. They nodded and smiled into the camera with their heads high with pride and their eyes filled with determination and hope.
Lazer continued, "They bring amazing talents and skills across a broad spectrum with them." He detailed some of the accomplishments of the women in
the group.
"But, Lazer," Tori said in a confidential tone, "you only brought fifteen women. If what you say is true about Seattle having a shortage of women, this is a drop in the bucket."
"You think I'm crazy." He laughed. "I get it. I'm on a fool's errand. I can't bring enough women to Seattle on my own.
"Our goal with Pair Us and our new app is broader than anything I could do. It relies on the initiative of the individual who's looking for a place where they can have a successful career and a good chance at a fulfilling personal relationship.
"Our immediate goal for Seattle is to attract women from across the country, and the world, to the high-paying tech companies and jobs in all professions here in Seattle. If we have to dangle hot men in front of them to do it," he joked, "we will."
Tori and the women laughed with him.
"If we can encourage talented women to come to fill the needs of our burgeoning businesses and settle down here, we can build a better city and community. A thriving one with opportunities for generations to come."
He sounded like a damn politician. I hoped this wasn't the start of a political career. I had no desire to participate in that arena.
Tori turned and shoved the mic at me. "What about you, Ashley? Your reputation as a matchmaker precedes you. What are your thoughts?
"Obviously, my goal is to find a perfect match for each of these women." I gave a condensed pitch for the value of engaging a matchmaker.
The women crowded around Lazer. Tori began questioning them and drawing their stories out.
When they were finished, Tori turned to Lazer again. "And I hear you're in the matchmaking pool?"
"I am," he said.
She made a comically disappointed face. "You mean we could be losing our hottest bachelor soon?"
He shrugged noncommittally.
"Ladies, and men, Lazer's new venture, Pair Us, is open for business." She turned to Lazer. "Is that right?"
"We open our doors on Monday," he said. "In the meantime, you can look us up online and submit an application to be considered for our dating pool. Or sign up as a client. Our rates are very reasonable.
"We're also in beta for a new app we've developed. Viewers can sign up to be in the next group of beta testers. This is an exciting opportunity you won't want to miss, people. Believe me. It's going to rock the dating world."
"Are you going to elaborate on how this new app is different from other dating apps?" she asked Lazer, suddenly sounding less like an entertainment host and more like a serious journalist.
He grinned. "When the time is right."
"A man of mystery with a mysterious dating app. I love it!" She smiled for the camera. "We'll be following Lazer's new experiment periodically on the show. He's promised us we'll meet the men behind this new dating app and give us a peek inside the new offices of Pair Us soon. Lovely name. We hear the offices reflect the theme.
"In the meantime, if you're single and looking to meet Mr. Right or Miss Perfect For You, the information for contacting Pair Us is on our website and at the end of this segment…"
We wrapped up the shoot.
Lazer caught me and pulled me aside. "I got your message." He held my gaze. "I'm supposed to ask her out now?"
"Right now?" I said with sass. "If you want. Most men prefer to call. It wouldn't hurt to take a few minutes to plan something out first."
Why was I encouraging him to make this date special? Sometimes the matchmaker in me went against the grain of my personal best interests. I gave myself Brownie points for being so calm and encouraging.
He rolled his eyes. "First of all, I'm not most men. Second, planning dates is my specialty." He leaned in and whispered, "As you should know."
I laughed louder than I meant to. "Yes, I know all about your dates. Plan something sweet, love." I'd always wanted to call people "love." The British do and get away with it so easily. Since he'd recently come back from a stay in England, I thought he'd appreciate my sense of humor. In this case, though, I edged the word too far toward bitterness. I was still hurt he hadn't returned my declaration of love before. So much for being flippant. I'd just have to try harder.
I cupped my hand and whispered in his ear, "Something that won't tempt you to go too far. You know the rules, pet."
And I even got a "pet" in there, continuing my gag. I was on a roll.
He shook his head. "All too well."
"And make it public. As public as possible so all the women can see this fantasy date and come flocking to Pair Us."
"You're a wicked woman, Ashley. Completely driven by greed, avarice, and the good old profit motive."
"I've never pretended otherwise," I said.
His grin became positively devilish. "I get to discuss all the nitty-gritty details with you the next day."
"The postmortem, yes."
"Postmortem? That's harsh. You should have more faith in me."
"In a man whose relationships don't last?" I put my hands on my hips and arched an eyebrow. "I don't believe in misplaced faith."
"Who says it's misplaced?"
"I'd love to see you prove me wrong, Lazer. I really would. Think what it would do for my reputation as a matchmaker if I matched the notoriously uncommitted Lazer Grayson. I could live off the PR alone for the rest of my life. Me, the billionaire matchmaker!"
"I thought I was the billionaire matchmaker?"
"A competition! I love it. I guess we'll just have to duke it out for the title."
I had been so busy sparring with Lazer that I hadn't realized the others were watching us.
Lottie cleared her throat. She was frowning. "Ashley? We should be going."
Whenever Lazer and I were together, we were intense. Intensely competitive. Intensely aware of each other. Intent on one-upping the other.
From the looks of the faces on the women, I guessed it had looked like we were flirting.
I nodded to Lottie. "Yes, absolutely. We should be going." I smiled at Lazer. "We'll see you tomorrow at Northwest Mornings."
Chapter 7
Ashley
Lazer asked Vanessa out with flowers. A great, big, showy bouquet. He had it delivered shortly after we got back to the apartment complex. I heard the squeals echo down the hall and peeked out to see what was going on. A bevy of women was gathered around Vanessa as she read the card and pinked with pleasure.
Lottie was with me, going over the schedule. She peered around my shoulder. "Lazer?"
I nodded.
"And Vanessa?"
I nodded again. Lottie shouldn't have been surprised. She'd assisted me in the matching process.
She sighed as we both stepped back into my apartment. "You're both playing with fire. I thought he liked you."
I shrugged. Lottie and I had been over this before.
"You know he's not my type. I prefer one-woman men. It's my deal breaker."
"Hmmmmm," she said in her most condemning tone.
"You know it's true." I plopped onto the sofa and grabbed my laptop.
"I know what I see. Every time you and Lazer are together, the sparks fly. You'd better be careful before everyone catches on. Danika already has ulterior motives. If she catches a whiff of it, her journalist side will win out. This afternoon your attraction was on full display—"
"This afternoon I was encouraging him to ask Vanessa out at any time."
"Hmmph." Lottie shook her head again. "You can try to fool yourself, but you don't fool me." She paused. "What are you trying to prove?"
"I'm not trying to prove anything. This is just business. My stipulation for agreeing to be his partner was that he be our first high-profile client. You know a billionaire as a client is the gold ring of the matchmaking biz. I'm simply holding him to his promise and he's merely keeping his word."
"If you believe that, you're not as smart as I give you credit for." She smiled slyly. "Look at you. You're way too smug. This is part of your plan to win him over."
Lazer
Sending fl
owers was a clichéd romantic gesture. A lazy man's maneuver. But women loved it. I wasn't in the mood to expend much effort on Vanessa. Not when I couldn't get Ashley out of my mind. And my dick was always conniving how to get his way with her again.
I was at my wit's end about how to play this game. I'd already played the make-her-jealous card and been called by her trump. If Ashley wasn't jealous of a mistress of seduction like Milia, then Vanessa wasn't going to turn her even the palest shade of green. Unless…
Unless pure physicality and lust weren't what made Ashley jealous. After all, sex was off-limits in this game we were playing. How would Ashley feel, though, if I found a good friend in Vanessa? A companion?
I wrestled with my conscience. What was I doing? Was this all about Ashley? What if Vanessa was my perfect match?
Listen to you! I told myself. You're sounding like you believe this crap about perfect matches. Perfect matches are fairytales.
I realized that there was only one thing to do—treat Vanessa like I would Ashley and see where it went. If I were taking Ashley out, where would I take her?
Ashley
If Pair Us and the app were going to be successful, we needed both men and women in our dating pool and using the app. The evening show had been all about introducing the women and getting Seattle men interested. Northwest Mornings' viewing and studio audiences skewed heavily female, and a little older. Never mind the older. That could work to our advantage as Mom and Grandma grabbed on to the idea and played matchmaker themselves, trying to find matches for their daughters and granddaughters by referring them to us and our app.
Our hope, and goal, was to appeal to the suburbs, where there were plenty of women, and get them to hit the streets of the city with our app. Lure them into the city with promises of hot men and an app that would show them where the men were.
With that in mind, the six of us—Lazer, Cam, Austin, Dylan, Jeremy, and I—arrived at the show with high hopes. Milia and our stylists met us there and shepherded the men through hair and makeup. None of the men enjoyed the process, but when we were finished, they were camera ready and smoking hot.
Dating Lazer: A Jet City Billionaire Romance (The Billionaire Matchmaker Series Book 4) Page 7