Matched

by S. E. Lund

  I laugh. "No, that's old news. I just didn’t realize it until now."

  She answers.

  "Hello, Marina…"

  She listens to Marina for a moment.

  "No, Blaine just left. I'm at work and Jon's filling me in something he's been working on."

  She listens some more.

  "No, I don't think anything's going to happen with Blaine. That was over a year ago. He made his choice and I made mine."

  There's another pause and so I pull her against me, against my hips so she can feel my erection. She closes her eyes for a moment, and grinds against me.

  "Yeah, Jon came back early. He wanted me to help him with a big project he's been wanting to give me for a while now."

  I have to hold back a guffaw at that and lean closer to nibble on her shoulder, pulling down the hoodie neck as far as I can. She stifles a giggle and makes a face.

  "Sure," she says and checks her watch. "Yeah, I’ll be there in an hour like we planned."

  I squeeze her, not wanting her to leave. "Hey," I whisper.

  She waves me off. "Talk later. Bye."

  India ends the call and puts the cell on my desk. Then she slips her arms around me again.

  "I'm meeting Marina for coffee. We made plans with the girls earlier. Sorry."

  "Aww," I say and pull her back into my arms so she's resting on my body. "I was hoping I could eat with you tonight. Eat you," I say, grinning. I'm disappointed that India is going to leave, but at least we have this thing between us settled. I can wait. "Remember, I have this big project to give you."

  "Oh, yeah?" she says and rubs herself against me in a very erotic way. "What can you give me in, say…" She checks her watch. "Thirty minutes?"

  "A lot," I reply and grab the bottom of her hoodie before pulling it over her head. She's wearing a lacy bra with a front closure. I unfasten it and her beautiful breasts fall out, her nipples hardening in the cool air. "A lot."

  I bend down and take one nipple between my lips, sucking it into my mouth while my hands stroke down her back to her butt. She moans softly and that's all the reward I need.

  I pull back and look in her eyes. Nothing and no one has ever felt like this for me. This is more than lust, although it is that as well.

  "I love you," I say to her, my chest tightening with emotion.

  "I know," she says and runs her fingers through my hair before slipping them around my neck again.

  "I want you to be mine, and no one else's. I can't imagine not being with you. Not now. Not ever."

  Then we kiss again and the emotions are roiling inside of me – love, lust, need, want, possession.

  This is love.

  Chapter 21

  INDIA

  "You're going to have to tell her, you know. Eventually."

  Jon and I stand side by side in the executive washroom when we're finished. I'm brushing my hair, trying to look less disheveled before I leave for brunch with the girls.

  "I know. I'll play it by ear."

  "You're going to have to tell people at the office. I mean, they already suspect, but they should know."

  "I know. We'll let them know when the time feels right." I turn to Jon, smiling. "You seem pretty insistent on letting everyone know about us."

  He smiles and pulls me into his arms once more. Immediately, my body responds to the feel of him in my arms, even though I've just finished coming twice in rapid succession.

  "The cat is, or should be, out of the bag. I don't have any doubts, India. Do you?"

  He holds me tightly, his gaze on mine, waiting.

  "Of course, I don't have any doubts," I say softly.

  "We have to just do it," Jon says. "In the end, you have to jump."

  We kiss and finally, my doubts are gone.

  I jump.

  I leave Jon and drive to the restaurant where Marina and the girls will be waiting for me. I'm running late and am a bit flustered, my stomach still all butterflies because of what's happened between Jon and me.

  He finally felt able to say the words. I feel a bit stupid now, doubting him. Making him say the word, but I wanted to know that if we did this thing, we would do it with eyes wide open and aware of the risks to our business, which we both love so much.

  But I love Jon and finally, I think he really does loves me.

  I enter the restaurant and see the girls sitting in the corner booth. They all glance at the door when I enter and wave. I smile back, wondering how Marina will take it when I tell her that Jon and I are a couple and that's all there is to it. No protests and no complaints.

  I sit beside Jill and smile when the waitress comes by with a carafe of coffee. I turn my coffee cup up and am happy to get a cup. I need something to calm my nerves. "You're late," Marina says in her domineering way. "What's up? I thought you'd be happy to see Blaine back."

  "Really?" I say, shaking my head in surprise. "He broke my heart, Marina. Why would you think I'd be happy?"

  "Because he came back to be close to you, in the hopes you two could get back together again. That's why. I told him you hadn’t been with anyone else since and he thought –"

  "He thought wrong," I say and pour more sugar into my cup.

  Just then, Jon walks into the restaurant. I see him out of the corner of my eye, and then Marina glances over.

  "Well, look who it is," she says.

  I frown. What's he doing here?

  Probably wanting to show solidarity with me when it comes time to break the news to Marina.

  "Hello, ladies," Jon says and stands at our booth. "I was just passing by and thought I'd crash your party. Can I join you?" He looks me in the eyes. "Scoot over."

  I do, but am speechless for a moment.

  "So, what are you talking about?" he asks and picks up a menu.

  "We were talking about Blaine being back in San Francisco."

  "Yeah, he was by earlier. Luckily, I think he got the message and left."

  "What message?" Marina asks, her eyes narrowing.

  "That India is taken and not interested in him," Jon says, and he turns his cup up happily as the waitress comes over with the coffee again. She pours and then drops a few creams off before leaving us alone.

  To stunned silence.

  "What do you mean, she's taken?" Marina asks, her expression priceless – a mix of shock and awe. I imagine it matches mine.

  "India has something she wants to tell you. Right?"

  Jon looks at me, meets my eyes, his expression expectant.

  I take in a deep breath and stare Marina down. "I don't want to hear any criticism. Not one word of negativity. Seriously."

  She makes this face somewhere between insulted and angry. "Why would you say that?"

  "Jon and I are together."

  For a moment, there's silence as the three of them glance between Jon and me.

  Then, Jill turns to Lara and they high five each other.

  When Jill turns back, she has a huge grin on her face. "We knew it."

  "What do you mean?"

  "We knew you two were in love," Lara says, smiling at Jon and me. "You two were the only ones who didn't know, apparently."

  Jon laughs and slips his arm around me. I'm still shocked, but I'm enjoying the expressions of glee on her and Jill's faces.

  "You really thought that?"

  "Oh, God, India. It's so clear that you two belong together," Jill says. “You guys are amazing together."

  Jon glances down at me and pulls me closer. "We are."

  His eyes are warm. I feel a thrill go through me at how serious he is.

  I turn to Marina, who is sitting there, straight-faced.

  "You're not going to say anything?"

  "Nope," she says, and there's no indication of her emotions, except that her hands are folded on the table and her head is tilted sideways.

  "I figured you'd protest and tell me that we're making a mistake, and that we're totally wrong for each other. You've been telling me that for the past five years.
"

  Then she reaches into her bag and pulls out a white envelope. She hands it to me, and then sits back, her arms still folded, her face unreadable.

  I take the envelope, which is old and looks worn, like she's been carrying it around for ages. I open it carefully. Jon peers at it, curious. Inside is a folded letter. I open the letter and see it's from MATCHED.

  MATCHED ANALYSIS:

  SUMMARY:

  Candidate: Ward, India Louise

  Candidate: Thorson, Jon Anders

  Match Potential: 97%

  "What?" Jon says and takes it from my hands. He reads it over and now I lean in and read it too, noting that we were almost perfect on every score on the questionnaire. The only one where we didn’t score perfect points was trust. Jon and I were twenty-five percent different in our ability to trust, and both of us were low. But the difference wasn't enough to knock us down from Perfect Match to Very Good Match.

  The analysis goes on to suggest that for the couple to overcome the differential in trust, they should have obstacles placed in their path that they need to overcome together, in order to learn to trust. That would build trust between them and pave the way for the couple to be together.

  "I'm low on trust?" Jon asks and looks to Marina for an answer.

  "Oh, yes," Marina says and takes the questionnaire summary back. "According to my questionnaire, you're afraid of being hurt so you only date – and I say ‘date’ loosely – women who are not interested in relationships. Who only are interested in fun and excitement."

  "When did you do this?" I ask, taking the questionnaire from Jon's hands and reading it over once more.

  Marina smiles. "When we began work on the app. We had the first run at our algorithm and I had you both do the test questionnaire. Remember that first one? It matched the two of you up from all the other candidates we had in the system. All the other iterations of the questionnaire have been just getting the technical bugs out of the app's algorithms. The questionnaire has been the same all along."

  "What about the bad dates you fixed Jon and me up with?" I ask.

  "Yeah," Jon says. "They were like every other woman I would normally date, but none of them were serious matches for me. I wouldn't consider any of them as commitment material."

  "They were the worst matches for both of you, but ones that you both would have chosen yourselves," Marina says to me, her expression pointed. "Jon wasn’t into commitment so he looks for women who aren’t into it either. He knows you are, so he picks women who are not like you. The two of you have been dancing around each other for five years because neither of you were ready."

  "Why didn't you just tell us?"

  "You wouldn't have gone for it. You wouldn't have believed it because you had both convinced yourself you weren't the right match for each other. You thought he was superficial and glib about relationships, and he thought you were too serious. I had to force you each to see how good the other person really is by putting you with someone who really is wrong for you."

  She smiles, the biggest smile I've seen on her face for a long time.

  "You manipulative little…" I say, at a loss for an appropriate insult that also shows how impressed I am, but I can't think of one. "All these years you've been pushing us apart!"

  "No, I haven't. When you and Jon first became friends, I thought you two would get together. But you both held off, giving all these excuses why. I knew neither of you were ready. I merely parroted back all the arguments you were already making and they were enough to keep you from committing to each other."

  "You never once said you thought we should be together. Ever."

  "If those arguments could keep you apart, neither of you were ready," she said. "But I knew. When I developed the questionnaire and saw the results, I knew it was real, but your fear of commitment meant you had to learn to trust each other. The only way to do that was to force you two to face up to your feelings."

  "You are so conniving…"

  "It worked." She smiles.

  "All this time, I've wanted to talk to you about Jon, but I was afraid you'd shoot me down," I say.

  "You had to grow a backbone and realize it was more important to be happy with Jon than be on good terms with me. I can take it. Besides," she says and takes a sip of her coffee, smiling like the Cheshire Cat, "I'm damn good at this."

  I can't help but smile back at her. Beside me, Jon is shaking his head in amazement.

  "You are. Here I thought MATCHED was a flop. We were so confused, wondering why you matched Jon and me with such bad dates."

  "Nothing helps clue you in to a perfect match like a bad one. You remember my latest matches for you both? They got together at the party and are very happy together now. They were perfect matches for each other but terrible matches for you guys."

  She winks at me, grinning at the two of us like she owns the world.

  "Genius," Jon says.

  I sit and think about everything for a moment while the waitress takes our orders.

  "So? Are you happy?" Marina asks when the waitress leaves. She looks between us, her smile huge.

  Jon and I hold up our cups of coffee. "Very happy." Jon bends down and kisses me and I kiss him back, cupping his face with my hand. It feels good to be able to show him affection in front of everyone.

  I no longer care what anyone thinks. The only people who matter are Jon and me.

  "Good," Marina says and holds up her coffee cup. "My work here is done."

  Chapter 22

  JON

  Tech Crunch Disrupt, Berlin

  December 5th

  We fist bump while the announcer is warming up the crowd, introducing us as the dynamic duo behind the multimillion-dollar tech startup firm Pacifica, which just landed huge contracts with the US Defense Department to provide satellite tech and software coverage for the modern battlefield.

  India's excited to be here and give the presentation. I'm excited as well, because this time, we're doing it together. She looks amazing in her black dress and heels, her hair down, her face fresh and smiling. I'm dressed in matching black, shirt and slacks.

  We're a pair.

  Our tag-team presentation, we call it, is perfect – just like our relationship. We've rehearsed this for a couple of weeks and have it down pat. When the announcer finally calls out our names, we walk on the stage together to a roar of applause. India starts the video while I begin delivering the presentation. We each have our own sections, and the presentation goes seamlessly, cutting from the image of our satellite in the production facility and then on the top of a Falcon 9 rocket, being delivered into orbit. India talks about the modern battlefield and the importance of communication for the soldiers and decision-makers. She tells the story of her brother and how he lost his life in an ambush that our technology could have seen beforehand, and possibly prevented.

  The crowd is riveted as she tells the story of Steven's death and of the founding of our company, Pacifica, and how it went from my parent's garage in Pacifica, CA to a multimillion-dollar tech company in Palo Alto – and now, the Dulles Technology Corridor just outside of Langley, Virginia.

  When the presentation is over and the lights come up in the auditorium, there's a loud and appreciative round of applause and even some cheers as we bow to the crowd and then walk off the stage, shaking the hand of the announcer in the process.

  When we're finally behind the curtain, I grab India and kiss her. I'm overwhelmed with how successful we've been these past few months since we decided to come out to our staff and friends.

  We shocked none of them in the process.

  We were the last to know, it seems. But that's all in the past. Since then, we bought a place in Virginia. Now, we divide our time between Palo Alto and D.C., so we can be closer to Washington and our primary contractor – the US Government. We have a place on the coast very much like India's bungalow. We wanted it to reflect both our tastes and provide us with access to the beach.

  Now that our presentatio
n is finished, we have a week off and are taking a cruise in the Mediterranean as soon as we can get to the airport and catch our flight to Rome. After a night in a local hotel, we'll take a Viking cruise from Rome to Barcelona and then fly back to Virginia.

  Life is good.

  In the car back to our hotel in Berlin, we discuss the convention and how our presentation was received.

  "It went well," India says and smiles, taking a drink from her bottle of water.

  "It went fantastically well," I reply, needing at least one superlative to describe it. "Our timing was perfect."

  She nods and smiles at me, her cheeks flushed, her eyes bright.

  At that moment, I realize once again just how much I love her. I lean over, taking her hand and kissing her.

  "I love you, India," I say, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles.

  "You’ve told me that more than a dozen times today already," she says, smiling up at me, her eyes narrow. "What is it you want? There must be something you’re shooting for to say it so many times."

  "Can't a man just tell the woman he loves that he loves her?"

  "Yes, but a dozen? That's high even for you. What's up? We already had sex twice today."

  "Only twice?" I grin at her, because I'm thinking we'll probably fuck one more time before we crash tonight. Both of us are exhausted, but I'm hyped. "I want to run you a nice bath and pamper you. We have that outlandish hotel room with the jet tub. We should take advantage."

  "Sounds perfect."

  I kiss her one more time and then we drive through the streets of Berlin in silence, watching the pedestrians on the sidewalks with interest. Once back at the hotel, I do exactly what I've planned – running her a nice warm bubble bath while she pours us a couple of glasses of wine. I pour in some bubble bath, then turn on the jets. I go out to the main room, and India and I toast each other.

  "To us," I say, holding up my glass of red wine.

  "To us and Pacifica," India replies.

  I nod, correcting myself. "To us and Pacifica. May our partnership and relationship be successful."