Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
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T IERNEY
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M y plan is to just throw myself into my work. I’m back at the offices of Leashed to Love, and I plan to make a slew of successful connections this week. I try damn hard not to think about Colter, Nolan, and Jace in Wyoming at the moment at some rodeo.
I’m also stalling sending them each a message to thank them for their time, but I was done—essentially forfeiting the time I still had left with them. I just can’t bring myself to do it. Now , I say to myself. I can’t bring myself to do it now, so I add it to my list of things to do, and it comes in at number fourteen, the last thing on my list.
After browsing through clients' needs and wants and matching up a few—because we believe in a human eye making the matches and not a bot—I devour a glazed donut and a cup of coffee, but now my fingers are sticky.
Sweetpea, sitting like the little princess she is in her little silk basket after daintily eating her own treat, follows me to the bathroom.
I wash my hands, dry them, and then squirt a dollop of hand lotion onto my palm. I’m out of the door while rubbing the cream into my hands, and then I stop dead in my tracks.
The reception of Leashed to Love , is crammed with about twelve people ranging in age from grannies to aunts to twenty-somethings and even a five-year-old girl with pigtails. They’re all busy talking on top of each other.
Since I’m alone in the office today—Clem and Haley are meeting clients, respectively—I’ll have to handle this by myself.
They don’t see me coming from the other end of the reception. Umm... what is going on?
“Hello?” I say as cheerfully as I can muster. “Can I help you?”
“Oh, hello. Tierney. We’re so pleased to meet you, finally.” They all say at the same time, but completely out of tune. They start again. It sounds like a bigger mess than before. I hear snippets of how happy they are to meet me, and then they gush all over Sweetpea, who enjoys her stardom like a diva.
A tall blonde woman with eyes that remind me of Colter speaks. “Okay. One at a time,” she says, but they all start talking at the same time again. Another beautiful woman, this one reminds me of Nolan, gains control of the room by placing two of her fingers between her lips and issues a commanding whistle that instantly shuts everyone up.
“I’ll do the talking,” she says. “Everyone else, hush.” She turns to me. “Hi Tierney. Such a pretty name. You’re even more stunning in person. I’m Rebecca, Nolan’s sister. And that’s Colter’s sister, Marie, and Jace’s sister, Zoe. And the rest of them are aunts, grandmothers, cousins, and nieces.”
Oh, my god. Their family is in the reception of Leashed to Love?
“Hi,” I say, waving to everyone. I still don’t know what’s going on.
“You must be wondering why we’ve stampeded your offices,” Marie says. “Only I, Rebecca, and Zoe were supposed to come by, but word got out and everyone and their mother wanted to come.” Marie laughs.
“We would like to hire you to find three brides for our three bachelor brothers,” Rebecca says.
“Me?” I squeak. I force myself to get a grip or hyperventilate. Of all the days, did both Clem and Haley have to be out of the office?
“Pretty, please,” Zoe says. “Since they’re doing nothing about it, we decided they needed a shove. It’s time they tie the knot once and for all.”
“You want me to find three brides for your brothers?” That is not my own voice. It’s not. I can’t help the emotions clogging up my throat or remove the incredible surprise in my voice. One minute they were making me come a thousand times, and the next I’m supposed to be finding them brides.
“Can we talk? Just us, Zoe, Rebecca, and me. Maybe a little privately?” Marie asks. “We have big plans, but this lot over here are all jabber mouths and will give it away.”
“Of course,” I say, so high-pitched, I silence the room. “Let’s talk in my office.”
Sweetpea walks extra close to me, brushing her soft fur against my legs, offering me strength. Okay, I need to find some balance and quickly.
My legs shaking, I lead Marie, Rebecca, and Zoe into my office.
“Please, have a seat.” I gesture to my pink overstuffed sofa. “Can I get you anything to drink?” I ask politely when in truth I’d rather see them go. The thought stops me short. I’m being ridiculous; what is actually wrong with me? Nothing. Everything is good. I got what I wanted, sexual things. They got their land, and now it’s over.
Mentally pulling myself up, I offer their sisters my brightest smile.
“What did you have in mind?” I ask in my sincerest voice.
“Well. We heard that they’ve been spending some time with you, and since you’re now friends, we thought you could matchmake our brothers with their future wives.” Rebecca smiles at me. They think I’m friends with Colter, Nolan, and Jace?
“You met them; you know how grumpy—” Marie says
“And pigheaded,” Zoe chimes in.
“And boorish they can be sometimes,” Rebecca takes over. “They refuse to settle down, have children, and our great grandmas aren’t getting younger, you know. What do you think?”
“I... I think... It’s a fabulous, fabulous idea. Fantastic. Brilliant. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this myself.” Shut up, Tierney. I reach for my tablet and start to take notes.
“Except we can’t do this the traditional way,” Marie says.
“Yep. There is no way our brothers are willingly going to go on dates,” Zoe nods.
“Trust me, we’ve tried setting them up on blind dates forever. We’ve gone through our entire single friend list, and they won’t even show up just to see if maybe they’re staring at their soulmate right there.”
I turn from Rebecca to hear what Marie now has to say.
“They have no intention of marrying, but what do they know, anyway? Right? They need to have heirs to take over their beloved ranch, Lone River, and they keep saying there’s still time for that. There isn’t.”
“So this is what we were thinking. We’ll have a party. They’re away for the next couple of days, which means we’ll have free rein of the ranch.”
“So a huge party at the ranch so they won’t know it’s a giant blind date. Because all the brides you think might be a potential Mrs. James, or Mrs. Spears, or Mrs. Hamilton will be under one roof, and then you and Sweetpea can inadvertently do your magic together.”
Right.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Zoe asks. “Maybe it’s lame? What do you think?”
“I think it’s just a fabulous, fabulous idea. Fantabulous. If you need any help setting up the party, just let me know.” Great, why didn’t I just offer them my left nipple instead?
“Oh, would you really help us with the party?”
“It’ll be my pleasure. It is my pleasure. It’s my job to connect people. This is my work, and I will give 100% to this project.”
“Thank you, a thousand times.”
“It’ll be part of the matchmaking; I can subtly make the theme romance without them suspecting a thing.”
“You are incredible, and this is a marvelous idea. I can’t wait.”
“When do you plan on having the party?” I ask, getting up from my seat opposite them and going to my desk. I think I’m going to pass out.
“Will Tuesday be too soon? Will you be able to find them potential brides by then, do you think?”
“Oh, of course. I’ll work on it all day and night. We’re not Leashed to Love for nothing. We make love happen.”
I can make this happen in twenty-four hours. I’m Tierney Vaughn after all.
I stay where I am, not moving a muscle after they leave my office. It takes me a while, but I rouse myself from whatever darkness I’m feeling and get to work. Sweetpea jumps into my lap and stays there the whole day.
I check our database of clients to see who I can match with Colter, Nolan, and Jace. I flip through all two hundred members and narrow it down to nothing. I force myself to go through each profile more thoroughly, making notes. I then decide I need a file for each of them. I collect their images from their Lone River website and get to work.
By the time I leave the office, the party is planned, the caterers booked, the decor to be delivered, and the potential brides all ready and available.
Clem and Haley don’t let me go home alone, and I’m thankful for that.