CHAPTER FOUR
Deacon
I trip over a power cord for the third time today and curse, my usually infinite patience fraying.
I’ve converted Levi’s garage into a workshop, and the space is way too tight.
But I’m not going to pass up the opportunity to make custom cabinets for our kitchen design.
Not just for the payout, but for the opportunity to use my creative side in a way I rarely get to anymore.
I grab the sander and turn it on, only for my phone to buzz in my pocket. Since I’m waiting to hear from Sebastian about a job that’s higher priority than these cabinets, I turn off the sander and pull out my phone.
Only to see an email from the dating site. These aren’t supposed to be coming to me. They’re supposed to be going to Levi. It’s probably an ad, but I open the email, just to be safe.
It’s not an ad. It’s a notification of matches. Sebastian has five women interested in his profile. “What the hell…” I mutter.
“What’s wrong? Sebastian on the warpath again?” Cash asks as he walks into the garage. He’s in a suit and carrying a tablet, probably about to go talk to a homeowner about interior design.
“No. Somehow, the matches are coming to me after I set everything up to go to Levi.”
Cash chuckles. “He changed the setup, apparently.”
“He shouldn’t have been able to get into the account settings. I had a separate password for that.”
Cash scrunches his nose. “How is that possible?”
I shrug. “Probably for rich, busy people who let their assistants handle their dating app. There’s no way he could have guessed my password.”
“Skeeterdog,” Cash says.
I nearly drop my phone. “How’d you know that?”
Cash shakes his head. “Dude, you never shut up about that dog and how he was the best dog ever and you’ll never love another dog because his passing was too traumatic.”
“But his name was Skeeter. How would Levi know I’d add dog to it?” I narrow my eyes at my brother. “How do you know?”
“I know all your passwords, man. You have them written on a Post-it taped under your bed.”
Ah, that tracks. “But Levi doesn’t know that. How would he know?”
“Lucky guess?” Cash says. “Either way, you better take over the matching. Levi’s not going to do it.”
“Maybe he’s secretly a world-class hacker,” I say, still stuck on Levi figuring out my password.
Cash doubles over laughing. “Baby Levi? If he had any world-class talent, he’d sure as hell be bragging about it. He’s always trying to one-up his big brothers.”
I laugh with him, but I’m not convinced. Levi kept his secret about moving until he was already living here. “Will you help me pare down the matches?”
“Nope,” Cash says. “I’ve got a big job out at the ski resort. I’m designing all their guest rooms.”
“Wow. Good for you, brother.”
He grins, puffing his chest out. “Thank you.”
Then he leaves, and I’m alone staring at a list of names with no real idea what Sebastian wants in a woman. Maybe this plan was idiotic, but I’m in it now. I have to commit one hundred percent.
My phone dings again with another email and three more women.
Wow. The picture I put up of Sebastian is definitely a thirst trap.
The man has abs for days, and the shirtless photo shows them off, but I didn’t include his face, just part of his beard.
These women don’t even know what he really looks like, and they’re all in.
A knot of unease settles in my stomach. I embellished Sebastian’s bio to make him less grumpy, demanding, and possessive, but maybe I went too far. He definitely gets flirted with at bars, but the interest from the fairer sex typically ends shortly after he opens his mouth.
I don’t want these women to have unrealistic expectations.
“It’s fine,” I say aloud. “They won’t have to know the truth until they meet him. I’ll convince them he’s a great guy before that.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ryland asks as he steps into the garage, probably stopping home for lunch.
I open my mouth to make up a lie, but he shakes his head. “Never mind. I can already tell I don’t want to know.”
He walks off before I can point out that he’s missing out on a really good time. He loves us. He just loves us more from a distance.
I shove my phone back in my pocket and do my best to ignore the constant buzzing as I get back to work.
***
“Turn off the light,” Cash mutters from the other bed. God, I hate sharing a room with my brother. I did it for fifteen years growing up, and I swore I’d never do it again.
I hate breaking an oath I’ve made to myself, but I’m definitely not willing to room with Sebastian or Ryland, so I don’t have another option.
“It’s not a light. It’s my phone. I have to rate these women.”
“You’re a pig. And it’s too bright. Go somewhere else.”
“I don’t mean rate like that,” I say. “I mean rate for compatibility with Sebastian. And this would be going faster if you helped me.”
“Sebastian is compatible with no one,” he says. “There, I helped you. Go to bed.”
“It’s only nine.”
“Well, I’m tired. And I’ve got an early morning.”
I climb out of my comfortable, warm bed, pull on sweats, and go downstairs, but Sebastian’s in the dining room, scowling at his computer screen, and Ryland’s watching TV in the living room.
There’s no way Sebastian won’t ask me something or start a business discussion if I’m anywhere in his line of sight, so I head out the front door.
Levi’s front porch wraps around three sides of the house and is plenty wide enough for comfortable seating and a fantastic swing. I settle onto the swing with a tired sigh. My legs and feet are sore from standing most of the day, and it feels good as hell to sit.
A cool wind blows, and I instantly regret not grabbing a coat on my way out.
Shivering is preferable to going back inside and risking Sebastian needing a sounding board about some issue.
Ryland is the only one who seems to be able to get away with saying no to our older brother.
Probably because Ryland really does not give a fuck.
He works hard, and he supports the business, but when he’s done for the day, he’s done.
Sebastian just can’t turn off his brain. His workaholism is getting to be downright unhealthy.
Which is why I’m saving him by finding him a partner. Settling in, I get back to reading the bios and messages of the possible matches. I have to keep reminding myself to think about what Sebastian would like and not what I would like.
Problem is, I’m not really sure what Sebastian likes. He brought Skyler around only a couple of times and hardly ever talked about her.
Even so, I’m pretty sure a bubbly, optimistic, happy woman would be a poor match. Sebastian would crush her spirit like a bug beneath his boot.
That removes about half of the women from the list.
Next, I figure the women have to have a career that consumes a lot of time, so their feelings aren’t hurt when Sebastian spends all his time working.
Not all the women list careers, but I’m still able to remove another five who do.
I also remove a social media influencer and a Tarot card reader.
Not saying they can’t be ambitious or work all the time, but I once heard Sebastian say the only work that counts is work that puts callouses on your hands.
Not sure if that applies to the women he dates, but I’m not taking any chances.
That leaves me with five women. Two of them state they’re looking to settle down and have a family. I don’t want Sebastian getting marriage-level serious with this match. I want him to chill, not to become devoted to a new family. That leaves me with three women.
Sara, Holly, and a third woman who, like Sebastian (i.e. me), uses a pseudonym. She’s DogPerson158.
Sebastian loves dogs, so she’s probably a safe bet. There’s no picture of her face, but there’s a smoking hot photo of her from the neck down in a bikini.
Right in her bio, she says she’s blunt and has been called grumpy. There’s no information about her career or hobbies, but just on personality alone she’s perfect for Sebastian. I start with her.
I stare at my computer screen for seven full minutes getting into character. I’ve seen Sebastian around women, and I can guess how he’d interact with DogPerson158. I’ll just start with a simple message.
The username I created for Seb pops up, along with the message box. Shit. I’d chosen Handyguy37 to encompass his job and his age, but I must have mistyped, because it’s actually Handsyguy37. That is not a good look.
I waste twenty minutes trying to figure out how to change the username, only to learn I’ll have to create a whole new profile to do that. Apparently, they don’t want people doing something that breaks the rules under one username and easily changing it to trick other users.
Like, ‘oh, that wasn’t me who sent you that dick pic. It was a totally different username. I’d never send unsolicited dick pics.’
At least, that’s the most likely scenario I can imagine.
So, feeling like an idiot already, I send my first message.
Handsyguy37: Hi, thanks for matching with me. This is not the username I thought I was creating. It was supposed to be handyguy37. Because of my job. Not because I’m the kind of guy who touches women without their consent.
I flip over to Holly, planning to message her next, but DogPerson158 answers. She must be hanging out on the site.
Dogperson158: I’d actually moved you to the reject column because of that username. Luckily for you, you’ve redeemed yourself. At least until I find out you’re lying.
Handsyguy37: Trust me, I’m not one of those guys who thinks every woman appreciates my advances and is just pretending they don’t because they don’t want to seem too eager.
Dogperson158: And yet you seem to have a deep understanding of how those guys think.
Shit. She’s got me there.
Handsyguy37: All I can do is promise I’m not one of those guys. I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t touch a woman without clear and enthusiastic consent. I don’t want to be anyone’s biggest regret.