4 Jax
The fact that Jax was setting up an account on some dating app was a testament to how ludicrous his uncle was being.
Had he left the company once? Yes. But he had a good reason. It was the right thing to do.
As far as he was concerned, that decision had zero to do with the Senior Vice President of Operations job. It was a different
time under a completely different set of circumstances. One had nothing to do with the other, and his uncle knew that.
But Jax was made for this job. He was born to run this company. And as far as the competition? Well, there wasn’t any competition.
Trina, his sister, had made it clear that she didn’t want to run the whole show. She liked running one hotel. The person who
wanted to run the company was Trina’s jerk of a husband. Jax didn’t trust him as far as he could throw him. No way was he
letting that money-grabbing jerk anywhere near their family legacy.
And Brody? Sure, he was good with numbers. He would make a fantastic CFO. But he was about as assertive as a bunny rabbit.
He’d cave under the threat of opposition, whether it came from the inside or the outside. Five years with Brody at the helm,
and if the company didn’t go under, they’d be selling to a big corporate shark who only cared about the bottom line.
Padua Resorts had been in his mother’s family for fifty years.
It was one of the few independent hotel chains left.
Jax wasn’t going to sit by and watch Brody or Trina’s husband destroy it.
If finding a girlfriend was what it was going to take to convince his uncle to do the right thing, so be it.
He’d stared danger in the face more than a few times in his life.
Surely, he could figure out how to be in a relationship for a few weeks.
Okay, fine. He’d be the first to admit the prospect made him uneasy. He’d even go so far as to say that pushing his two-date
rule aside for something longer made him nervous. But high-speed car chases made him feel uneasy and he did those, so...
While they were between trivia sets, Jax entered his personal information and created a password just to prove how much he
was willing to defy his nerves.
Are you ready to meet your forever?
The words flashed across the screen.
A corner of Jax’s mouth pulled up. Absolutely.
Although he felt fairly certain he and the site weren’t thinking the same thing. His forever included a nameplate on the door
and a big corner office.
But companionship wasn’t bad either.
He clicked the Get Started button.
On the next page sat questions on top of free-response dialogue boxes. He scrolled down to the first one.
Describe your ideal forever relationship.
They got straight to the point, didn’t they?
Maybe he’d start with something a little lighter and circle back. He went to the second question.
What are the top three qualities you’re looking for in a partner, and why are those important?
Nope. He wasn’t starting with that one, either.
He continued scrolling, scanning the questions as he went. His stint in the Army, when he shared a single room with eleven other men, had not been as invasive as this questionnaire.
He shifted around to look at his new friend Bianca, sitting at the table behind him.
“It’s a little intense.”
“What? Were you hoping it would just let you pick the prettiest face?”
Fair. “But is writing a dissertation necessary?”
“To match you with the right person, they have to have all the information. Just answer from the heart.”
Jax stared at the questions again.
How ambitious are you? What level of ambition would you like your forever partner to possess?
“I’m starting to think scrolling through my contacts might’ve been the better way to go here,” he said.
She breathed out as if he were a child exhausting her patience. “Do you need me to help you?”
“Yes. Because if I’m being honest, I’ve never once thought about what kind of relationship I expect my future partner to have
with my family. I’ve barely even thought about my future partner.”
She rolled her eyes but reclaimed her spot on the stool next to him and held her hand out for his phone. “May I?”
He handed it over.
“Let’s see. What qualities are you looking for?” Her thumbs flew across the screen without even waiting for his response.
“You want someone who is trustworthy, confident and...” She squinted her eyes and studied him for a second. “Has a good
sense of humor.”
Not a bad lineup. “A drop-down list would’ve helped.”
She gave a slight shrug and moved down to the next question.
“You view ambition as an admirable quality. You like strong, successful, independent women.” She spoke the words out loud
as he watched her type them on the screen.
“You got all that from eavesdropping on my conversation?”
She gave him a quick side-glance but didn’t stop. “Do you want children, and if so, how many?” Instead of answering this one,
she turned and looked at him expectantly.
“You’re not going to answer that one for me?”
She shrugged. “Didn’t come up in your conversation.”
“Sure, at some point.” He thought about that for a second. “In the very far future.”
“Absolutely,” she said as she typed. “When the time is right. After we’ve had some adventures on our own.”
Yeah, that sounded better.
“Your ideal date.” She paused and looked at him with narrowed eyes. “I’m going to say...”
“That one I can cover.” Before she could go there, he took his phone out of her hand and started typing. “Forever relationships
haven’t been my thing, but I’m not lacking game.”
“Or confidence,” she muttered. She read over his shoulder as he typed his favorite first date. “Nice. But add ‘stargazing
on the beach’ at the end. You’re looking for a fifty-year anniversary forever, remember? Not a one-night stand.”
Fair enough.
They went through the rest of the questions. Fifteen minutes later he was ready to hit Submit.
“How long does it take to match?”
She shrugged. “That depends. It’s a longer process since they run background checks. And, of course, it depends on if there’s
anyone in the system you match with. But I’d say probably a day. Maybe two.”
“And what makes you so confident that this is going to work?”
She gave him a knowing smile. “I have faith in the system.”
Jax was good at reading people. It was one of the things that made him successful at the poker table and imperative for the
job he’d been doing for the past five years. And he could tell there was something this Bianca person wasn’t telling him.
He didn’t bother calling her out on it. He just refocused his interrogator gaze on her.
He was pretty good at that, too.
After a second, she caved. Her shoulders slumped, and her eyes drifted from him down to her lap. “My sister’s on it, and I
think y’all would be a good match. You seem like her type.”
“And you think she’d be my type?”
She nodded at his phone. “Are you really looking for the kind of woman you described there?”
“Technically, you described it.” He mentally reviewed what they’d written. “But, yeah.”
“Then she’s your type.” Bianca nodded confidently.
“So why not set us up?”
She seemed to consider the question for a second. “She’d be more open to it if it came from... someone else.”
“Plus, you wanted the background check.”
“You can never be too careful these days.” She looked at him, curious. “You’re going to pass the background check, right?”
He gave her his best smoldering, mysterious look. It was the same one he used anytime someone asked him about his dangerous
reputation. “Would I be any good at my job if I didn’t?”
It was hard to keep up with the rumors about his mystery occupation. He’d heard it all. Spy. Black mission operative. International
art thief.
That one always made him laugh. People had way too much time on their hands.
“Anyway, I guess we could be seeing a lot more of each other.” She paused to think for a second. “And if not, best of luck
on winning your bet.”
“That’s it? You’re just going to leave me?”
“I got you set up. It’s your job to woo her. And I thought you said you had that part covered.”
“Even so, it never hurts to have some inside information.”
That seemed to get her attention.
“What’s your sister’s name?”
“Cora.” Bianca paused, seeming to consider his request for insider information. “And don’t bring her flowers. She’s more of a booklover kind of girl.”
He nodded, and she turned to walk away.
So, this is where life had taken him? Signing up on a dating app run by AI?
But if that’s what it took to save the company from demise, then that’s what he would do.
He’d been in life-threatening situations before. Stared down the wrong end of a gun more than once. He was pretty sure he
could handle a relationship for a month.