Page 26 of No Match Found
A flutter kicked low in my stomach while a prickle of heat burned my neck. I reached for my fork.
“So, what do you say?”
I gathered the greens on my plate, taking my time to respond.
Grant was offering me a peek into his brain in exchange for a peek into mine—no metaphorical public disrobing required.
It was as tantalizing as it was terrifying.
I wanted to say yes. I wanted to ask him the most difficult questions he never wanted to answer.
But he’d do the same to me.
The sheer range of questions he might come up with made my legs quiver under the table like overcooked noodles.
He shrugged. “If you’re too scared, it’s fine.”
I cocked a brow. “Do you always default to manipulation when women don’t hand over their secrets?”
He chuckled and ate a mouthful of salad.
I wanted so badly to see this man thrown off his game, but that meant inching toward vulnerability with someone who made a living out of poking around every tender area he could find. But backing out?
That meant blinking first. And I’d promised myself not to do that.
“Fine,” I said. “One question a day. I don’t have time to play truth or dare ping pong all day long.”
“Truth ordare,” he said, intrigued. “Now, there’s an idea.”
I didn’t even dignify the blatant provocation with a response. I was rethinking the terms I was offering. It still felt too dangerous. “A question a day. One pass each. Completely off the record. Take it or leave it.”
“Take it,” he replied without a moment’s hesitation.
His eagerness was unsettling, like he wanted to cash in on my offer before I could realize my mistake.
“Start on Wednesday?” I suggested. I wasn’t ready to open myself up just yet. I needed time to think of questions and to mentally prepare for the ones he might ask me. Given what I’d experienced of Grant so far, they wouldn’t be run-of-the-mill.
“Wednesday sounds perfect. We can get your profile finished and see who Matchify throws your way.”
I nodded, but inside, my stomach was roiling. As far as I could figure, I had at least a 70% chance of regretting today’s choices.
But if Grant planned on peeling back my layers like an onion, I fully intended on making him pay for it in tears.
NINE
Buyer’sremorse set in heavily on my walk back to the office.
It was fear-based, and I knew from experience that “returning my purchase” would only lead to two things:
1. Not being able to trust myself in the future
2. Grant winning
I combatted my fears by digging in my heels and shooting an email to Vantive to let them know that, after further consideration, I would be continuing with Threadline after all. I was the female CEO of a cutting-edge tech company, for heaven’s sake.
Their response made it clear that I’d made the right choice and that their confidence in Matchify could only grow in parallel with Matchify’s confidence in itself. Reading between the lines wasn’t hard: this choice was what kept them interested in giving us our next round of funding.
And I had every intention of securing that funding, whatever—and whoever—it took.
