Failure to Match (Bad Billionaire Bosses, #2)

by Kyra Parsi

“You want to know a little secret?” He still hadn’t dropped his hand. “Only if it’s relevant to helping me find you a suitable match.” I had very little interest in learning anything about him otherwise. I swear his eyes were twinkling as they slid between mine, his smile jerking. “I kind of like it when you’re mean to me.”

A few more items to add to my growing list of life-threatening allergies: 1. Whatever cologne he was always wearing. 2. My body being forced into close proximity with his body. 3. His bow tie (which I was absolutely not internally obsessing over). 4. Him clipping my safety belt into place for me.

I was very, very allergic to Jackson Sinclair

“I was at my desk all afternoon. What else would I have been doing?” I blinked up at him. “Working.” “Don’t be ridiculous, Jamie.”

“Sixty-seven matches,” he said, hooded eyes locked on my mouth. “Every single one of them wanted something from me—wealth, status, connections—but none of them wanted me.”

“People rejecting your money is a kink for you?” “No, Jamie, you rejecting my money is a kink for me.”

“A quick FYI—friends don’t have kinks centered around their friends, and if they do, they keep that information to themselves.”

When people tell you who they are, when they tell you what they want, believe them. Always believe them.

The reason why Jackson kept so many members of staff—the reason why he had “a person” for everything—wasn’t because he was useless and incapable of self-sufficiency. It was because they were his people. His family. He kept them around out of love, not necessity.

“I can make you sushi all the time.” “You just said you don’t enjoy cooking.” “Hate it. It’s a complete waste of time.” He tossed the towel he’d used to dry his hands and wedged himself between my dangling knees again. “But if it made you happy, I’d do it.”

“You think I’m easy to fall in love with?” His voice was husky, quiet.

I was dangerously close to falling for the most unattainable man in the world,

Water was wet, the Earth was round, and if I, Jamie Paquin, fell in love with Jackson Sinclair, I’d never get over him.

“It’s not him,” he whispered against my lips. “It’s not him. Come back to me, Jamie.”

“Because if we keep this up, I’m going to fall in love with you, Jackson.”

“Are you the date or his Jamie?”

“I hate to break it to you, Jamie Paquin, the prettiest little matchmaker with the prettiest smile and the prettiest heart he’s ever seen, but this idiot is your man.”

“Stop. Just... stop.” His voice was gruff with exasperation as he stepped forward. “Does this feel right to you? Does seeing me with someone else feel right? Because I’m losing my fucking mind over here, Jamie. It’s fucking horrible.”

“How can you stand it?” His voice was raw, anguished. “How is it fair that you’re only halfway there, but I can’t fucking breathe anymore, Jamie?”

“I’m done. Eight billion people in the world and my Jamie’s the best fucking one. It’s her, or it’s no one. I won’t be blackmailed and manipulated into making the single biggest mistake of my life, so fuck you, fuck the shares, and fuck the family legacy. I choose Jamie.”