Free Dream Date With the Millionaire by Melissa McClone Page B

but her heart and her secrets.
    She shifted position on the blanket, angling away from him slightly. “Dinner is delicious. Excellent choice of food.”
    “Thanks, but I just realized I haven’t been a good host,” he said. “I forgot to offer you a drink. I have white wine, a Chardonnay or sparkling mineral water, lime-flavored.”
    Her favorites. “Did you check my profile page before going shopping?”
    “Of course.” He grinned. “If you’d been vegan, this dinner menu would have been a flop. So what’s your poison tonight?”
    Water was the smart choice, but she didn’t care. “Wine, please.”
    He uncorked the bottle. “Did you read my profile?”
    Over and over again, the same way she had obsessively been checking her e-mail since he’d first contacted her, but she didn’t want to tell Bryce that. “I may have skimmed your profile a couple of times. I noticed baseball seemed to be a common theme to yours.”
    “And Jane Austen yours.” He poured the wine into glasses. “I thought about wearing a flowing white shirt.”
    “How long did you consider that? A second?”
    “Try a nanosecond.” He handed her a glass. “Cheers.”
    “Cheers.” Dani tapped her glass against his. The chime hung in the air. She took a sip. “Great. But I thought you preferred red wine.”
    “Red doesn’t go as well with chicken,” he explained. “You must have done a little more than skim my profile if you remember what kind of wine I liked.”
    She ate another piece of chicken. “Yum.”
    “Trying to change the subject?”
    “Yes.” She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Do you mind?”
    A devilish gleam flashed in his eyes. “Not this time.”
    Did that mean he wanted to see her again?
    Excitement shot through her at the possibility. She forced herself to calm down. One date. That was all this could be even if her heart might disagree. “Looking at our profiles, hearing how we grew up, we’re very different.”
    He shrugged. “Everybody is different. But the compatibility program says we’re a match.”
    It was her turn to shrug.
    “That’s right.” Bryce raised his glass to his lips. “You don’t believe in the matching program.”
    She remembered the “match” page where you could check to see who the computer thought you were most compatible with. She had visited there once to capture screen shots, analyze the information and present a report to James. “I didn’t realize that’s how you found me.”
    She cringed. Her words made it sound as if she’d been lost and needed a man—Bryce—to find her.
    He didn’t seem to notice. “There are lots of ways to find people on the Web site.”
    No kidding. Just look at her.
    Dani swirled her glass. She felt like the wine spinning around inside. Everything happening in her life was out of her control. Waiting for James to tell her she could stop spying and going out on dates. Hoping another company would want to hire her so she could start afresh. Wishing things could be different right this moment.
    She wanted to take action, change things now, but had no idea how to start.
    Bryce refilled their glasses.
    If only she could tell him the truth about working for Hookamate.com and what her job required her to do.
    But she couldn’t.
    She couldn’t risk losing her job.
    Dani’s family counted on her financial support. Her youngest sister’s fall tuition would be due soon as well as her mother’s health insurance premium. Nothing had changed since lack of money six months ago had forced Dani to take the position at Hookamate.com.
    But the least she could give Bryce was her gratitude.
    “Tonight has been wonderful,” Dani said. “Thanks for going to so much trouble.”
    “It wasn’t any trouble.”
    A comfortable silence descended as they finished their dinner. A breeze rustled the leaves of nearby trees. An older couple strolled hand in hand along the path. They glanced her way and smiled.
    Dani wondered if they thought she and Bryce were a