Free Mister Match (The Match Series Book 1) by Catherine Avril Morris Page A

was: She simply felt it, a sense of calm certainty that he was one of the good ones. That he had her best interests at heart. That he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, or take advantage of her.
    “You go first,” she said, pushing back her chair to stand. “I’ll follow your lead.”
    Adam looked relieved, and delighted. He held out a hand and helped her to her feet, and then placed a palm at the small of her back.
    “Ready to smile for the cameras?” he asked. There was laughter in his eyes, and Lisa found herself grinning up at him.
    “Ready whenever you are.”
    He took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, and then, together, they walked toward the front of the restaurant.

 
     
    Chapter 7
    ____________________________________
     
     
    “T hat was kind of insane,” Lisa said, an hour later. She was back at the spa, sitting in the reception area with Clare during a break before her next appointment.
    “You were chased by actual paparazzi photographers?” Clare shook her head, sighing with envy. “I can’t believe that happened to you and not me.”
    Lisa snorted. “First of all, they didn’t chase us. We walked out of the restaurant, gave them a smile and let them snap a few photos, and then Adam asked them not to follow us back to the hotel. And they didn’t.”
    Clare frowned. “They just...let you go?”
    Lisa shrugged. “It’s not like we’re the Kardashians,” she pointed out. “As far as celebrity gossip goes, Adam must be pretty small fry.”
    “I don’t know.” Clare riffled through the pile of magazines on the counter above her reception desk, and pulled a copy of Rag from the pile. “Seems like he’s a man about town these days. And I mean ‘man about town’ in the global sense. Or at least national.” She flipped pages in the magazine and then stopped at one.
    “Here he is.” She held it out for Lisa to see.
    Lisa took the open magazine and perused the page. “Is He or Isn’t He?” she read aloud. “Who’s this woman he’s with?”
    “Who knows? It says she’s his ‘secret bride.’” Clare snorted.
    “Bride?” Lisa frowned. “They’re saying he’s married? I don’t think that’s right. He mentioned an ex-wife.”
    “Ex?” Clare shrugged. “He’s pretty famous for keeping quiet about his love life. Then those photos showed up a couple months ago, of him with that woman and the little boy, and...” She shrugged. “Who knows,” she repeated. “If he is married, they probably have some kind of arrangement, or something. An open marriage. That’s what all the celebrities do.”
    Lisa didn’t know or care what famous people did. But for reasons she didn’t understand and wasn’t yet willing to inspect, she apparently did care what Adam Masters did. And if he’d taken her out to lunch while a wife and child waited for him back at home... Well, that wasn’t something she could put up with, or forgive.
    And yet, it didn’t ring true.
    “So when are you going to see him again?” Clare asked.
    “I don’t know.” Lisa set the magazine down on the table beside her. “We didn’t really talk about that.”
    “You didn’t talk about it?” Clare repeated incredulously. “What, you just shook hands and said ‘Goodbye, see you never’?”
    Lisa laughed. “Sort of.” Then she fell quiet. They hadn’t discussed meeting up again. There hadn’t seemed to be any point. Adam was just passing through Austin on his way to the next Dream Date city, wherever that was. It wasn’t as if one lunch date would lead to a long-distance relationship. And long distance was the last thing Lisa would be interested in, anyway.
    It was better that they’d simply said goodbye, and left it at that.
    Maybe if she kept telling herself that, she would start to believe it was true.
    “Well, I’ve got good news,” Clare said briskly, clearly picking up on Lisa’s pensive mood. “You’ve got your first date through Mister-Match.com!”
    That startled Lisa out of