Free The Matchmaker Meets Her Match by Jenny Jacobs

potential family will make me more palatable to the board. More
relatable
.” Which meant he was doing fine without anyone, but his career required a wife, or at least the appearance that he was looking for one. And if he found someone, she would need to accept his workaholism.
    He didn’t want anyone and if he
did
have anyone, he wouldn’t have time for her. So that was going to work out great. Unhelpfully, Rilka’s brain took that moment to remember reading a study that showed top executives shared many traits with sociopaths.
Sure
, she thought.
Make my job easy
.
    Without having to think too hard, Rilka could guess the board of Electra Corp. consisted of old white men who were racist enough to worry about an Hispanic man running things and his mentor Reston thought making him more
relatable
would tip the balance. The world never changed, it just learned to hide things better.
    “So we’re … doing this for your image.”
    “Precisely.”
    “Hmm,” Rilka said. “Would you be receptive to finding a match? I mean, supposing I really do find the right woman for you.”
Ha.
    “I have very little time to date,” Rafael said. “I’m not finding her on my own.”
    “That a yes?”
    “A qualified yes. I’m not delighted to be here but I have learned to make the best of a bad situation.”
    If only I could learn,
Rilka thought with a sigh.
    “Come now, surely I am not as hopeless as that? I am presentable, I have a good job, and excellent prospects.”
    But who are you, under the job title and the grooming?
The facade had not gone up overnight and getting past it would take time and wanting to try. And probably a certain amount of luck.
The right woman
, Gran would have said, but Rilka wasn’t sure.
    “It’s not hopeless at all,” she said cheerfully. Someday she would stop being able to fake the cheerfulness and then what? “You do understand that if I set you up with a date and you don’t show up because you’re busy working, I’ll know you’re not making a good-faith effort.”
    He smiled. “And you’ll tell Reston? I assure you that if I agree to a date, I will keep it.” He hesitated. “Unless something unavoidable comes up.”
    “Right,” Rilka said, and didn’t burst into noisy sobs or start howling like a wolf. She had excellent self-restraint.
    “I really will try,” he said and gave her a beautiful smile.
    “Let me think about some possibilities,” she said. “Are you looking for any particular qualities in a match?”
    “First and foremost, someone who understands how important my work is to me.”
    Rilka nodded. An enabler for workaholism. Well, she probably had a few suitable candidates in her files. Some women weren’t that picky — if he was employed, that was all they needed to know. But he almost certainly had his share of unspoken expectations. Well, they’d get to find out what those were. She sighed.
    “If you’d leave me your contact information, I’ll be in touch soon,” Rilka said. She clipped the business card he handed her to the notecard she would soon fill out with his requirements:
Must enjoy being being second on the list of things he wants to do
.
    Then they stood and she walked him out of the kitchen. When they reached the living room, Reston popped to his feet and said, “My turn!” Rafael nodded and took his place on the sofa. Rilka made a gesture and followed him in.
    Older men with fat bank accounts weren’t that much harder to work with than younger men with fat bank accounts. Whenever she got disgusted with men, she remembered women. That didn’t alleviate her disgust, just broadened it. Ecumenical disgust. Everyone was awful.
    That was depressing, so she reminded herself that there were plenty of good people in the world and if she had a few minutes she could probably think of one.
    Reston dragged a chair out and sat at the table, grinning happily at her.
    Rilka promised herself a decadent chocolate dessert for getting through the day.