The Matchmakers Read Online Free

the moment, he was her
destiny. That thought only added to the perpetual chill she’d felt since she’d
arrived in the human realm. She used her sweetest voice and gave him a sidelong
glance. `You don’t know it yet, but your future depends on me. And mine on you.
We may not like it, but we have a job to do together, and the sooner we get to
work, the sooner we can accomplish what we’ve been charged to do. It’ll be
mostly painless. I promise.Śhe winked, or maybe it seemed more like a
nervous tick to him. Either way, Nick didn’t seem at all reassured by her
explanation. A few seconds later Callie found herself standing on the corner of
Washington Street and Apple Valley Avenue beneath an amber-tinted street light.
She sighed as she watched the taillights of Nick’s pickup recede into the
distance with a sharp squeal of tires. Stamping her feet to ward off the
encroaching chill, Calliope pulled her gloves back in place and crossed her
arms. `That went well.´ Nick debated whether he should go straight back to
Farley’s and order a triple scotch with no ice or to the police station to
report the lunatic he’d just ejected from his truck. The ease with which she’d
vacated his passenger seat when he’d reached across her lap and flung open the
door surprised him more than anything else that had happened since he’d left
Miranda’s. In fact, her ready compliance made him even more nervous. She hadn’t
seemed at all perturbed by his wordless invitation to the curb, and he swore he’d
seen her wave congenially as he drove away. He remembered now, while he waited
at the light on the corner of Ackerman and Apple Valley, that she said she’d
read his registration, which had his current address on it. Dumping her four
blocks from his apartment probably wasn’t the best way to lose her. That `your
future depends on me´ bit coupled with the `mostly painlessćrack made his
spine tingle in an unpleasant way. He found himself searching the shadows for
signs of a fluffy pink coat as he rounded the second corner after the light.
Leaving town sounded better and better. He decided he’d stop home and toss a
few things into a duffle bag, then head back to Farley’s and call the police
from there. She wouldn’t get far by then, and the police would probably have no
trouble finding her, as long as some other hapless driver didn’t pick her up in
the meantime. `Destiny,´ he repeated with a derisive laugh when the distance
eased his mind a bit. `Give me a break.´ He’d dealt with his share of
unpleasant break ups, mostly with clingy women who didn’t want to admit the fun
times were over, but he’d never been stalked before. Especially by a woman he
hadn’t slept with, or even dated or even met for that matter. The sudden stab of sympathy he felt for her took him by
surprise, but he managed to shake it off before he pulled into his parking
space and cut the engine. A girl as messed up as that one needed help. Maybe he
should have stuck it out and tried to lure her into the police station. Since
his cell phone didn’t turn up during a quick search of the truck, he decided to
call the police from his apartment. He climbed the stairs and let himself
inside, his guilt weighing heavy. A pretty girl out on the street alone
probably wouldn’t have trouble getting picked up again. Should he worry more
about her or the next guy she
shanghaied? `Hi, Nick.Śhe spoke just as he hit the kitchen light switch,
and the shock of finding her there, standing in front of him, nearly gave him a
stroke. She had to have run here from the spot where he’d left her in order to
get into his apartment before he arrived, yet she wasn’t even breathing heavy. She
pulled off her woolly gloves and unzipped her coat to reveal the plain white
t-shirt she wore beneath, and he backed up a step. She bore no weapons that he
could see, though he’d have liked a closer look. He slid his gaze to the phone
on the wall behind her and then to the narrow