Breaking the Bachelor (Entangled Lovestruck) (Smart Cupid) Read Online Free PDF Page B

about love, it’s that chemistry doesn’t last.”
    “Chemistry is the necessary spark—”
    She held up both palms. “There’s got to be more holding two people together. If not, somebody leaves and somebody gets burned. I understand this fact, which is why I’m a successful matchmaker. I help my clients avoid getting burned.”
    “That’s love? The absence of pain?”
    “For some people, yes.” She turned away and traced the letters on two of his Columbia University tees before tossing them into the sudsy water. “Frankly, by the time most people turn to a matchmaker, they’ve been burned a few times already and they’re hoping to avoid any more painful scars. By focusing on compatibility and predictability, I’m able—”
    “Right, the P word. I forgot. Back to your infamous list.” He emphasized his words with a bit of eye rolling and handed her a stack of quarters.
    She took the coins and forced them into a second machine as her temper threatened to erupt like a flare gun. “You’re the one who chose to discuss the qualities of your ideal woman in the middle of a Laundromat, a completely unserious choice requiring a five block hike, all the way down Lexington. Carrying laundry baskets.”
    “What’s your point?”
    “I don’t think you take the matrix seriously. That’s the point.”
    And why the hell didn’t he? He knew she’d worked hard to get out of Brooklyn. He was there when her father walked out on her family, leaving her mother with three kids, a broken down house, and two fistfuls of accumulated debt. To be fair, he was never there at night to hear her mom come home from her second job, tumble into bed, and cry quietly so no one would hear her. But Jane heard. Her mother was a smart woman in many ways, but when it came to love, Jane knew how to play it smarter.
    Charlie leaned his hip against the machine. “The Fluff ‘N Fold is part of my matrix. It’s everyday love.”
    “Right. Everyday love.” She turned away from him and his almost-empty laundry basket. Even if she did miss Charlie, the heat they’d ignited in the Caymans couldn’t be allowed to continue. Even if a tiny part of her felt terrible about the end of their friendship, about everything that happened on Grand Cayman that had led to The Napkin. He’d been a fixture in her life for so long, she never should’ve fallen victim to chemistry. She pulled a tablet computer from her bag. “You don’t have a criteria list already, so—”
    “What makes you think I don’t have a list?”
    She glanced pointedly at the line of industrial dryers along the back wall. “Maybe because you advocate Laundry Dating?”
    “I’ve got a list.”
    Her gaze took in the worn tee and navy athletic pants that hugged his perfectly toned body. He was beyond everyday sexy. He was right. Laundry was intimate. Friggin’ chemistry.
    She flipped the tablet open and punched in her security code. “You’ve got a list?”
    “Surprised?” he asked.
    She stared down at the screen to avoid looking into his eyes because the new crinkles at their edges, the ones that weren’t there last time those eyes coaxed her out of her clothes and into his bed, were even more lethal.
    New rule. No crinkles.
    “What’s on the list?” Her voice held its own challenge. “A girl with the right kind of upbringing?”
    The casual tone of his voice evaporated. “The right kind of upbringing?”
    “An ivy leaguer,” she said, with a nod toward one of his university T-shirts still in the basket. “All Swank Town and appropriate. Not from Brooklyn.”
    “Not from Brooklyn, huh?” He eased his body away from the washer and walked toward her, his hands buried in his pockets. “What do you think? After all, you’re the matchmaker.”
    “I think…” Thinking was impossible in this place, with his magazine-cover-worthy boxer-briefs spinning in the machine behind her. He stepped closer and her gaze drifted south. Probably going commando. Her fingers