A Perfectly Imperfect Match (Matchmaking Mamas) (7 page)

Manny gave it a second. When he saw the words
transaction accepted,
he nodded with a smile. “Looks like you’re good to go,” he told them. The whole transaction had taken under ten minutes to complete. The store manager waved them off, saying, “You two have yourselves a nice night, now.”

The way he said it, Elizabeth was certain that the store manager thought they were a couple. She knew she should have corrected the man, but for a moment, she just allowed herself to enjoy the sensation of being thought of as one half of a duo. In truth, the notion of having someone standing beside her through thick and thin was incredibly tantalizing.

What surprised her most of all, though, was that Jared didn’t say anything, didn’t try to set the man straight.

Maybe, she mused, along with being a knight in shining armor, he was also a sensitive man who didn’t like making people feel foolish or uncomfortable by pointing out their mistakes.

“Thanks, things are looking up...now that we’ve got this,” Jared called back, indicating the battery he was carrying out of the store.

* * *

They were back in the parking lot within half an hour of initially leaving it. The guard posted at the studio entrance stopped them from going in. “Need to see your ID,” he said.

“But we were just here,” Jared protested, taking out his driver’s license. “You checked my ID before.”

“And you were on the list as a visitor for the
More than Roommates
taping. But they’re gone for the day and that means you should be, too.” His eyes swept over both of them. It was apparent that he recognized her as well, but the same limitations applied to her as to the man he’d just denied access to the studio.

“We’re not going to the soundstage,” Elizabeth told the guard. “Just the parking lot.”

“Lots of other parking lots to go to that aren’t behind closed gates,” the guard informed them.

“You don’t understand. My car battery died and this man was nice enough to take me to the last auto parts store that was still open to get a new battery. It’s right in the back if you don’t believe me. You can come see for yourself,” she urged.

“I believe you. If you were going to make up a story, it would have been more interesting than that,” he groused. Pausing for a moment, as if wrestling with his conscience, he finally stepped aside. “It’s against regulations, but okay, go on in. But just be quick about it,” he urged.

“Absolutely. I have no intentions of spending the night here,” she told the guard, then turned to look at Jared. “Thanks to you,” she added.

Jared shrugged off her thanks as he drove back onto the lot and toward her vehicle. “Just trying to earn my merit badge,” he cracked.

“You earned it when you found the parts guy,” she responded.

“Then maybe I’ll go for two,” he said, pressing down on the accelerator. With most of the soundstages closed for the evening, there was far less foot and vehicle traffic and no reason to go slow.

Reaching her car, he took a flashlight out of his glove compartment and got out. Elizabeth jumped out on her side, eager to get this over with. She’d detained Jared long enough already.

He turned on the flashlight, and handed it to Elizabeth. “Here, hold this,” he instructed, then gestured for her to aim the light at the inside of the open hood.

Jared took the new battery out of his backseat and brought it over to her car, setting it down on the ground. He took a long look at the defunct battery inside her car. Getting it out would have been a very simple matter—if he had the proper tools.

Staring at the dead battery now, he muttered under his breath, “Houston, we have a problem.”

Elizabeth moved so that she was right next to him. Since he was staring at the battery, she looked down at it, too. “What’s wrong?”

“I need tools to get the battery uncoupled and out,” he told her. “Tools I don’t have and forgot to pick up when we went to get the battery.”

“Tools?” She moved back to her trunk. “You mean like these?” she asked, pulling a small tool box out of her trunk.

Bringing the box over to Jared, she popped open the lid and displayed a variety of tools intended just for the inner workings of a car.

“Exactly like these,” he said, impressed. Those were not exactly considered to be standard accessories for a woman. “Why do you have tools like that in your trunk?”

“My dad insisted I carry these at all times, along with my jumper cables. I’ve had trouble with my car before, and he thought all this might come in handy someday.” She grinned. “I guess this qualifies as ‘someday.’” She handed the tool box over to Jared. “My dad said that I was better off driving around with them and never having to use a single one than not having them and suddenly finding myself in a real bind.”

Jared heartily agreed with that philosophy. “Smart man, your father.”

Nothing made her happier than hearing someone praise her dad. To her way of thinking, her father didn’t get nearly as much praise as he deserved.

“That’s what he’s always telling me,” she answered with a laugh.

Then, as she watched, Jared took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, displaying some very admirable forearms in the process.

Forearms that strained appealingly as he finally lifted the old battery out and set it on the ground beside the one she had just purchased.

As she continued to watch him with deliberately hooded eyes, Elizabeth began to think that maybe her battery picking this particular time to die wasn’t really such a bad thing after all.

Chapter Five

T
he entire procedure of exchanging one battery for another and then hooking it up seemed to take a remarkably short amount of time. In Elizabeth’s estimation, the trip to the shop to purchase the new battery had taken longer than the actual removal of the old battery and the installation of the new one.

When Jared announced he was “done,” Elizabeth could only stare at him.

“Go ahead, try it,” he urged, waving her back behind the wheel of her vehicle.

Skeptical, Elizabeth got in and turned the key in the ignition. The smooth, soothing sound of her engine coming to life and obligingly turning over was absolutely wonderful.

“You did it,” she cried in relief. Up until now, she had been more or less certain that she was going to have to call a towing service.

With a nod, Jared triumphantly declared, “And we have lift off,” as he wiped the smudges of oil and dirt from his hands.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” she exalted, leaving her engine running—just in case. It was, without a doubt, a truly beautiful sound.

Belatedly, Jared realized that the handkerchief he’d pulled out of his pocket—part of a set his mother had gifted him with, saying a gentleman never knew when he might just need a handkerchief—was probably ruined. The oil looked pretty permanent to him.

“Just play as well for my parents at their party as you did today in the studio, and that’ll be thanks enough,” he replied.

Elizabeth waved his suggestion away. The two weren’t even in the same realm.

“That was already a given before you rode to my rescue.” And then she looked down at the front of his shirt. Because of the darkness, she hadn’t noticed it before. She did now. There were several streaks of what appeared to be grease on it. “Well, for starters,” she told him, “I can have your shirt cleaned for you, or pay for your cleaning bill if you have a favorite cleaners you use.”

He looked down at his shirt, spotting the dark streaks across the front. He didn’t even remember leaning either of the batteries against himself, but obviously he must have. Grease like that didn’t just leap through the air, playing a perverse game of “tag, you’re it.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he reassured her. His parents had instilled in him the edict of never throwing away money needlessly on things he could do for himself. That included taking dress shirts to a local cleaners rather than making use of a washing machine. “I’ll just throw it into the wash the way I always do.”

She frowned, taking a closer look at the stains. “I don’t think that’s advisable,” she cautioned. “The grease might spread to your other clothes and if the water happens to be hot, that stain is going to set forever.” When he looked at her quizzically, she told him, “Trust me, I speak from experience. Please, let me take care of it for you.”

She looked as if she wasn’t going to be satisfied until he agreed. Inclining his head, he decided that saying yes to her was a lot easier than continuing this debate.

“All right, you win,” he conceded.

“So you’ll let me get your shirt cleaned for you?” she asked, carefully watching his expression. Instincts had taught her when she was just being humored and put off.

“Absolutely,” he told her. She thought she saw the corners of his mouth curving just the slightest bit. She was right
.
He
was
humoring her.

“When?” she pressed.

Jared looked at her, a little surprised that she hadn’t backed off since he appeared to be agreeing with her. Then, grinning, he decided to turn the tables and surprise her.

He tugged the ends of his shirt out of his waistband and started to swiftly work the buttons loose. “Well, right now if you want...” Jared murmured innocently.

Before her stunned eyes, he went down the row of buttons and from all appearances, any second now, he was literally going to give her the shirt off his back.

The next moment, surprise was trumped by appreciation as she caught more than a quick glimpse of a physique that brought the word
sculpted
to mind in glowing capital letters. This potential new client, who had so nobly come to her rescue, had very clearly defined pectorals and looked as if he spent every waking spare moment in the gym.

Elizabeth could feel all the moisture evaporate from her mouth even as she searched for something intelligent to say—or at least not stutter like some dazed teenager when she spoke.

She finally found her tongue, which felt as if it had been stuck to the roof of her mouth. “I didn’t mean that you had to give me your shirt this very second.”

“Oh, sorry,” he apologized impishly. “I misunderstood.”

He hadn’t.

What he’d decided to do was see just how far Elizabeth was going to push this need she seemed to have for instant payback. Very slowly, he began to rebutton his shirt.

There was humor in his eyes as he said, “Then it’s all right with you if I give the shirt to you, say, the next time we get together?”

“Absolutely,” she answered with more than a little enthusiasm and relief.

Her relief was short-lived as something else suddenly dawned on her. Jared was buttoning up his shirt and covering up again, so why did she still feel as if she was physically standing on top of a burning bush? It certainly hadn’t been this hot in the parking lot a few minutes ago. Just where had this blast of heat come from?

Blowing out a breath, she found her voice, although she had to admit that it sounded a touch shaky to her ear. Especially when she went on to say more than just a single word.

“I know of another way to repay you.”

He looked at her, one eyebrow raised sardonically as a scenario he
knew
she’d had no intention of acting on suggested itself to him.

“Oh?” he asked, doing his best to make the word sound a great deal more innocent than his thoughts currently were at this moment.

Judging by the hue that had suddenly begun to creep up her cheeks, he realized that he wasn’t being altogether successful in keeping a lid on it. Apparently, he had somehow managed to at least partially telegraph his less-than-chaste vision to her.

“Dinner,” she all but choked out. “If you postponed your meeting until another day, I was going to suggest dinner.” It was all that she could do to keep from stumbling over the simple words.

Dinner definitely had some appeal, he thought. Actually, the idea of an intimate setting with the woman was what actually held the most appeal for him.

Intrigued, Jared asked, “You mean a home-cooked meal?”

That quickly snapped her out of the very warm place she’d found herself slipping into.

Elizabeth laughed as she shook her head. “Oh God, no. I want to thank you, not kill you or send you to the intensive care unit of the nearest hospital. What kind of way would that be to pay you back and say thank you?” she wanted to know.

Her laugh melded with his as he tucked the edge of his shirt back underneath his waistband. “Your cooking can’t be all that bad.”

Spoken like a man who’d never sampled her cooking efforts, she mused. Elizabeth knew what she could do and knew her limitations as well. Cooking definitely came under the heading of the latter.

“I wouldn’t take any bets if I were you,” she advised. “Not unless you really like losing. Even my father, who thinks the sun rises and sets around me, will tell you that if you value your life, don’t eat anything I’ve had a hand in preparing.”

“He thinks the sun rises and sets around you, huh?” Jared repeated, intrigued as well as amused. “Let me guess, you’re the only girl in the family.”

“I’m impressed. You got it on the first try. Yes, I’m the only girl.”

He tightened the parameters a little more and asked, “Only child?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I have two younger brothers. So much for your winning streak. You’re slipping.”

He took her taunting in stride. “Just didn’t want you to get the wrong idea and feel as if you were in the presence of a clairvoyant.”

Her amusement reached her eyes, managing to capture him the moment he noticed it. “Is that what you think you are, a clairvoyant?”

He could tell by the way she asked that she didn’t believe in people who claimed to see into the future.

That made two of them. But he decided to tease her a little longer. “Let’s just say I have exceptionally good instincts when it comes to making decent calculated guesses about people. So, since your father dotes on you, does your mother dote on your brothers, or does one of them feel as if he’s getting shortchanged?”

The moment he asked about her mother, she could feel the wave of sadness sweep over her. Wasn’t that ever going to stop?