Chapter One

"Ican"t believe you"ve already found me a match," Charlee-Mae exclaimed giddily upon plopping herself in her usual seat across her sister-in-law"s desk.

"Actually...I"ve found you two potential matches."

"Bless you!" Charlee-Mae was genuinely impressed. "I"ve been playing the dating game for almost eighteen years, and I haven"t even come close to finding a .5 match."

In the act of retrieving two folders from her drawer, Charlotte paused with a frown upon hearing Charlee-Mae"s words. "There"s no such thing as a .5 match—-"

"Of course there is," Charlee-Mae argued. "Basically, it"s a woman who ticks all the boxes, which would"ve been perfect if I were bisexual. But since I"m not, that makes it a .5 match."

Charlotte had a slight headache by the time the other woman finished talking. Since Charlee-Mae wasn"t bisexual in the first place, then that would have given the match zero percent of success instead of fifty. Didn"t it?

"You get it, right?"

"No, I don"t."

But Charlee-Mae only laughed this off, and Charlotte decided to set the issue aside. This wasn"t the first time she did "not" get what her sister-in-law was saying, and anyway...

She pushed the folders towards Charlee-Mae over her desk in a sliding motion. "All the information you need to know about both men is inside these folders. No pictures of their faces, per agency rules, but..." Charlotte couldn"t help grimacing at this. "Just as you requested, I"ve asked both men for the most recent photos of their abs—-"

Charlotte saw her sister-in-law fighting back a smile and knew all at once she had been had.

"Cha-Cha!"

The other woman burst into laughter, and Charlotte was torn between wanting to throttle Charlee-Mae for playing such a trick on her...and kicking herself in the head for actually falling for it.

Charlee-Mae was laughing so hard she could barely catch her breath as she sought to defend herself. "I"m sorry! I didn"t know you"d take it seriously!"

"How can I not," Charlotte growled, "when the request is just so...so...you?"

"Well, what"s done is done, and don"t worry, Char—-" Charlee-Mae flipped both folders open so she could compare the two photos side by side. "I"ll make sure your efforts aren't in vain and—-ooooooh."

While the photo from the blue folder was of a guy in swimming trunks at the beach, the one that made her heart skip a beat was the photo from the red folder: the man in it was standing in front of his bathroom mirror, his white dress shirt unbuttoned to reveal his washboard abs. The awkward angle of the photo spoke volumes of how much Mr. Red Folder (dis)liked selfies while its blurred edges told Charlee-Mae he had emailed Charlotte the first photo he had taken.

No vanity at all, Charlee-Mae thought in awe, and in today"s image-conscious world, that was as rare as finding wasabi-flavored KitKat in a 7-Eleven store in Texas.

Charlee-Mae pointed to Mr. Red Folder. "I choose him."

The speed in which Charlee-Mae made up her mind had Charlotte"s head spinning. "Don"t treat this like it"s no different from choosing your starter Pokémon."

"And I"m not," Charlee-Mae protested. "I"d have taken much longer to decide if I were choosing my starter Pokémon—-"

"Oh my God, Cha-Cha!"

Charlee-Mae was genuinely bewildered. "I"m just being honest. Pokémon is a game of numbers. Finding my one true love is all about feelings. And my heart chooses—-"

Charlotte, however, was already shaking her head before Charlee-Mae had even finished speaking. "Consider this at least." She pointed to the blue folder. "It"s my personal opinion that this guy is a much safer bet—-"

"Really?" Charlee-Mae dubiously cast a second glance on the guy in swimming trunks.

"Don"t judge a man by his photo shoot."

"Oh. He"s a model?"

"Doctor."

"And he did that?"

"Because he lost a bet...and he actually doesn"t know you"ve asked for a photo of his abs. I grabbed this from the Internet."

"What about Mr. Red Folder?" Charlee-Mae held her breath. "How - where - did you get it?"

"Now that, I had to personally ask for..." Charlotte scowled as she was reminded of how mortifying it felt to ask the other party for a photo of his abs. It had made her feel like a brothel owner asking a sex worker for proof of goods—-

Charlee-Mae, upon seeing Charlotte"s expression turn darker by the second, knew right away what the other woman was thinking. Uh-oh. She started to lean back...but it was too late, and Charlee-Mae could only yelp in pain as Charlotte suddenly rolled a sheet of paper and started swatting her arm like it was covered by mosquitoes.

"I can"t believe you made me ask for photos of their abs!"

Swat!

"I"m sorry—-"

Swat!

"I really am—"

SWAT!

"Ouch!"

SWAT! SWAT!

"You made Heart"s Match seem like a sex-for-hire agency!"

SWAT! SWAT! SWAT!

"I said I"m sorry—-"

Charlotte focused all of her energies to give her sister-in-law one last swat, and Charlee-Mae"s subsequent yelp was music to her ears.

"Jesus, Char!"

"You deserve it," she said without pity.

Charlee-Mae rubbed her arm gingerly. "Are we okay now?"

Charlotte"s pursed her lips. "I"m not sure. Ask me tomorrow."

Charlee-Mae rolled her eyes. For all of Charlotte"s mature ways, one thing the other woman had not outgrown was her tendency to hold grudges.

"Now..." Charlotte felt so much calmer now, having found the proper outlet for her annoyance. "Where were we?"

"You were telling me about how perfect Mr. Red Folder is for me."

Charlotte"s gaze bore through her sister-in-law. "Seriously?"

Charlee-Mae"s expression turned innocent. "Did I remember wrong?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Anyway..." She pointed back to Mr. Blue Folder. "You should really reconsider, you know. This guy will make you a good husband—-"

"But why should I settle for good," Charlee-Mae asked, "when I can have someone great? You know me better than that, Char. I"ve never been the type to play it safe." She tapped the red folder in emphasis, saying, "It has to be him or no one else. I can already tell this early there"ll be fireworks between us," she enthused. "I can just feel—-"

"That a temporary marriage is all he wants?" Charlotte cut in dryly. "Did you feel that, too? Because that"s the first thing he told me on our first meeting." She was hoping this would be enough for her sister-in-law to change her mind, but instead Charlee-Mae only appeared intrigued.

"Did he explain why?"

"His recently-retired mother will only turn over her shares to him if he marries—-"

Charlee-Mae brightened. "Then—-"

"But his mother also happens to disapprove of the woman he does want to marry."

Charlee-Mae refused to be discouraged. "Who"s this woman trying to steal my man?"

"Oh, for heaven"s sake. He"s not your man yet—-"

"He will be," Charlee-Mae said with a flip of her hair. "So tell me. Who is it?" She saw Charlotte"s expression turn sly, and Charlee-Mae knew right away something was up. "You think I won"t be able to steal him away from her, don"t you?"

"You"ll have a fight on your hands, yes."

Charlee-Mae"s gaze narrowed. "What does she have that I don"t? Is she super famous or something?"

"As far as I know, no."

Charlee-Mae suddenly looked fearful. "Is she super smart?"

Charlotte couldn"t help laughing despite everything. "No, Cha-Cha. As far as I know, the other party isn"t super smart."

"Then...is she his first love? His forbidden love? His—-"

"Possibly all of the above."

Charlee-Mae shot up in her seat. "Seriously?"

"Having second thoughts now?"

Charlee-Mae looked at her sister-in-law oddly. "Why should I? On the contrary, this is just going to make things more exci—-"

"It"s his sister-in-law."

"Holy motherfucking cow!"

Charlotte couldn"t help but wince. "Cha-Cha."

"Sorry." Charlee-Mae was quick to apologize, having forgotten how prim and proper her sister-in-law could be. And speaking of sisters-in-law...

"How exactly are they related? Was he married before—-"

"No. Not like that. She was his late older brother"s wife."

Charlee-Mae"s brows arched up. "Wow."

"The brother died seven years ago—-"

"Did they hook up right after his death?"

"I have no idea how long they"ve been together, but he did mention she"s now his mistress."

"Mistress, huh?" That was quite the label for one"s sister-in-law. "And not girlfriend?"

"His words, not mine."

"Oh my."

Charlotte had been hoping Charlee-Mae would finally see the light about Mr. Red Folder, but instead the other woman actually sounded thrilled, and her amber eyes were actually sparkling with excitement.

"I can"t believe how perfect this all is, Char!"

Charlotte wondered if it was too late to back out of her secret deal with heaven. She wanted to have Landon back, even in just her dreams, but was it worth risking Charlee-Mae"s heartbreak? Her future mail-order groom did not see their marriage as a permanent thing.

"This is exactly what I was hoping for!"

And yet here Charlee-Mae was, acting like the hundreds of letters she had dropped in the prayer request box had finally been answered.

"There"s just so much baggage, so much drama!"

Indeed, there was all of those, so why was Charlee-Mae speaking of these things like they were stuff that romantic dreams were made of?

"I love it, Char," Charlee-Mae said dreamily. "I absolutely love it." She beamed at Charlotte, adding, "You know I"m a huge fan of Dynasty, right?"

"Uh..." Wasn"t that a soap from decades ago?

Charlee-Mae gave her a solemn look. "And the greatest lesson it"s taught me is that every grand romance needs a grand obstacle—-"

"What about a grand heartbreak?" Charlotte broke in. "Because another thing he told me was that he intends to keep seeing his sister-in-law-slash-mistress even while he"s married."

"He only thinks that"s what he wants right now," Charlee-Mae said breezily, "but I"ll make sure to change his mind."

"He wants it in writing, Cha-Cha."

"I"ll sign whatever he wants, it"s fine. Things always work out best for me when I just follow my heart and let God take over—-"

Charlotte groaned. "Please stop making it sound like your crazy plans are God"s plans."

"I"ll stop," Charlee-Mae bargained, "if you promise to stop worrying."

"I can"t help it," Charlotte grumbled, "since you"re not worrying enough."

"It"s going to be fine, Char. Really."

Charlotte was badly tempted to give the other woman a hard shake at this point. "I know I can"t stop you from getting yourself a mail-order groom at this point, but are you at least absolutely sure it has to be him?"

"With all my heart."

"He"ll want to know why you agreed to this type of arrangement," Charlotte warned.

"Then..." Inspiration struck, and Charlee-Mae"s eyes sparkled with excitement. "You can tell him that in my line of work, being married to a man like him will be tremendously helpful. That should keep him from suspecting me of any ulterior motives," Charlee-Mae said impishly. "By the time he realizes I"m up to something, it will be too late, and I"d have stolen his heart for good."

Although Charlotte made a few more attempts to change her mind, Charlee-Mae was not to be dissuaded, and instead badgered the other woman to expedite the paperwork. In just five days, the final draft of her mail-order-marriage contract was approved, and another week after that, Charlee-Mae, with a lovely diamond ring on her finger, went on to board a plane as a newly-married woman.

The plan was for Charlee-Mae to meet her bridegroom at a luxurious resort-style theme park, but as soon as a limousine picked her up from Jackson Hole"s airport, what Charlee-Mae met instead was a near-fatal accident.