Matt (Red, Hot, & Blue) (2 page)

That was the problem. The situations were never reversed, because on most ops, Matt’s job was to stay in the van running the equipment. Yeah, his job and his skills were as valuable to the team as any of the others, but sometimes it was frustrating as hell.

“I’m gonna go.” Bull turned for the door.

The sudden decision had Matt frowning. “Don’t be pissed. I’m sorry. I won’t bring it up again.”

Halfway to the front door, Bull stopped mid-step and turned back. “It’s not that. What the fuck, Matt. I’m a big boy. You know I can handle a little teasing. It’s just that Marly is working at another public event tonight. I figure I can pop in and make sure everything is okay.”

Understanding dawned. Talking about the mission had gotten Bull antsy. Bull’s broken ribs would mend, his hard head should heal, but Matt had a feeling Bull would never completely get over that he’d failed to prevent the explosion. Even though none of the civilians had been seriously injured, failure was a hard pill to swallow for Bull.

“All right, brother. Say hello to Marly for me.”

“Will do.” Hand on the doorknob, Bull grinned. “You have fun with your project.”

“Yeah, thanks.” As the door closed behind his friend, Matt envied him.

Sighing, Matt logged out of his Matchmakers account. He was just deciding what need to fulfill first, dinner or a shower, when an instant message window popped on his screen.

Sam_I_am: Hey, big guy!

Matt couldn’t help but smile. Sam Foster, computer and communications guru, always had that effect on him. Matt typed in a response.

Computer_God: Dude! What up? You need my computer expertise to bail you out of a jam again?

For the past six months, Sam had held the same position on Omega team that Matt did on Zeta. They’d never worked together in person, but he and Sam shared information online all the time. Omega team was based out of Virginia, while Zeta was in North Carolina, so the teams didn’t cross paths too often.

Matt loved the world of cyberspace. No matter how great the distance, he could still instant message or email when he wanted to bust Sam’s chops.

Sam_I_am: Ha ha! And no, smart ass. I’m pulling an all-nighter. Surveillance. Bored as hell so I figured I’d bother you. What are you doing?

Computer_God: Bored at home. No action here. But got me two dates this weekend.

Sam_I_am: Been a long time. Hope you haven’t forgotten how.

Computer_God: Ha ha! Very funny. Thanks for the confidence.

Sam_I_am: Shit. Action. Gotta go. Later.

Matt typed in
Later
and sighed. At least Sam was getting some action. Wallowing in his sorrow looked like it would be the only thing on Matt’s agenda for the evening.

He pushed his chair back from the computer just as an email popped up. It was a response from one of his two dates, WickedWoman.

That was more like it. Action of the romantic variety would definitely take his mind off the lack of action with the team. Matt clicked to open the email and leaned toward the computer, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

WickedWoman had written she was up for the date and excited to meet him.

Oh, yeah. So was he.

Hopefully by this time tomorrow night, he’d be getting cozy with WickedWoman. Even her user name had potential, and her picture—phew. Matt had never seen a woman built like that who wasn’t wearing a G-string stuffed with dollar bills and dancing with a pole between her legs.

Of course, he’d give BabyGirl her fair chance too. Who knew? BabyGirl might give WickedWoman a run for her money. Sometimes the ones who seemed the most sweet and innocent turned out pretty wild.

Matt looked forward to finding out.

WickedWoman, or Wanda as Matt would come to know after meeting her at the bar inside his favorite restaurant Friday night, sipped at her drink. She’d ordered a cosmopolitan, which was basically a glassful of booze with a touch of cranberry to tinge it pink.

“So, Matt, what do you do?”

Matt swallowed a mouthful of his own beer. He yanked his gaze up from where it kept slipping—to her massive boobs. He contemplated his answer to her question.

Had Wanda looked like her profile picture, he might have considered dancing along the edge of the rules and hinted at his SpecOp status. However, Wanda’s online photo had been taken at least ten years and fifty pounds ago. Oh, the stripper-worthy boobs were still present and even larger than pictured, but the age she’d written on her profile? Nuh, uh.

Matt didn’t mind a curvy girl one bit. Nor did he mind an older woman. But in this lighting, sitting as closely to Wanda as he was, he could see the crow’s feet under the caked-on makeup, proving she’d not only uploaded an old photo, she’d also lied about her age.

Her lack of honesty bothered him. How could a guy trust a woman who lied from the moment he met her? Any hopes Matt might have had for a relationship with Wanda had been squashed the moment he realized he’d been duped, and that decided his answer to her question.

“I’m in the Army.”

“Oh.” Her smile faded. A frown knit her brow beneath the makeup. “That doesn’t pay very well, does it?”

“Nope.” That wasn’t a lie. Army pay for the starting rank of private was crap. He just didn’t elaborate he was nowhere near that pay grade.

He could see her hopes falling. If she was looking for a sugar daddy, it wasn’t going to be him.

“So what do you do in the military?”

“I’m in technology.” There, that was the truth. Matt felt a little better not having to lie to that question.

“Oh, technology. That’s sounds important.” She looked a bit too impressed by his answer for Matt’s liking. “Are you an officer?”

Wanda obviously had the good old
Officer and a Gentleman
fantasy in mind. She was probably envisioning Matt in his dress uniform sweeping her off her feet.

“Nope.” Again, not exactly a lie, though definitely a stretch of the truth. The team members didn’t use the ranks they’d attained before joining Task Force Zeta. The theory was that except for the commanding officer everyone on the team was to be considered equal.

“Oh.” She pursed her lips and frowned deeper. “Hey, do you know any of those Navy SEALs? I’d love to meet one of them. They’re always so hot in the movies.”

Matt thought of BB. “Nope. Sorry.”

Again, not quite a lie. BB was no longer in the SEAL teams. He was on Zeta, and he had a wife and a new baby—not that Matt would have fixed his friend up with Wicked Wanda anyway, if that’s what she’d been hinting at.

“Oh.” She took a gulp of her drink, emptying the glass. “Well, it was nice meeting you, Matt, but I really should be going.”

“That’s too bad.” Matt forced himself to hide his relief as he stood and extended a hand to her. “It was nice to meet you too.”

Wanda stood so fast she nearly knocked her chair over. She shook his hand. “Thanks for the drink. I’ll email you. Maybe we can get together again.”

So he could buy her more drinks and then have her run off to go who knows where? Probably to meet another Matchmakers date. Nope. Not gonna happen. Time for damage control.

“Sure. Do that.” He put on a fake frown and slapped at his front and back jeans pockets, as if looking for his wallet. “Jeez, I hope I have enough money tonight. How much do you think the drinks cost?”

Her eyes opened wide. “Uh, I don’t know. I’ll ask the waiter to bring over the bill on my way out. Bye.”

That had sent her running fast enough. Torn between guilt at his own dishonesty and relief over dodging a bullet, Matt mentally crossed WickedWoman off his list of potential girlfriends. He could only hope tomorrow’s date with BabyGirl
would be better.

With a sigh, Matt dug in his pocket for his wallet and pulled out his platinum credit card. Glancing in the direction of the bar, he spotted the waitress and signaled her for the check.

As he sat and waited for them to run his card, Matt punched in a text to Bull.

Date number one a dud.

The response came back.

Second time’s the charm.

Matt could only hope Bull was right.

When had dating become such work? And not fun work either. Usually, Matt was all over any sort of computer-related stuff. Research. Digging for details. It all made his adrenaline pump. Give him a code to crack or a secure database to hack and he was all over it. But this searching online for a good woman sucked.

A small
pop
heralded an instant message as it appeared on the screen of his smart phone.

Sam_I_am: How’s the big date?

Matt snorted as he read it and typed in a response.

Computer_God: Date sucked!

Sam_I_am: It’s done already?

Computer_God: Yes. Thank God.

Sam_I_am: Aw. Sorry.

Knowing Sam well, Matt knew he was being sarcastic. Whatever. Matt was too miserable to care.

Maybe if Matt’s teammates weren’t pairing off like Noah’s Ark had just pulled into port, he wouldn’t feel like this. And perhaps if Matt hadn’t been manning the communications console where he’d been forced to listen to, and in some cases watch on the surveillance camera not one but three of his teammates hook up, he wouldn’t be so frustrated with his single status.

Jeez, three out of the six-man team. That had to be a record. Or maybe not. Did all guys in charge of surveillance deal with this kind of shit? There was one person Matt knew he could ask.

Computer_God: Hey. Question. Your guys ever hook up while on ops?

Sam_I_am: With each other???

Computer_God: No! With women.

Sam_I_am: Uh, no. What kind of ops you got going over there at Zeta?

Matt sighed. That figured. He was the only one who had to listen to his teammates get laid, while all he laid his hands on was a computer console.

Sam_I_am: Gotta go. Team moving in on a tango—not a woman. LOL! Later.

Computer_God: Later.

At least somebody was having an exciting weekend.

The waitress returned with his card and receipt. Matt pocketed both and stood. Time to go home. Maybe there was a good game on TV. He could sit and veg and forget his dating woes.

Unlike Friday’s date, Saturday’s at least looked something like her profile picture. Matt took note of that the moment BabyGirl arrived to join him, coincidentally at the same table where he’d sat with Wicked Wanda last night. He hoped that wasn’t a bad omen.

The brunette extended her hand. “Hi. I’m Lisa. You must be Matt.”

“I am. Nice to meet you, Lisa.” He didn’t let himself get too excited just because, unlike Wanda, Lisa had posted a photo taken during this decade.

He’d have to get to know her before he’d let himself start to envision anything past drinks tonight. One reason he remained wary was that Lisa had all the earmarks of being high-maintenance. Designer handbag, diamond watch, perfect haircut, manicured nails, clothes that probably cost what he made in a week. Matt had grown up around girls like her. Spoiled princesses thanks to their father’s money. He could spot a daddy’s girl a mile away.

Matt pushed aside those thoughts. He shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. He had to stay open minded or it was a certainty he’d also stay lonely. Maybe she just liked to take good care of her appearance. He couldn’t fault a girl for that. It was admirable.

Putting his first impressions firmly aside, Matt remained standing until she sat.

As Matt took his own seat, a waiter stopped at their table. “Do you need dinner menus or just drinks?”

“Oh, definitely menus,” Lisa answered. “And a cosmopolitan to start, please.”

All right. It seemed as if they were having dinner. And what was with the cosmopolitans? Weren’t there any other drinks in the world? What was it with this drink and women? Maybe it was because it was pink. Who knew?

“A beer for me, please.” Matt ordered and then directed his attention back to Lisa. “I’m glad you could meet me tonight.”

“Me too. Ever since I saw your profile, I’ve been dying to get to know you better.” She leaned forward, looking like she meant what she said. “So, Matt. What do you do?”

Since it seemed all dates began with the same question, he decided to change things up a bit with a different answer than last time. “I work with computers.”

“Really?” Her eyes opened wider. “I find that field fascinating.”

“Eh, it’s a living.” Matt shrugged.

It seemed she was honestly interested in his work. That was good, or would be if his computer job didn’t take him around the world on zero notice and wasn’t so secret he’d never be able to tell her anything about it.

How the hell did the other guys do it? Having a serious relationship in his line of work was going to be a challenge, to say the least. Why was Matt trying to date again? Oh, yeah. He remembered. Lack of sex and sheer boredom. Those were two powerful motivators.