As he approached his brothers, all had wide grins splitting their faces.
Ace pushed a mug of beer into his hands. “Drink.”
He accepted the offering and tipped it back, drinking half the mug before setting it on the table. “Hit me with your best shots.”
“How was it?” Colton asked.
“Not bad. I finished the questionnaire in less than forty-five minutes,” Dillon said.
“Then what took you so long to get here?” Brand demanded.
“Electricity went off. I had to make my way down twenty-flights of stairs,” he said. No way was he going to tell his brothers that he’d had company all the way down.
“The leading edge of the storm was pretty wicked,” Ace said. “We made it here right before it hit.”
“Did Leslie say how long it would take to find you a match?” Colton asked.
“No. But she helped me download the phone application.” He patted the pocket containing his cellphone. “When it finds a match, it’ll notify me with a text. Then I can go online to see who she is.”
“Seriously?” Colton leaned toward him. “Show me the app.”
Dillon pulled his cellphone from his pocket and tapped the screen. He pointed at the icon for the BODS system. “If you were that interested, you should have stuck around and filled out your own profile and questionnaire at the same time as I did,” he said, though he was glad Colton hadn’t. He’d had the redhead to himself all the way down the stairwell.
“What did you put as preferences?” Colton asked. “Your usual brunette ice woman who could have a roomful of corporate executives on their knees begging for their jobs with one killer look?”
Dillon frowned. “I didn’t give a hair or eye color preference.” He had stated a preference for a tall woman. Now that he had a chance to think about it, he hadn’t minded bending down to give his mystery woman a kiss, even though he’d had to bend way down to kiss the redhead. She’d been a good head shorter than him. But he’d liked how petite and feisty, she was.
“A computer shouldn’t take long to put two profiles together,” Ace said. “I’m surprised you didn’t get a match before you left the office.”
Except the electricity was off. “The system might have gone down with the power outage.”
“Most corporations have their computers on battery backup for just such occasions,” Brand pointed out.
“True. So, why haven’t you gotten your text with your perfect match?” Colton asked, one eyebrow cocked.
“Maybe the server is down.” Dillon lifted his beer and drank.
“Maybe the outage fried your profile, and you need to start all over,” Brand suggested.
Dillon didn’t want to think about that. Once was enough. If he had to go back, he would just tell Emma and Leslie to forget it.
His cellphone chirped and vibrated, letting him know that he’d received a text message.
His pulse quickened. For a brief moment, he thought it might be his pretty stairwell companion, until he remembered they hadn’t exchanged phone numbers.
“Check it out.” Colton snatched away his cellphone and brought up his text messages.
“Give me that,” Dillon demanded, reaching for his cellphone.
Colton pulled it out of his reach. “It’s from BODS,” he said with a grin, and then read aloud. “Congratulations, we’ve found your prefect match. Click on the link to take you to her profile.” Colton whooped. “Dillon’s got a match.”
When Colton tried to duck away from Dillon’s reaching hand, Dillon punched him in the arm. “Give it. Unless you want to go out with her.”
Colton’s brow twisted. “No way. BODS matched you with her. You’ll have to bite that bullet and go out with her.”
“Then give me the damned phone so I can check her out to see if she’s anyone I’d be interested in.”
Colton tossed the cellphone to Brand.
Dillon glared at Colton and held his hand out to Brand.
Brand gave it to him. “Let’s see what you got.”
“Not what…” Ace corrected. “Who.”
Dillon clicked on the link and a profile came up with a name: Ariana Davis. He frowned. No picture.
“Is she a dog?” Brand asked.
“Show us,” Colton urged.
Ace leaned forward. “Yeah, man. Show us.”
“Something must be glitchy with the system.” Dillon frowned. “It didn’t come up with a photo. But I did get a little of her background.”
“So, what does she do for a living?” Ace asked.
“It says she’s a business owner,” Dillon read aloud.
“What else?” Colton asked.
“She not a vegetarian.”
“That’s good, considering we raise cattle on the ranch,” Ace said.
“Can she ride a horse?” Brand asked.
Dillon scrolled through. “She doesn’t say.”
“Like dogs?” Ace asked.
Dillon shrugged. “She likes animals.”
“That could be anything,” Brand said. “Monkeys, gerbils, hamsters.”
“Cats,” Colton added.
“If she likes animals, she’ll like dogs and horses. If she doesn’t ride, she can learn,” Ace said.
“Does she like country music?” Brand wanted to know.
Dillon looked. “Soft rock and big bands from the 40’s.”
Colton frowned. “How old is she?”
Brand snorted. “Sounds like Grandma.”
“Says she’s twenty-nine,” Dillon said.
“Like I said,” Brand gave a knowing nod, “an older woman.”
Ace shook his head. “Only a year older than Dillon. Not an issue.”
“Are you going to ask her out?” Colton asked.
Dillon thought of the redhead in the stairwell. Before he could ask her out, he had to give BODS a chance. The sooner, the better. “Yes. Might as well get this over with.”
“That’s the right attitude,” Ace said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “Like marching toward a guillotine.”
“You know what I mean,” Dillon said. “Do you really think a computer can match two people?”
Ace lifted an eyebrow. “It worked for Emma and Coop. We all know how much they love each other.”
“Look, I agreed to do this for Emma. And I will,” His eyes narrowed into slits. “But if it doesn’t work out, I don’t want any crap from the rest of you. Remember, you’re all up next.”
Colton raised his hands. “I’m not giving you any crap. I know my time’s coming, and I’m not anymore pleased about it than you are.”
“Why are you all so negative about this dating system?” Ace asked. “You don’t have to marry
