Read Online A Perfectly Imperfect Match (Matchmaking Mamas) by Marie Ferrarella - Free Book Online

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