She looked up at him and realised their lips were mere inches away from each other. He stared down at her and then he bent his head and gave her a lingering kiss on the cheek, burning her skin with his lips. ‘You’re very welcome.’
They heard the sound of the bell ringing to indicate the next date had started but they were still staring at each other.
There was the sound of someone clearing their throat and they looked round to see Meadow’s next date sitting at the table patiently – or rather impatiently – waiting for her.
Bear gently pulled away and went to sit opposite Heather and Meadow quickly sat down. Her next date looked a bit confused by the huge demonstration of affection he’d just witnessed. She plastered on a big smile and started chatting to him but all she could think about was this beautiful book Bear had bought her for no other reason than to make her smile. And she also couldn’t stop thinking about how it felt to be held in his arms, the kiss that still warmed her cheek.
Nothing was ever going to compare to the feelings she felt for him. She might as well give up and go home now because Amelia was right, she was never going to find anyone who made her feel like this.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
Bear stood up as the last date ended, giving Debbie a warm smile before wandering off to find Meadow. The evening hadn’t exactly been a huge success in terms of finding his soul mate. There had been a small handful of women he thought he might want to see again but no one who had made his heart race, no one he was excited about seeing what would develop between them. By the look on Meadow’s face it seemed she hadn’t had the best night either. Three minutes really wasn’t long enough to build any kind of relationship with someone.
He touched Meadow’s back to let her know he was there and her face lit up in a big smile when she saw him.
‘How did your night go?’ she asked.
‘It was… fun,’ Bear said.
‘Anyone take your fancy?’
‘I don’t think so. Maybe a few women who were nice but it didn’t feel like the time was long enough to see if we had anything worth pursuing.’
‘I know what you mean,’ Meadow said.
‘Are you going to tell the host you were interested in anyone?’ Bear said, the part of him that wanted to keep her for himself fighting with the part that wanted her to be happy.
‘I don’t think so.’
‘No one that made your heart race?’ Bear said.
She paused before answering this time. ‘No.’
‘Ladies and gentlemen, can I have your attention,’ Imogen called. ‘Thank you for taking part tonight in our first dating event. I hope you met some wonderful people. Be sure to come and tell me if there’s anyone you’d like to see again and, if they want to see you again, your details will be shared with each other tomorrow.
‘Now let’s get on to the exciting part. The results of the smart watches. Some of you had some very interesting chemical reactions to each other tonight. If you had a reaction to someone as picked up by our watches and they also had a reaction to you then you will be matched shortly and your details will be automatically shared. Your watches will buzz and show you the number of the person you are matched with so you can go and find them and have a chat. Some of you have had a reaction to more than one person so the results for those people who matched with multiple people will be staggered. For the rest of you who didn’t match with anyone on a chemical level, feel free to stay as long as you want and have a proper chat with the other participants. Now before you go, don’t forget to give a saliva sample, if you haven’t already done so, so you can be genetically matched at our labs, the results of which we will share at one of the later events. And I’m happy to answer any questions. For now, I’ll leave you to chat and look out for any chemical matches on your watches.’
People started chatting and moving around the room.
‘Shall we go?’ Bear said. ‘I’m starving.’
‘Me too.’
They started to move towards the exit when suddenly Bear’s watch buzzed with a match. He glanced down at it to see that it flashed number seventeen. Meadow. And to prove it Meadow’s watch also flashed with his number. They looked at each other.
‘That’s just because we know each other, right? It’s picked up our friendship and confused it for something else,’ Meadow said.
Bear swallowed. Because he was damn sure that for him the watch had picked up on his inappropriate feelings for his best friend – but what had it picked up in her?
‘I guess so, what else could it be?’
She stared at him, looking as if she wanted to say something. But suddenly his watch was buzzing again, this time with a new number. He glanced at it in confusion to see number eighteen now showing. Meadow’s next-door neighbour, Heather. A nice girl but the only reason his heart was racing when he was with her was because he was still thinking about that almost kiss with Meadow after she had hugged him.
‘Oh look, you matched with someone else, that’s nice,’ Meadow’s voice was strangled.
‘No, I, erm… that’s a mistake,’ Bear said.
But suddenly Heather was coming towards him with a huge smile on her face.
