Matchmaker Backfire: An Instalove Possessive Age Gap Romance (A Man Who Knows Who He Wants Book 226)

  CONTENTS

  Matchmaker Backfire

  NEWSLETTER

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Extended Epilogue

  Extended Epilogue

  NEWSLETTER

  A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS

  BRATVA BEAR SHIFTERS

  LAIRDS & LADIES

  RUSSIAN UNDERWORLD

  IRISH WOLF SHIFTERS

  Collaborations

  About the Author

  MATCHMAKER BACKFIRE

  AN OLDER MAN YOUNGER WOMAN ROMANCE

  _______________________

  A MAN WHO KNOWS WHAT HE WANTS, 226

  FLORA FERRARI

  Copyright © 2021 by Flora Ferrari

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers.

  MATCHMAKER BACKFIRE

  CARTER

  Twenty years working oil rigs and I’m done. I’ve made enough money to cash out and what better way to settle into the idea of eternal, well-off bachelorhood than by joining my best friend Greg in Vermont for some skiing?

  His daughter Serena’s coming too, she finished college last summer, so it’s a time to celebrate freedoms.

  Little do I know, it’s also Greg who’s trying to set me up with a complete stranger on the same holiday.

  A romance I know I don’t care for, even want to think about once I see Serena again.

  My Serena.

  It’s something I can’t deny, I have to claim her as my own, I will claim her.

  Regardless of the consequences.

  SERENA

  What would an older guy like Carter Everett ever see in a younger girl like me?

  He could have any woman he wants, the man’s a freaking god.

  But dad seems determined to matchmake him, my Carter with some bimbo Barbie doll from a dating app.

  Oh, did I mention I’ve had a wet patch for Carter since I learned what it means for a young woman to crave a man?

  A real man.

  I have the photo to prove it, the only thing that got me through college.

  But worse than knowing dad’s trying to set up my biggest crush, is thinking if I don’t go on this trip I’m might never see Carter again.

  It’s a fool’s hope, but it’s all I have. And I’m willing to risk it.

  Even if it’s only to see Carter Everett in the flesh one more time.

  *Matchmaker Backfire is an insta-everything standalone instalove romance with a HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.

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  CHAPTER ONE

  Serena

  “Well? What do you think?” My dad asks triumphantly, thrusting his phone in front of me, an image of what looks like a living throwaway Malibu Barbie doll staring back at me over my morning coffee.

  “Dad, please. I’m trying to eat.”

  He sighs patiently, creasing the corners of his mouth.

  “If you’re that lonely, go for it. But I’m sure even you could do better than that,” I mumble, gently pushing his hand with the phone in it away.

  “Not me, silly. For Carter,” he exclaims louder, making my ears ring once I feel my stomach drop. Threatening to heave up the coffee I almost just enjoyed.

  “What?” I ask him icily, my mug making a loud bang as it hits the table. The thought of Carter and that thing in the same sentence, let alone the same room makes me feel ill.

  “Now, don’t be such a negative Nelly, sweetie. Carter’s not getting any younger either. I think he just needs a little nudge in the romance department,” he says, raising his brows a few times, puckering his mouth.

  I can almost hear myself scowling, my eyes narrowing in on my dad, as though he’s the enemy.

  But he’s not.

  It’s her, whoever she is. And if it isn’t her, then it would be anyone else who wasn’t me.

  I know Carter wouldn’t look twice at me, never has.

  But then again, the last time I saw him I was way too young for anything like that. I hadn’t even started high school let alone finished college. Which was late last year.

  How time flies. Carter’s not the only one whose clock is ticking.

  And if he isn’t the single biggest crush I’ve had on anyone ever since I can remember.

  “…I just did some friendly snooping. Like a good best friend should,” My dad smiles, pleased with his efforts.

  “Then I kinda set up a dating profile for Carter… and Voila! I’ve invited her to join us in Vermont,” he adds, ignoring my demonic and hate-filled face.

  I’ve never been a morning person.

  But I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Apart from being so not like my dad to do that, I know it’s the last thing Carter would approve of.

  At least, I think he wouldn’t.

  Hope he wouldn’t.

  “Then I’m not going,” I hear myself huff briskly. I can even feel my lower lip trembling as I scrape my chair back across the wooden floor.

  “You can both have her,” I shout at my dad, his jaw dropping in disbelief.

  “I hate her. I hate Vermont and I hate you!” I scream, hearing my feet thud up the stairs to my room, slamming the door and hurling myself onto my bed.

  How could dad do something like this?

  How could Carter let him?

  I want to blame them both, but it’s really my own delusion that’s slapped me in the face.

  As if Carter Everett, the man of my dreams and old enough to be my own father would even think of me as anything more than the chubby little kid his best friend’s stuck with.

  I lay on my stomach, face buried in my pillows as I make a weird dry, croaking noise I tell myself isn’t crying.

  But after a few minutes, I realize it’s pointless.

  Carter never would love me, never could love me.

  It’s just a dumb crush I’ve had forever, and maybe one I need to let go of.

  I’m supposed to be an adult after all.

  It hurts like hell though, stings my eyes and burns in my belly as I roll onto my back, swiping my phone awake.

  Groaning when I see his face.

  I guess I should change it. Even only so dad doesn’t see it.

  U
gh, he’s just so perfect though! A living God.

  It’s an older photo of dad’s I copied. I’m somewhere in the background, just a kid playing. Dad and Carter have been water skiing, Carter’s just coming out onto the lake’s edge.

  His huge shoulders stooped, rippling with muscle as he fights to keep his trunks up. I feel myself biting my lip as my eyes trace down his shining abs to that V shape of his body I’ve etched into my mind for so long.

  I shiver, noticing my hands starting to shake once I take in the obvious and thick outline of his cock through skimpy trunks that cling to every part of it.

  I’ve often wondered what it would look like unwrapped.

  I can hear my dad coming up the stairs, but I can’t bring myself to delete my prized possession.

  My Carter.

  I frown, already missing his tousle of dark hair that frames his strong brow. His eyes are so intense I can feel them boring into me.

  And that smile, half-laughing.

  His chiseled jaw, dark from a day without shaving.

  That cock though.

  My legs press together and I make an involuntary sound, suddenly wanting him more than ever. Needing Carter to do much more than just notice me.

  I want him to-

  “Honey? Honey let me in.”

  My dad.

  I know his feelings are hurt just as much as mine are, but for very different reasons.

  “It’s open,” I sniff, closing my phone and feeling a line of hot moisture between my legs as I lay them flat against the bed, staring up at the ceiling, hugging a pillow.

  I gasp again hearing the door open, the pillow scratching at my chest which is so hard it feels like it could crack.

  Nothing dulls a turn on though more than the sight of my dad, and the fantasy of Carter taking me from behind in the soft mud on the bank vanishes.

  “Can I come in?” Dad asks meekly, tiptoeing across to the bed and sitting at the end as if it’s a live mine about to explode.

  “Sorry, dad,” I tell him, going first and knowing how hard it is for him to deal with my moods sometimes.

  “I’m just over-tired I guess,” I lie. Still blaming a return from college months ago for every little thing, when in reality it’s because I have no idea what I’m doing with my life.

  “I know, sweetie,” he croons, patting the space next to my leg on the bed.

  “It’s just. I really want Carter to be happy. He’s been working those oil rigs for what now, twenty years? He’s finally out of it, a made man. I just hate to see someone so… eligible, deserving miss out on the happiness of…” but he trails off.

  The happiness I know my dad never had.

  He wants his best friend to have a wife and a happy life because his own didn’t work out like that.

  “Just think it over, hun? I don’t want to see you miss out on a great holiday either. I mean, c’mon. It’s Vermont! We’ll have a great time, and it is your graduation present,” he adds, compounding guilt with how foolish I feel already.

  “It’s just for a week, and I bet we will hardly even see Wendy if things aren’t fireworks with Carter.”

  Wendy?

  I sit up, almost feeling like I want to heave at the name given to that… face. But I swallow hard, determined not to fly off the handle anymore.

  Apart from making it too obvious how I really feel about Carter, it’s not fair on my Dad.

  He’s worked hard too, and we have a comfortable life. He put me through college and I know he’s gonna be working at his own job a lot harder and for a lot more years because of it.

  Carter…

  Closing my eyes and looking up, I take a deep breath. Knowing I’m about to regret what I have to say.

  But the thought of not seeing him at all as well as losing him forever is worse than anything.

  “Alright, dad. I’ll go. And sorry for being a brat. I know how much this trip means to you… how much it cost.”

  “That’s my girl,” he says, leaning in to hug me, patting my arm.

  “Don’t worry though, Wendy’s paying her own way. She insisted. And once she saw some more photos of Carter, she even offered to pay for the whole trip, all of us!” He laughs, making me cringe at that name again.

  That plastic made-up face and fake chest.

  “But, we’ve already paid. I just want us to have a great time, honey. A family holiday… As much of a family as we can be anyhow,” he adds, and I can feel his own hurt creeping back in.

  “Say you’ll come, honey? I know Carter is dying to see you again,” he adds.

  “He is?” I ask, sitting up as though the man himself is in the next room.

  “Sure he is, said so yesterday on the phone. He’ll meet us in Vermont, flying in straight from his rig in Alaska. Said he can’t wait,” he adds again. “And he’s dying to see you.”

  Dying to see me?

  Carter Everett?

  Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place?

  CHAPTER TWO

  Carter

  It’s a small case I pack, leaving my phone out so I can check in with Greg.

  And Serena.

  Greg tells me he has a ‘special surprise’ in Vermont. And knowing him, he’s trying to set me up with one of his co-workers or some such.

  Again.

  He’s always angling for me to settle down. And for the first time in twenty years, I think I might.

  I’ve got a single suitcase, a couple of changes of clothes but a ton of money in the bank and investments.

  I started rigging when I couldn’t afford college, even though I turned down that athletic scholarship.

  Seemed weird.

  Run around with a ball for free money? Yeah right, and then do exactly as we tell ya, boy. Not my style.

  Too many bad memories of that sort of thing.

  So here I am, on the plane to Vermont. It’s not the Swiss Alps, but I know Greg does the best he can, and he promises a couple of joining cabins with Alpine views.

  Good enough for me, but I’m just glad to be going home, close enough anyway.

  A Boston boy, I always said I’d come back and settle down.

  Now? I dunno, but a visit to the green country in winter sure sounds nice.

  And Serena.

  Well… I don’t wanna talk about that. She’s always been a cute kid, Greg’s only kid and old enough to be my daughter. If I’d ever had one.

  But the graduation snaps Greg sent… his insistence I come along with both of them to Vermont for the whole week.

  Like I said.

  I can’t talk about it. I won’t

  It’s not right.

  But… Serena.

  Drumming my fingers on the armrest as the plane lands I can’t help but wonder what Greg’s really up to. I’ve known him my whole life. The terrible two from one of Boston’s most notorious boy’s homes.

  Relax, slick. It’s just a vacation. You’re nervous because you’ve never had one and you don’t have to go back to work next week.

  There are a few cries of anguish from the passengers. Big jet, icy runway. Lumpy landing with lots of to and fro.

  Try landing a chopper on a rig that’s got a platform bowing at twenty degrees in a gale…

  It feels good to be safe again.

  Solid ground.

  Serena.

  Fuckin’ stop it!

  I have to change my screensaver now, back in the land of the living. I edited Greg’s photo to only show Serena in her graduation gown, and after… a rare shot of her by the family pool later the same day.

  Ashamed but not ashamed to say it, I get hard every time I see both.

  She’s still a shy girl, a long white tee covering her. Thick and long blond hair that she had up in a ponytail that day.

  Fuck me though, her chest, her fine ass, those hips.

  She’s a young woman now.

  She’s the real reason I’m coming home. Even though I know it’d be a train wreck if Greg ever found out.

&nb
sp; Why would a twenty-two year old, curvy… perfect, voluptuous girl with her whole life ahead of her go for an older, somewhat rough around the edges kind of guy like me?

  I dunno.

  But at my age, and level of lonesomeness, the fantasy keeps me going through the tedious task of a long airport check-in and an even longer, overpriced cab ride on icy roads all the way to the lodge in Vermont.

  I shake my head, telling myself for the millionth time.

  Nah. There’s just no way such a beauty could ever or would ever go for you, Carter. Nice try though.

  “You local?” I ask the driver over the headrest, knowing he isn’t. Counting the skids and wondering if we’ll even get there without chains on these tires.

  I haven’t seen snow on the ground for years, but I know well enough to have the right vehicle and preparedness for any terrain.

  This guy has neither.

  His eyes dart to mine in the rearview and I point ahead, urging him to keep his attention on the road.

  It’s coming in thick.

  I don’t know if it’s holiday weather either. More like snowed in for a month, but what would I know?

  I haven’t been up this way for almost twenty years.

  “Not local,” the driver says between gritted teeth. “And this is dangerous now! You’ll have to pay-” he starts, but I wave him off.

  “I’ll pay you, buddy. No problem.”

  Thing is, can this guy make it back?

  Sighting the turnpike and directing him to it, I figure once he drops me off it’s up to him how he gets on after that.

  I feel a buzzing in my chest, something I haven’t felt in ages.

  Excitement at the prospect of a week in a three star ski lodge?

  I know it’s more than that.

  Catching up with Greg in person will be something, I’ve missed him. Him and his goofy matchmaking, which I’m sure he’ll try on this trip.

  But I know what it really is.

  The cab driver gives me a weird look once we pull up. I realize I’m grinning like a madman, my rock hard dick aching under my jacket as he passes his hand in front of my eyes.

  “You okay, buddy? Remember we spoke about the extra?” he asks furtively, snapping his fingers before I chuckle, reaching for my billfold.

  “I remember. Just having a bit of a daydream is all,” I remark, peeling off way too much before cautioning him.