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continuing mental and physical wellbeing.
    Wow. Nate never would have thought to read the Health and Safety section for information on the prize money. Obviously Mattie hadn’t either.
    ‘ The network and I agreed there needed to be a bit more punch to the concept. This isn’t kids’ TV any more.’ Silver looked at him closely. ‘If you can’t handle it, you should go back to La La Land.’
    Nate held up chubby hands in protest. ‘No, no, it’s fine. Great idea!’ As executive producer he’d get behind it one-hundred and ten per cent, even though his gut was feeling a bit queasy. He probably just needed to eat breakfast. Or another breakfast, anyway.
    ‘ Now go get those men. I need them signed up by Friday. And don’t let me down.’
    ‘ Friday?’ Nate stared. That was only two days away!
    ‘ Friday, are you deaf?’
    ‘ No Silver, yes Silver, consider it done.’
    There was a pause.
    ‘ Then get the hell out of my office and do it!’
    Nate rose and scurried from the room. Two days! This Harry Horne bloke better work fast.
     
    *
     
    ‘ Oh my G od.’ Jess’s eyes bulged out of her head. ‘You’re not?’
    Mattie nodded and eyed th e buzzing crowd at Boheme. Leaning back on the leather banquette, she sipped at her whisky, letting the smoky smoothness burn her throat.
    ‘ Why is it so hard to believe?’ She raised her eyebrows, enjoying Jess’s reaction.
    Jess continued staring. ‘You. YOU! On a dating show! How on Earth did that happen?’
    Mattie shrugged. ‘The producer just said I had everything they were looking for. Charisma, good looks, the sort of things TV stars have. I couldn’t argue with that, could I?’ She winked at a nerdy guy in brown polyester who was attempting to squeeze in beside them on the banquette. He flushed and gave her a small nod in return. ‘See?’ she said to Jess.
    Jess snorted and shifted to make room for the man, who was busying himself with the menu and desperately trying not to make eye contact. ‘I think you scared him. Do they know you’ve gone through more men than there are in, I dunno, Scotland?’
    ‘ Come on, Jess. More like Ireland. Give me some credit.’ Mattie grinned. There was nothing shameful about dating lots of men. Anyway, it wasn’t her fault if they always turned out to be such morons.
    ‘ I bet you can’t even remember half of them!’ Her friend shook her head and sipped a lychee martini.
    ‘ Too right !’ Mattie laughed. ‘Funny, the game show contract asked me that too. They wanted to know all the names of my exes for, like, ever! As if!’
    ‘ I hope you didn’t try to write a list!’ Jess dropped her eyes. ‘It might make you look a bit, well . . .’
    ‘ What?’ Mattie gave Jess a challenging look. So what if she’d had a lot of short term – okay, miniscule term – relationships. It didn’t mean there was anything wrong with her ! All it meant was there were loads of idiot men roaming about.
    ‘ Unstable,’ Jess said finally. ‘Like you can’t commit. And it’s a dating show, right? They’ll want to know you’re at least open to a relationship.’
    ‘ I am open to a relationship.’ Mattie jerked the glass to her lips. ‘It’s not my fault all those losers had something wrong with them. And what about Kyle? I was going to commit for life. He screwed it up, remember? Fucking Chloe Collins. ’ Her mouth twisted. She’d never forget that blonde bimbo’s name.
    It was hard not to give in to the hurt and anger. Kyle was the one man Mattie had been with longer than a month – they’d lasted two years. He was the only man who made her feel comfortable; the only man she knew would never interfere with her ambition because he had it too. Together, in business and life, they were unstoppable.
    Until he cheated on her.
    Staring hard at a watermark staining the table, she couldn’t stop her mind from flipping back to the moment when she had walked unannounced into Kyle’s office to find him throwing himself at