Match Made In Paradise by Barbara Dunlop (black female authors TXT) 📕

He paced his way back to his pickup.

“Silas?” Mia’s voice surprised him from behind.

He paused, realizing she’d followed him.

“Wait a second,” she said.

He turned, not feeling particularly charitable toward her, and he let it show in his voice. “What?”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

She gave a wave behind herself as she came to a halt in front of him. “For that, back there. I know you were only trying to be nice.” She hit him with what had to be a patented vulnerable look.

He wasn’t going to react to it. “Did Raven point that out to you?”

“No. Okay, yes.” She bit her bottom lip, looking genuinely sorry.

He kept the hard edge to his voice, hating that her act was working on him and hating that he wished he’d entered the poker game and won. “I wasn’t trying to be nice.”

“Trying to be noble then.”

“I’m not noble.” He wasn’t. He was just a guy trying to be decent, and wasting his time on the effort.

“I don’t want to get in the way of their fun,” she said.

“Do you want to be their fun?”

“You know what they found online about me, don’t you?”

“Videos on the catwalk,” he guessed. “Probably details of your rich husband and his estate.”

“That I’m cold and unfeeling, a predatory gold-digging ice-princess.”

He stared at her in silence, trying to take in what she was saying. Is that how the world saw her? Is that how she saw herself?

“I don’t want them to think that. I don’t know how long I’m staying, but while I’m here, I want them to think I’m a regular person.”

“You’re not a regular person.”

She was about as far from being a regular person as anyone could get. She was rich and famous, or maybe it was infamous, but pampered and entitled too. The world—especially the male world—would lay down the red carpet for her if she so much as looked their way.

Well, not him.

“Do whatever you want,” he said. “It’s none of my business.”

Her shoulders drooped, and her eyes clouded with hurt that didn’t look like an act.

Damn. How had he turned into the bad guy?

“Fine,” she said, breaking eye contact, gazing past his temple into the darkening blue of the sky.

“I didn’t mean—” He cut himself off, not sure where he was going with that.

She gave her hair a little toss. “You think you know me. You think what the world thinks of me is true.”

“I don’t think anything.” Truth was, the more he saw her, the more baffled he became.

Her gaze turned brittle on him. “If you were right, I wouldn’t care what you or anyone else here thought of me.”

Her words made a complicated kind of sense.

She pivoted to walk away, but he reached out, gently touching her shoulder.

“Mia.”

She paused.

He closed the gap between them, wishing he could press himself against her back, desperate to feel her warm body against his own. But he stopped short. “I don’t think I know you.”

She was silent for a minute, and he willed her to turn around, turn into his arms and hold him close, kiss him like he’d wanted for hours now, days now, ever since he saw her sitting in the FBO surrounded by her snooty luggage.

“Your loss,” she said and shrugged his hand off to walk away.

Regret hit him hard, and he leaned back against the driver’s door, questioning his own sanity.

*   *   *

Although she knew both Silas and Brodie were dead-set against the idea, Mia had said yes to the date with Zeke. He seemed like a nice guy, if a bit talkative. Raven had confirmed he was honorable and honest, well-liked by the people of Paradise. Not that Mia had come across any jerks in the town—even if Silas did have his moments. It seemed to be full of friendly, hard-working people who liked an unpretentious lifestyle.

So, she’d met Zeke in town on Friday evening, driving Raven’s clunky truck to park it in front of the WSA housing, around the corner from the Bear and Bar. Zeke had offered to pick her up at Raven’s, but Mia wanted to avoid any awkwardness at the end of the evening. She might change her mind, but she didn’t see a good-night kiss in their future.

There wasn’t much for night life in Paradise, but Zeke had taken her on a steep, bumpy four-wheel drive journey to a lookout over the Paradise Valley. It was a stunning view, miles upon miles of forest, river and mountains, and not a house, a farm or a telephone pole as far as the eye could see. It made her feel small. Oddly, it also made her feel safe, since the outside world was so far, far away.

They trundled back down the mountainside to the Bear and Bar for dinner. The place was hopping with Galina and WSA staff, plus a few local families. Mia had learned there were almost forty children in town, about thirty of them attending the Paradise School out on—and she could barely believe it—Yellow Road.

She and Zeke sat at a table beside the wall, and Breena had taken their order. Zeke went with a burger and fries. Mia had learned it was the specialty of the house and very popular. But since Breena told her a fresh produce order had arrived Friday, Mia decided on the house salad. There was only so much starch and sugar she could safely eat and still fit into the few clothes she brought.

She’d found over the years that she had more flexibility than most women in her profession when it came to caloric or carbohydrate intake, but she still had to keep it reasonable. So, when Zeke ordered chocolate cake for dessert, adding the optional whipped cream, she stayed strong and asked for a cup of coffee.

Halfway through dessert, Silas walked through the door. His gaze seemed to zero in on Mia, then it switched to Zeke. He frowned and looked away. He offered a smile to Mrs. France, nodded to a couple of other people, then