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

“You two are the right size and shape,” Breena said.

“What?” Silas gave them his full attention. It was the first anyone mentioned him being included. “Who?”

Brodie seemed amused that he wasn’t being co-opted alone.

“Both of you,” Raven said. She held her hands in a square like she was a movie producer. “In your flight suits, the caravan as a backdrop against the mountains. Green suits, red and white plane.”

“It’ll be perfect,” Breena said. “You’re both tall, rugged, dark hair, nice square shoulders.”

“I don’t know about you,” Silas said to Brodie, “but I’m feeling objectified.”

“That’s because we’re objectifying you.” Breena gave a sly grin as she lifted her own frosty mug. Hers was full since she’d just joined the party.

Silas felt an urge for a whiskey nightcap, but he was trying not to slip into that habit. It had been three nights since Mia left. Three nights where he’d struggled to fall asleep, thinking about where she was, what she was doing and who she was with. He couldn’t believe how badly he missed her.

“You want us to succeed, don’t you?” Raven asked in a cajoling tone.

“I couldn’t care less,” Brodie said. “I’m humoring you; rewarding you, really.”

“For what? I’ll do it again if you’ll be in the photo.”

“I’m rewarding Mia.”

Silas’s chest contracted at the sound of her name, and her image bloomed even sharper in his mind. He pushed back his chair to head for the bar to get that whiskey.

“For saving my plane,” Brodie continued. “And for saving Silas’s life.”

“Well, that means Silas has to be in the photo,” Raven called out for Silas’s benefit.

He didn’t turn to acknowledge her, and the three of them chuckled from the table.

“A whiskey,” he said to Badger. “Black Boar, neat. Make it a double.”

“You got it,” Badger said, flipping a cut-glass tumbler onto the bar then reaching for the bottle.

“For the record,” Badger said as he poured, “I think you should do it.”

“You overheard?” Silas asked.

“Little bit. And Breena told me earlier about their plans. Having Mia here was a breath of fresh air.”

Silas looked at him sharply.

“Relax, man. Not like that. I saw the way you looked at her.”

Silas took a swig of the whiskey. Was he that damn obvious?

“And she looked back at you the same way,” Badger said. “But my point is, you and Brodie would make a good poster.” Badger recapped the bottle and set it on the shelf. “You’d attract the ladies, and that would be a win for everybody.”

“I’m not wild about being a male model.” But he wondered if Mia would appreciate his effort. He wondered if it might give him an excuse to call her. Yeah, maybe he should call her to ask her advice on modeling.

It would be way too obvious, but he wanted to do it anyway.

“The guys will definitely bust your chops over it.”

Silas gave a brief laugh, thinking about the teasing he and Brodie would endure.

“But do you care?” Badger asked. “If it’s the right thing to do, do you care what the guys think?”

“Not really.”

“Do you think she’ll come back?”

“Mia?” Silas toyed with his glass, stalling.

“Yeah.”

Silas shook his head. “Nothing for her here.”

Badger was silent for a minute. “You sure about that?”

Silas looked up. “You met her. You saw her. She’s not Paradise material.”

“Maybe not.”

There was no maybe about it.

“Then again, the planes go both ways,” Badger said.

Silas had thought about that more than once. He could fly himself straight to Anchorage, hop a nonstop airliner and hit LAX within about five hours. But then what? A stolen weekend with Mia? If she’d even have him. Then he’d leave her all over again and it might hurt even worse.

“Why are you getting all bartender on me tonight?” he asked Badger.

“Because I know an unhappy man when I see one.”

“You’ve got it wrong.”

Badger smiled and tapped his hand on the bar as another customer arrived at the far end. “For your sake, I hope I do.”

“Silas?” Breena called out to him.

He picked up his drink and turned back to the table.

“Brodie will do it if you will,” Raven said.

Brodie looked aghast. “That’s not what I—”

Silas cut him off. “Sure.”

“You will?” Breena sounded delighted.

“Anything for the cause.” Silas polished off the drink.

“What is wrong with you?” Brodie asked.

“Chill, man,” Silas said. “If we’re going to do this, we might as well do it right.”

“Breena?” Badger called out. “Can you get these guys at the bar a quick burger before we close the kitchen?”

“On it.” Breena grinned as she rose. “This is going to be awesome.”

Raven dropped some money on the table. “I gotta run. Early morning tomorrow.”

“Night.” Brodie said.

“Later,” Silas said.

“See you,” Raven responded to both of them as she headed for the door.

Brodie watched until the door shut behind her. “What was that about?”

Silas shrugged, not ready to admit he was doing it for Mia. “They’re working really hard.”

“We don’t need to be the sacrificial lambs.”

“Where’s your community spirit?”

“I’m lending them housing rooms and donating an otter flight.” Brodie made a fair point.

Silas hadn’t done much of anything to help so far. He wished he done more. In fact, he wished he done a lot of things differently. “I wasn’t straight with you about Mia.”

Brodie’s brow went up in curiosity.

Silas rubbed his empty glass on the smooth table. “It was special. Me and her, I mean.”

“Seriously? Come on.”

“I slept with her.”

Brodie went still this time, very still and very silent.

“Twice,” Silas said. “We kept it quiet. Obviously, we kept it quiet.”

“Does Raven know?”

Silas couldn’t see how that was relevant. “I don’t know. Mia wasn’t planning to tell anyone.”

“You should have said something.”

“I know. Thing is, it hit me like a ground loop—my own screw-up, embarrassing as hell, leaving destruction in its wake.”

“You slept with her, Silas. You didn’t marry her.”

Silas thought of his father again, wondering if it could be a flaw in his genes. “Yeah, that’s the thing.”

“Don’t say it.”

“I wanted to keep her. I seriously thought about how it could work out for us.”

*   *   *

Mia was