Match Made In Paradise by Barbara Dunlop (the best books to read .txt) 📗

he couldn’t avoid a trip to Wildflower Lake Lodge, he prepared himself for the worst. And he got it. Standing on the boardwalk gazing at the chalets, their entire night together replayed in his mind.

She’d liked it here. She’d fit better in the luxury chalet than she had anywhere else in Alaska. Then, because he was feeling particularly masochistic, he walked all the way to the south creek villa.

The door to it was open, the screen door shut. And there were two towels on the front porch loungers. Obviously someone was staying there.

He didn’t want to be rude, so he didn’t stop. But he slowed his pace, pictured her in the big shower, in that white bathrobe, curled up on the sofa. Then he rounded a curve and the villa went out of sight.

He heard a compressor running and the distinctive bang-bang of a nail gun. Around the corner he came across the wood building frame of a new villa.

“Hey, Silas,” Danny called from across the construction site. Hard hat on his head, he picked his way through the lumber, gravel piles, sawhorses and power tools. “Didn’t expect you today.”

“Tristen cut his finger. I had to sub in.”

“Hope it’s not bad.”

“Nurse was giving him a couple of stitches. He’ll be fine.”

“Good to hear.” Danny gazed up at the frame with Silas.

“Will this be the same as the others?” Silas asked.

“A tried-and-true design,” Danny said. “Good for shedding snow, efficient to heat, and my guy’s built so many of them, he and his crew have it down to an art. You staying?”

“No, not tonight.”

“You alone?” Danny peered past Silas to look down the boardwalk.

“Sorry to say, I am.”

“I bet you’re sorry,” Danny said with a grin. “Mia was too good for you.”

“She was,” Silas agreed. He nodded at the wood frame. “What do these things run you?”

“Out here?” Danny blew out a breath. “They cost a small fortune.”

“What about in town?” An idea was formulating in Silas’s mind. It was just an idea, not something he was seriously contemplating; at least not yet. But it was an idea.

“In Paradise? For you?”

“Yeah. The staff housing feels cramped in the winter.”

“You’re probably looking at a couple hundred per square foot, more depending on the finishing. You want a stone fireplace and lots of glazing?”

“Probably,” Silas said. Since it was only a dream, he might as well go for broke. “What’s the square footage on your plan?”

“Just under twenty-four hundred. That’s with the expanded kitchen and nook. You serious?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

“I can give you the plans, no problem. You want to talk to Michael?”

“Not yet.” Silas didn’t want to waste the builder’s time.

Danny reached into his shirt pocket. “Take his card. You can call if you have questions.”

Silas accepted. “Thanks. Better take off.”

“See you.” Danny gave a wave as he started back to the villa.

Silas walked past the south creek villa once more, took the trail up to the airstrip and climbed into the plane, all the while thinking about Mia. He tried to imagine her expression if he asked her to live in Paradise. Would she smile, frown, laugh, assume he was joking?

Probably. If he was her, he’d assume it was a joke. The thought of her leaving her perfect LA life, along with the successful fashion business she’d just fought tooth and nail to keep, was ludicrous.

By the time he landed at WSA, he knew his dream was just that: a ludicrous pipedream. Mia wasn’t coming back to Alaska. If Silas wanted to be with her, he’d have to go to LA. But that idea was almost as absurd as Mia coming here.

Almost.

He tied down the plane and crossed the parking lot, trying to imagine what a bush pilot would do in downtown Los Angeles. Wait tables, probably.

“No thank-you bottle of wine this time?” Brodie asked as Silas walked into the office.

“She didn’t even offer,” Silas said, crossing to the fridge for a bottle of beer.

“She must not need anything from us,” Brodie said, straightening away from the reception desk, where he’d been leaning while reading an invoice. “That right tire hold air okay?”

“I checked after landing. It’s good.” Silas kept going, grabbed the beer and straddled a chair at one of the lounge tables.

Brodie followed and took a seat across from him. “Raven says WSA guys can use four of the rooms in the Galina housing. T and T-Two offered to share.”

“You’re being very helpful all of a sudden.”

Brodie’s attitude had done a one-eighty.

He shrugged. “Mia’s got us painting the units dusty rose. But don’t worry, we’re not taking over your place.”

Mia again.

“Is she coming up?” Silas asked, trying not to sound hopeful.

“Mia?” Brodie played dumb.

Silas tilted his bottle as if to ask who else?

“Don’t think so.”

Silas let his disappointment settle for a moment. “I don’t know how this is going to work.”

Brodie got up for a beer. “I told you, we’re not using your room.”

“I mean with Mia.”

“Mia’s not coming.” Brodie popped the cap.

“That’s the problem.” It didn’t matter how many ways Silas came at this, he couldn’t accept having Mia out of his life completely and forever. “I don’t see how this works.”

Brodie swung back into his seat. “Women come to Paradise, the guys meet them. After that, it’s pretty much up to biology or fate or whatever.”

“I mean Mia.”

Brodie took a drink, obviously waiting for more information.

“I can’t stop thinking about her.”

“It hasn’t been that long.”

“The more time that goes by, the worse it gets.” Silas was too embarrassed to tell Brodie about his house-building fantasy. “Thing is, I don’t know if I can let her go.”

“You want to go get her and bring her back?”

“I think she’d have to be willing.”

“I can lend you a plane. But it’s illegal to bring her unwillingly across state lines.”

Silas chuckled. “Probably not our best plan.”

“Nope. You want me to get Raven to help?”

Silas shook his head. “I can’t see Mia staying long-term in Alaska.”

Brodie was contemplative. “That would be . . . surprising.”

“Yeah.” Silas took a beat. “But I also don’t think