Confessions of a Mail Order Bride - Complete (25 page)

“Wha...!” Sherry frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“Him,” I jerked my thumb towards the front door of the restaurant, pointing at the big man who’d been bossing everyone around earlier.

“At the fire today, he was telling people to do this and that. He was bossing everyone around. He told me not to get close to the building. He was pointing at people telling them where to stand—telling them to leave. That man was barking out tons of orders. Who does he think he is?”

Adrian grinned. “You think he was annoying, huh?”

“Oh yeah I did. I hate it when people think they can order people around. I think the name Mr. Bossy Pants suits him well.”

Sherry shook her head, laughing, “Uh, Ava, there’s a reason he was telling everyone what to do today.”

“Oh really?” I raised my brows.

“Remember how ‘FU Dirk’ was painted on the side of the building near the fire?”

“Yes, I remember that…” What was she getting at?

“Well, you know what ‘FU’ stands for. And like I told you earlier, Dirk is for Dirk Matthews.” She wagged a finger in the direction of the man that had just walked through the door. “That’s Dirk! He’s the sheriff of Shifter Villages.”

I felt a hot flash of embarrassment. “Oh…I see.”

“He was just doing his job, trying to control the scene. You saw how much chaos there was.”

“I…I…guess he did have a reason to boss us around then…”

Sherry grinned, “Uh huh.”

“Well, it’s pretty obvious people don’t like to listen to him—maybe he needs a different approach.”

“Dirk Matthews gets a lot of respect around here,” Sherry replied.

“Yes, he does,” Adrian agreed.

“Well, there were two guys there and when he told them to leave, they both looked pretty angry. One of them looked ready to pounce on him. I swear I thought he was going to rip him to shreds.”

“What did they look like?” Adrian’s forehead creased.

“They were tall and gangly…red-haired. He called them Snake and Chi…”

Before I had a chance to finish Sherry jumped in, “Snake and Chip Thacker!”

“Oh hell, Dirk has to be tough on them. Those boys don’t listen to anyone,” Adrian shook his head, disgruntled. “They’re out of control. Jail is a revolving door for those idiots. They’ve tangled with Dirk in the past.”

I frowned. So I guess he was just doing his job in taking control of the crowd, especially the two red-haired guys. But still, if he expected people to know he was the one in charge, he should have looked like an officer, not like someone who spent his days rolling in the mud. “Well, he sure doesn’t dress like an officer of the law.” Unfortunately I’d had more than my share of run-ins with police officers. I knew what to expect from the men in blue, unless they were undercover of course, but even then...

As the man walked by our booth, I shook my head and whispered. “Geez, he’s filthy. He’s covered in dirt and grime.”

I glanced up at the man. He acknowledged Sherry and Adrian with a warm greeting. Then, his dark coffee eyes held mine for a moment with a cool stare. He clamped his lips together tightly before continuing on to a room at the back of the restaurant.

Shit! He must have heard what I said. I didn’t mean to be rude, but seriously? He was pretty grubby looking today at the fire and he was definitely looking messy for a meal out on the town, even at a relaxed, casual restaurant like Kane’s. I had to admit that he was still handsome, even underneath that grimy exterior, but still.

“Ava,” Adrian piped up, “Dirk volunteers every Friday with ‘Homes for People.’ It’s an organization that helps build houses for families in need. They do everything from clearing the land to installing the plumbing. He must have been volunteering when he got the call about the fire.”

“Oh…umm…I…didn’t realize that.”

“Yeah, I checked into it because I wanted to volunteer also,” Adrian shook his head, “but they only do it on Friday in Shifter Villages and that is the busiest day of the week at the salon.”

Adrian continued, “Anyway, after volunteering, they meet in one of the side rooms here at Kane’s for a bite to eat and to plan the next steps of whatever project they are working on. Some of these men are from out of town construction companies and have an evening of travel ahead of them, so they all meet here early—at 5pm—nobody has time to change. They want to get in as much work as possible on the houses!”

“I see.” Gosh I always hated it when people judged me because of my tats, piercings, and wild hair color. Here I was, judging someone else. I felt like an ass.

As I took another sip of my brew, Tawny came over to check on us.

“Anyone want another beer or some dessert?”

“No thanks, Tawny, I’ve had enough,” Adrian said, setting his mug down.

“None for me either,” I replied.

“And I,” Sherry tapped her belly, “have had more than enough water. I’ll be peeing all night at this rate. Besides, I have an idea…”

Sherry looked at me with a glint in her eye and I knew she was scheming up something.

“What do you have up your sleeve, Sherry?”

“Wait till we get back to the house and you’ll find out.”

“Tawny, would you bring us the check, please?” Adrian asked, grinning. “It looks like we’re ready to get going. Sherry has something in mind.”

“I have the check right here,” Tawny replied, handing Adrian our tab.

“Let me…” I reached for the check.

“It’s on us,” Adrian replied.

As Adrian reached for his wallet, Tawny started removing some of our dishes.

“Hey, you all be careful driving home. Sheriff Matthews told me when he came in that the fire was under control, all the animals are safe and the station chief is wrapping things up. But who knows where that idiot who started the fire will hit next.”

“Well, at least we know for sure it’s not Max who did it.” Adrian said. “He’s still in jail. But they’ll have to let him out now. Vic will be glad to hear his brother is free!”

Tawny frowned. “I hate to tell you this, but Max was in here about an hour ago getting take out. He told me he was let out of jail around 10a.m. today.” She shook her head, “that was before the fires were started!”

“What the hell?” I’d gone to Sherry and Adrian’s apartment to spend the night. Sherry had talked me into putting my profile on the ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies Marriage Mates’ site. But when I clicked the button on the site to submit my name, bio, photo, and dream match info, only my dream match info showed up.

“I guess this was not meant to be, Sherry. The site is not working.”

“Let me see here a sec,” Sherry replied. She started clicking around the site. “Look at that—none of the photos of any of the members are showing up!”

“You’re right.” I said staring at the screen.

“Adrian, honey!” Sherry called out, turning towards the door to the kitchen. “The computer’s not working. It won’t load pictures.”

I studied the website. “It doesn’t list member names either, or their bios. It only has the dream match info.”

“The dream match info is something new.” Sherry said. “They didn’t have that when I filled out my profile.”

Adrian came into the living room carrying a tray with two glasses of red wine, one flute of sparkling water, cubed cheese, and cocktail peanuts. He set the tray on a side table near the desk where I had my laptop set up, looking over our shoulders.

“Wine, Ava?”

“I’ll have a glass, thanks.” I took the glass of wine from Adrian and looked back at the screen.

“Look honey,” Sherry pointed to the computer. Instead of a photo, each profile had the outline of a man or woman on a blue background with a question mark in the middle. “See—no pictures, no names, no bios.”

“I think it loaded properly. There must be another reason for this,” he said, pursing his lips as he handed Sherry her glass of sparkling water. “Let’s see,” he said, scrolling to the top of the screen.

“Oh shit, I didn’t see that!” Sherry shook her head and pointed to a banner at the top of the page, reading the text out loud. “Online Blind Dating—this week only!”

She clicked on the banner.

I scanned the information, reading the highlights to Adrian and Sherry as I went. “This weekend only…experiment to see how well matches can be made without photos and bios…great opportunity to meet someone and make a mind match…”

“This is bullshit!” I said. “What happens if someone picks me and then hates the way I look?”

“You know, I remember Vic saying something about trying online blind dating on the ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies’ site. I think he wants to help Max find a mate,” Adrian said.

“Max? You mentioned him earlier.” I pursed my lips. “He’s the one that was jailed on suspicion of starting the fires?”

Adrian nodded. “Yep, Vic’s brother. I don’t know if you have seen him or his photo on the news or not…”

I shook my head, “No, I haven’t.”

Adrian flicked back a strand of brown hair and rubbed his forehead. “He has a lot of facial scars…scars he got in a knife fight trying to defend his mother.”

I grimaced. “Ugh, that’s awful.”

“His mom died. I think the scars have made it hard for him to meet women,” Sherry said softly. “It’s hurt his confidence.”

“But isn’t Max a shifter like Vic?” I remembered reading about Vic on the ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies Marriage Mates’ site. I knew he was a bull shifter.

“Yep, he’s a bull shifter like his brother,” Adrian said.

“But I thought that shifters…aren’t shifters supposed to heal really fast?” I asked.

“That’s right,” Sherry looked puzzled, “I know you do, Adrian. Like when you burned your hand on the grill…it healed really fast. Why didn’t Max heal?”

“He waited too long to shift,” Adrian said. “You wait too long…you don’t heal right. I heard he was unconscious after the attack for a while so that’s why he didn’t transition.”

“That really sucks,” I couldn’t imagine the pain the man had gone through becoming scarred for life and losing his mother.

“Vic is probably trying an experiment to see if he can find a woman for him—one who falls in love with his mind. So Vic isn’t including names, bios or pics on the site. That way no one can see what Max looks like or figure out who he is.”

Sherry nodded. “That makes sense. It looks like the dream match info just shares personality traits—what someone is like and what they are looking for.”

I sighed. “I think it makes it hard for the rest of us to find a match with no names, pictures or bios, but it is his brother and only for the weekend.”

“Yeah, and you never know, Vic might be on to something.” Sherry said. “It could work out even better this way. Remember you can’t judge a book…”

“…by its cover.” I finished groaning.

“It’s Vic’s site,” Adrian added. “So he can run all the experiments on the site he likes.”

“But Max was just locked up.” I was surprised Vic would test something like this with Max only recently released from jail.

“Max must be feeling emotionally raw these days; getting scarred, losing his mom, going to jail on suspicion of starting the fires... Vic probably feels he needs a woman to support him through this tough time. Max is such a sweetheart,” Sherry pursed her lips. “I really hope he finds someone.”

“Don’t look at me,” I put my hand in the air. “Max may be the greatest guy on the planet…next to Adrian of course,” I grinned at Sherry. “But,” I added firmly, “I just came out of a relationship with someone who had a lot of mental baggage. I can’t handle anyone who needs coddling right now.”

“I didn’t mean you were the one for Max, Ava,” Sherry said. “Anyway, your profile is on there now. You may as well leave it. The experiment is just for the weekend; once Monday rolls around your photo, name and bio will show up. And I bet you will get a lot of messages from someone who loves your look. Maybe you will get some responses before then, too.”

“Maybe she already did,” Adrian said, pointing to a corner of the screen.

I could see a little envelope in the corner, saying I had ten new messages.

“I doubt it, unless the men of Shifter Villages are sitting around on a Friday night waiting for new profiles to show up.” Could I possibly have received a response this fast? I clicked on the icon and loaded my mail.

“Well, what do you know?” Sherry pointed to the screen. “Looks like you got mail from ‘Luscious Lads and Ladies’ already.”

“Right,” I giggled nervously. “It’s probably just the site welcoming me. I glanced at the incoming mail. At least five pieces were from the site. I clicked on the first one. As I suspected, it was a welcome message from the site. I clicked on the next. It was a follow up letter to tell me about the online blind dating experiment going on at the site. Then, I opened the next email.

“Oh my,” Sherry said, “looks like a response already.”

To my surprise, it was from a shifter who had seen my profile and wanted to get together. The next two emails were also messages that had been forwarded from the site; shifters who liked my profile and wanted to set up a blind date.

“You know,” Sherry grinned, “you have time tomorrow before you go home. Why don’t you go out with one of these guys for brunch before you drive back to Pennsylvania?”

“Hmmm,” I really hadn’t expected a response so quickly. They didn’t know what I looked like or what I did. All they knew was a little bit about me. What were the odds something would work out? It would be like winning the lottery.

“Oh come on, Ava. What have you got to lose? Take a chance!” Sherry encouraged me.

“I…I guess I could.”

I took a look at the three profiles again. I had to dismiss one of them right away. He said he wanted a woman who would be happy cooking all his meals, darning his socks and ironing his sheets. That was a no go for sure.

The next two were both interesting sounding, but for some reason one of them stood out. He sounded a little older, but I liked that. After being with the drug addled Lance Murphy I was ready for some stability. In his dream match info he shared that he hated hard drugs. I liked that for sure—after cleaning my act up I didn’t want to go down that path again. He enjoyed the outdoors, going out to dinner, and was ready to pamper a woman. Now that was sexy!

He sounded awesome. I only wished I could see his photo. I imagined a handsome man who enjoyed the finer things in life.

“I like the sound of this one. I just don’t know if he can handle…this…” I waved my hand towards myself.

“You won’t know till you try,” Adrian said.

“What’s your heart match with him?” Sherry asked.

“Heart match?”

“Yeah, let me show you. Sherry leaned in and scrolled to the bottom of the message. “Whoa! You have a ten heart match with this guy!”

“What’s that?”

“See these little hearts?” Sherry pointed at little red hearts at the bottom of the screen.

I nodded.

“They start empty but fill with red. The more compatible you are based on your personality quizzes, the more hearts you have. Remember those quizzes you took earlier?”

I nodded.

“Well, according to this, you and this guy who wrote you, let’s call him Mr. X, are one hundred percent compatible.”

“That’s crazy. How does the site know that? We can’t possibly be one hundred…”

I looked at the two of them, so much in love…so happy. They both smiled at me and nodded.

I took a few sips of wine and gathered up some liquid courage. “Ok, ok, I’m going to write to Mr. X.” Taking a deep breath, I responded to his email with a short note saying I was in town till tomorrow afternoon. If he was free we could meet, and if not we could make arrangements for another time.

“Done,” I said, pushing away from the desk. Maybe I would hear from him by the morning…probably not. But I’d done all I could. I drank the last few sips of my wine and turned away from the screen. “Well, I’d better get to bed.”

As I started to get up from my chair I heard a dinging sound announcing more incoming email.

Sherry’s eyes widened.

I clicked the mailbox button. Could it possibly be from…? I opened it.

It was. It was from Mr. X!