His Perfect Match Read Free

chair to sit in before his legs finally gave way.
    Carol worked her way over to the back of the chair and gently put her hands on his shoulders, as if by touch alone she could remove his pain. He could feel her turning her body in each direction still searching for her other son, the one she expected to help his brother now.
    Darius could’ve told her Darren wasn’t there. Us. By now, both his brother and his fiancée were long gone. On the way to their new life…together.
    Two months later…
Las Vegas, Nevada
    Elizabeth Donovan sat on the window seat of the small hotel room watching the bright-red neon sign of the strip club across the street flash its invitation of topless women. She pulled her knees to her chest, foldedher arms across them and finally surrendered to the tears she’d fought for too long. What a complete mess she’d made of her life.
    Her comfortable world filled with the safe haven of family and friends seemed to have disappeared before her very eyes. Some mornings she woke believing the past two months had been nothing more than a nightmare. Then she would sit up in the bed, look around the shabby little hotel room and remember. It was real. All of it. Every horrific detail. And she had no one to blame but herself.
    How had everything gone so wrong, so fast? It seemed like years since she’d stood before the full-length mirror being fitted for her wedding gown, when in fact it had only been a few months. She’d been so sure of everything then, including what to expect of her future. Now, she wasn’t sure of anything, not even her own mind.
    Almost from the time they were children playing together, Liz had known and accepted that Darius North would always be a part of her life. Although he was five years older than she, her family had had no objections when they’d started dating four years ago. Even then Darius had a reputation as being an upstanding, dependable young man.
    Over the years he’d proven to be everything it was assumed he would be. Respectful, generous-hearted, reliable. And the more he lived up to his stellar reputation, the more Liz accepted a secret truth in her heart that she would never admit aloud. For all his wonderful virtues, Darius nearly bored her to tears.
    With Darius nothing was ever a surprise. Not even a surprise was a surprise. Every year on their anniversary when he handed her a gift-wrapped box Liz could guesswhat it was before opening it. Darius followed the traditional anniversary-gift guidelines as if it were gospel.
    First year paper, second year cotton and so forth. In fact, Darius always followed the set guidelines. He never broke the rules, and she knew he never would.
    At twenty-one, Liz already knew what her life would hold. She would marry Darius, the staid deli owner from Ohio, and they would probably have two, three children at the most. They would buy a small brick home in a Cincinnati suburb and continue to belong to their Methodist Church, Blessed Mary, where Darius would eventually become a deacon. Liz knew this because Darius had laid it all out to her some time ago. And Darius always did what he said he would. Always.
    Using the back of her hand she carelessly wiped at her tear-filled eyes. What she wouldn’t give to have that predictable man back in her life. But that particular bridge had been burnt to ash. There was no going back. Ever. All because of one man—no, that wasn’t fair. It was as much her fault as it was Darren’s.
    Liz leaned her head against the window and sighed at the feel of the cool glass against her heated face. She glanced down at the thin white plastic stick resting in her limp hand. Through her blur of tears she could barely make out the pink strip in the tiny opening. It didn’t matter. She’d already spent the past hour staring at it. No, there was no going back now.
    Seeing a car pull up below she hastily wiped her eyes hoping it was someone dropping Darren