Excerpt: Match Made in Paradise

Hi book friends! Today we have a spotlight for a new contemporary romance that releases tomorrow, Match Made in Paradise by Barbara Dunlop. I’m a sucker for any romance set in Alaska and this one sounds so fun! Read on for synopsis and excerpt.

Synopsis:

The first in an enchanting new contemporary romance series featuring rugged Alaskan pilots who are about to meet their match from New York Times bestselling author Barbara Dunlop.

Supermodel Mia Westberg has found herself under the scrutiny of the paparazzi after her much older husband dies and leaves her his fashion house. In order to stay out of the public eye, she packs her things and leaves Los Angeles, escaping to visit her cousin Raven, a shipping expeditor working in a remote part of Alaska—where Mia is sure the tabloids won’t follow. But she isn’t ready for everything Paradise, Alaska throws at her: the wild animals, insanely harsh weather, and a certain no-nonsense bush pilot.

When pilot Silas Burke flies a beautiful blonde into town, it doesn’t take him long to figure her out. She’s a spoiled, entitled city girl who has zero business in the rough terrain of Alaska, where the storms are as unforgiving as the dangerous wildlife. After seeing her struggle, and against his better judgment, he helps her acclimate to life in Paradise. But he’s an impatient teacher and she’s a frustrated pupil—and nothing gets them fired up more than each other. Can these two polar opposites find common ground and possibly something more?

Excerpt:

Magnificent was the first word that came to Mia’s mind. If she was casting a model for a rugged, outdoors spread to attract women from far and wide, inspiring them to buy something for their own man from a new Lafayette wilderness clothing line, this would be her guy. There was a hint of irony in his half-smile, a hint of mischief in his blue eyes. He was fit and tall and confident enough to take on the wild. They’d make a fortune.

He looked her over from head to toe. Then he moved his attention to her luggage.

The five men rolled to their feet.

“Hey, Silas,” one of them said.

“Ricardo,” the man, obviously a pilot, and apparently named Silas, said in return.

“How’s it going?” another of the men asked Silas.

“Welcome back to the grind,” Silas said.

The other man grinned and nodded.

They all hoisted their backpacks and lifted their compact duffle bags to head for the door.

Silas, the pilot, stepped to one side, out of their way, while Mia sat down to wait.

“I take it you’re Mia,” Silas said.

She looked up, met his bright blue eyes and felt her chest tighten and her toes tingle in recognition of his sex appeal.

Yeah, she was a woman and she was alive, and he was a perfect specimen of a man.

Then it hit her. He knew her name.

“You’re here for me?” she asked. She’d thought he was here for those men.

“I’m from Paradise.”

“But?” She looked through the glass to where the five men trooped to a small airplane parked on the tarmac.

He waited.

“What about them?” she asked.

“We’re dropping them off.” He moved toward her, nodding at her luggage. “Raven didn’t tell you to pack light?”

Mia looked at her things. “This is light.”

“Lady, we’re getting into a Navajo PA-31 with five other passengers who, as you can see, are heavier than the average weight.” He picked her bags up one at a time, seeming to test them for weight. “They’re my paying cargo. You’re a ride-along.”

“I’m going with them?” Mia was still getting past that information.

Silas pulled her biggest roller-bag to one side. “You have to leave this behind.”

“What?” Was he insane?

“Becky?” he called over his shoulder. “Can you store this bag?”

“Sure,” the woman named Becky said.

“No!” Mia cried out.

Silas gave her a glare of impatience. “Okay, then these two.” He pointed to her garment bag and her carry-on.

“No way.” She shook her head. She could not leave her carry-on behind. “I’ll put this one on my lap.”

“It’s a weight issue, not space.”

“But . . .”

“Those two?” He pointed to her smaller roller-bag and the garment bag.

That was a bit better but still not doable.

Becky joined them, obviously waiting to see which bags she’d be storing in the FBO.

“There must be some other way?” Mia tried her ice-princess look, the one that usually got her what she expected. When that didn’t seem to move Silas, she changed her expression, hoping to appeal to his compassion. “Maybe one of those guys could . . .”

“Those guys are heading to a drilling camp for three weeks. They took exactly what they needed.”

Mia didn’t have an answer for that.

Silas folded his arms over his chest, his expression implacable. “I am not crashing the airplane so you can bring your makeup and evening gowns.”

“My . . .” She started to be affronted but then dialed it back. Okay, she had brought one dress that could be considered an evening gown. It was a gown, and she could wear it in the evening, not to a super-formal event, but surely to anything that happened in Alaska.

“You coming or not?” He looked fully prepared to leave her behind.

“Fine. But I have to rearrange a few things.”

Silas muttered something under her breath.

Before he could tell her no, Mia quickly crouched and unzipped her smaller roller-bag. She pulled out the essentials: panties, bras and nighties. It figured he’d have to get a look at her underwear. But that was the kind of day she was having.

From MATCH MADE IN PARADISE published by arrangement with Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2021 by Barbara Dunlop.