Page 31 of Blind Attraction

“Excuse me.” The feminine voice came from the table to her left. Alana ignored it. “I’m sorry miss, but my husband and I were just discussing how you look a lot like someone we used to know.”

A person’s shadow moved closer to her table and Alana sensed the words were directed at her.

“Are you from around here, dear?” It was the elderly woman who had sat at the nearby table.

“No, sorry. My mom lived here a long time ago, but this is my first visit to Richmond.” She shook her head in dismissal and lifted her coffee cup to her lips, even though it was empty.

There was a pause, a few whispered words.

“I don’t mean to pester you, but what is your mother’s name.”

Alana smiled through the discomfort of not being able to make eye contact and kept her gaze lowered. “Susan Shelton.”

A chair scraped along the floor and a man close by cleared his throat.

She waited for a reply, stroking the sides of her coffee mug. The likelihood of anyone here knowing her mother was slim, yet her name seemed to be a conversation stopper.

“And how old are you, child?” The man’s voice came now, fragile and filled with hints of anticipation.

“Umm.” She frowned, and unease covered her skin. “I’m…twenty-seven.”

She heard a gasp and a heady sense of foreboding clogged her throat. “Why do you ask?”

Another chair scraped. One more darkened shadow approached her table, suffocating her, making her claustrophobic.

“Child, I think you’re our granddaughter.”

* * *

Mitch sat in one of the plush chairs in the radio station’s boardroom, dodging questions about Alana as they waited to be taken into the studio. He glared at Blake, trying to think up the best retribution for the way he kept adding fuel to the fire.

“If she’s blind, what the hell have you been doing with her for the last twelve hours?” Ryan asked.

“Praying,” Blake replied with a chuckle.

Sean, Mason, Ryan, and even Leah focused on him with matching expressions of disbelief.

“Praying?” Leah’s eyes widened.

“Yeah,” Blake added. “They had the bedroom door closed and Alana kept calling out to God and Jesus and any other spiritual leader who’d listen.”

Snorts of laughter filled the room.

Mitch remained seated, arms crossed over his chest, eyebrows raised. The smart-ass comments wouldn’t end for a while.

“I’m not sure what Mitch was doing, but their religion sounds like a lot of fun.”

“I bet it beats jerking off to the porn stash on your laptop,” Mitch shot back.

Blake smirked. “Now that you mention it, her moans of enthusiasmwerea great soundtrack to my whack job.”

“You’re an ass.” Mitch snarled and glanced away, trying to suppress his laughter. The fucker always had a comeback.

“Seriously, Mitch, I hope you didn’t seduce the girl when she’s in such a vulnerable position.” Leah made it sound so sleazy. “She’ll have a great story to spin to the media once the fun and games are over. It could turn into a PR nightmare.”

Alana wasn’t the attention seeking type, but he’d been wrong before.

Tony stalked past the windows of the boardroom and opened the door, breaking the fixation on Mitch’s love life.

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