Deacon: A BWWM Billionaire Romance by Paige Notaro Page A

would be a safe place to see them.
    I breathed the thought out of my head. There was still nothing I’d learn from talking to her. And there was certainly nothing I needed to hear from him.
    I unlocked the door. Mira was my oasis. Maybe she’d be painting inside. Watching her always brought me back down.
    Oh, she was painting alright.
    Her easel was set up in the living room, over a bed of newspaper. She stood before it, hair bunched up, wearing a smock smeared with red, staring at her canvas like she was a chainsaw murderer and it was the victim. Snowflake sat watching, swishing his tail, transfixed by her ferocity.
    “You, uh, alright there?” I asked, moving tenderly her way.
    “I’m great,” she said, still huffing. “I’ve got so much feeling to work with here.”
    Her painting was a crumpled fence of red and orange strokes. I placed a hand tenderly on her shoulder.
    “What exactly inspired this…bout of creativity?”
    “Family.”
    “Ah.” My own blood rose back to a simmer. “I understand.”
    “You don’t,” she said. “This is so not part of the tapestry of an ordinary human life.”
    Normally, I didn’t much care for being undercut, but Mira got a pass. Her folks had their own special brand of crazy.
    “Come on.” I unhooked her spattered apron and led her back to the couch. “Tell me about it.”
    Still staring at the bizarre picture she’d slashed together, she shook her head. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
    “Do about what?” I grasped her dark tan hands in mine. “Tell me.”
    She finally met my eyes. “My parents want me to marry a guy.”
    “They’ve always wanted you to marry one guy or another.”
    “It’s so not the same this time. They found this Indian doctor who wants an artist wife and they’ve made it very clear that I better fall for him.”
    “So just go mess up another lunch date.” I smiled. “He sounds rich. Didn’t you say you’d try out a rich guy?”
    “It’s not a trial, Kiara. They’re pressing me to accept.”
    “Accept what? All they can do is have you meet. This isn’t India. They can’t make you marry him.”
    “That doesn’t even work in India anymore,” she said, sighing. “You know what does? Cutting off your daughter’s rent.”
    “They’re cutting off your rent unless you marry a guy?” My grip felt weak suddenly.
    “My rent, my tuition, everything.” She gave me a mournful look with her deep, dark eyes. “Apparently they only tolerated it because they were building me up to be some boring guy’s manic pixie dream girl. I’m just in finishing school apparently.”
    I understood that all too well. It was amazing how close our lives came when we’d grown up on opposite sides of the planet. It wasn’t religion chaining her as much as culture, but there was hardly any difference.
    My mother couldn’t have picked a better day to call. I needed a fresh reminder of who I'd become.
    I threw a tight hug around Mira. “I’ll help you figure it out. Don’t worry. Worst comes to worst, I at least have your rent a bit.”
    Mira laughed out a sob against my shoulder. “That’s sweet Kiara, but I can’t live with you forever.”
    “Just until you figure things out. No one should force you to be with someone you don’t want.”
    Mira pulled apart with a smile. “Guess this means I’ll have to start understanding the whole concept of money right?”
    “You don’t spend much, but yeah, it can’t hurt to cut down. Personal finance is easy. I can start you off right now.”
    Mira rolled her eyes. “Oh, god. Ok, I didn’t mean like right right now. Don’t you have improv tonight?”
    I gritted my teeth. I wasn’t exactly feeling in a free mood. “Things might get a little uncomfortable for everyone there if I went today anyway.”
    “Fine. Go ahead and tell me what a budget is.”
    I smiled, opened a new page on her easel and began my own brush strokes.
    Numbers always put me at ease. With Mira and Snowflake and