Bear Valley Valentine: Valentine's Day Paranormal Romance by T. S. Joyce Read Free Book Online

massaged her legs.
    “I heard you in the Dash Inn when Vona was telling you she’d set up the profile on the online dating site.”
    Hadley’s spoon clinked against the bowl as she set it down carefully. “I saw you there that day. You were sitting in the booth across the restaurant.”
    “My hearing is really good,” he said, giving her a significant look she didn’t understand.
    “Is that how you knew when to pay for my food?”
    “I heard you say you wanted to take your food to go so you could get back to work. And then you talked to me outside and I felt…well, I felt , and it had been a long time since anyone had looked at me like you did out in the snow that day. I went home and for two days convinced myself I wouldn’t track you down, because it was wrong, violating your privacy like that. But I ended up on my computer by the third day, searching every online dating site for Flowerlady26. You know, there are a lot of dating sites out there.”
    “Was everything you told me true? This last month, in all of our conversations, I feel like I’ve gotten to know you. Was that all a lie to get closer to me?”
    “No. For the first time in a long time, I felt like myself again talking to you.”
    “Did you like me before the day at the Dash Inn?” The answer was important. It would change how she saw their relationship. No, it would cement how hard she was falling for him if he answered her the way she thought he would.
    “I’ve liked you for three years. I just couldn’t muster the nerve to go out on a limb and invite you into my life.”
    A shaky sigh left her lips, and she leaned back in her creaking chair. “You’ve wasted both of our time, Colin.”
    His face fell, and he dropped his gaze to his steaming bowl.
    “Because we could’ve been together long before this,” she said thickly.
    He lifted his lightened eyes to hers with such a look of hope, it broke her in two. She stood, settled into his lap, and then wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her forehead against his. “You should’ve asked me out. I would’ve said yes.”
    “To a reclusive mountain man who nobody knows anything about?”
    “You’re a good man, Colin Cross. Whatever you’ve been through, you deserve companionship. Now tell me about your eyes. They change colors like a mood ring. Is it the light up here? Or are you sick?”
    He pulled her palm to his lips and kissed it gently. “It’s how I was born. They used to stay dark blue, but after everything…well, they don’t stay steady anymore.”
    “Does the light hurt them?”
    “No.”
    “Then why the sunglasses?”
    “Because, Hadley, not many people would be as understanding about my eye color as you are.”
    “Can I tell you a secret?”
    “I’m good at keeping secrets.”
    He was a little too good at keep secrets. It was obnoxious. She narrowed her eyes but let it slide. “I like that I’m the only one who gets to really see you. You feel like all mine.”
    “Hmm.” He eased back and searched her face. “That sounds like the bond talking. Go eat your chili, woman, or I’ll take you to my bed again.”
    “What bond?”
    “Nothing you have to worry about.” He kissed her nose, then her mouth, and before he pulled away, sucked gently on her bottom lip.
    He patted her bottom as she stood, then waited for her to sit down before he began to eat his own meal. Hadley had been starving, but her appetite couldn’t touch Colin’s. He ate three bowls before she finished her first, but he probably had to eat like that so he could work as hard as he did.
    “I think blacksmithering is hot,” she said through a cheeky grin.
    He snorted and wiped his mouth with a napkin, then leaned back in his chair with a satisfied grin. “Blacksmithering isn’t a word, but yes, it’s really hot. The fire to heat the metal takes the blame for that.”
    “No, ridiculous man. I mean, it’s sexy.”
    “What’s sexy is you prancing around my kitchen in one of my