Reforming the Bear by Vanessa Devereaux Read Free Book Online

hand. “It might take a few days of airing out this
place to make it bearable.”
    Did I just use
the word bearable? If only she knew how ironic that was.
    “Then
let’s get all the windows opened now and I’ll get some ideas of what I can do
as far as colors for paint,” said Lucy.
    “Don’t
overdo things. I don’t mean with the color, but your injury needs to heal.”
    “This
will be perfect for me. I can sit and take my mind off my leg while I
brainstorm ideas.”
    “You’re
sure?”
    “I’m
positive.”
    ****
    She
was digging herself in deeper and deeper. Saying she was an interior designer
was one thing but posing as one took things to a whole new level of deception.
However, her motives weren’t mischievous in any way. She wanted to help him
redo the apartment and hopefully take away some of the lingering pain of his
brother’s accident and the constant reminder that he’d once lived there.
    Liam
was sweet, and the kiss…? Well, if it hadn’t been for her darn leg giving out
when he’d pulled her toward him, she was pretty sure they’d be horizontal by
now. Maybe when her leg healed that might be the case. She was sticking around
here for a while, so they had some time to work on it.
    She
drew the line at getting involved though. That wouldn’t be fair to either one
of them, because once the trouble with Mike blew over she’d be heading back
home. No hearts broken for either of them.
      Lucy watched as he pried open the bedroom
window, giving it a good shove before it finally yielded to the pressure.
Already this place was starting to smell better and lighter as the sunlight
poured into the room when he opened the drapes back all the way.
    “I
have some spare bedding at my place I can bring over to you,” he said.
    “That
would be great. And if you have a duster? I can clean the cobwebs.”
    “Nope,
you won’t do anything of the sort. You’re here to sit and heal. Come back over
to my place and we’ll get something to eat and you can watch TV while I go to
work. Sorry I won’t be much company for the rest of the day, but a customer is
picking a car up tomorrow and I still have a few things to tune up.”
    “Okay,
but let me at least do something besides watch TV.”
    “You
any good with a needle and thread?”
    “Well,
I can’t make clothes from scratch, but I’ve been known to make the odd craft or
two.”
    “I
have a couple pairs of jeans that need repairing. I’d throw them away but
they’re comfortable and ideal for when I work on the cars.”
    “Sure,
I can do that.”
    ****
    How
could he have forgotten that Sam was stopping by after school and they’d be going
out for pizza? With all the drama of finding Lucy and then bringing her to his
place, it had gone clean out of his mind. It wasn’t until he was working in the
garage and saw Hannah’s car pulling up that he remembered.
    Sam
now visited him a couple of times a week. Once on a Saturday or Sunday for a
few hours, and once during the week where the two of them would go out and grab
a bite to eat. Last week it had been hamburgers, but this week Sam had
requested pizza.   Hannah usually just
dropped him off, but this time she turned off the ignition and got out of the
car and walked with him.
    They
hadn’t gotten off to a good start when they’d first met. Well, what guy would
like a woman who’d accused him of getting her pregnant when he was completely
innocent? He’d also called her a few bad things when she’d decided to leave and
take Sam away from him. And then of course, there was the small issue of her
being a human.   However, she was also the
woman who’d conceived and given birth to Sam, which meant she couldn’t be all that
bad. He knew he wasn’t her favorite shifter, but gradually they were learning
to tolerate one another … if only for Sam’s sake.
    Sam
ran toward him. He was pretty sure his nephew was growing during the intervals
between their visits. He was going to be big and strong like his