Unexpected Gifts: (The Steamy Version) (A Castle Mountain Lodge Romance Series Book 1) by Elena Aitken Read Free Book Online

to pretend that not knowing bothered her, but secretly she liked it. Andi couldn’t remember a man ever taking charge and planning a whole day for her. She might even have thought it romantic in another situation.
    “I missed the snow,” Colin said, changing the subject. “It’s funny, snow isn’t something you think you’re going to miss, but I did. It’s beautiful.”
    “It is,” she said. She looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “But I bet being surrounded by sand and sun was a pretty good consolation prize.”
    “It was at first.” He kicked at a snowdrift as they walked.
    “How long were you there?”
    “Five years,” he said. “Everywhere from the British Virgin Islands to St. Lucia. I got around.”
    “And no girlfriend in any of those places?”
    “Nope,” he said. “None. I told you, relationships aren’t my thing.” He kept his voice casual, but she noticed the frown.
    “How come I don’t believe you?”
    He stopped then and looked at her. “You really want to know?” She instinctively pulled back at the shift of tone in his voice. His warm smile had vanished.
    She swallowed hard and answered, “Yes. I do.”
    For a moment, she didn’t think he would tell her and then he said, “I was engaged to be married once. I loved her. That was, until she got pregnant with some other guy’s child.”
    She reached for him but he pulled back. “That’s an awful story.”
    “Well, like I said before, relationships are more trouble than they’re worth.”
    “Tell me about it,” she muttered.
    “Are you going to tell me about Blaine?”
    She wasn’t surprised that he’d finally asked. If anything, she was impressed that it took him so long to ask her. “There’s nothing to tell,” she said. “It didn’t work out. End of story.”
    “That’s it?” Colin looked at her, his eyes searching for something.
    “That’s it,” she said.
    His gaze grew more intense. It held her and for a moment, Andi forgot they were supposed to be on their way to a fun day of distraction.
    Breaking away from his stare, she did her best to keep her voice light, and she asked, “Now, don’t you have something you’re supposed to show me?”
    Playing along, Colin didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, I can think of a few things I’d like to—“
    Andi cut him off by giving him a playful shove.
    She must have pushed him harder than she thought, because Colin stumbled off the path, put his foot down deep in the drift and tripped up to his knees in snow.
    He looked up at her, his face a mask of seriousness.
    “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said quickly and reached to give him a hand. “I didn’t mean to—“
    He took hold of her hand and yanked her off the path and into the snow with him.
    “Oops,” he said with a laugh. “I didn’t mean to do that.”
    Andi landed on her stomach and just barely missed having a face full of snow. She could hear Colin laughing behind her, so once she got over the shock of being flung into the cold, she quickly pulled her hands toward her, scooping up as much snow as possible in the process. Before he had a chance to react, she rolled to her back and flung the snow up into his face.
    His laughter stopped. She watched from her position while he wiped his face. “So,” he said slowly. “That’s the way you want to play.”
    Like a little boy, his face split into a grin and Andi knew if she didn’t move quickly, there would be trouble. She pushed herself to her feet as best she could in the deep snow and started running and stumbling through the trees. “Give me a head start,” she called behind her.
    “You think so?” Colin laughed, and the deep sound filled the forest around her, making her laugh too.
    The snow was deep, past her knees, which made running difficult. Her heart raced from the excitement of the chase. She was just about to turn and check on Colin’s proximity when a solid thud hit her from behind.
    Andi closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact to