Read Bear Valley Valentine: Valentine's Day Paranormal Romance for Free Online Page B

chill bumps across her arms.
    “What happened to them?”
    He turned empty eyes on her, eyes that had darkened noticeably to a stormy blue. “They’re dead.”
    “All of them?” she whispered, pain slashing through her chest as she dragged her eyes across the photo of the children’s smiling faces.
    “Almost all of them.” Colin’s dark brows lowered, and he suddenly looked exhausted. “It hurts to talk about them.”
    He turned back to stirring the chili, and she swallowed her questions down. She didn’t want to hurt him by dredging up an obviously painful past. She wanted to make him happy, like he made her.
    Padding across the wood floors, she bit her lip against the tears that stung her eyes. He’d gone through so much more than she could’ve ever imagined. The scars on his skin weren’t the only clues to his secrets. He’d lost people he loved. She wrapped her arms around his middle and rested her head between his shoulder blades. “I won’t mention them again. When you’re ready, I’ll be here to listen.”
    The muscles in his back relaxed, and he rested his hand over hers, as if to keep her in place, holding him.
    “So a blacksmith, huh? Because I have to tell you, I honestly thought that only existed in the Old West.”
    A soft chuckle reverberated against her palm, and she relaxed as the tension seemed to drain from him. “It’s hard to find nowadays, but it leaves room for knife makers like me to make a decent wage. You can buy a knife at any sporting goods store, and know you’ll get a sharp, durable tool, but it won’t be custom. It’ll be just like ten thousand other knives made in its likeness in some factory. When people want custom weapons or tools, they track down someone like me. I ship the orders out a few times a week in town.”
    “At the post office. That’s why you always carry all those small boxes inside. They’re knives.”
    “Yeah,” he said in a bewildered voice. “Have you been watching me?”
    Hadley kissed his back and leaned around to taste the steaming spoon of chili he fed her. “It’s perfect,” she said as the rich flavor of tomato, beef, and spices burst against her tongue. “And yes. You did something nice, chivalrous really, by paying for my lunch last month, but then you wouldn’t even acknowledge me when I saw you in town. I was curious about you.”
    “Mmm, curious about the town recluse?”
    “No, just you. Why didn’t you talk to me when I passed you at the post office or when you walked past the front door of my store?”
    He sighed and took the pan off the stove, then pulled two bowls from a cupboard and began to spoon chili into them. “I thought if I just talked to you online, it could be enough. But all that did was make me want to be nearer to you in real life.”
    “Why would that need to be enough? We’re both single and open to dating.”
    “Because I meant it when I told you earlier you deserve better. My life is…complicated.”
    “Accepted. I accept your complicated life, Bearman.”
    “You wouldn’t if you really knew me.”
    “Enlighten me, then. Let me get to know you, and I’ll make my own decision on whether this is all too much for me.”
    “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” He looked down at the bowls in his hands with a frown, then set them on the table while she made two glasses of ice water.
    “We made a deal. You want me to be your Valentine, you’ve got to spill some beans.”
    She sat down and placed his glass of water in front of him. The table was small, so she stretched and rested her ankles in his lap. Absently, he stared out the window and massaged tiny circles against her calves, which were bare, thanks to her leggings being in the dryer. Currently, she was wearing his navy sweater that hung to the middle of her thighs, panties, and nothing else. She spooned some of the thick broth and blew on it. He was quiet for so long that she thought he had shut down completely, but still, he