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

middle. Oh, she’d witnessed sexy men before, but the sight of Colin working in his shop was a thing of beauty. The graceful arc of his hammer, his triceps flexing as he held the hot metal in place, his profile, eyes focused and jaw clenched as he dunked the glowing metal in water.
    She sank onto his couch and sighed heavily. She was in trouble, and it was all sexy, muscly-armed Bearman Colin’s fault.
    The tap sounded through the closed door of the bathroom, and she tried not to fantasize over what his body looked like under that showerhead with the jets of hot water bouncing droplets off his perfect skin. As water ran rivers down the curves of his chest, over each mound of his abdominals, and down, down…
    With a growl, she clicked the power button on the remote that sat on the cushion beside her and turned up the volume on a riveting episode of Beginner’s Curling. She crossed her arms over her chest, ignoring the squishy sound her bra made, and glared at the television as she tried to reclaim her mind, which she’d obviously lost.
    Eventually Boomerang-the-girl-cat perched on the arm of the couch and stared at her with eerie gold eyes. The critter didn’t even blink. Thoroughly creeped out, she moved farther down the couch.
    The bathroom door opened, and Colin made his way across the hall with a fuzzy white towel around his waist.
    Her imaginings of his shower time didn’t touch reality. One, because he was even more cut that she’d imagined, and two, because his skin was crisscrossed with shiny, silver scars.
    Shocked, she jumped up and followed him. “What happened to your back? What did this to you?”
    Colin turned, his eyes wide as he backed into his room. Hadley followed. This had to be part of the secret of why he’d chosen to live away from civilization. The scars looked gruesome, and she couldn’t imagine the pain he’d gone through to get them, but his uneven skin wasn’t the most shocking thing about him now.
    He’d trimmed his beard until only short, designer stubble remained. He was so handsome her knees buckled against any forward motion.
    “Animal attack,” he said in a gruff voice.
    She was staring. Not at his tensed muscles or at the enticing trail of light hair that traveled from his naval into his towel. She was staring at the perfect claw mark that stretched from his neck to his cheek.
    “This,” he said low, “this is why I keep the beard.”
    She approached slowly, afraid he’d try to escape her. She stretched her fingertips until they touched the short whiskers across his jaw. And carefully, she traced one of the long, curving scars on his face. “You said I wouldn’t like the way you look without the beard hiding your face.” She swallowed hard. “You were wrong.”
    His nostrils flared, and his eyes flashed brighter than she’d ever seen them. He looked as if a storm, churning and dangerous, was brewing inside of him, but when he approached and lowered his lips to hers, they were gentle and soft. He pressed his mouth on hers and sparks lit up her insides, making her feel unbalanced enough to grab his arms. Holy roman candles, a kiss had never felt like this before—like she was falling.
    He shifted his weight, and drew her waist closer with a firm grip on her hips. She could feel his long, hard erection through the material of her clothes and his towel, and a soft, helpless noise wrenched from her throat. The thought of him between her legs filled her with desperation to be closer to him.
    At the brush of his tongue against her lips, she leaned into him more until she was soaking up his warmth. She parted her lips and stifled the urge to moan as his tongue touched hers. He tasted divine, like mint toothpaste. His whiskers tickled her chin, but she didn’t care much about that right now.
    Looping her arms around his neck, she pulled him close and closed her eyes tighter. This man had given her a gift. Did he even see it as that? He’d shaved his beard for her, left scars