Reckless Radiance Read Online Free PDF

was something else he couldn’t get out of his head. That dreaded noise. It was the distant sound of bells but there was no mistaking it was coming from inside his mind. Ding. Ring. Ding. Ring. He hadn’t heard it in months … then she put her hand on him.
    A spark on the tip of his finger was one thing but that flash when her hand rested on his ever so briefly may as well have been a beacon. A cursed searchlight.
    Sliding the card in the slot on the door, he watched the light blink from red to green as he opened the door where his bed sat waiting for him. It had been a long day. Keeping control over his physical form during their date had been exhausting. And he had to go and ask to see her again tomorrow which meant he’d better rest up if he wanted to keep some composure about him and avoid the wind chime in the back of his brain.
    He lay on the bed and looked up at the ceiling like he had so many nights before when he was still looking for her. Damn the bells and damn the sparks—she was worth it. It was all worth it.
     

Chapter Seven
     
    Valerie couldn’t remember the last time she spent more than five minutes on her hair and she really couldn’t recall the last time she’d put on anything other than work clothes or pajamas. She rummaged through her tiny closet and found a dark red sweater dress that had long been forgotten and a pair of black leggings with the tags still on them. She worked hard to put her hair in pretty waves and tint her cheeks with blush.
    When she took a last look at herself in the mirror, she smiled. She didn’t need to get all dolled up for him. Obviously he’d seen something in her at the diner in her flour dusted black pants and custard yellow blouse Penny insisted the girls wear. It was a horrible color on Valerie but Penny said it was sunny and would make people want lemon meringue.
    She hadn’t dug out the cute outfit and the curling iron for him necessarily but it was something about the way he looked at her that reminded her she deserved to be looked at. Still unsure of what she was looking for in Russell, she was only positive about one thing. She was done with Henry and done with sulking around.
    She drove to Penny’s and waited outside the front door for him. The smell of October was in the air and for an instant, she missed her home horribly. There was nothing like autumn at the Gilmore farm. The leaves were so perfect they looked like paintings on the skyline. A fog would roll across the fields broken only by the barn. And then of course there was her mother’s cooking to warm her on a chilly day.
    She was about to turn up an absent smile at the sweet memories of home when she saw Russell walking toward her with a beaming grin.
    “Hello, Valerie,” he said when he approached.
    Valerie smiled and tucked her hair behind her ears letting her bashfulness get the better of her. “Hi.”
    “I have a bit of a problem,” he said, twisting his lips.
    Her brow rose and she waited for him to tell her he had to break their date or worse—he was married, a serial killer or a con artist. Just my luck , she thought.
    “I forgot to mention I don’t have a car. Would you mind driving?” he asked.
    Valerie laughed and without a word, dangled her keys in front of him and started leading the way to her car. He chuckled at her side and she found herself unable to keep from looking at him from the corner of her eye.
    Once they were closed up in the car, seatbelts on and barely a word said between them, she finally asked. “Where exactly are we going?”
    Russell turned to her from the passenger seat and gave her that same boyish grin. “Bowling. Pin City on Amherst.”
    She gawked at him after starting the car. “I love bowling. How did you know that?” She was back to the feeling she had when he first sat down in her section at the diner. Like he knew her. The pale sapphires he had for eyes danced across her face apprehensively.
    “Everyone loves bowling, Valerie,” he