Bear My Heart: A Small Town Paranormal Romance

BEAR
MY HEART

By

Natalie Kristen

BEAR MY HEART

A Small Town Paranormal
Romance

Copyright
© 201
6
by
Natalie Kristen

ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED

No
part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic
or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without written permission from the author, except for the
use of brief quotations in a book review.

This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
used fictitiously or are the products of the author's imagination.
Any resemblance to actual locales, events, establishments or persons,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

About
this Book

Troy
Hillman is Mister Handyman to the small town of Bear Cove. Sweet,
sexy and protective, he is one of the town's most eligible bachelors
but he doesn't want a girlfriend. He loves his sister and nephews,
but he won't allow anyone to get close enough to see his scars and
his secrets.

Until
he meets her…

Dot
has just arrived in Bear Cove. She doesn't intend to stay for long.
After a few months, she will have to move...again.

As
long as she keeps moving, he will never find her.

But
something about Troy makes her want to settle down in this small town
and have a home at last. His touch awakens long-buried feelings and
desires, and his kisses promise the most wicked, sinful pleasure.

When
he holds her close, Dot finally feels safe, protected and loved.

But
falling in love is the most dangerous thing she can do...

Troy
can't reveal his dark past to Dot, and she refuses to tell him what
she is running from.

But
this time, the stakes are too high. He won't allow her to run from
him.

As
they bare their hearts to each other, they uncover dark, painful
secrets about their past—secrets that will put their lives and
the lives of those dearest to them in deadly danger...

*
* * * *

CHAPTER
ONE

Dot walked quietly into Papa
Bear's Diner and headed straight for the corner booth at the back.
She had been coming to Papa Bear's Diner almost every day since
moving to Bear Cove. Papa Bear's was a cozy mom-and-pop diner, the
mom and pop being Daisy and Bernard Grove. Their chatty, curvy
daughter, Lilly, was everyone's favorite waitress at Papa Bear's.

“Hi, Dot!” Lilly
greeted her brightly as she poured Dot a cup of freshly brewed
coffee. “How's the writing going?”

“Good,” Dot
answered automatically.

“That's great. Bear
Cove is a small town, so it's nice and quiet around here. The
surroundings, I mean,” Lilly said, gesturing with her coffee
pot. “Rolling hills, trees, beautiful sunsets.” She
lowered her voice to a dramatic whisper. “The people, though,
aren't so quiet. We can be noisy—and nosy sometimes.”

“Speak for yourself,
Lilly Grove,” Daisy huffed at her daughter as she strolled to
the back to grab some paper cups from a cabinet. “You're the
nosy one. Not me.”

“Oh?” Lilly
turned around and arched a brow at her mother. “And who was
asking Troy Hillman yesterday if he was seeing anyone?”

Daisy chuckled gleefully.
“There's a difference between being nosy and showing neighborly
concern.” Daisy winked at Dot and bumped her hip playfully
against Lilly's as she ambled towards the kitchen.

“Mom, you almost made
me spill the coffee all over Dot!” Lilly mock-grumbled.

Daisy stuck her tongue out at
her daughter just before she disappeared into the kitchen.

Dot watched the interaction
between Lilly and her mom with amusement and envy. It was obvious
that Lilly enjoyed a very close and loving relationship with her
parents. Lilly and Daisy were very much alike in looks and
personality. They were both beautiful, vivacious, warm-hearted
women.

What would it be like to be
part of such a lovely, loving family?

Lilly studied Dot for a
moment and said conversationally, “Have you lived in a small
town before?”

Dot gave a small nod.

Lilly smiled. “Then
you'd know how it is in a town as small as Bear Cove. Everyone knows
everyone's business. But don't worry. We're not blabbermouths,”
Lilly added earnestly. She mimed zipping up her mouth and throwing
away the key. “Everybody is really nice. Even Grumpy Joe,
when you get to know him.”

“This is a really nice
town,” Dot said politely.

“Oh it is,” Lilly
said, her eyes lighting up. “It's home.”

The last word made Dot wince.
Home. She hadn't had one in a long time now.

Quickly and carefully, Dot
arranged her features so that her expression was neutral, blank and
unreadable. It was an automatic, instinctive reflex. She could do
it so naturally now. She was so used to hiding her feelings, her
fears, her real name, her real self.

Sometimes it occurred to her
that while she was alive, she wasn't really living. But that was
just semantics, wasn't it? The important thing was to stay alive.
And she
was
alive.

She had escaped, and she was
alive. And she planned on staying alive, even if it meant constantly
moving from place to place, never ever having a place to call home.

Dot looked up and saw Lilly
staring at her curiously. Her carefully constructed facade of cool
indifference must be slipped temporarily. Had Lilly glimpsed the
fear and darkness swirling just beneath the surface?

“I'll have the fish and
chips,” Dot said quickly.

“Coming right up.”
With a nod, Lilly moved away from the table. She knew that Dot
wanted to be left alone.

Dot didn't really want to be
alone. But she had no choice.

She didn't want to drag
Lilly, her parents, and this peaceful little town into trouble.

Dot sipped her black coffee
and realized that her hands were shaking badly. Putting down her
cup, she watched Daisy and Lilly chat with the few customers in the
diner as they made their rounds. The two women were rocking their
bright red aprons with the words “Mama Bear” and “Baby
Bear” emblazoned across their bellies. Lilly's dad, Bernard,
was “Papa Bear”. Dot could sometimes hear him belting
out oldies in the kitchen as he waltzed from the stove to the oven.

Happy family, Dot observed,
allowing herself just a tiny smile. Papa, Mama and Baby Bear,
working, living and laughing together. It was a slice of heaven
right here in Papa Bear's Diner. Perhaps that was why she kept
coming to the diner every morning.

Dot knew she would never have
a happy family of her own. She'd had a brief taste of happiness
before her mom died when she was seven.

She struggled to hold on to
the precious memories, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't
remember her mother's face. She didn't have a single photograph of
the only person she had ever loved and who'd loved her back just as
fiercely and unconditionally.

Dot looked out the window and
saw a bunch of children in school uniform walking to school. Two
adults were walking with them. The children were laughing and the
younger kids were skipping happily down the path.

Dot didn't remember much
about her childhood. She had been in too many foster homes, and
there was nothing she wanted to remember about those years.

How she longed to be part of
a real, solid, loving family. She wanted to be loved, cherished and
protected as a person,
not a possession
.

Dot shuddered involuntarily
as she shook herself firmly out of her reverie.

It wouldn't do her good to
long for something she could never have.

CHAPTER
TWO

Troy Hillman parked his truck
in front of his sister's house and got out. The moment he opened the
front door, he was greeted with excited shouts of “Uncle Troy!
Uncle Troy!”

His two grinning six-year-old
nephews wrapped themselves around his legs and began to climb him
like a tree.

“Leo! Logan!”
Megan scolded the twins as she hurried into the living room. “Stop
monkeying around. Sit down and finish your breakfast, or you'll be
late for school. Hey, Troy, come on in. We're having pancakes this
morning. Boys!”

Troy grinned at his elder
sister. Leo and Logan shrieked with laughter as he picked them up
and tickled them mercilessly.

Megan put her hands on her
hips and glared at them. “Finish your breakfast. Now,”
she ordered.

“Okay, Mom,” Leo
answered breathlessly as he scooted away from Troy.

“It's Uncle Troy's
fault,” Logan said as he rushed to the table and sat down
beside his twin.

Troy sat down opposite the
boys and helped himself to the pancakes. Twice a week without fail,
he would come by to pick his nephews up and drive them to school.
Megan always insisted he sit down for breakfast with them. His elder
sister was a great cook and a great mom.

Megan was a single mom to two
lively twin boys and she worked as a librarian at the local library.
Troy took the boys whenever he could so Megan could have some free
time to herself. Troy loved his big sister and his nephews dearly.
If not for them, he wouldn't be here today. Megan would deny it, but
she and her boys saved his life.

“Can we have ice-cream
at Papa Bear's after school today?” Logan asked, stuffing the
last piece of pancake into his mouth.

Leo's fork hovered in the
air. His hazel eyes sparkled mischievously. “Yeah, Mom, you
said we can have ice-cream if we cleaned our room. We did.”

“Shoving your toys
under the bed is not cleaning your room,” Megan answered
flatly.

“But Mom!” the
twins cried in unison.

Leo and Logan turned
beseechingly to Troy, but Troy kept a straight face and concentrated
on his pancakes.

“Uncle Troy, are you
coming to fetch us from school this afternoon?” Leo asked
eagerly.

“You'll let us have
ice-cream, right Uncle Troy?” Logan said.

Megan narrowed her eyes at
him. Troy cleared his throat and said carefully, “Only if your
mother agrees.”

The twins groaned, their
shoulders slumping in defeat. “We knew you'd say that.”

The boys finished their
breakfast and scampered away from the breakfast table to grab their
schoolbags. Megan sat down opposite Troy and drank her coffee.

“Have you spoken to
her?”

Troy shrugged.

“Why don't you talk to
her?” Megan persisted. “You like her, don't you?”

Troy blew out a rough breath.
“How can I like her when I haven't even spoken to her?”

“Then why are you
watching her?”

“She's new in town. I
don't trust newcomers.”

It was Megan's turn to shrug.
“Her name's Dot,” Megan volunteered. “She comes
to the library every afternoon. I think she's sweet, just rather shy
and quiet. But newcomers tend to be reserved. That's
understandable. You kept pretty much to yourself when you first came
to Bear Cove,” Megan pointed out. “In fact, you didn't
speak to anyone at all. You wouldn't even confide in me. And I'm
your big sister.”

“Megan...”

“Back to the topic at
hand,” Megan said deftly. “Dot, the newcomer. We should
be more welcoming to her.”

“I don't think she
plans to stay in Bear Cove for long. She rented Mr and Mrs Yong's
house for just six months.”

“I think, maybe, she's
looking for a reason to stay,” Megan said, looking intently at
her brother.