Page 13 of The Mountain Man's Valentine Baby

Jasper reaches for my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Lately, I’ve been thinking miracles happen every day.”

I look down to where our hands are joined, his work roughened one against my soft palm. He’s so rugged and manly. Being touched by him always reminds me of how small and feminine I am. “I try to work through them now. It doesn’t matter if it’s Valentine’s or any other holiday. Maybe…maybe it’s different when you’re with people you care about. But I’m alone.”

“We could celebrate Valentine’s while you’re here,” he says softly.

I gesture between the two of us, needing to keep the boundaries clear. If we blur the lines between co-parents, I’ll fall in love with him. “But we’re not romantically involved.”

Something flickers across his face, the same expression he had when he was looking up at the sky yesterday before the snowstorm, like he knows something I don’t. “So, it’ll be a platonic Valentine’s Day celebration. Two friends who happen to like making truffles will have a great time on a snowy day.”

I smile at his description. It’s not the long, sweaty day that my libido is crying out for. But making chocolates is a good way to spend a day stranded with a mountain man.

Chapter9

Thea

“The secret is to start with high quality chocolate,” Jasper explains as he passes me a large butcher knife.

I glance down at the chocolate squares on my cutting board. “I think you might have a sweet tooth.”

“These are Emma’s favorite. I usually make them for Valentine’s Day,” he answers as he searches his fridge for the heavy cream. “They’ll keep in the fridge for a week though so when the snow melts, I can get a few to her.”

I cut one of the pieces of chocolate a little harder than necessary, my knife bouncing off the wooden chopping board and leaving a minor gouge mark. “And who is she?”

He chuckles as if he finds my jealousy amusing. “Emma May is my foster mother. I came to her a little too old to be adopted, but she still took me in and treated me like another one of her sons.”

I relax my hold on the knife. “So now you make truffles for her?”

“It’s one of the few things she lets me do for her,” he explains softly. “Found the cream.”

When I’ve finished chopping the chocolate into fine bits, Jasper melts it in his double boiler, stirring in the heavy cream slowly. “Is she the one who taught you how to cook?”

He nods. “She has a sweet tooth. Guess I picked it up from her.”

“You love her a lot,” I say, noting the way his face and voice changed when he mentioned her name. It was like everything in him softened.

“She was there for me at a really hard time of my life,” he answers. “Now, she’ll be a grandma.”

I freeze at his words. I hadn’t even thought about my baby having more family than me. But now my child is going to have a father and a grandmother. It seems too wonderful. “Will she be happy…about this?”

“Are you kidding me?” He looks at the chocolate he removed from the stainless-steel stove. He pours the mixture into a pan that’s lined with parchment paper. “She’s going to be over the moon. Then there are all the baby’s uncles. Ma has raised and fostered so many boys. Probably gonna have a dozen of them.”

“Oh, wow,” I grip the edge of the counter. “You have a whole family.”

“You do too, now. You and our child.” His face lights up when he saysour child. He says it with such reverence and delight, as if our little life is nothing less than a precious miracle in his eyes.

“I haven’t had a lot of…practice with the whole family thing,” I admit, cringing as soon as I say the words. “I might be terrible at it.”

He sets the pan in the fridge and wraps his arms around my hips, pulling me close. “We can learn together.” His gaze drops to my lips and my heart skips a beat.

“I like learning,” I murmur as I stand up on my tip toes, offering my face to him.

His lips meet mine in a slow, sensual kiss. He takes his time, exploring every part of my mouth until I’ve plastered my body to his. My panties grow damper with every stroke of his tongue as I remember what it felt like to have his head between my thighs.

When I feel the growing bulge pressing against my stomach, I finally pull away. I’m breathing hard, and my lips feel swollen. My breasts are aching, my nipples sharp points beneath his flannel shirt. But this can’t happen again. I can’t let myself fall for Jasper, even if he does believe we’re soulmates.

“We can’t…” I whisper.

He accepts my refusal with an easy nod. “We need to set up a dipping station anyway.”

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