Read Online Shiftr: Swipe Left for Love (Adaira) BBW Bear Shifter Romance (Hope Valley BBW online dating app romances Book 6) by Ariana Hawkes - Free Book Online

me? This was a new side to him, but he kind of liked it. She laughed too, joyfully.
    “Ok, we have a date on Thursday, some time after 5, I guess. I’ll see you then.”
    “See you soon, Adaira,” he said.
    When Leigh put the phone down, he couldn’t stop smiling. He’d never spoken to a woman so much in his life. But he’d enjoyed it. And he liked her. She scared the crap out of him, but he sensed she had a good heart. And she’d agreed to give him another chance, after all that had happened. It was beyond amazing. He looked around his cabin, viewing it with new eyes. It was always cozy to him, but, objectively, it had seen better days. It was dusty and dingy. He leapt up, grabbed some buckets and headed down to the stream.
    Over the next few days, he scrubbed the cabin as if his life depended on it. He washed all the blankets and beat the rugs. He fixed some issues with the bathroom pipes and cleaned the stove. He found some old varnish and touched up the floorboards and some of the wooden panels on the outside of the building. Most of them needed replacing, he acknowledged. They’d been heavily weathered by the freezing winters, while he hibernated, cozy in a bed of earth and leaves. He wished he’d had time to replace them before Adaira arrived, but it was a big job.
    By Thursday morning, he’d finished. He stood back and surveyed his work. It looked much better than before. He badly hoped it wouldn’t scare Adaira off, make her think he was too animal to date. He shifted and went out hunting, coming back with several rabbits. Back in his human form, he skinned and prepared them, and then he dug up some potatoes and greens from his vegetable patch and washed them. He put everything in his underground cool store.
    He sat down with a book and tried to read, but his mind was jumping everywhere, full of anticipation for the arrival of this strong, feisty girl.

Chapter Six
    Adaira prepared her backpack on Wednesday night. She needed to keep it very light, and packed only food for two days, a large water bottle, sunscreen, a first aid kit, waterproof clothing, a thermal sweatshirt and leggings, a whistle, and a torch. Some of the stuff she was unlikely to need, especially the clothes for bad weather, but she knew how quickly the weather could change in the mountains, and how the threat of heatstroke could change to the threat of hypothermia in minutes. She opened her tent and checked that she had all the necessary pieces, and she made sure her phone was fully charged.
    All week, she’d been tingling with excitement. Leigh had made a big impression on her during the phone call. He was gruff, unaffected, and totally charming. And she’d forgiven him as soon as he’d explained what had made him late. It was the kind of thing that she could imagine happening to her, so she could hardly hold it against him. She was also very touched by the effort he’d made to go and meet her. And his voice – she shivered at the recollection – his voice had sent thrills through her body. It was so deep and sensual. She felt deeply drawn to him, in a way she couldn’t explain to herself. It was like talking to someone she’d known from a long time ago. “He’s the one,” she murmured after they’d finished the call, then started in surprise. What am I talking about? Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t, but she had the hike to look forward to anyway. It was actually the perfect combination – a hike she knew she’d love, and a gorgeous man waiting for her at the top.
    That night, Adaira went to bed early and slept deeply. She had a talent for being able to fall asleep any time and any place, even when she was as full of anticipation for the day ahead as she was right now.
    She woke at 6am, had a breakfast of porridge, made from real Scottish oats, and set out. The sun was already up, but it hadn’t yet warmed the earth, and the air carried a little chill. With her pack, tent and sleeping bag on her back, she traversed the