Rocky Mountain Hideaway (To Love Again Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

having as much time to linger in front of the fire as they might want. She could imagine lying side by side with Tray in front of the roaring fire, having another chance to see his washboard chest, his well-developed pecs.
    Nuzzling her neck from behind, his hands circled her waist and he spoke softly into her ear. “Isabel, thank you for the drive out. It was incredible.” Isabel leaned her head back into his shoulder, relaxing into the warmth of him. It had been incredible, and she had nothing to be embarrassed about.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
     
    Tray pushed a cutting board across the counter toward Isabel. “You’re on sous-chef duty, babe.”
    Isabel shook out her hair, still damp from the shower and wrapped the terry robe tighter around her. Underneath she was wearing a scarlet silk teddy, part of her after dinner lesson plan. But for now, she was keeping the details to herself.
    Tray was de-veining shrimp and dropping them into a large pan of rolling water on the stove. As quickly as they went in, he was fishing them out. “The trick with shrimp – any seafood really – is to not overcook it.”
    “But is that it? They’re ready to eat like that?”
    “No,no. But they’ll cook more with the rice.”
    Isabel happily chopped and watched Tray make his confident way around the kitchen. It was clear that he was at home with cooking and had spent lots of time in this particular kitchen. He moved with quiet ease and efficiency, rinsing this, chopping that, testing the heat in the pan with his palm held inches from the surface.
    He brushed past her, his hand resting easily on her back as he passed. It was hard to believe that only last night at this time she had been getting dressed to go out. She hadn’t even known Tray. She’d imagined a man like him and now here he was, in the flesh. Jenny had been right; one night had not been enough. A glass of water after a walk through a desert had not quenched her thirst.
    Being with Tray felt so easy and right somehow. He didn’t put any pressure on her, she didn’t feel she had to be a sexy package. With Chet, especially near the end, she never felt that she was enough. With Tray, she could just be herself, he seemed to think she was great.
    In her professional world, she was used to that kind of confidence and security, but it was something she’d never had in her personal life.
    “Just about done, Isabel. You hungry?”
    “Starving. I’ll set the table.”
    “Way ahead of you,” said Tray, with a gesture toward the livingroom. A small table perched in front of a roaring fire, surrounded by piles of pillows for seating. Soft firelight bounced off the wine goblets and china. An off-white linen tablecloth draped softly into folds on the floor. A single wild rose had been placed in a small vase in the center of the table.
    “It’s beautiful,Tray. Who taught you to set a scene like this?”
    “I have the odd trick up my sleeve,” he winked, scooping food into a serving dish. “Actually, when my dad was fist sick, we all pitched in to give my parents a few moments of romance. This was one of the things we did.”
    Isabel picked up the basket of sliced baguette and followed Tray to the fireplace. “Is your father all right now?”
    Setting the food on the table, Tray turned away to poke at the fire. He added another log, and finally settled himself into the cushions beside Isabel. “My father died last summer.”
    “Tray, I’m so sorry.” Isabel recognized the deep grief in his simple statement and was immediately sorry she’d asked. But Tray brought it up, didn’t he? The worst thing she could do would be to ignore it, brush it aside. The only thing bigger in life than the death of a parent, was the death of a spouse. Or worse, the death of a child.
    “How did he die?” She placed her hand on his wrist.
    “He was sick for a long time. Cancer.”
    Isabel’s heart wrenched. She wanted to fold him in her arms and comfort him, but he seemed somehow at peace