Voyeur - Lacey Alexander [69]
“Don’t worry. I’m not trying to drag you away from your work—but it occurred to me that you literally haven’t set foot outside this house since you got here, and it’s a sunny day, so we’re having breakfast on the deck.”
She blinked her surprise. “Um, isn’t the deck covered with snow?”
“Not since I just shoveled it. Now come on, get up. I’ve got eggs ready to fry and English muffins ready to toast. Just pull on a pair of sweats, shoes, and your coat while I cook, and I’ll meet you at the back door in ten minutes.”
As Braden turned and walked away, Laura simply stared after him, blinking yet again. Oddly, it felt almost as if he were . . . wooing her or something. Or, at the very least, caring about her a little, concerned to see her get outdoors. She hadn’t thought about that—how confined she’d been here. As she’d recognized before, she rather enjoyed the strange sense of isolation, given that it came with a sexy, commanding lover. And she couldn’t help but think it would be freezing outside. But if Braden had cleared the deck and was making her breakfast, she wasn’t inclined to refuse.
After locating panties and a pair of black jogging pants, she tossed on last night’s sweater, then found a thick pair of socks and laced her boots up over them. It was only as she walked into the kitchen, saying, “Hey,” that it occurred to her what an awful outfit it made.
He didn’t seem to notice, merely turning from the stove with a smile on his face and a spatula in his hand. “Grab me a couple of plates from the cabinet, snowflake?” Then he expertly flipped an egg in the skillet.
“Sure,” she murmured, falling a little more in love with him. He was her perfect lover, she thought, standing there staring at his flannel-clad back. He pushed and persuaded her past her normal boundaries to bring her unfathomable pleasure—and yet, at the same time, he was so easy to be with, like right now. Her perfect man. And she was leaving him in a few short days.
“Plates?” he asked.
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry.” She scurried to get them, then watched as he plopped flawless eggs onto each just as four muffin halves popped from the toaster.
She rushed to grab her winter jacket from the foyer closet and a moment later, they were sitting down at a wooden picnic table built into the deck. Although the sun had already dried away most of the wetness left by the now, she noticed Braden had brought out thick towels for them to sit on.
“This is nice,” she said, smiling over at him as she forked up a bite of her eggs. To her surprise, the sun was so bright that it made the cold manageable, more brisk and refreshing than bitter. The view of snow-covered mountains as far as the eye could see was gorgeous, maybe even more than usual because she could feel the mountain air and see just how far the expanse of blue stretched overhead.
It was as if he read her mind. “Nothing like a clear Colorado morning.”
“How did you come to buy a house here anyway?”
“I used to take ski trips to the area with friends back in college. Over time, I fell in love with the place—and with the stark contrast from L.A.—so when I had enough money for a second home, Vail seemed a natural choice.”
“I’m . . . glad you made that choice,” she ventured, a bit timidly. “If you hadn’t, I would never have met you, never have had this time with you.”
“Good point,” he said, chin perched in his fist, elbow balanced on the table. “I’m glad I made that choice, too, snowflake.”
For some reason, it was a sobering moment for Laura. Because as sweet as he was being, she knew it meant more to her than to him. He didn’t say it—nor did his voice or his eyes—it was just something she knew inherently. He was a man of the world, a man who took lovers, had affairs. It had to mean more to her than to him, was undoubtedly more of an unprecedented event in her life—something life altering, in fact, she had to admit.
Not so for him.
Just take it for what it is. Soak it up. Enjoy