Read Online All She Ever Wanted by Rosalind Noonan - Free Book Online Page A

lifted as they turned their attention to the food. Chelsea loved the tapas—sweet and just a hint of hot.
    â€œI wish we could make roasted peppers at home.” She spooned a dollop of minced peppers onto a small disk of bread. “But you really need a gas stove to do it right.”
    â€œI wonder what it would cost to bring in a gas line.”
    â€œMmm . . . and we could bring it over to the fireplace, so we’d have a fire at the touch of a button. Better for the environment, too.”
    Leo swallowed, studying her. “Uh-oh. The wheels are turning.”
    â€œDid someone say kitchen renovation?”
    Leo swiped a napkin over his mouth. “We don’t have the money for that right now.”
    â€œBut if we could bring the gas line in cheaply . . . I wonder how much of that I could do myself? I mean, of course I wouldn’t mess around without a plumber on the big stuff. But I could patch the walls, inside and out. There’s a lot I could do. And it would increase the value of the house. . . .”
    Chelsea saw herself standing at a gas stove in their kitchen, holding a pepper over the burner until its skin bubbled brown as the aroma suffused the air. Gas was the only way to cook.
    â€œIt would be good for me to have a project. Something I could write up for the magazine.” She craved her old life. She would do anything just to get a piece of it back.
    When she’d left her job, she planned to write in her spare time—while the baby was napping. So far, there hadn’t been any spare time. Well, not really. When Annabelle took the rare nap, Chelsea fell into bed, too exhausted to think straight.
    But it didn’t have to be that way. Tomorrow, when Annie dozed off, she would open her laptop and start researching the cost of a gas line.
    â€œIt would be great if we could swing it,” Leo said. “I just don’t want to give you any more pressure than you already have.”
    â€œBut that would be a fun job.” And she definitely felt up to it. Tonight she felt pretty and independent again.
    Alive.
    Later, while they were eating their entrees, Leo reached his fork over to give her a taste of the lobster with vodka sauce, and a drop of creamy sauce fell to her chest. It missed her sweater, plopping on bare skin just above her cleavage.
    Seeing that no one was looking, Leo wiggled his eyebrows mischievously, stuck out his tongue, and swooped down to lick it off.
    The gesture was more comic than sensual, and they both shook with suppressed laughter.
    â€œTasty,” Leo said triumphantly. “Let’s see the chef try to top that one.”
    â€œI guess I’m one of today’s specials,” she teased, noticing how broad his shoulders looked in his flannel shirt. Such a soft flannel. If she pressed her face to it, she might never again lift her head.
    Chelsea took a leisurely breath, relaxed by the warm air and red wine she’d sipped from a beautiful round glass. Sitting here, caught by his smoky brown eyes, she remembered why she had fallen in love with him. Silly and serious, proud and humble, Leo possessed the contradictions that fascinated her every day. She smiled.
    â€œNow that’s the Chelsea I know. When was the last time I saw that smile?”
    â€œWhen there was just the two of us and I could sleep through the night.”
    â€œAh, sleep. Such a beautiful thing.” He swirled the red wine in the fat glass. “You haven’t been getting enough. I’m sorry, honey.”
    She shook her head. “Sleep is just one part of it. I miss our old life. The quiet. The freedom to do what we wanted whenever we wanted. Even the stupid things, like the luxury of a quick shower and then flying out the door without a diaper bag or a million instructions to the sitter.”
    â€œYeah. You really get the brunt of it, having Annie all the time.”
    â€œI never thought I’d say this, but I miss work. I miss having a