Read Online It Had to Be Love (An It Had to Be Novel) by Tamra Baumann - Free Book Online Page A

asked, “How long do you folks plan to stay?”
    Tara held her breath, waiting for the answer.
    Please say just one night.
    Her mother said, “We have a charity event tomorrow evening in Denver, so it’ll be a quick in and out.”
    Thank God!
    As her parents climbed back into their car, Ryan leaned his mouth near her ear. His warm breath sent a tingly zip up her spine. “The whole hotel is booked through next weekend. By the jogger you were just going to . . . look at yesterday.”
    The erotic jolt he’d just sent rushing through her quickly fizzled. Ignoring her misplaced, confusing lust for Ryan, and her embarrassment that she’d told him that, she searched her mind for a solution.
    She only had two bedrooms and one was an office. Her parents could take her bed and she could sleep on the couch. That’d work. But what about the rest? “So, does that mean the hotel’s dining room is closed to the public too?” The hotel had a five-star chef, like her parents were used to at home.
    Ryan nodded. “The diner’s the only option.”
    “No offense to Gloria, but my parents aren’t . . . diner people.” She held up a finger toward her parents to signal she’d be right there. “And I’m sorry about the boyfriend thing. I’ll explain all that later. After I figure out what to feed them for dinner.”
    “Grilling something is easy enough.”
    “I . . . don’t know how to grill. Or cook.”
    “How is that even possible?” Ryan blinked at her in confusion. “What do you eat?”
    “A lot of salads. And sandwiches. Learning to cook real food is next on my to-do list.”
    “To-do list?”
    “I never learned how to do certain things because I grew up with . . .” She swung her hand out toward the limo. “That. And when I was married, I didn’t have to cook because my parents gave us a chef as a wedding gift.”
    Ryan’s right brow spiked.
    Dammit. Why had she mentioned Spencer?
    Because she had been totally thrown off her game by her parents’ surprise visit, that’s why. And because something about Ryan seemed to always tempt her to blurt out the truth.
    But what was she going to do with her parents for dinner?
    A vision of Ryan’s kitchen with its professional equipment suddenly filled her mind. “Do you know how to cook?” Desperate times, desperate measures had never been a truer saying.
    Ryan crossed his arms. “Yup.”
    She waited a beat, hoping he’d catch up. Instead he just stood there with a little smirk on his face. Clearly he was enjoying this and was going to make her beg. “Would you consider cooking for us tonight? I’d owe you a really big favor. Perhaps even my left kidney.”
    “What kind of favor?” His lips tilted into a slow, gorgeous smile.
    “Anything—except for that getting-me-naked gleam in your eyes.”
    He chuckled. “I’ll have to settle for something else then, I guess. But feel free to change your mind. Seven o’clock. Any foods to avoid?”
    Thoughts of getting naked with Ryan sent that hot jolt throughout her body again. She hoped her eyes weren’t gleaming too. She needed to focus on the food.
    “Nope. They like most everything.” Asking him to be sure to use only the best ingredients like her parents were used to would make her sound like a jerk, so she’d just take her chances. “And please put everything on my tab at the store.” And wouldn’t that start a whole new round of rumors?
    She started to walk away when he called out, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
    When she spun around, he was right in front of her.
    “You should probably kiss your boyfriend goodbye—for your parents’ sake.”
    She hadn’t been kissed by anyone since Spencer, and her spine automatically stiffened. But it was just a kiss. She’d have to have her first one again sometime. Why not now? She’d look at it as moving forward, marking off another box on her recovery checklist. Who better than a safe man like the sexy sheriff to do it with? He didn’t date