Cooking The Books – Louise Reynolds + Giveaway

Chef with cookbook

Cooking breakfast for someone you love must be one of the most romantic things you can do. The hot, sweet part of the night is over and now one of you needs to provide fuel. I always like the idea of a man cooking breakfast. It’s sexy, capable and in the hands of the right person, can be very expressive.

So when Jake, my hero in Outback Bride, makes breakfast for Lara the morning after they’ve made love, I wanted it to be special. But he’s an outback guy so he doesn’t have smoked salmon, croissants or bircher muesli. He’s got bread, bacon and eggs – and his goddaughter sitting at the kitchen table. Here’s what he does with them: OutbackBride_cover

Damn, but it was a great morning. Jake took a knife and cut a ragged heart shape in the centre of a thick slice of stale bread and slipped it into the hot fat in the pan, admiring his handiwork. Today called for something beyond the usual biscuit-cutter circle, and an egg would run as easily to the edges of a heart shape.

Jessie sat at the table spooning cereal into her mouth. Every minute or so she grabbed a soggy cornflake and tried to feed it to her doll. Usually the milk dribbled across the table annoyed him, and personally he expected Barbie would rather have a double-shot skinny latte but this morning he just smiled.

The old pipes hammered with the sound of water heading to the bathroom where Lara was no doubt slicked with hot soapy water. Jake closed his eyes and offered a prayer of thanks then slid a guilty look across at Jessie.

They’d been quiet. Real quiet. It had been like fooling around as a teenager, trying not to make any noise. But that had only served to intensify the emotion. Moans had been smothered with deep kisses that had led to a lot of groaning. He’d slapped a playful hand over her mouth and she’d licked it softly then taken his fingers into her mouth one by one until she’d melted, her eyes going hazy and unfocussed. Then, when she’d started to move and the bedsprings creaked, he’d stilled her and pulled her closer. Their first time had been slow and intense. Deep.

Should he even be thinking about this stuff with a child in the room?

He’d fix those bloody springs. Soon. Better still, he’d jump on the net right after breakfast and order a new bed. King size. Well-sprung. He flipped the bread and cracked a fresh egg into the heart shape. He was an artist.

Footsteps sounded in the hall. He wanted to turn and take Lara into his arms but he kept his eyes on the pan, not wanting to look too eager.

‘Well, hey, my two favourite people.’

As good mornings went it suited Jake just fine and now he turned. Lara stood in the doorway wearing tracksuit pants and a T-shirt and towelling her hair dry before twisting the thick length into a loose coil and letting it fall over one shoulder. Her face was scrubbed and pink, her eyes sparkling.

‘Just in time. I made breakfast.’

Heart-shaped toastAnd he can cook.’ The private look she sent him ricocheted straight to his loins. Jake grabbed a plate and slid the fried toast and egg on to it, draping a little crispy bacon to the side.

Lara dropped a kiss on the top of Jessie’s head and sat in the chair next to her. Feeling slightly embarrassed, he placed the plate on the table. She looked at it, then rotated it and cocked her head to the side. Okay, so the egg white had spilled over the edges and the heart shape was a bit blurry. Finally she blushed as a small smile crept to her lips.

So what about you? What’s your favourite breakfast to serve your beloved? Or is there something you’d love to try? I have a kindle copy of Outback Bride OR a print copy of  Her Italian Aristocrat to give one commenter.

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