Page 27 of Bodybuilders for the BBW

Brother? Why wouldn’t she assume Rhett was my boyfriend…

Oh.

I looked at him, then me, and realised what she was thinking.

“Date.” He didn’t say much more, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me against his side. “Katie is my date.”

“Oh!” It was her turn to be surprised, and she didn’t cover it very well. Her eyelashes fluttered like a butterfly’s wings before she recovered. “Well, you’ll need to lock him down fast,” she told me, but her focus was still on Rhett. “Guy like that, who’s good with kids and animals?” She stared at him like he was a horse on market day. “You don’t want to let him get away.”

“Like Abby is right now?” I said, pointing to where her daughter had sprinted off.

“That little…” she growled before stomping after the child. “Thanks for your help!”

“So, did you want to rescue more small children?” I asked as I turned back to Rhett. “Maybe pull a cat and her kittens from a burning building?”

“Well, I have done that before.” He stepped closer again, making me feel like a tiny little thing, rather than… well, me. “But no, right now.” I watched his hand move, barely feeling the way his knuckles grazed down the back of my arm. “I want to work out what we need to get for the dog and then go and grab something to eat. Saving small children?” He shot me a lop-sided grin. “Makes a man hungry.”

I watched his lips move, his tongue flick out, and I followed its path as he moistened his mouth. The sheen that was left, I stared at it, watching it slowly dry. What I was actually doing was standing there and staring like a gormless twit, so I turned on my heel and began to move.

“This way.” Scanning a display of the worming tablet helped me get my head together. Talking about hookworms and roundworms was familiar territory, because this? No one had ever taken me on a date to a pet store before, but it was more than that. I felt like I had his complete attention the whole time I talked. He listened to me talk about the different pests that dogs could pick up and their effects on humans, nodding along as those blue eyes stared into mine, and that was a seductive thing. I didn’t need flowers or jewels. I just needed someone who listened to me. In the end, he paid for all his purchases and then escorted me back to my car, a question hanging unsaid between us. I sucked in a breath and then smiled. “So yeah, we can go to the restaurant if you want.”

“I want.” He placed an arm on my car window and leaned in then, my eyes getting bigger the closer he got. “You can ride with me and I’ll bring you back to your car after, or I can meet you there.”

“Meet you there,” I squeaked out.

I was left to watch him saunter away, taking in the way his pants clung to that perfectly formed arse. The man obviously did not skip leg day. Right as I was wondering how the hell I got myself into this situation, a buzz in my pocket broke the spell I was under. When I dragged my phone out, I saw it was Mandie.

“Gym,” she told me in that no nonsense tone of hers. “No excuses. We need to get a routine happening and?—”

“I’ve got a date.”

“What?” It was about the only thing I could say that would shut her up. “I thought you said… Rhys called, didn’t he? So you’re gonna give him a chance?”

“Not Rhys,” I told her as I unlocked the car. “Rhett.”

I put her on speakerphone knowing she’d want to dissect the whole thing as I drove over to the restaurant.

Chapter14

Rhett

Katie said yes. She freaking said yes. Every damn day I dealt with one emergency or another, and somehow the words of one woman were the one thing to get my heart racing. I spent so much time with my eyes on the rear vision mirror, tracking her car’s path, that I should’ve had an accident. Instead, I made it in one piece, jumping out of the car to meet her at hers, opening her door before she could.

“Oh…” I hated the way she looked surprised every time I did something nice. It lit a fire under me, though. If I could persuade her to date me seriously, I’d make sure she came to take all this stuff for granted. Katie smiled. “Um… thanks. Very gentlemanly.” That smile faded when she saw the restaurant. I turned around, scanning the glossy frontage, looking for signs of what put her off. “Though is it too late to cancel the reservations?”

“Why?”

I was too blunt, just blurting out what I thought, and that’s just what I did right now.

“Ah, well…” She looked down at herself, as if the reason was self-evident.

“I’m not following,” I said.

“This place looks pretty fancy,” she explained, “and I… Oh god, I’ve got a stain on my shirt from lunch.”

“Is that it?” I smiled then and did what I’d been longing to do since the moment I saw her. My hand claimed hers and that feeling of rightness intensified. Her palm was so small I felt like I needed to cradle it like a wounded bird. “Not sure about you, but I don’t give a shit about your shirt.” Her eyes flicked up to meet mine. “I mean, it’s very nice.” Very nice indeed. I wanted to feel that silky fabric under my fingertips, right before I freed the full breasts that heaved beneath it. “But tonight isn’t about getting dressed up all fancy. I just wanted to eat some good food in some good company. Can you do that for me?”

I was coming on too strong, I was sure of it, but her lips twitched despite herself.

---