Page 29 of Bodybuilders for the BBW

“Wine is just grape juice that’s gone off.”

“Tastes like it too.” Now we had stopped pretending to be civilised, I ran a thumb through the barbeque sauce left from the meatballs and licked it off, cleansing my palate. Of course, that was when the waiter appeared with our drinks. They were placed on the table with a barely contained sniff before he removed the small plates before us in readiness for the main meal. I took a big sip of beer, relishing the bitter, hoppy taste. “Here’s to being honest about what we actually want.”

I had a plan in my head about how this was going to go. I’d spent half the night tossing it around in my head, amending that plan when Garrett gave me his feedback. I couldn’t remember a single bit of it right now. It was going to my head, Katie was. The fact she was here and not with fucking Dave had me doing something really stupid.

My hand shot out and grabbed her chair leg and she was forced to put her drink down as I dragged it close. People turned to look, but I didn’t care, not when I finally had her sitting close enough to me that I could smell her floral perfume, the sweet scent of Coke, the burn of rum, and her. She stared up at me, a question on her lips, but it died there.

“I hated that you were with Dave. He wasn’t fit to touch the ground you walked on, let alone you. I wanted to break every single one of the fingers that touched you, punch his teeth down the throat that dared to speak your name.”

I shook my head, the icy condensation of the beer the only cool thing in the room right now, because even I knew I was fucking things up. It was like everything I felt about her was a bucket filled to the brim, suddenly too heavy to carry another step, and so I doused her with it, killing whatever fire I’d managed to spark within her. I had more to say, so much more, but right as I tried to gauge her response, the bloody waiter returned.

“Steak for the gentleman,” the guy said, as if I didn’t remember what I’d ordered. “And the lamb for the lady.”

He wanted to say something, about our drink choices, the change in our seating arrangement, but I just met the guy’s gaze head on and said thanks, dismissing him. He wasn’t my focus, Katie was.

“OK, that was…” Her voice was a low murmur, her hands grasping her cutlery in a death grip as she cut into her meat. She chanced a sidelong look at me, but whatever she saw there had her looking away just as fast. “Hot. Unexpected, but hot.”

“I thought you could see it written all over my face.” My steak went ignored because I had no appetite at all. “Every bloke in the station knew.”

“Every…?” How the hell was this a surprise to her? The way she studied her plate made clear it was. “You hid that better than you thought. I wish you’d said something.” My hand rose from where it rested on the back of her chair, ready to tease that little tendril of hair that sprung free from her ponytail. “Hell, if you had, I don’t know if I’d ever gone out with Dave.” Her eyes met mine now, steady and unblinking. “I knew what he was like, that he wasn’t treating me right.”

I wouldn’t make that mistake, that I swore, but I stayed quiet and let her finish.

“But you didn’t, and I did.” It felt like I lost something as she turned back to her plate. “I did and I need to start putting myself first. I’m not sure if I’m ready for anything else right now.”

“Then I’ll wait.” My heart screamed at me, declaring that a very bad idea, but I was the one in control. “I’ll be a very good boy and wait until you feel ready.”

That little snort of a laugh was all I needed to keep hope alive. That and the way she shivered as I ran my fingers down the back of her neck, only to pull away. I grabbed my knife and fork and dug into this overpriced steak.

“Thank god you’re home!”Rhys groaned as I walked into the living room. “Garrett is on another one of his benders.”

“Garrett’s doing what now?” The man himself appeared, still dressed in his scrubs as he carried around a bucket of cleaning supplies. “How’d the date go? Did you take my advice? Did you shut up and listen?”

“She’s not ready.” That should’ve been a death sentence, but something in me couldn’t take it that way. “Not yet. She just got out of a thing with Dave and she wants to find herself a bit before she starts dating seriously.”

“So why are you smiling?” Garrett asked with a little frown.

“Because I made clear that I’ll be there when she is. She didn’t screw up her face or run out of the restaurant screaming in horror.”

“Probably should’ve,” Rhys muttered. “Has she seen you when you first wake up? Scary.”

“Instead, she seemed…”

Soft, sweet, pliant when I pushed her up against her car, supporting my weight on the arm propped above her head. I’d watched her eyes widen, her breathing pick up, right before I darted closer. Just a brief little kiss, little more than brushing my lips over hers, but they still tingled from that moment of contact.

“She seemed…” Rhys circled his finger through the air frantically.

“Open to the idea, at least I think she was. Better than watching her date that fucking idiot. He never treated her right, but I will.” I nodded. “I’ll make that clear when she’s ready to see it.”

“Seems like we’re all hung up on unavailable women.” Rhys sat down hard on the couch. “My gym hottie ran away from me.”

“So she’s not completely insane,” Garrett drawled. “Noted.”

“The idiot she was with saw her curves and turned his fucking nose up at her so he could chase after some skinny bitch.” He shook his head. “Just wanna punch that guy so fucking hard.” I watched Rhys leap to his feet. “I need to head back to the gym, go and do some real heavy lifts to get me out of my head.”

“I’ll—”

I was about to volunteer to do the same. Having a fairly easy day at work, coupled with the nerves I was battling during the date, that adrenaline needed to go somewhere.

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