Page 23 of His Curvy Obsession

Right now he’s kissing me with so much passion, so much soul, that I’m ashamed that I could have ever believed my boss to be soulless.

“Ah!”

The door behind us opens and I fall backwards, with Eric tumbling after me. We land in a heap on the floor of the church hallway, with my mother standing above us.

“Oh, I wondered where you went,” she says, looking at Eric with glee. “Eric, it’s so lovely that you were able to come today. When I told my friends thattheEric Stone, of the Stone brothers, was coming to my daughter’s wedding, none of them believed me. You simply have to let me take a photo with you later.”

“Yes,” Eric says, standing and helping me to my feet. “Of course. I’d be happy to.”

Liar.

Eric hates photos. It’s why he dodges every press event and charity ball he gets an invitation to. I know, because I’m usually the one on the phone with them, giving them an excuse from a wide variety of excuses in rotation.

“Well, I better take my seat,” Eric says, glancing at his watch.

“I’ll see you after the ceremony?” I ask him.

My mother looks from Eric to me.

“Of course,” he says. He leans forward and gives me a kiss on the cheek that lacks the same fiery passion as our kiss from before, but even this brief peck sends sparks shooting through me.

Once he’s gone, I go back inside, ready to walk back to the bridal suite and help my sister. But my mother stops me.

“Wait,” she says.

“What is it?”

She looks at me with narrowed eyes and I shift my weight from foot to foot nervously. I’ve never been great at lying to my mom. But could she really pick up on my fake relationship with Eric?

“When I first saw you two at lunch the other day, I had my initial concerns,” she says. “I didn’t want to say anything but…seeing that display ofaffectionjust now, I feel I have to.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

“Rebecca, dear, I know that I’ve been hounding you about finding a man,” she says. “And heavens, maybe you were just taking my advice when you got into this relationship with Eric! But I’m beginning to worry that he might not be taking you very seriously.”

I frown.

“Mom, what are you saying?” I ask. “Just get to your point, please.”

“I’ve told you before,” she says. “Men are always going to look at you differently because of your…figure. It’s not fair but that’s just how the cookie crumbles. They’ll have a tendency to see you as temporary fun, and you have to be on guard for that.”

Oh. My. God.

My mother doesn’t think our relationship is fake. She thinks Eric is leading me on. Using me, in other words, for sex.

It’s not the first time she’s given me this speech. Like the lecture about cardio, I’ve heard this speech frequently since my teen years. In my mom’s mind, men don’t take fat women seriously. They don’t date them, and they definitely don’t marry them.

Because men don’t want to commit to fat women. They just want to hook up with them.

If only she knew that a week ago, Eric proposed marriage to me.

“Why are you laughing?” My mom snaps. “Why are you laughing? Stop that. Rebecca Loren, stop laughing at me this instant.”

“Mom, I’ve got to go,” I say, putting a hand on my stomach as my laughter comes to a stop. “This was a great talk, though. Thank you for looking out for me. Truly, it means a lot to me that you have my back and are defending me from any…what did you call them that one time? Chubby chasers?”

“I have never uttered those words in my life,” my mother sniffs, tilting her chin up.

“Sure,” I reply with a wink. “Of course you haven’t. Anyway, I have to hurry. We have to be walking down the aisle in ten minutes, and there’s a feathered headpiece in the bridal suite with my name on it.”

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