Page 83 of Hiding for the Holidays
Asher’s voice trails off as I leave but I still manage to catch some of what he says. “Your memberships have been revoked, you need to leave, now.”
I can hear the girls high pitched whines in response but I don’t hear what they say as I step into the office and close the door behind me.
I drop onto the couch and bury my face in my hands, groaning with embarrassment.
I’m not blind, I know Asher and the other two are way out of my league. But for some reason, they seem to like me. They have a way of making me feel desirable and beautiful and for a moment, I forgot how we must look to others. Does everyone think they’re out of my league?
“Here you are.” I pull my face from my hands as Grant steps into the office, closing the door behind him quietly.
He takes one look at my worried face and I see a spark of anger roll through his expression before he rolls his shoulders back and takes a deep breath.
“Come here.” He bends down and scoops me up, like I weigh nothing, reminding me why I love being around them so much. He takes my seat on the couch and holds me in his lap as his large hand runs up and down my arm.
“Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“Not really,” I mumble, leaning against his chest so he can’t see my face.
“I just saw an extremely pissed off Asher kick two women out of our gym. I haven’t seen him that mad in a long time, and I have a feeling it has something to do with you.”
I just shrug, unsure what to say.
“Did they say something to you?” I nod against his chest, not wanting to tell him what they said. As if by saying it, it will alert him to the fact that I’m overweight. “Come on, sweetheart. I need to know what they said so I can tell you how stupid and wrong they are.”
I chuckle lightly. “If you don’t know what they said, how do you know they were wrong?”
“Because you’re upset. And you’re perfect. Therefore anything they said to upset you must have been untrue.”
“They weren’t wrong, though,” I admit quietly, my fingers playing with the front of his shirt.
“No? What did they say?”
I press my lips together but figure Asher will tell him eventually, anyway. I may as well get the humiliation over with. “They were just saying they could tell I needed extra training.”
He’s quiet for a second before he asks, “Because you were losing your sparring match to Asher?”
“No.”
It takes him a few seconds before he seems to finally clue in to what they meant. “They were insinuating that you needed to exercise more?” he asks carefully. I nod against him. “Sweetheart.” He hugs me tight and lets out a long sigh. “I think you are perfect just the way you are. If you felt you wanted to change something, I would, of course, help, but—actually no. I changed my mind.”
I frown, pulling back to look up at him. His hands slide to my hips and he grips me firmly as he shakes his head. “I don’t want you to change anything about this perfect body.”
My eyebrows raise in surprise. “Really?”
He smiles, leaning down to give me a gentle kiss. “Really. You’re perfect. I like a woman wholookslike a woman and not a fifteen-year-old girl.”
The door opens, and Asher barrels into the room. When he sees me smiling in Grant’s lap his shoulders drop with what looks like relief.
“They’re gone,” he says, his eyes scanning my face. “They’re not welcome here anymore.”
“You didn’t have to?—”
“I did.” He nods his head once then glances at Grant before relaxing his tense posture. “Don’t get too comfy in here, we’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”
A large smile stretches across my face in eager anticipation for our date. He gives me a wink then exits as fast as he entered, pulling the door shut behind him.
Grant looks at me and raises an eyebrow as he says, “Fifteen minutes, huh? I wonder what we can do in that time?”
Chapter 26
