Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 98255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 491(@200wpm)___ 393(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
“I want to get this crap out of the way first. I didn’t live like a saint. I fucked around and I did so at a young age. I’ve never had a girlfriend. Never been on a date. With you I’m kind of winging it and just hoping I get it right.” He stared at her while he waited for their meal to finish cooking. “The club is part of me, and even though I’m not wearing my patch right now, I will soon. I promise. We’re … I can’t tell you what we do or any of that.”
She held up her hands. “Grant, please stop. If you want us to be all honest with each other, then fine, my parents won’t be able to stand you. And no, that’s not why I agreed to this date with you. We’re not … this isn’t … I don’t know what this is. I only know that when I’m with you, the world doesn’t seem so horrible.”
“You like my company?”
“Yeah, I do. It’s kind of refreshing. You’re the first person in my life, apart from my friend Lidia, who hasn’t told me I need to lose weight. That if only I did, I’d be prettier. You haven’t judged me for eating or driving my car to work.”
“That shit happens.”
“It can. I like you, Grant. I don’t know if this means anything or if it will go anywhere, but I do like you, like a lot.”
“Good, because I quite like you, like a lot.”
She giggled. “Can we just take it slow? I know you don’t want to. You’ve got all those women throwing themselves at you.”
“Shut up,” he said.
He’d never taken it slow with anyone, but with Aria, for some strange reason, he was willing to take it any way she wanted.
Grant returned his attention to the pasta, and he did so just in time. It wasn’t quite ruined, but edible. He quickly drained the pasta, saved some water, and then joined the sauce and pasta together, along with the cooking water.
“You don’t have any cheese,” he said.
“I got rid of it,” Aria said.
“Seriously, you got rid of cheese?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Oh, I know why. It’s delicious, full of fat and calories, but will take this dish into the next dimension.”
Aria chuckled. “Stop it, please, I’ll pretend it has cheese on it.”
“And while you do, judge yourself for getting rid of perfectly good cheese.” He shook his head. “You know you don’t have to go to the gym.”
“You really don’t like Jase, do you?”
“He’s fine.”
“Oh, my God, you twitched. You just lied to me.”
“Look, I don’t like him, okay? So far there are two women in my life, and each one has gone to him for weight loss and all that. It pisses me off.” He looked at Aria and sighed. “Maddie French. She was a girl I knew in high school. Anyway, she’s married to my brother now, and they have a child, but when things got bad for her, she figured it was because of her size.” He didn’t want to go into the whole story of what his brother did.
She didn’t need to know that in order to protect her, Bull had no choice but to push her away. To keep her out of harm’s way, he hit her where it hurt the most—her weight. His brother had been besotted with Maddie for the longest time. But with the danger posed to Maddie, he had pushed her away, humiliating her in front of the whole town. Grant had been there. He’d known the game his brother played and he had a feeling he was playing a similar one now. Bull never trusted anyone, so he always did what he thought was best, and it often included the people he loved.
“I just don’t like him.”
She giggled. “You do know he’s just doing what I asked him to do.”
“You went to the gym and you’re paying for his company?”
She nibbled her lip.
“Who?” he asked.
“Don’t you remember I told you this? My mom purchased it as a Christmas present last year. I’m just seeing it through.”
Fucking bitch. He hated her mother already. If he ever met her, he was going to give that woman shit, no doubt about it. And knowing her parents wouldn’t be able to stand him, well, that just made his life a whole lot better. In fact, it was fucking joyous.
“Let’s not talk about the stuff that’s going to make us mad,” she said. “Let’s just focus on what we’re going to enjoy. This food. The pleasure of each other’s company. You know, that kind of stuff.” She forced a smile to her lips and he could see her doing it.
He wanted to tell her that she didn’t need to go to the gym and change her life like that, but instead he picked up their food.