Page 46 of Love Without Demands

We strolled down the street side by side. The sun was down, so the muggy evening air had cooled a bit.

“You feeling better?” I asked, and Lehra flashed me a smile.

“Much. Thank you.” She was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “If I ask you a question, will you tell me the truth?”

“Always.”

She inhaled and exhaled a loud breath. “Do you think I look okay? I mean size wise?”

Stunned out of my head, I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, and Lehra turned to face me, her eyes wary. “Did someone say something to you?” My voice was dark, low, and demanding, and she stared at the traffic passing behind me and shrugged. “Answer me, Lehra. Did that bitch say something to you?”

“Just a comment a few months ago. Something about the perfect size for wedding dresses, and that I needed to watch my figure. Then a couple small comments since then.”

My blood, which had been on a low simmer all night, threatened to boil right the fuck over. “Is that why you’ve lost weight? To please her?”

She shook her head. “No, not at all. I’ve just been too stressed to eat, I guess. I don’t think I look bad when I look in the mirror, but those comments keep coming back to me inside my head.” Her chin dipped, and she scuffed her toe against the concrete. “I just wanted an unbiased opinion.”

Well, you’ve come to the wrong place, sweetheart, because I’m very biased when it comes to you.

“Did Dwight have anything to say?” I asked, the name tasting bitter on my tongue.

“He said, ‘Lehra looks fine.’”

I wished I was back in the boxing gym so I could work out some of my own frustrations with Dwight Jones’s head on the receiving end. Instead I took a step closer and cupped her face, lifting it so she had no choice but to meet my eye.

“Fine? You are way more than fine, Tink. You are hot as fuck.”

Her cheeks flushed, and she tried to look down again, but I didn’t allow it. “I drove a limo full of models to a location shoot last week, and none of them… none… of… them…” I reiterated slowly, enunciating each syllable, “held a goddamn candle to you.”

Our eyes locked, and the air around us turned magnetic as I held her face in my hands. I’d never wanted to taste another person’s lips as much as I wanted to taste hers. I wished I could take her home and bury myself inside her to show her how perfect her body was. If only I could stand her in front of a mirror and run my reverent hands over every inch of her until she could see her own worth. Her own beauty.

Our mouths were so close, I could practically taste her, and she smelled so fucking good. Even through the sweat and grimefrom the gym, she still smelled like pineapples and sunny days. It was intoxicating.

I was treading into dangerous territory here, and she looked as though she wanted to follow me down that perilous path. But she wasn’t mine, and I needed to remember that, so I backed away and forced a smile onto my face.

“Did that answer your question?”

She huffed out a breathy, nervous laugh. “Yeah, I think I got it.”

“Great,” I said, forcing my voice into one of teasing as I placed my hand on the small of her back and guided her down the sidewalk once again. “Anytime you want me to come over to ogle your body and tell you what I think, just let me know.”

“You’re a true humanitarian, Cruz.”

“Well, I was nominated for a Nobel Prize in the hugs category,” I said with false modesty.

She giggled. “True.”

This entire situation was worse than I thought. Bambi Jones wasn’t just fucking with the wedding stuff. She was getting inside Lehra’s head, making her doubt herself, and I wasn’t going to have it.

“You know, my mama is pretty awesome, so dealing with a horrible mother figure may be a bit above my pay grade.” I pulled out my phone and dialed as Lehra looked questioningly at me. “But I know someone who can help.”

“Who?” she asked, and I answered her question as soon as the person on the other end of the phone picked up.

“Gianna, I need your help with Lehra.”

“Anything,” came the quick reply.

“We’re dealing with a bitchy mother-in-law-to-be.”

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