Page 29 of Unbreak My Heart

Simon frowned. “I don’t understand. Look like what?”

Even in the dim light of the pre-show cinema he could see that telltale blush rising up her face.

She gestured to her entire body. “Likethis. I’ve never been thin. I’m short and that makes every single kilo of extra weight stick out like a sore thumb. My shape has changed since I had Matty, and even though I lost most of the pregnancy weight, I’m still chunky. I always will be. Being bigger up top makes any excess weight even more noticeable.”

She dropped her gaze to her hands. “Sorry to be such a downer. I’m supposed to be cheering you up, not depressing you more with my nonsense.”

Growing fury ate at Simon. Sure, she was curvy. And yes, short. But hell! She was delicious. Had that bastard she’d married made her concerns about her body worse?

He’d place money on it.

He twisted in his chair and leaned over to cup her face properly and force her to look at him. She didn’t meet his gaze but let him hold her in place.

“Let’s just say this now and get it out of the way. I’m not good with fancy words, or even particularly well-educated. I had issues with that and well…” He shrugged. “Let’s just say I finished but didn’t pass high school. Found out too late what the problem was and honestly? Not interested in following up.” He narrowed his eyes and made sure she held his gaze. “But what I’m trying to say is that I think you’re gorgeous.”

He held tight when she rolled her eyes and tried to pull away. “Stop it. You are. It’s true. You’re beautiful. So, you’re short? So what? So, it makes your ass more curvy than another chick’s. Again, so what? What you’re packin’ is damned nice.”

Eva’s brows dipped, her frown as endearing as it was fun. He could almost taste her disbelief. His mouth twisted. She might get pissed with him for his next words, but what the hell. In for a buck and all that.

“Tell me to piss off if I overstep, but hell, Eva! You have curves that don’t stop. There are plenty of guys that happen to like women who are a bit bigger.” He sent her a cheeky grin. “More to play with, yeah?” He’d always had a thing for busty women, and Eva fit that bill nicely. “I happen to be one of them.Ithink you’re damned nice. And I wish like crazy I hadn’t been so messed up that night we met. That we’d metlater…”

He sucked in a deep breath. “I’m not sure I’m coming across the right way. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable around me, but I thought you should know that there are plenty of guys out there who would think you’re pretty damned sexy.”

He rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb as conflicting emotions flashed over her face so fast he couldn’t decipher them, but shock was in there.

He’d go with that.

She spoke against his thumb, the vibrations of her soft words ricocheting up his arm and making him shiver. “You’re not making me uncomfortable. Not at all. I, uh…” She swallowed and breathed deeply. “I think you’re pretty damned sexy, too.”

Goosebumps erupted all over him. He opened his mouth to speak just as the lights flickered, then dimmed, the loud advertisement blaring from the speakers making them both jump.

Eva pulled away and kept her gaze from him, then gestured at the screen, now rabbiting on about some random advertising company. “The movie’s starting.”

Simon sat back, his heart racing, and nodded at the obvious statement. He hadn’t meant to let things get so intense. But he’d needed to take that sad look from her eyes.

She thought he was sexy.

He rubbed his arms and focused on the trailers of upcoming movies. It shouldn’t surprise him that she did; she’d gone back to his room with him that night, after all.

But damn! Having it out there, spoken out loud like that… It wound a longing down deep within him that didn’t want to shut up.

A longing to be touched. To be held. Tofeel.

Anything.

Something he hadn’t experienced in a long time. It wasn’t sexual, although he definitely found her sexually attractive. It was simply the need for another beating heart. That connection. The skin-to-skin feel of another, even if just to hold.

Every now and then their hands connected while fishing out some popcorn, or they went to grab the drink at the same time. Each time, Simon’s heart threatened to lodge in the base of his throat, sending excited little shivers chasing all over his body.

The longer the movie went on, the more scared Eva seemed to become.

A jump here.

A squeak there.

Grabbing his hand when the monster came out to play.

Simon kept his grin to himself. If he was honest, he’d jumped more than a few times, too.

---