Page 10 of Bodybuilders for the BBW

“Still having issues with premature ejaculation, mate?” I said, cocking an eyebrow.

“So we’re doing this?” Rhett seemed far too serious as he looked from one to the other of us, but that was what he was like. “We’re dating on our own now?”

When Rhys’ smile faded, mine did too.

“I mean, it’s been years…” I shoved my phone back in my pocket. “It didn’t work, so I guess we need to go back to dating on our own.”

A sharp nod, that was the only response we got from Rhett as he reached for his food and carried the bowl out the back, onto the deck that overlooked the grass.

“Reckon he’s OK?” Rhys asked, coming to stand beside me.

“He will be.” I poked the stir fry, collecting a mouthful of meat, veg, and rice on the fork. “I mean, he’s been crushing on that girl that was dating that dickhead he works with for ages. Maybe this will be the push he needs to make a damn move.”

I needed to take my own advice. After we had dinner and cleaned up, then spent an hour or so making sure the backyard was inspection ready, I retreated to my room. Katie’s number was inputted in my phone first. There was no way I was losing that, but my thumb hovered over the new contact, switching between making a call or sending a text. Text, I decided that texting was less invasive.

Hey, this is Garrett from the dog shelter. Just wondering if you wanted to go out for coffee?I wanted to end the message there, making clear this was a date, but… What if she blew me off? Had a boyfriend? I frowned hard at that idea.We could talk about how to help Bronson adjust if my application is successful.My thumb tapped send, not letting myself overthink it, and then, I waited to see how she would respond.

Chapter6

Rhett

I was coming around to the idea of having a dog. It’d be good to have someone who was glad to see me each time I came home, but… I stared at the veterinary surgery window, tracing the shape of the cartoon dogs and cats painted on the window, then pushed myself away from my car bonnet. A dog also gave me an excuse to visit here.

I’d parked outside the place at least once a week since I heard Dave broke up with Katie. At first, I wanted to see if she was OK, then I wanted to just see her. Not so soon after her breakup, that was what kept me away, but it’d been six weeks and two days since, so surely now wasn’t too soon. Fuck, I was about to find out. I put my hand on the door and pulled it open…

To find an old lady with a couple of chihuahuas in her arms walking out.

“Oh, thank you!” she said, stepping out with a smile.

Her dogs seemed less pleased, barking furiously, lunging at their carrier like they were possessed by the devil.

“Everything OK, Mrs. Collins?” a familiar feminine voice said. Fuck, I felt that like a punch to the gut. “Do you need help… Oh.” Katie was there, standing behind the woman and her eyes went wide when she saw me. “Rhett?”

“Hey…um… Katie.” Jesus, now she’d think I forgot her name or something.Great start, dickhead, I thought furiously. The woman with the little dogs looked from me to Katie and then shot me a devilish smile that made clear she knew exactly what was going on, before taking her hellhounds to her car. “I’m here for a dog.”

“You have a dog that’s being seen by the vet?”

Katie held the door out for me, which was all wrong. When I imagined this in the early hours of this morning, I was one hundred percent more dashing. I swept the door open and into Katie’s workplace, then whisked her out into the date of her dreams. Instead, she asked me a very appropriate question I didn’t have a good answer for.

“Um… no.”For fuck’s sake, I told myself.You run into burning buildings. You can do this. “The boys and I, we’re getting a dog, from a shelter.” That was tacked on afterwards because people seemed very focussed on adopting, not buying from breeders. “And I wanted to get some advice on what we’d need to get before he arrives.”

I met her eyes finally, and that was a mistake. Every time I stared into those beautiful brown depths, it felt like the whole world was falling away. It was only a faint sound like a far off siren going off in my head that had me finishing what I was saying.

“I don’t really know that much about dogs, so I figured I’d ask the one person I know that does.”

“You thought of me?” Her pleased smile had all the awkwardness evaporating. “Oh wow, I didn’t realise you were paying attention when I was talking about work.”

I did. Every single word she said was etched on my heart, but I couldn’t tell her that. I followed her inside instead, where a waiting room full of people and their pets bore witness to my fumbling attempts to connect with my crush.

“So we have this checklist the vets put together.” I watched real hard when she bent over and retrieved a printout from a folder, only looking away when I caught sight of her cleavage. Dave was the kind of guy to leer down a girl’s top, so I would never. “You can get most of this stuff from a pet store, but they can be real rip offs. Like grain-free dog food can be a good thing or it can be just overpriced crap, and expensive collars are often just for aesthetics rather than due to any real improved experience for the dog. I…” She stared at me then, shooting me a lopsided smile. “When are you picking up the dog? If it’s not straight away, I could meet you at a pet store.”

“Yes.” I said that too fast, something no doubt the smirking ladies with the Siamese cats noted, but I didn’t care. “I mean, yeah, that would be really cool. You obviously know a lot more than us, and I could…” Fuck, I needed a drink of water badly, my throat turning to ash. I’d imagined this scenario a million times in my head and yet now it’d arrived, I was choking literally. “I could take you out for dinner afterwards.”

“To say thanks?” She waved her hand. “You don’t have to do that.”

But I did. Dave wouldn’t shut up about every dumb detail of his life, so I knew he did little more than Netflix and chill with Katie. She deserved so much more. I wanted to take her somewhere fancy, somewhere she felt special, and then?—

“I’d like to.” My heart was beating too fast and I was staring way too intently, something she seemed to register. Her smile faded, but something else replaced it. A sweetness I saw in her eyes all the time, especially when hanging out with the station mums and their kids. I just never expected to see it directed at me. “We could go to the local pub and have a counter meal.”

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