Page 105 of Bodybuilders for the BBW

Well, until I wanted to.

I got a little cheeky, sliding in against him as I brought the chopping board laden with chopped vegetables. Garrett reached for the board, but I ducked under his arm and went to scrape everything in at once.

“A bit at a time,” he said, stopping me from sweeping everything into the wok. “Don’t want to overload the wok, force the temperature to drop.”

There was no risk of that. Dimly, I was aware of the crackle of the food in the wok, that we were supposed to be doing the stir part of the stir-fry, but instead I found myself staring into his eyes. Part of him wanted to take care of the cooking. I was willing to bet there was a part of his mind that never switched off. I needed to test that, holding his gaze, snaking my arm around his waist, leaning in closer until the acrid smell of burning vegetables hit our noses.

“Shit!” Garrett spun around and started scraping stuff off the sides of the wok. It was only slightly singed, but he seemed inordinately unhappy about that. I tried to fight back a smile, failed and then let out an ugly snort, which caught his attention. “Demon temptress.” He pointed the wooden spatula at me. “You won’t be laughing when your dinner is inedible.”

“We’ll manage,” I said and then dumped the rest of the vegetables in.

“You little…”

He couldn’t curse me out and stir fry the food at the same time, so he focussed on the more pressing need, as I indulged mine.

Part of me couldn’t believe I had a right to touch Garrett, Rhys, or Rhett. My fingers flexed in the air, feeling like I needed to shove them down by my sides. Instead, I peeled his scrub top up.

“Katie…” Whatever protest he was going to make, it was silenced by a kiss pressed to his spine, then another. “Fuck, why does that feel so good?”

Because that was the effect we had on each other. Just when I’d given up hope of ever feeling chemistry with anyone, I’d found three guys who were my perfect match. That’s why my hands spanned his fanning lats, feeling the muscles shift and contract. There was something possessive about it, like I was claiming him as mine.

Or I wanted to.

My hands stopped. I was getting too much into my head, remembering belatedly how quickly this was all moving. That had me pulling back, but only for a second. The gas was slapped off and Garrett turned around, taking my head in his hands.

“I thought of you all day today.” How did he know exactly what to say? “When my boss was tearing strips off me.” I sucked in a breath to ask about that, but he forged on. “On the ward. Patients caught me staring into space, remembering…” His grin was infectious, forcing my lips to form the same smile. “Remembering everything that happened. I told my work wife about you.”

“Work. Wife?”

I went to pull away, but he stopped me.

“Work mum is probably a better description. Helen was nursing when I was still in primary school. She wants to meet you.”

I flushed bright red, but as I was cursing my stupid pale skin, I remembered the text I’d sent.

“Speaking of mothers?—”

“Yes, I want to meet your parents.” I’d expected some push back, reluctance at least. Instead, I got wholehearted approval. “You have to give me the scoop on what they’re like, what I need to say to impress them, but…” My tongue flicked over my bottom lip as his head dropped down. “I’d be more than happy to meet your family.”

“So that’s two down and one to go.” Rhys walked in with a hand towel around his neck, mopping the sweat away. He shot me a rakish grin, right as Bronson bolted towards his bowl of water only to lap it furiously. “Rhett will be in, don’t you worry. Speaking of which.” He hefted his phone. “He’s stuck at work until late. Not sure when he’ll get in.”

“So we’ll save him a doggy bag of food,” I said, turning the gas back on. Bronson barked again, coming over with a big doggy grin. “Not you, pup. People food is no good for dogs.”

Of course, he disagreed.

“I should get going.”

Sometime later we were all sprawled out on the guys’ couch, letting our food settle as we doom scrolled movies to watch.

“No, you shouldn’t.” Rhys rolled me closer so my head was tucked in the curve of his shoulder. “You’re tired and we all know what that does to reaction time when driving.”

“Like being drunk.” Garrett rolled into a seated position and then topped up my glass from the wine bottle. “Do you know how many critically injured drivers are admitted to the ED each week?”

I looked down at my phone and saw yet another message from Mandie had come in.

Gym, bitch. We haven’t been in days, and you know what that means?

Starting conditioning all over again. Trouble is, I couldn’t seem to muster the requisite level of concern right now. Maybe I was mistaken. The new me didn’t need to be tougher, stronger. Maybe I could just enjoy the soft life… As if to contradict that, the muffled sound of a dog barking had me stiffening, because seconds later, Bronson came scuttling back into the lounge room. His ears were flat to his skull, and he looked at us almost shamefaced as he wriggled into the narrow space between the coffee table and the couch.

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