Gold(16)
The older man’s eyes widened. “Mate?”
“Fiancé. You know what I mean.” Dante ruffled his hair and jogged up the stairs. “See you later.”
Grace ran to the bottom of the stairs, carrying a plate, and waved to him. “For Ella,” she said.
Fair enough.
Ella was deeply absorbed in a sexy pirate romance novel when she heard the door open without a knock.
“Dammit,” she said, hurrying to shove her book under a pillow as Dante walked in, carrying food.
“What’s that?” he asked, smile crooking as he looked at the pillow that was bulging suspiciously.
He looked so out of place here in all his tanned, golden glory and huge height. More like he had walked out of her romance novel than come up from downstairs.
“Nothing,” she said quickly.
“Here,” he said. “Eat.”
He seemed oddly tense as he sat in the recliner by the door, and she wondered if something had happened while he was downstairs.
“You okay?” she asked.
He nodded tersely.
“What happened?”
He considered his options. He didn’t want to repeat anything that would hurt her, but people were bound to tell her anyway. “Your sister was being a huge douchebag, and I sort of ended up yelling at your family for not defending you.”
She’d been about to take a bite of roast turkey, but the fork froze halfway to her mouth. “What?”
Her heart began to pound as he explained, gesturing with an annoyed expression as he related the conversation, finishing with a smirk as he said, “What that jerk doesn’t understand is some men prefer curves.”
Her neck heated as she set the plate aside. “Thanks?”
“I mean it,” he said, looking her over.
“But, uh, you are being paid by me.”
“Barter of services. And that’s beside the point. The point is they don’t think someone like me would actually pursue you.”
“They’re probably right,” she said, gesturing with her fork at… all of him. “Someone like you doesn’t go out with someone who looks like me.”
“What are you talking about? My kind prefers women with curves, something to hold on to. Womanly softness.”
“Your kind?”
He blinked. “Uh… I meant, I guess me and my friends, from what I’ve heard.”
She sighed, looking down and grabbing a handful of fat with one hand. “Right, because this is so sexy.”
He bit his lip. It looked so soft. He wanted to be the one to touch it.
“See? You just turned away at how gross it is.”
When he turned back to her, his voice was tight. “It’s not gross. I’m attracted to it, and I wish you’d do me the favor of not hiding it under such boxy clothes.”
She felt her jaw drop and had to fight to close it back up. “What?” Men like him did not say things like that to girls like her.
“I like your body. Since I’m doing this for no payment, according to you, you may as well give me eye candy.”
“I’m not eye candy,” she said, crinkling her nose.
“You’re trying not to be. But I promise you. Let that hair down, wear something that shows off your curves, and I’d have to fight men off of you.” His gold eyes were gleaming, his jaw taut, and unless she was mistaken, he very much was telling the truth. At least she believed he was.
“Um,” she said, poking at her plate.
“So eat your turkey. But if you want to know if guys like me date girls like you, the answer is yes. If you let us.”
“I don’t want to get confused,” she said. “This is just a business arrangement. And while it feels good for you to stand up for me, I can’t afford to mix up what this really is.”
“How do you know I didn’t work with you as an excuse to get close to you?”
“I just… What?”
He grinned as he stood and stretched. “I’m going to go take a walk outside and clear my head. You should eat that food, keep your figure up. Think about what I just said.”
Yeah. She was probably going to think about it a good while.
Five
After dinner, they were all playing a game of something called Scrabble (where they kept correcting Dante for using words that didn’t exist) when there was a knock on the door.
Ella, still distracted by a long word she’d put on a triple word spot, whatever that was, didn’t even look up as Ron went to answer it.
Melanie was pouting on the couch, filing her nails, which were more like talons, and Ben was nowhere to be seen. He’d probably bailed in anger after his fiancée had thrown him under the bus.
He heard male voices at the door, and Grace raised her head as Ella tensed beside him.