Free Working Man by Melanie Schuster Page B

reached for a piece of baklava. He took a small bite, then held the piece out to Dakota who looked genuinely anguished before succumbing to a bite. Her eyes closed in bliss and a breathy sound of pleasure escaped her as she licked her lips.
    â€œNick, that’s delicious. Don’t tempt me any more,” she moaned.
    Nick decided it was time to put an end to that line of thought. “You think you have a weight problem, don’t you? Well, let me be the first one to tell you that you don’t. You look just fine to me. A little on the skinny side, but you got enough for me to hold onto. I don’t know why women torture themselves to get thin or stay thin or whatever. Everybody ain’t the same size and folks need to get over it, that’s all.”
    Dakota started hearing warning bells in her head. “Are you telling me that you think I’m skinny? In my entire life I’ve never been considered skinny. I’ve been trying to lose the same twenty-five pounds for about ten years and you’re telling me you think I’m skinny?” It suddenly dawned on Dakota what Nick was up to and it infuriated her. “Oh, so this is your game. You think because I’m overweight, I’m easy, is that it? You think if you throw around a few lame compliments I’ll just spread my chubby legs for you, right? Well you can forget that, buster, it ain’t that kind of party,” she said furiously. Her face was flushed and her pulse had picked up momentum from sheer rage. She looked as if she was ready to beat Nick’s butt with one hand tied behind her back. Nick didn’t take the bait, however.
    â€œWho was it that did the job on you, sweetheart? Did some boyfriend try to tell you to lose weight? Your mama stay on your case because you were getting to be kinda curvy? Your girlfriends tell you what a pretty face you have and why don’t you take off a few pounds? What was it that made you think you’re not beautiful just like you are?”
    The flush in Dakota’s face turned into a full-on bright-red blush. Nick was getting really close to the mark, displaying a kind of perception she never would have believed possible from a man like him. She was stammering around for a decent response when he continued.
    â€œYou’re a beautiful woman, Dakota. Not as smart as I thought you were, but you’re still beautiful. If you were as smart as you think you are, you’d know that everybody doesn’t want a stick figure for a woman,” he said in a quietly mesmerizing voice.
    â€œWhen I was growing up, there were always two or three girls that were supposed to be so danged fine that all the guys would be fighting over them. I could never figure that out, because while they were fighting over the skinny chicks there were all these pretty big girls with the pretty skin and the pretty round arms and the nice big behinds. All that sweetness going to waste while those fools fought over the scrawny heifers like dogs after a bone,” he said, shaking his head.
    Dakota didn’t notice that he was a lot closer to her than he’d been a few minutes before, but somehow they were sitting next to each other. His arm was around her shoulders and he was angling her face to his so she could better concentrate on what he was saying. “You know what you know and you like what you like,” he said firmly. “And I like a woman with something for me to grab and hold onto, something I can feel. I like big legs, soft thighs and a big behind. I like breasts, baby, nice round ones like yours, the kind I can rub and kiss and massage until you come in my arms,” he said softly.
    At her look of disbelief, Nick chuckled. “Oh yeah, baby, I can do that. I can make you melt, sweetheart, without taking off a stitch of your clothes. When I make love to you, you’re going to feel it all over, like you’ve never felt anything else. You’re going to think