“Fat girls,” Christina said, “are great dates, if you’re not too squeamish. Contrary to popular assumption, it’s not expensive to take us to dinner, because we’re far too self- conscious to eat much when someone else is watching. And if you take us to do something active, you’re pretty well guaranteed to come out looking good by comparison.”
She withdrew as she spoke—a thinner person would have pulled their knees in to their chest, wrapped their arms around their shins—but Christina was too fat for that, so she just turned away. “We never ask if something looks good on us, or God forbid, whether you think we’re pretty, because we don’t know if it would be worse to know you were lying or to actually hear the truth.”
Of all the stories in Whetting the Appetite, this one may be the most brutally honest. It's also one of my favorites. You don't see a lot of fat girls in fiction at all, and certainly not in romance, but I think there should be more. We can't all be willowy and athletic, after all.
“I...don’t know,” she said, even though the image shone, bright as day, in her head, closing her throat with fear and longing.
“Now who’s lying?” Jackson said. He pinched her bottom, hard, and she squeaked in surprise. “Why won’t you tell me?” Christina closed her eyes and shook her head. “Too much to ask,” she whispered.
“Why? Because you’re not skinny?”
Miserably, Christina shrugged.
Jackson pulled her over onto her back, pinning her shoulders with his forearms as he frowned down into her tear- stained face. “What do skinny girls get to ask for that you can’t?” he demanded.
Christina turned her head. “If I tell you now, you’ll just feel obligated. I don’t want—”
“Chrissy.” Jackson dropped his forehead to her breastbone for a moment, the picture of defeat, then lifted it again. “What if, just this once, you let me feel a little obligated? You’re my girl; I think I should be obligated to try something that you want, once in a while.”
Christina was silent, trying to reconcile her desire to please and her embarrassment, to convince herself that she might be worthy of such a gift as her own desire.
In honor of Whetting's release and in conjunction with the Smut for Good: Curves Rule blog hop, I'm having a contest! Comment here to enter, go "like" my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter for additional entries, or let me know that you've donated to the Smut for Good cause (link below) for three additional entries. The contest will close on April 13th, winner(s) will be announced on the 16th. Prizes are yet to be determined, depending on the number of entries I see, but will include, at minimum, an ebook and a coupon code. Here are the blog hop details and links:
Smut for Good: Curves Rule is a blog hop with prizes galore to raise funds for Parkinson’s UK as this is Parkinson’s Awareness week. To find more curves, and seek out further prizes please visit http://smutters.co.uk/smut-for-good and if you can take a minute to please visit the Smut for Good: Curves Rule Just Giving Page at http://www.justgiving.com/curvesrule and donate whatever you can to help us reach our target of £100 to raise awareness of Parkinson’s and to support the charity Parkinson’s UK http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/ who help those with the disease learn to cope with the challenges, give out information and search for a cure.
