Big Beautiful Little Read Free

getting the attention of the man he was speaking to.
    Lance Sawyer curled the barbell he was holding up to his chest as he turned to his friend. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m just trying to keep an eye on the front desk while I work out.”
    Trey rolled his eyes and made an exasperated noise. “Lance, you’re the owner of this gym. Don’t you have people for that?”
    “Yes.” Lance put down his weight. “But sometimes things come up, and it’s not like I’m going to force Melanie to come in when she has traffic court.”
    “Okay, whatever, but back to what I was saying.” Trey picked up a towel and mopped the sheen of sweat from his ebony chest. “I have a date with Yvette tonight. We’re going dancing…” He began to gyrate his hips as he talked. “And I know she’s going to want to slow dance, because she digs it when I put my arms around her.” He flexed his bicep and kissed it. “But what lady wouldn’t want to be held by a cop with guns like these?”
    “Yvette…” Lance ran through his mental list of his friend’s rotating roster of companions. “Is that the Hooter’s waitress or the former cheerleader?’
    “Cheerleader. Major league, baby. And rockin’ a tight little body with a booty so hot you could fry an egg on it… hey! Where you goin’?”
    “Up front.” Lance was walking away, pulling a faded blue Nike t-shirt over his muscular torso as he headed to the front of the gym. “Somebody’s coming in.”
    “You’d better hurry,” Trey called, nodding toward the front. “Girl looks like she needs a gym stat! ”
    Lance glanced up. The woman coming through the door was not the average visitor to Summit Fitness, which sat in the middle of one of the city’s most health-conscious neighborhoods. He could see her looking around as she approached the reception desk, then stop. She was turning back toward the door when he called out to her.
    “Hey, wait!” Lance started jogging across the room. The woman glanced back and walked toward the door even faster. “Hey! I said wait!”
    The woman froze in her tracks and looked at him with large, soft eyes.
    Submissive. Lance was a man of strong instinct who almost always relied on his impressions. The woman’s ready compliance had gotten his attention as surely as he’d gotten hers.
    “Did I scare you?” When he caught up with her, he reached out to take her arm gently, modifying his tone now that she was looking at him.
    “No, you didn’t scare me,” she said, and then dropped her eyes shyly and shrugged. “Well, maybe a little.”
    Lance couldn’t help but smile. She was unbelievably pretty, with strawberry blond hair, blue eyes, and porcelain skin. Her voice was high, almost musical, with a bit of a charming drawl.
    “Welcome to Summit Fitness. I’m the owner, Lance Sawyer.” He held out his hand. Hers were tucked under arms she’d folded across her chest as soon as she’d stopped. She withdrew one now and placed it in his. The hand was soft, feminine. The grip he gave her was firm but not too tight. He allowed it to last a little longer than he would with most prospective female clients.
    “Name?” he asked
    “Oh.” She gave him a small smile. “Tiffany Barlow.”
    He smiled back, teeth white in his tanned face. “Cute name.”
    She flushed and looked down. “Yeah, it’s weird. Sorry.”
    “You’re apologizing for your name?” Lance quirked a brow at her, then when she looked uncomfortable, he changed the subject. “I suppose you’re here to take advantage of our stellar facilities, am I right? You’re dressed for the gym and you have the newspaper ad offering a free trial.”
    She looked down at the paper as she smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear, then adjusted the strap of the gym bag over her shoulder. Thick, wavy hair, he noticed with approval. Thick and pretty, like her.
    “Um… yes, sir.”
    Yes, sir . Some men would have corrected her, and told her such formality wasn’t necessary. But not