Size Matters

by Alison Bliss

  She smiled. “Says the guy who’s lying in a bed with his fake fiancée.”

  Sam let out a boisterous laugh. “Yep, true. But sadly enough, this is probably one of the most normal, stable relationships I’ve ever been in.”

  Nonrelationship, Leah mentally corrected. “Okay, so I get why you don’t want to rush into anything, but why aren’t you at least dating anyone now?”

  “Because I think a person should make themselves the best version of themselves—a stronger, better person—before trying to find the person they are meant to be with. Don’t you agree?”

  Leah rolled her eyes. It was obvious what he was trying to do. “You’re trying to turn this around on me, aren’t you?”

  “Nope. Not at all. Just offering a friendly suggestion.”

  “Keep it.”

  Sam chuckled. “You know, the kind of advice we don’t like sometimes turns out to be exactly what we need to hear in that moment.”

  “True. But you might want to remember that yourself. Especially since you’re the guy who says he wants to settle down but then breaks up with a girl who wants to marry him, only to turn around and announce that he’s fake-engaged to another woman.”

  * * *

  The next morning, someone knocked on the outside of the bedroom door, catapulting Leah out of her unconscious state. Her eyes flicked open, and surprisingly, her gaze landed on a close-up view of Sam’s face. He was lying next to her, staring at her with a wide-eyed, openmouthed expression. She had no doubt about what he was thinking in that moment, but neither of them seemed capable of movement.

  The rap on the door happened again, only harder this time. “This isn’t a Holiday Inn,” her father teased, chuckling on the other side of the door. “Rise and shine, lovebirds. We’re leaving in an hour.” Then the sound of her father’s footsteps slowly faded down the hallway.

  The moment her dad left, Sam rolled away from her, sliding his large, firm hand off her left breast. “I, uh…sorry. It was an accident.”

  “It’s okay,” Leah said quickly, trying to make the situation less awkward than it already was. “Your hand was…warm.” She cringed. Oh God. What the hell did I just say?

  He glanced back at her, his eyes glimmering with intensity as his jaw tightened. “I could put it back, you know?”

  They stared at each other in silence, as if they were measuring each other’s comfort level. She didn’t know how to respond to what he’d said, and he seemed content to let the words sit out in the open, dangling from his tongue. His eyes darkened, smoldering with heat, and then he grinned.

  Oh, calm down, Leah. It’s only a freakin’ joke. She inhaled a deep breath, reminding herself that Sam was just teasing her. She’d witnessed the panic that had crossed his face the moment they both realized where his hand had been. He obviously hadn’t meant anything by the accidental groping. But still…Why does everything he say sound like he’s making an offer?

  Again, someone knocked on the door, and Leah groaned. “Jeez. We’re coming, Dad.”

  “Breakfast is already on the table,” he told them, using an annoyingly cheerful morning voice. “Last call. If you don’t hurry, you’re not going to have time to eat before we leave.”

  She threw the covers off and climbed to her feet, straightening her clothes, which had twisted in her sleep. Grabbing her bag, she lugged it to the bathroom and got dressed in there while Sam used the bedroom to change his clothes. After brushing her teeth and hair, then slapping on a minimal amount of makeup, she reentered the bedroom in a pair of jeans and a green T-shirt emblazoned with the Sweets n’ Treats logo.

  Sam had already pulled on a pair of Levi’s and a white T-shirt that hugged his biceps in the most delicious way. “Where are we going today?”

  “Every year we have the same routine. We go to the aquarium, and then we eat lunch in the Water Gardens.”

  “Is that a restaurant or something?”

  “No, it’s more of a…well, you’ll see.” She nodded to the door. “Ready?”

  “After you.”

  They headed to the kitchen, where they joined the rest of the family for a quick fruit and bagel breakfast. They barely had time to finish their orange juice before her father rushed the entire group out the door.

  Downstairs, her grandpa leaned over to Sam and said, “Since you aren’t familiar with the area, why don’t you and Leah ride with us?”

  “Sure,” Sam agreed with no hesitation.

  “No, that’s okay,” Leah said, trying to quickly intervene. “There’s no need. I know my way there. We’ll just take Sam’s truck.”

  Confusion warped his face as he cocked his head and studied her curiously. “Why take three vehicles though? I’m okay riding with your grandparents.”

  Well, I’m not.

  But she couldn’t dare say that with her grandpa staring her down. So against her better judgment, she said, “Okay, fine. I guess we’ll ride with them.”

  By the time they arrived at the aquarium twenty minutes later, Sam’s face had paled, and he looked like he’d just ridden the largest, fastest roller coaster ever built. He stumbled out of the backseat of the Avalon and held on to the door, as if his legs were too wobbly to hold him upright.

  “You guys go ahead and get the tickets,” Leah said to the others. “We’ll catch up with you at the main entrance.” She waited for her family to drift out of earshot before turning to Sam. “I’m so sorry,” she muttered softly.

  “For what? Not mentioning your grandfather drives like someone’s hands are over his eyes? Christ. The fucker almost killed us four times.”

  “Oh, come on. It wasn’t that bad.”

  He glared down at her. “How would you know? You were huddled in a fetal position on the floorboard babbling to yourself.”

  “I wasn’t babbling. I was…praying.”

  Sam grinned. “Yeah? Well, since when is Please don’t let us fucking die! a prayer?”

  “I did not say that.”

  “Close enough,” he said, straightening his posture. He shut the car door and staggered toward the main entrance with Leah walking next to him. “By the way, we’re riding home with your parents.”

  “We can’t do that, Sam. My grandpa will probably wonder why we didn’t want to ride with them anymore.”

  “Then I would tell him the truth: I don’t feel like dying today.”

  She sighed. “You can’t do that. I don’t want to hurt his feelings. What if I promised to make you something extra special in exchange for us riding home with my grandparents?”

  “Hell, no. Leah, there isn’t a dessert in this world that would bribe me to get back into that wrecking ball your grandpa drives.”

  “Really? Well, that’s too bad. I was thinking about making some chocolate mousse after tonight’s dinner. But…oh well. Now I guess I don’t have to.” She shrugged lightly, as if it didn’t matter to her in the least.

  “Damn you,” he growled, his face puckering. “You don’t fight fair.”

  Leah couldn’t contain her grin. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Okay, fine. I’ll ride in the death machine one more time. But if I die before I get the chocolate mousse, I’m coming back from the dead to haunt your ass.”

  Leah laughed and pointed out her family, who were waiting patiently near the roped-off entrance. They joined the group, and all of them walked inside the aquarium together.

  The viewing room hosted an array of aquariums built into the wall, though a few large round tanks sat out in the middle of the floor. They moved together, weaving around the room and visiting each individual exhibit to learn about the different specimens.

  It was an hour later when they finally started for the next section of the building, and Leah’s pace increased drastically. The colorful saltwater fish, moon jellies, and octopus were fun to watch, but there was a different species of marine animal she looked forward to the most every year. And it was in the upcoming exhibit.

  Moments later, she s
tood off to the side of a massive 12,000-gallon tank surrounded by children. The touch pool always drew a large crowd because it was the only exhibit where the waist-high walls allowed visitors to reach over the side and get a hands-on experience with the marine animals. Over the children’s heads, she could see what looked like at least thirty stingrays gliding effortlessly through the shallow water in different directions.

  She hadn’t even realized she’d left the others in her group behind until Sam stepped up beside her and huffed out a breath like he’d been running to catch up with her. “Got a little excited, did ya?”

  “Huh?”

  “For a second there, I thought you were bolting on me and leaving me to fend for myself with your family,” he teased, offering her a quick grin.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. This exhibit has always been my favorite one. I could watch the cownose rays all day long. They’re just so graceful and mesmerizing and…cute.”

  Sam chuckled again. “I’m pretty sure that is the first and last time I will ever hear anyone call a stingray cute.”

  She smiled. “Well, they are.”

  His head nodded to an aquarium employee who was selling small boats of shrimp to feed to the stingrays. “Have you ever fed one?”

  Leah glanced back at the huge tank, noting all the children still circling it, then gazed back at Sam. “Actually, I think that’s something they probably do more for the kids than the adults. I’d look silly being the only grown person up there.”

  “What? No way. Besides, you wouldn’t be the only adult up there. I’ll go with you.”

  “Sam, I don’t think—”

  But it was too late. He gestured to the employee, pulled out his wallet, and bought two boats of shrimp before Leah could stop him. They stood there watching the worker as she used her hand to demonstrate the proper way to hold the shrimp in order to feed the rays. It was obviously a spiel she’d repeated many times over. Then she moved on to the next paying customer.

  “Come on,” Sam said, although Leah just stood there. He grinned. “Would you stop worrying about what other people think and just have some fun already?”

  She hated the idea of looking stupid up there among all the children, but she really, really, really wanted to feed a cownose stingray at least once in her life. And if Sam was willing to go up there and look dumb with her…well, then screw it.

  Leah trailed behind him as they squeezed into an opening at the side of the tank where the salty scent in the air grew stronger and clung to her nose. They each grasped a dead shrimp from the paper boat, curled their fingers around it like the employee had showed them, and then lowered their hands into the cool water. A chill ran up her arm as they waited for a ray to head their way.

  Within seconds, several brown rays with white underbellies made a beeline for their outstretched hands. Upon their arrival, one of the creatures bumped gently into Leah’s knuckles and felt around with its mouth until it found the hole on the side of her fist and suctioned the shrimp she cradled from her fingers.

  She squealed in delight. “Oh my God! That was the weirdest sensation ever. I have to do it again.”

  Sam fed the ray in front of him and grinned. “It is a strange feeling.”

  A young boy who couldn’t have been more than four years old stood on the other side of Sam and caught their attention when he turned back to a woman sitting on a bench five foot behind him and shouted, “Mommy, I’m not tall enough. I can’t reach the stingrays.”

  Sighing, the woman rubbed a hand over her very pregnant belly, as if the thought of lifting her young son was as painful as her swollen abdomen looked. “Okay, Billy. I’m coming.”

  But before she managed to struggle to her feet, Sam spoke up. “Ma’am, if it’s all right with you, I’m happy to give your son a boost.”

  Relief washed over her face, and she settled back into her place on the bench. “Thank you. I’d really appreciate that.”

  He knelt down beside the child. “Hi, Billy. I’m Sam. You like stingrays?”

  “Yeah,” the kid said shyly. “They’re cute.”

  Sam glanced back at Leah with a you got to be kidding me face, and she grinned wide. Then he turned his attention back to little Billy. “That’s funny. My fiancée said the same thing.”

  Thousands of butterflies took flight in her stomach. It was one thing to hear Sam call her his fiancée in front of her family, but it was a whole different thing for him to say it so casually to someone else. Even if the kid wasn’t old enough to know what it actually meant.

  Sam pointed to the tank. “Billy, how would you like to feed a stingray?”

  The child’s face lit up with glee. “Really? Cool!”

  “All right, but you have to hold the shrimp like this,” Sam said, demonstrating the proper way to curl his fingers to keep them from getting nibbled on. “Think you can do that?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Leah smiled. Not only was Sam good with kids, but their whole exchange was absolutely adorable. Warmth radiated through her, and a strong sensation hit her low and deep. If she didn’t know better, she would almost swear she’d just ovulated.

  “Okay, I’m going to pick you up and lean you over the wall so you can reach. Ready?” Sam asked, waiting for Billy to nod. “Okay, here we go.”

  He lifted the small boy into his arms with ease and leaned carefully over the side of the tank until the child’s hand reached into the water. Seconds later, an overzealous ray approached, slapping its wings on the surface of the water as it impatiently demanded its meal, then sucked the shrimp from Billy’s hand.

  “He got it!” the little boy shrieked. Sam set the kid down, and he ran to his mother, excitement blazing in his eyes. “Mommy, did you see that? I fed a stingray!”

  “You did? That’s awesome!” She gave her young son a big hug and mouthed a silent thank-you to Sam, who offered her a nod in return.

  Leah shifted closer to Sam. “That was really sweet of you.”

  “I love kids.”

  “I can tell.” It was too bad that his ex-wife had lost their child. Sam would have been a great hands-on father.

  As they tossed their empty paper boats into a nearby garbage can and headed for the on-site sanitizing station so they could wash their hands, they passed by the bench where Billy sat recounting his memorable experience to his mother. “I can’t wait ’til Daddy gets home from work tonight. I get to tell him all about the strange man who picked me up and held me like he does.”

  Sam’s eyebrow rose slightly, but he kept moving toward the wash station and whispered, “I’m pretty sure Billy’s mom is going to have some explaining to do later when Daddy gets home.”

  “Ya think?” Leah said, laughing.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Sam couldn’t believe he’d let Leah talk him into getting into her grandfather’s vehicle once again, especially for chocolate mousse of all things. But after another short, death-defying ride in Jack’s unofficial stunt car, they arrived at the Water Gardens in one piece. Barely.

  Fuck, someone should really teach that old man how to drive.

  As everyone piled out, Sam took a good look around. He didn’t see any water, but he could damn well hear it. And it was loud. “It sounds like a waterfall coming from the other side of that wall.”

  “Yep, it is. Actually, it’s lots of them,” Leah replied as her grandma popped open the trunk of their car and grunted as she hefted out a large wicker basket. “Wait, Grandma, I’ll get that for you.”

  “No, let me have it,” Sam said, taking the handles of the basket before Leah could grab it. “I’ll carry it. Just tell me where you want it.”

  “Thank you, Sam,” both women said simultaneously while smiling sweetly at him. He returned the favor, but something dawned on him, and the grin he wore melted.

  Shit. What the hell was he doing?

  He was supposed to be putting a bad taste in all of their mouths when it came to his relationship with Leah. Yet here he was trying to be a ge
ntleman by offering to carry heavy things for his fiancée’s grandmother.

  Fake fiancée, he mentally corrected. Christ, why couldn’t he seem to remember that? If this plan to make them all hate him was going to work, he would have to stop being himself in front of the others. And that included doing nice shit.

  He glanced over at Leah’s father, who gave Sam a slight nod of approval, and a sharp pang of guilt stabbed straight through him. He liked the man. Hell, he liked all of them, though he couldn’t figure out why.

  “This way,” Leah said, guiding him down the walkway as the sounds of rushing water grew louder and louder. She motioned to a set of cement stairs ahead. “Watch your step. We have to take these stairs down to the field.”

  She started down first, and Sam followed close behind her.

  Halfway down, he caught his first glimpse of the gardens. A huge, grassy meadow sat in the middle of an oval concrete stadium. Like a sports arena, except instead of bleachers, there was a solid rock wall surrounding the field. Clear water spouted from the top of the concrete structure, gushed down the jagged rock wall, and landed in the bubbling fountains below.

  Picnic tables by the dozen adorned the field, situated under shade trees and surrounded by an array of flower beds and hedges. Leah chose the closest unoccupied wooden table, and he set the basket down on the tabletop as they waited for the others to catch up to them.

  When they arrived moments later, Leah’s grandmother motioned to the water fountains surrounding the field. “So what do you think, Sam? Isn’t this a relaxing place to have lunch?”

  “Sure,” he said, taking in the sights around him, then shrugging. “If you don’t mind eating in a giant toilet bowl.”

  Before, Sam would have thought it was funny the way everyone’s lips curled in disgust. But the moment he saw the disappointed look her grandma wore, he cringed on the inside. His intentions were never to make any of them feel bad about themselves.

  God, they really are going to think I’m an asshole after this weekend.