“Thanks for breakfast, Jake,” Dominique said into the silence. She rose from the table, reached for his dishes, and walked into the kitchen. Jake followed her and while making quick work of putting the kitchen in order, she shared a bit of her childhood—living next door to her grandmother in Alabama until the family settled in Inglewood when she was ten. Like Jake, she’d grown up eating pigs and cows from the rooter to the tooter, fried this and smothered that, and cream-filled, butter-laden desserts that made you want to slap somebody. Almost all of her extended family was fat, or big-boned to put it politely. After wiping up the playground with a girl named Beverly, she hadn’t had to endure any more childhood taunts. She then told him about one of her first life-changing moments—when a teacher had encouraged her love of fashion and words. During a trip to New York, she was tapped to be a plus-size model. The magazine’s circulation was small with the job paying Dominique around a hundred dollars but what that photographer’s words gave her, money couldn’t buy. He told her she was beautiful, and he said it as if he meant it. Her confidence soared. Back in LA, she focused on journalism, working at various newspaper and magazine offices and finally working her way up to senior editor. When the founders of Capricious came to her with their idea about a fashion and informational magazine geared towards plus-size women... she knew she’d been born for this job.

“You know what else you were born for,” Jake asked, coming up behind Dominique and wrapping his arms around her.

Her breath caught in her chest at the unexpected gentleness of his touch. “What?” She turned around, wrapped her arms around his neck, her lips just inches from his.

“Good loving,” Jake answered, brushing her lips with his.

“You think so?” Dominique murmured.

“I know so.” With that, Jake swept up Dominique into his arms.

“Jake!” Dominique hadn’t been picked up and carried anywhere since she was six years old, seven tops, and she couldn’t believe that Jake was now doing so without breaking a sweat. He reached the couch, placed her down, and sat beside her, lazily caressing her back. Dominique nestled her head in the crook of his neck. She was a big girl, but next to Jake’s even bigger frame she felt smaller, coddled. Dominique rubbed Jake’s chest and tried not to think. Soon this little tryst would end and life would go back to normal. But for the next hour, maybe two, she would forget about everything but the man whose massive arms were around her and the evidence of his rekindled desire pressing into her flesh.

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