“And she has the cutest boys. They are going to love those bikes.”
“I’m sure they will. Before hitting the interstate, I’m going to stop at Joe’s Truck Stop to grab us something to eat. Mama Dee runs Joe’s restaurant, and she’s a good cook. Best place to get soul food in the west.”
“I can’t eat anything.”
He glanced over at her as if he had misunderstood what she’d said. “What did you say?”
“I said that I can’t eat anything.”
“Why? Did Delores feed you? She’s a great cook.”
“She offered, but I declined. The last thing I need is to gain weight over the holidays.”
He had noticed her eating a granola bar earlier and drinking water. That couldn’t be all she intended to eat. “Everybody gains a pound or two over the holidays, Eden. It’s expected.”
“Not by me.”
He frowned. “Says who?”
“My agent. At least, my former agent. Ida dumped me as a client once Dad’s men visited her and made threats.”
He was glad they had stopped at a traffic light. He stared at her. “You’re joking, right?”
“No.”
The more he heard about her father, the less he liked the man. “So, you don’t have an agent now?”
“Not exactly. Right after Ida dumped me, I called Amélie Dubois. She had been my first choice, but she’d been out of the country when I was looking. By the time Amélie returned to New York, I had already hired Ida.”
“Well, it sounds like things worked out, since you ended up with the woman who was your first choice,” he said, moving the truck forward.
“Yes, and Amélie isn’t afraid of my father. She says her father sometimes acts the same way.”
“Now, getting back to your eating habits,” he said. “It sounds to me like you have an eating disorder. The last thing I need is for you to pass out on me while we’re on the road. A trip to the emergency room might ruin all your plans to leave the country for Paris in a few days.”
“I don’t have an eating disorder, Drew. I ate with Beth and the girls on the road from Trenton to Phoenix. Quite a bit, in fact. I probably gained at least five pounds, and I don’t want to gain anymore.”
She was worried about gaining five pounds? Really? “Well, I happen to think those additional five pounds look good on you, and feel five more won’t hurt. I’m going to order a mega plate that usually feeds two people.”
“You will be wasting your money.”
“You need to eat something. What you don’t eat, I will, so I won’t be wasting anything.”
She looked at him. “Do you normally eat a lot?”
He shrugged. “Sometimes.” Chuckling, he amended, “Most of the time.”
“You aren’t a real big man, so where is your food going?”
There was no need to confess that he really was abigman. More than one woman-quite a few, actually-swore that his food went past his stomach and settled in his groin area. That had to be the reason his shaft was so huge. Instead, he said, “I jog in the morning when I can. It helps after sitting behind the wheel of a rig for so many hours.”
“If I weren’t so keyed up about modeling, I could see myself doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“Being a truck driver.”
He had to laugh at that -he definitelycouldn’tsee it. “You’re too small. Typically, when we arrive at our destination with a load, there are people assigned to unload our cargo. However, that isn’t always the case, and we often have to do it ourselves.”
