Love & Oreos

Katherine Mendoza, an intelligent, attractive, but moderately overweight Public Relations consultant thinks her life is perfect until she receives an invitation to her high school class reunion the same day her company begins a job for Quinn Mitchell. Quinn is the obscenely attractive owner of a chain of fitness centers who is a tofu eating health nut and aghast at Katherine’s Oreo-addicted ways. Unwilling to go back to her high school looking as she does, she asks Quinn to whip her into shape in time for her reunion. As Katherine discovers that exercise doesn’t have to be torture (but beauty doesn’t only come in a size six) Quinn finds that Love and Oreos are both food of the gods.

Awards

• Finalist–2009 Golden Heart
• Finalist–2009 Emma Merritt
• First Place–2008 Enchanted Words

Excerpt

Chapter One: Katherine

I couldn’t take my eyes off the surgically-enhanced bubblehead hawking her herbal supplements. But let’s face it. It was really hard to look away. Either all that silicone was going to fall out of her teeny-tiny tank top, or the balding, slightly paunchy guy in front of her was going to do a face plant right into the center of her highly expensive assets.

Whichever way it went, I didn’t want to miss it.

“What about you? You look like you work out,” Plastic Surgery Barbie said to a different guy in the front row.

I snorted. I couldn’t help myself. I elbowed Will who was still humoring me by hanging out in the throng of people at the convention center. I curled one hand around Will’s bicep and stroked my way up to his chest with the other. “Wow. You look like you’ve been working out too,” I said, channeling Melanie Griffith the same way Plastic Surgery Barbie had.

Batting my lashes exaggeratedly, I looked up and lost my breath as I locked onto a pair of eyes that most assuredly did not belong to Will. These eyes were only a little lighter than the color of Oreos—easily my biggest personal vice. I’d never seen eyes that dark on a guy with hair that light. It was a rich, warm blond with honey highlights­ that could only have come from Mother Nature and the sun, and it was just a fraction of an inch too long, causing it to curl a bit on the ends. It begged to have fingers run though it. My fingers, in particular.

“Sorry—I thought you were someone else,” I said, belatedly realizing I still had my hands all over this perfect stranger—emphasis on perfect. I yanked them back. How did I miss that Will—my colleague and very gay best friend since college—was no longer standing next to me? I really should have noticed the first second I touched all those muscles. Will kept in shape, but not like this.

“What? You don’t think she got that body with diet, exercise and herbal supplements?” Mr. Oreo Eyes asked in a smooth bass voice that would do any “love-songs-nothing-but-love-songs” radio show proud.

I raised an eyebrow. “Only her plastic surgeon knows for certain.”

“That’s harsh.”

“The truth hurts. And so does her back, I’m sure.”

“Hey, watch it,” he said. “That’s my sister.”

My eyes snapped to his as a humiliating sense of horror smothered me like a shroud.

I could feel a blush creeping up my neck. “Oh God. I’m sorry.”

I looked around for the nearest hole in the floor so I could jump in. When no escape hatch opened up, I scanned the room for Will, but he’d deserted me in my hour of need or was lost in the crowd.

Half fundraiser, half publicity stunt, this annual business expo at the Dayton Convention Center brought people in droves. It didn’t matter what kind of local product or service you had to offer, this was the place for exposure. Which made it hard to keep up with wandering companions.

I started to ease away, but Mr. Oreo Eyes reached out and tugged me back. “I was kidding,” he said with a grin that brought out a devilish dimple in his cheek.

As if he weren’t beautiful enough without it. I think what really did it for me was his height. That and his shoulders. They were those great coat-hanger shoulders that runners and basketball players have. They made an upside down triangle directly into a pair of slim hips and strong thighs that flexed under his dress trousers as he pulled me back from the crowd.

I narrowed my eyes on him. “That wasn’t very nice.”

His grin widened. “I never claimed to be.” He shrugged. “Haven’t you heard? Nice guys finish last.”

“And you’re always in it for first place,” I said rather than asked. He definitely had that Captain of the Football Team personality thing going for him. Given my history with football captains, that thought should have had me running for the hills.

“You know it.”

I rolled my eyes at the blatant show of testosterone. It rolled off him in waves. I could almost smell it. Or maybe that was his cologne. It was warm and clean and a little citrusy. Yumm.

“So I take it you’re not here for the herbal supplements,” he said with the kind of wink that only truly beautiful people can get away with.

I had no idea why he was flirting with me, but I was willing to enjoy it as long as he was.

“Uh, no. My company has a booth. You?”

“The same.”

I was about to ask him which company he worked for when Plastic Surgery Barbie targeted my new friend. “You in the back. Your body is nearly perfect,” she said. “What supplements do you take?”

Whenever she spoke, I heard, Happy Birthday, Mr. President…

“Thank you, but I just eat my five fruits and veggies every day.”

“Give me a break,” I muttered as she went on to someone else. “She’s like a shark out trolling for chum.”

“Jealous?”

“Oh, pul-eease! ” As if. I mean, sure, she got more attention than I would if I walked naked through Times Square with a neon sign, but still.

Don’t get me wrong. I always liked me. A lot. I had it on good authority that I was smart, funny, and even pretty. I had a great home, a fun car and lots of good friends. And my job would be millimeters shy of perfect just as soon as I got the promotion I so richly deserved. I just needed to get out from under the oppressive supervisory weight of one Bennington Wurther III, son of the founder of Dayton Public Relations and my current boss.

I was however, well… I think the current term is zaftig. Curvy. Voluptuous. I carried it well and I would have been the first to admit that I obsessed about my weight too much. Friends compared me to Queen Latifah and America Ferrerra—compliments, both—but several really bad experiences had given me less than stellar feelings about my body. I should have probably done something about it but I had a lethal addiction to Oreos (I may have already mentioned this) and an equally deadly aversion to exercise.

A problem that clearly wasn’t shared by Mr. Oreo Eyes. He looked like he spent every waking minute in the gym. Not that he was muscle bound in an I-can-pull-a-truck-with-just-my-neck sort of way. Actually, except for the hair, he looked like a Marine. Lots of muscle definition (strategically shown off by his snug polo shirt) but still reasonably trim. He was probably a runner.

I did an admirable job of not shuddering at the idea of running without a really good reason (like getting out of a burning building, for instance).

“Katherine Mendoza,” I said and stuck my hand out by way of introduction.

He hesitated for a really long moment as he took my hand in his much larger one. “Tyler Michelson.”

The warm tingle his hand gave me told me what I already knew. Tyler Michelson was the last kind of man I needed around - the kind who would break my heart.

Chapter Two: Quinn

Even as I said it, I knew giving this curvy dish a fake name would come back to bite me in the ass.

I didn’t care.

I knew from Will’s repeated assurances about Katherine’s professionalism, once she knew she was going to be redesigning my company’s ad campaign, she wouldn’t flirt with me. And she was flirting with me. And liking it. I liked it, too.

Which was weird. Katherine wasn’t my type.

That didn’t stop me from wanting to buy her a coffee, and chat her up. Maybe take a peek down her blouse. And looky there. A Starbucks right down the aisle.

She shivered and not just because of the sub-zero air conditioning. Excellent.

“Coffee?”

“Excuse me?”

I stood a little closer to her than was strictly necessary, but what the hell. I guessed the effect it had. “You look cold. Give me five minutes and I’ll get your hands warm, your heart pounding, and have you completely ready for action.”

“Good Lord. Does your mother know you’re on the loose?” she asked with an exaggerated eyeroll.

“Probably best to leave my mom out of it.”

“I’m sure she would agree.”

Mom. Good grief. She’d love a girl like Katherine. Mom was tired of the type of women I usually dated. Note to self: don’t let Katherine anywhere near Mom. I wasn’t ready to make future plans or give Mom a reason to think I was.

“My mother just shakes her head,” I told her with a grin.

“I believe that.” She smiled back.

Whoa. Killer smile. “So how about that coffee?”

She kept me hanging for a long moment before turning toward Starbucks. I followed her, enjoying the view.

Why? She wasn’t beautiful like most women I dated. But she had eyes the color of my favorite diving spot in Cozumel. And her lips looked like a red bow on top of a package. She had a long sleeved shirt with her company’s logo on the pocket, which should’ve looked kind of butch, but instead served to draw the eyes of a breast man like myself right to the promised land.

She was tall, which was good. I get tired of hunching over to look women in the eye. I usually liked blondes, but Katherine had dark hair, pulled into some twisty thing on the back of her head. I wondered what it looked like down.

I’d eat my own shoe if she’d been to the gym any time lately. She wasn’t fat, but she was definitely well-rounded. All those curves made my hands twitch.

“I’d like a Mocha, please,” Katherine said to the clerk at Starbucks.

“Would you like whipped cream on that?” the clerk asked.

“Sure.”

The calorie counter in my head went spinning out of control. I had to remind myself not everyone had a diet and exercise regimen like mine.

“Coffee,” I said on the tail end of Katherine’s order, pulling out my wallet.

“Separate bills,” she told the clerk.

I raised an eyebrow. “I invited you, I pay.” Men paid. Even when a woman invited me out, which happened pretty often, I paid.

Katherine’s eyes narrowed on me. “You’re one of those guys who thinks all he has to do to score is pick up the check,” she said with a pseudo-shocked expression.

Was she kidding? Probably. “Oh, I can pretty much score even when I make her pay,” I said.

She laughed like she didn’t mean to, a little explosion of mirth straight from her belly button.

I liked the sound. A lot. And wondered what it would take to make it happen again. I also wondered how long it would take for her to let me see her belly button.

What the hell was wrong with me? Obviously, I needed to get laid. But messing with Katherine was fun.

I paid for our coffees and sat down at one of the small tables that Starbucks had set up.

“So you do this often?” Katherine asked.

“Do what? Pick up beautiful women at herbal supplement seminars?”

“Oh, ack. Do me a favor?”

I leaned in a little closer and gave her my best bedroom eyes. “What’s that?”

When she reached her hand slowly toward my face I figured I was making better progress than I’d realized. When she poked me in the forehead, I realized she had my number.

“Stop slinging the malarkey.” She took a deep breath. “A) You’re wasting your time, B) You’re losing my respect, and C) I’m not as desperate as I may appear and it takes a lot more than flattery to get me naked.”

Ouch. Shot down. I hadn’t been so brutally rejected since my Junior year in college. Maybe not even then.

I ignored it. “What makes you think you seem desperate?”

Before she could answer, Will found us. I caught his eye and shook my head just once. He gave me a questioning look but didn’t give me away. He was good people.

“Who do we have here?” Will said to no one in particular.

“Tyler Michelson,” I said to my old friend, deciding for some reason to keep up the lie. Keep digging the hole, idiot.

Will cleared his throat. “Er… Nice to meet you.”

Katherine didn’t seem to catch the sarcasm in his voice.

“Your turn to man the booth, slugger,” Will said to Katherine. “Ben’s had his fill. He requested you personally.”

I saw her jaw clench. “Of course he did.”

Will grinned. “I’ll keep your new beau company for you,” he said, with a raised eyebrow at me.

She exploded. “He’s most certainly not my beau.”

“Not until the top of the hour, but I’m working on it,” I said.

She picked up her coffee cup. “Tyler, it was interesting meeting you.”

“I think you’re forgetting something,” I said ignoring her groan. “Like the part where you give me your phone number?” Might as well save some face.

She laughed. “Like you’d use it.”

I would have. For one thing, it would prove her wrong. For another, she amused me. Not to mention all those soft-looking curves.

She disappeared, but I knew something she didn’t know. I’d be seeing her the day after tomorrow. The thought made me grin again. I could hardly wait.