“I make a jambalaya that women swoon over…”

Could the man ever say something that didn’t involve other females? Lex listened with half an ear to his masterful feats of culinary genius. At least getting their food meant that he didn’t talk as much.

The Caesar salad arrived, aromatic with garlic, studded with caramel-colored anchovies. The crisp lettuce popped in her mouth with freshness. The perfect balance for the wontons, and a way to ready her palate for the crab to come. The dressing sizzled with hot pepper, tangy vinegar, creamy mayo, and bright lemons.

George cut into an anchovy. “Salads are a great way to lose weight.”

That was random. “Um-hm.” Just keep chewing, Georgy-boy, so I don’t have to listen to you.

“But you need exercise too. Increase muscle mass, increase metabolism.”

Where was he going with this? Lex cleared her throat. “How often do you work out?”

“Three times a week minimum, but I try to make it more often.”

Lex did a discreet appraisal. Not a powerhouse, but not flabby. He probably only made it to the gym twice a week on average. She sighed. She and George didn’t even have athleticism in common, because she worked out much more than he did. “Do you play sports?”

George swallowed a bite. “I’m taking kickboxing right now. You should try it, it’s fun.”

On the volleyball court, she didn’t mind getting bruises and floor burns on her body, but blows to the head wigged her out. Kickboxing? No, thank you. “Mm-hm.”

“It’s great exercise. You’d tone your body a bit.”

Uneasiness and suspicion caused a prickling at the back of her eyeballs and a humming along her jaw. “What do you mean?”

His handsome smile could charm the knife away from a serial killer. “You’d fit your clothes better and feel great about yourself.”

What?

Sure, she didn’t have curves, but she never thought she looked out of shape. She glanced down. Her tucked-in blouse ballooned out from her skirt waistband. She thought the loose top would hide her flat chest while the pleated skirt would give her hips, but maybe it gave another illusion entirely. Did he actually think she looked fat?

Lex didn’t say anything for a long time. A weird emotionless feeling had descended on her. She blinked, wondering what her reaction should be.

Gee, I ran five miles yesterday, and the day before that, I did lateral movement drills on a sand volleyball court. Not enough toning?

You know, I didn’t care much for sparring sports, but you’re making me rethink that.

My life has been completely changed by your sensitive insight into my weight and self-esteem.

The waitress saved him. Maybe she had a premonition of George’s imminent demise and swept in to rescue him. She removed the salad plates and presented the garlic roasted crab with a flourish.

Hot, pungent aromas steamed Lex’s face as she leaned over the plate for a long, ecstatic breath. An exotic mix of spices melded with the warm richness of browned butter. Only a whiff of brine. The shells had a warm, healthy sunset color. Her mouth watered.

She lifted the top shell and inhaled a sweet tang of the sea. She picked out a forkful of feathery meat and took a bite.

She magnanimously forgave George for everything. Because of him, she sat here in pure bliss.

George nattered on about fat cells, he checked out the miniskirt of the woman sitting at the next table, and she thought he called her Alicia once. He could call her Big Bird for all she cared. She had reached Shangri-la.

“Hiya, Lex!”

She plummeted straight into hell.

Mimi posed beside their table. Her sleek black dress revealed her curvy hips, while her perky C-cups squished under the low, tight neckline. She flashed white teeth framed by lipstick that screamed “Red Light District.”

“How nice to see you here, Lex.” Mimi tossed her shimmering, calf-length ponytail. She then ignored Lex and sidled up to George.

“Hi, I’m Mimi, Lex’s cousin.”

He seemed dazed by the jiggling mounds waving in his face.

“George.”

Her mesmerizing, half-lidded eyes drew close to him. “You seem familiar. Have we met before?”

Wait a cotton-pickin’ minute. What was Mimi doing? She already had Kin-Mun, and if the two-hundred-pound hunk of steroid-built muscle glaring at them from across the room indicated anything, Mimi had men by the dozen. Why go after Lex’s measly lamb? Well, granted, George was more like good-looking slime, but still. Lex sat forgotten on the other end of the table, a lump on the couch watching a bad soap opera.

George lived up to her abysmal expectations with a delighted reply. “I promise, I wouldn’t have forgotten you if we had.”

“Are you sure? I could have sworn I saw you at a naked coed Ultimate Frisbee game.”

His answering look smoldered with wicked glee. “Oh, darling, I would only flaunt this body for a private audience.”

Lex tried not to gag. George wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she expected a little consideration while she remained within reasonable distance. Like three feet away across the dinner table.

Mimi gave her a sly sidelong look. Can’t keep your date’s attention, Lex?

Heat rushed into Lex’s face like her head had been stuck in an oven. Her chest tightened in pain, and her lungs felt punctured. She gasped for a breath that burned down her throat. She hunched her shoulders, trying to shrink within her clothes, make herself smaller, more delicate, more feminine.

“Oh!” Mimi’s graceful hand touched her shell-shaped ear.

“Where’s my earring?” She bent to search the floor, affording a generous view down her dress.

George paused a moment to stare down at her like a predatory wolf. Then he scooted his chair back and bent to peer at the patterned carpet.

When his head fell at level with hers, Mimi lifted her chin at him.

He also tilted toward her. She smiled a slow, sensual bedroom smile, as if daring him to move the scant inches between them and press his lips to hers.

George gave an inane smile.

A spasm squeezed through Lex’s chest. Ignored and spotlighted at the same time. Shut out by the two lovebirds exchanging heated glances. Laughed at by everyone else in the restaurant who witnessed the poor plain Jane losing her handsome escort in front of her eyes.

Mimi rose languidly to her feet. A business card appeared between two fingers. Where had that come from? Her bosom? As she tilted it toward George, he plucked it from her without breaking eye contact.

She dragged a seemingly innocent finger down her neck in an unselfconscious gesture. “Nice meeting you, George.”

“The pleasure was all mine.”

Mimi’s eyes flickered to Lex. “How do you two know each other?”

“Me and Lex? Oh, her brother set us up.”

Wait a minute. No, he didn’t. Richard just asked George to show her some condos. Why did George say that? It took a second for Lex to pick up what he didn’t say.

Had Richard asked him to ask Lex out to dinner?!

No way. Richard wouldn’t be that stupid. Or suicidal – because he’d know his sister would hunt him down if she found out.

But drowning her anger, a sludge-filled sea of utter mortification pulled at her with a slow undertow. She’d needed her brother to get a date.

And Mimi would tell everyone.

Lex would never live this down. She closed her eyes to block out the sight of Mimi’s sparkling gaze and surprised, mocking expression. In Lex’s world of warm darkness, Mimi’s high, trilling voice cut through.

“Oh reeeally?” A giggle. “Well, next time I’ll be sure to take advantage of Richard’s dating ser vice.”

Lex’s eyes flew open. She needed to salvage her pride behind some white-hot anger. “Stow it, Skipper.”

Mimi’s smile hardened. She looked like she did when she had ripped the head off of Trish’s Barbie doll when they were younger. A warm, vindictive rush pooled in Lex’s heart at the thought that no amount of push-up bras and scanty clothing could make Mimi look taller than an elementary school student.