Bikini Season Read Online Free Page A

Ugh.

    Her cell phone rang and she fished it out of her purse. Of course, it was Lionel.
    â€œSo, what’s the doctor say?”
    â€œIt looks like we dodged the bullet, but they’re going to watch me.”
    â€œYou don’t have cancer.”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œThen why are they going to watch you?”
    â€œJust to be sure.”
    â€œThat doesn’t make any sense. What’s the problem?”
    â€œThe doctor’s pretty sure I just need some progesterone.” Too much fat had turned into too much estrogen. And that was why she had to take off some weight. The fat was contributing to her estrogen-overload problem.
    â€œSo, if they put you on hormones does that mean your sex drive’s gonna go up?”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with my sex drive?” she demanded, then realized that she had just gotten the attention of the deli counter clerk, two shoppers, and a stock boy. She lowered her voice. “As if you don’t get enough, you big pig.”
    â€œCome on, girl, when it comes to you, you know there’s no such thing as too much.”
    Kizzy shook her head. “You can sure dish up the sweet talk.”
    â€œAnd you love me for it. So, you want to go out to dinner and celebrate?”
    â€œNo, I’ve got dinner planned. Just come on home.”
    â€œOkay, then. See you later.”
    And when he did see her later, he came bearing gifts: champagne and a box of Godiva chocolates.
    She turned from the pot of soup she was stirring and pointed to the candy. “Not with that we’re not celebrating. I need to lose weight.”
    He set the candy and champagne on the granite kitchen island and gave her a hug. “Naw, you don’t. I like a woman with some junk in the trunk.”

    â€œWell, I’ve got to empty my trunk. Dr. Stevens said so.”
    Lionel gave a snort of disgust. “A skinny white boy? What does he know about what looks good?”
    Kizzy shook her head at him. “We didn’t discuss my looks. We were talking about my health.”
    Lionel’s scornful expression turned to instant concern. “I thought you were fine.”
    â€œWell, I am, but I still need to lose weight.”
    Lionel flipped back into scornful mode. He pulled her close and nuzzled her neck. “That doctor may know about your insides, but he knows nothin’ about the rest of you. You look fine, Kiz. You really do.”
    She gave his cheek a caress. “You’re sweet, Lion.”
    Of course, it was wonderful to have her husband love her just the way she was. But she didn’t want to turn into some of the ladies at Zion First Baptist that she’d gawked at as a kid. It was one thing to have a body like Queen Latifah. It was quite another to have one like three Queen Latifahs put together. And she was already about a Queen and a half.
    Lionel frowned at the soup and salad offering she placed on the oak kitchen table where they always ate. “Do I look like a rabbit to you? I hope this is just the first course.”
    She pointed her fork at him. “You could stand to whittle down a little, too, you know.” He looked like an out-of-shape Emmitt Smith. A very out-of-shape Emmitt.
    Gus, their King Charles Spaniel, sat nearby, watching them. At this, he cocked his head at Kizzy and whined as if fearing he, too, would get caught in her diet net.
    Lionel wasn’t any more receptive. He reared back his head and frowned at her. “Just because the doctor picked on you doesn’t mean you have to go passing it on to me. I’m happy the way I am. And you should be, too.” He forked the last bit of salad into his mouth, then he went to the fridge to forage. “I need meat.”
    â€œYou had meat. There was chicken in the salad.”
    â€œAnd potatoes,” he added, pulling out a bowl of leftover mashed
potatoes from the night before. “Kizzy girl, we both work hard. We have got to eat.”
    â€œNot