Read on and enjoy!
“Hot guy
alert!”
“My version
or yours?” Madalynn Melton said with a laugh in her voice as she attempted to
see where her daughter was looking in the crowd at the mall, but she couldn’t
find the hot guy in question that Elisabeth (or Ellie as everyone called her)
was looking at.
“Mine, of
course! Check out those tattoos!” Ellie Sealis said emphatically. She loved
guys with tattoos and had several tattoos of her own decorating her body. The
count was up to nine now, at least until her next trip for some ink therapy. It
was something that Maddie never understood the necessity of, but if her darling
daughter wanted to see her body as a blank canvas for her overly creative
imagination, then she was willing to be supportive. Supportive was one thing.
Understanding was completely different.
Maddie still
could not tell which guy Ellie was checking out, but that’s what twenty
year-olds spent a lot of their time doing, checking each other out. She smiled,
vaguely remembering what twenty was like, which at forty made her happy she did
not have to go back and do that age over again. Twenty had been painful for
her, but not for Ellie, so she was happy. Ellie attracted guys like ice cream
attracted small children. Maddie liked to say that God had put all the pieces
in the right places when her daughter was created. The strawberry blonde hair
she had as a child had been dyed a darker brown several years ago. Maddie
wished she would go back to her natural color, but she was closer to that color
now than she had ever been. Her hair had
been a rainbow of colors since the age of thirteen. She had bright blue eyes
with sinfully long and full lashes that outlined them framed by a perfect oval
face with freckles across her cheekbones and nose and the effect was topped off
with full lips in an alluring shade of dusky rose. She wore her glasses all the
time, no matter how many times Maddie bought her contacts, she refused to wear
them. She was a size six or seven depending on the designer with a full C or D
cup bra in a size thirty-six, flat stomach, long legs, and just enough junk in
the trunk to get a guy’s attention when she was walking away in a nice pair of
jeans or shorts. Maddie had witnessed some of the head turning her daughter got
just walking down the street. It made her laugh almost every time. She
definitely knew how to use the equipment she was given to maximum advantage,
but most of the time it was with an effortless grace combined with her lack of
awareness that managed to grab the attention of most guys. She honestly never
even realized that they were looking at her.
Maddie
enjoyed the time that she and Ellie spent together, especially now that they
didn’t live together, and Ellie seemed to be getting her life back in
order. It had been touch and go there
for about a year, while Ellie lost her way, but with a lot of work, the hard
partying was behind her and she was getting it together. She was scheduled to
start college in the fall, and that made Maddie proud. She wanted to do retail
management or be a buyer, and Maddie could see her in that. Ellie was all about fashion.
“Yum! I want
a Cinnabon!” Ellie clapped her hands together like a gleeful ten year-old.
“You are
kidding? We just finished dinner!”
“I want
dessert! I’ll share with you!”
“I was
thinking more Marble Slab Creamery before we go to the movie.”
“I can handle
that, but don’t get too weird with your flavors, Mom. Remember that time you
mixed in all your favorite flavors and it sucked. You threw it out. It was
horrible and it looked like crap.”
“Thanks for
the memory. I told you that I limit myself now. Only one or two flavors. We
have an hour and a half before the movie. Let’s walk. We can look in Victoria’s
Secret.” Maddie knew that was Ellie’s favorite store, and she loved to look in
there, even if most of the time it was just window shopping because nothing in
that store would fit her and she couldn’t afford it even if it did fit.
“You know I
love that store! Let’s go to Forever21 first! You know the one in this mall is
huge! Definitely my favorite except that one that I went to with Dad when we
were in New York City.”
Maddie
sighed, “I know, you’ve told me all about it. Several times. It’s not a problem
as long as I can look in the Lane Bryant outlet.”
“Why do you
need to go in there? You despise shopping for clothes. You say that it depresses
you like nothing else.”
“Well,
shopping for fat girl clothes has never been my favorite past time. They can
dress it up with all the fancy names they want like Ladies of Distinction, Plus
sizes, Women’s sizes, Extended sizes, and all that other crap. Doesn’t matter
how they dress it up, be real, they’re fat lady clothes. I go in those stores
you shop in and see all this stuff I would like to wear and never have been
able to. Not in my entire life. I also have serious issues with the fit on plus
size clothing. It irritates the crap out of me. You go up one size and the
pants get longer. Are you kidding me? I didn’t get taller, I got fatter. Also,
no self-respecting woman with huge thighs should ever look at a mini-skirt,
much less wear one, and don’t even get me started on bathing suits. They are
the bane of my existence.”
“I know, but
even I don’t like trying on bathing suits and I wear a six.” Ellie grinned at
Maddie.
They walked
to Victoria’s Secret, and Ellie looked at the thongs and other lingerie.
Underwear was her weakness and Maddie knew that. Next, was Forever 21, where
Ellie went from rack to rack finding all kinds of wants, but nothing worth
shelling out her own hard earned money for.
She liked looking at the styles, so that she could take ideas back to
the little high end consignment type clothing boutique she worked at. She
really liked to dress the mannequins, and sell those ideas to the teenagers,
pre-teens, and others who frequented the shop. That’s what Maddie got for
dressing her in Gymboree and the Children’s Place as a kid. Lastly, they headed
for Lane Bryant.
Maddie headed
for the clearance racks. She always headed for the clearance racks. She found a couple of items to try on
including a really cute shirt in a mint color with small polka dots, and headed
for the dressing room knowing what she was in for, but hoping something looked
good. She tried on the items, showed
them to Ellie and got the smile or the grimace that told her what she wanted to
know. She came out of the dressing room wearing the mint polka dot shirt she
liked, and Ellie looked at her with a frown on her face.
“That is a
no. You look like a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone with that on.”
“Really? I
liked this one. I thought it was cute.”
“No. I don’t
even know why we’re here. You never find anything that you like that you think
looks good on you. You wind up hating it all and getting depressed. It really
is sad, Mom. I love you, but I really hate what it does to you when you go
shopping for clothes. It’s almost the same as the reason you didn’t go to your
high school reunion. You didn’t like where you were in your life and just
really did not want to be around a bunch of people you didn’t really like, and
I didn’t want to see what it would do to you for weeks after you spent 2 hours
with those people. It just wasn’t going to be pretty.” Ellie looked at her
sadly.
“Yeah, You’re
right. I’m done. Let me change. We’ll just go to the movie.”
Maddie never
did trust her own opinion when it came to clothes, because to her eyes
everything she tried on looked like crap. She was getting increasingly sick of
the huge breasts, big stomach, wide hips, and huge thighs that she had spent
years hiding behind. It had the desired affect for sure. No man ever noticed her, and she really
tended to blend into the background, which had been her goal for years. She had
long dark brown hair that fell almost to the middle of her back and tended to
show off its reddish tendencies in the sunlight or whenever she had attempted
to color it. It had also recently taken to frizzing in the last five years. It
had always been straight as a board and she couldn’t even get it to hold a curl
whether by perm or curling iron and now she had to use smoothing serum or
straightening cream to keep the frizzing under control. There were days that
she considered cutting it off, but she had done that once and it was not
becoming so it was relatively easy to talk herself out of it. She had brown
eyes with short spiky lashes and had given up her glasses in favor of contacts.
She did prefer how she looked in contacts. She had freckles that were
relatively prominent on her face, neck, shoulders, arms, and across the tops of
her more than ample chest, which were another nod to that red that was an
undertone in her hair. She had never been able to tan. Sunshine was not her
friend. It was white, burn, peel, and back to white. Her skin had no idea what
to do with sunshine. She had been
blessed with a relatively cute upturned nose and full lips that were definitely
her favorite feature. She knew that Ellie had been blessed with those lips from
her side of the gene pool. The rest of her she tended to camouflage in the
clothing that Ellie constantly referred to as the dumpy and frumpy. How did you
dress a size twenty-four body that you really didn’t like that much?
However, she
was getting tired of her permanent wallflower status. She had been one since
junior high, and although she hated it, she really didn’t know how to change it
and was scared to have attention focused on her. Ellie had told her several
times that she wanted her to have a boyfriend, but she really did not want to
go there until after her daughter had turned eighteen. Ellie’s father would
have made her, any potential boyfriend, and by extension, Ellie’s life a
recurring nightmare of being dragged into court had she even thought about
dating someone, let alone having them sleep over. When Ellie was younger, his
ultimate goal seemed to be revenge for Maddie not wanting him anymore.
Maddie and
Ellie’s father, Todd, were never married. They met when Maddie was twenty, and
he was twenty-six. He moved in to her apartment less than two months after they
met. Nothing was ever completely right with their relationship and it was
always just so difficult to be with him. She was young and was absolutely
positive that if she loved him enough, they could work it all out. There were
so many signs that she ignored. The year before she found out that she was
pregnant was rocky and marked many break-ups and make-ups. It was stressful and
at times exhausting to deal with him. He was almost out the door for good when
Maddie found out that she was pregnant. Their problems just got worse during
the pregnancy, and it all came to a head one day after Ellie was three months
old, and Maddie moved out. She moved to the next town over, went to the local
community college and graduated with an Associate’s Degree. She continued on to
a local university, because she knew that she needed an education to take care
of her daughter. It took several more years, but she did graduate with a
Bachelor’s degree. She and Todd got along a lot better when they didn’t live
together. That was an unqualified disaster. There was no question that Todd
loved Ellie, but he needed to get his shit together to be a good father. He
tried hard to be the caring dad that Maddie hoped he would be when Ellie was
younger, the kind of Dad Maddie’s father wasn’t. During those years until Ellie
was ten, Maddie and Todd had what she liked to call a parental friends with
benefits arrangement that suited each of them for their own reasons. She did
not have to go through finding a new relationship and all the crap that comes
with it, and he had a willing fuck buddy and saw his daughter whenever he
wanted.
That changed
when Maddie realized that at age nine Ellie thought that she and Todd were
going to wind up together and Maddie knew that was never going to happen. She
also realized she was selling herself short the way things were. She told Todd
that they needed to see other people. He was not happy and told her that she
would live to regret her decision since no one else would be interested in the
fat girl and she should just be happy he was willing to fuck her. She couldn’t
say she was really shocked by his opinion, but the venom with which he spewed
it was unexpected. She had heard almost
the same thing from him before, and he never liked going anywhere in public
with her. From there ensued the court battles after he found a new girlfriend
and stopped spending as much time with Ellie, and seemed determined not to deal
with Maddie. He married and moved eight hundred miles away when Ellie was
twelve, and it became an out of sight out of mind thing and the contact
dwindled since his wife really didn’t care for Ellie. She had no children,
didn’t really understand them, and they enjoyed travelling and other activities
and having Ellie around would put a crimp in his wife’s lifestyle.
However, just
last year, Todd and his wife divorced, he moved back to Tennessee to Knoxville
and he began to work on his fragile relationship with Ellie. Now that he lived
about three hours away, it made their relationship easier to maintain, and she
enjoyed the opportunities to visit him. He also enjoyed using her as a subject
in his photographs almost as much as he did the small dogs he had. That made
Maddie smile. At least he was trying, and she had reached out to him via
Facebook to offer him some encouragement during his divorce since it had gotten
kind of nasty. She had no hard feelings where he was concerned and they had
known each other a long time. She knew
in hindsight that she hadn’t really loved him, she had been love with the idea
of being in love with someone and he came along at the right time. There was a
LOT of water under that bridge, but no matter what he was Ellie’s father, and
they were her parents. It would be good if they could talk and maybe be in the
same room without animosity. He seemed to have appreciated her efforts, and
they mainly talked about Ellie. He was
not a fan of the tattoos either, so at least they could commiserate over that.
She finished
trying on the clothing and was severely depressed. She did not buy a thing, as
usual. She just hated the way everything looked on her. They left the store and
headed for the movie theatre in the mall, passing by the Marble Slab and each
got a scoop with an add-in. They waited
in line and bought matinee tickets for the latest Neil Randall movie. They both
liked him and Maddie could just listen to that Scottish accent all day long,
and it also didn’t hurt that he was really nice to look at. Not that she would
ever meet him, but hey, a girl could dream, right? When the movie was over,
they headed to Maddie’s car, and drove the thirty minutes back home from
Nashville. They sang with the CDs and laughed and talked just like they always
did.
“Love you,
Mom. I’ll text you later,” Ellie gave Maddie a kiss and a hug.
“Love you,
too, Angel.” Maddie watched as Ellie got in her car. She could hear the music
blasting sitting in her own car. Ellie smiled at her. Maddie smiled back and
headed out of the parking lot.
She really
did not feel like heading home. Lately, she’d been more restless and there was
a local pub that had bands on the weekends. She had thought about going there
several times, but she lived out in the country and really didn’t want to use
the gas to drive into town to go somewhere for only about an hour or so. She
thought about the fact that she was already in town, so maybe she should just
go check it out, have a light meal, and maybe a drink. She headed across town
to the Pig in the Potato Patch Pub, and parked in the lot, got out, and headed
to the door.
Lucas Greystone looked up when the door
opened. He always did that. The woman in the doorway looked a tad on the
uncomfortable side. She was not a small woman by any stretch of the
imagination, but that was fine with him. She really caught his attention. There
was just something about her that called to him. She had a well-worn pair of
jeans on over curvaceous hips and a dark green top with a draped neck with a
large black sweater over it that came down past her knees. She had definitely
been gifted with more than generous breasts. He had large hands and she would
fill them to overflowing. She had long dark brown hair that had deep red shot
through it that caught the lights. That gorgeous mane fell to rest half-way
down her back. Her hair had a wave that made it fluffy, not curly, and it
looked shiny and soft, just the kind to make you want to run your fingers
through or see spread across your pillow in the morning. He could not see her
eyes from this distance, but he could see very light creamy skin, a small pert
nose, round face, and gorgeous, full pouty lips. Good God, her lips were
amazing, and she was worrying her full bottom lip between her teeth and it was
making him hard. He loved women with generous curves and she was blessed. Very
blessed. He would not mind grabbing that ass and those ample hips while he
thrust inside her and burying his face in those large breasts. If he was a
betting man, he would say that they were larger than a D cup. She was walking
with confidence winding through the tables to the one she wanted, but he could
tell that the confidence seemed forced, almost like an armor she cloaked
herself in but didn’t really believe she could carry off.
She looked
around rather anxiously. Not like she was looking for someone, more like she
was looking for a corner to hide in. There was a skittish look in her eyes. He
knew that she was prepared to bolt like an unbridled stallion if she sensed any
kind of upset or danger.
“Damn, it’s
slim pickins here tonight. I’ll probably wind up going home early. Did you see
the fat chick that just walked in? I’m not even that desperate tonight. Damn!
This isn’t even worth staying for the music.” His friend, Mark Cassidy, said to
his left. Mark was a friend and his manager, but sometimes he could be a real
asshole. Most of the time, as a matter of fact, but he was an incredible
manager. Lucas had known him since college so he tended to make allowances for
Mark where others wouldn’t. More than once Lucas had thought that he was such a
good manager because he was a total asshole, so he just let his comments fly
by, but it was getting worse especially with the crap he pulled with Lucas’s
sister, Casey, earlier this week and he was getting really tired of it. They
really needed to talk about his attitude.
“Nah, I
promised Tom that I would come and watch the band tonight, so I’m gonna stay.”
Lucas answered with a frown at Mark and opting not to dignify his comments
about the lovely lady he had been eyeing by answering. He had already decided
that they would talk about it later.
He watched as
the woman made it to the table she wanted toward the back and in a corner. Mark
had berated her, but he found her very interesting and beautiful. She wasn’t making eye contact with anyone.
She had her chin up which seemed to lend to that air of confidence she was
trying to exude, except that she was clenching the sleeves of her sweater
repeatedly. She was anxious, but attempting to fake that she wasn’t, and the
skittishness was still present but she was attempting to control it. Clearly
this was not her scene, and he knew he had never seen her in here before. He
would have remembered that. She was memorable, just what he liked, and
definitely the kind of woman that caught his interest.
“Whatever,
Mr. Country Music Star”, Mark answered sarcastically. “Don’t forget you have an
interview for Good Morning America in the morning, and it’s early. Really
early! I’m glad it’s not my ass getting up that early. You got everything
ready?”
“Yeah, I
know. I saw it on my calendar. Alarm’s already set and I’ll be at the front of
the Bridgestone Arena at six-thirty with my smiling Luke “I’m so happy to be up
this early to talk to you about my new tour” face on. I’m gonna use my back-up
stuff. Casey’s staying at the house tonight to help me with it in the morning,
and then I’ll have everything else ready for the start. I can call you when I
get there, so you know I made it on time.” He grinned at Mark.
“Hell, no,
man. Don’t even think of doing that! Your sister must really love you to help
you get ready that damn early. There’s no way I’m getting up at the ass crack
of dawn. Well, enjoy yourself tonight, ‘cause the promotion for the new album
and tour starts with that interview, and it hits high gear in two weeks, and
you won’t have time to breathe for the next six months.”
“I know. The
older I get, the harder it is. I think I may take a little time off after this
tour.”
“Yeah, man.
You say that every time. I have yet to
see it happen. I’m going to the back to
talk to Gary and the guys before I go.”
“Ok, man.
Later.”
Lucas was
getting tired of the touring and the relentless schedule. It had cost him a
marriage, kids, and lots of other things in his life, the least of which being
free time. It was hard to maintain a marriage and have children, when you went
months without seeing your wife and she didn’t want to travel with you. It was
no shocker to him when she found someone else. He was so busy that when she
left, it barely even registered with him. At thirty-eight, he was thinking that
it just might be nice to stop the touring and the relentless schedule. He was getting too old for the back-to-back
concerts in different cities. He was beginning to think it might be better to
nurture young talent, and put out CDs when he wanted, stay at home, and only
travel for media stuff for a new album. He was beyond established now, and
competition to be the number one country star just wasn’t there anymore.
Everybody knew who he was and he really had nothing left to prove. There was no
real reason he had to keep working this hard. He loved the music, just not all
the other crap.
At least he
could move through life with a little anonymity. When he originally started his
career, he was persuaded to use a stage name, Luke Grey, and he had created a stage
presence with the name, which allowed him anonymity when he wanted it. Only
those really close to him knew his real name and look, and he preferred to keep
it that way.
He attention
went back to watching the pretty lady across the room, who was still looking
nervous, but talking to the waitress. He decided it might be nice to introduce
himself, buy her a drink, and see if she’d like to talk. Now, that was an idea
that he could get behind. He stood up and headed across the room to her table.
**********
Maddie knew the amazing guy across the
room at the table near the stage had been watching her since she walked in. She
could feel it the minute she came through the door. She could feel his stare on
her and it was disconcerting. She tried not to be too conspicuous in looking at
him, but as Ellie would say, “Hot Guy Alert!”
He had a
baseball cap on, but she could see the sandy dark blonde hair that came out
from underneath it and fell almost to his shoulders. She wondered what he would
look like without the cap. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes, but she
could see his chiseled features and amazing mouth that she thought would be so
soft when he kissed her.
Oh. My. God!
What the hell was she thinking? There
was no way on God’s green earth that guy was going to talk to her let alone
kiss her. Geez! She needed to get a grip. And fast. Maybe she should just get
up and leave. She could feel her anxiety level rising. Leaving would probably
be for the best, but she found that her legs didn’t really want to get up.
The
incredibly hot guy was wearing a faded t-shirt, well-worn loose jeans, and
scuffed cowboy boots. Broad shoulders with a lean build, and well-muscled
biceps rounded out his sculpted body. Those broad shoulders stretched his
t-shirt so nicely across his chiseled chest, and she was nearly positive he
would have six-pack abs under there as well.
He looked like he had gotten his body from hard work, not a gym. He was
lightly tanned, and it was obvious that he had gotten it with his shirt off.
That was no farmer’s tan. He looked like sex on a stick country style. Although she couldn’t see it before because
he was seated, she was pretty sure he had a nice looking ass in those well-worn
jeans, especially if the rest of him was any indication. His jeans looked aged
and comfortable. They hugged in all the right places, were slightly loose, and
they definitely made him look good, not that he wouldn’t look good in just
about anything. The only way he would look better was naked and preferably
stretched across her bed. Damn! She needed to stop this. All of sudden the room
was getting hotter. If there was one thing she loved, it was a man with a nice
ass in a pair of well-worn jeans. She was drifting. Look at the menu. Decide on
food. You came here for food and some music. Food and music. Not a staring
session at a hot guy you have no chance with. She should have learned that
lesson as the nerd girl in high school, but apparently not. Ellie would be
having a field day right now watching her get flustered over a guy.
The waitress
arrived and she ordered a burger with no onions, mayo, or lettuce, add pickles,
cheese, and bacon, preferably not too overdone, with fries and an unsweet tea
with extra ice. She was driving so she
decided to pass on the alcoholic drink, even though she could really use one
right about now. She picked her Kindle up off the table and turned it on to
begin to read or at least attempt to read. She had at least an hour and a half
before the music from the band started, and reading was always a good way to
pass the time. She was trying to look casual and she wasn’t sure if she could
really pull it off. She had a hard time when someone paid her attention and
really preferred to be a wall flower that people overlooked. In her life, she had found that attention was
not a good thing, and as much as she wanted to break out of her shell, it was
hard when she had gotten so comfortable being safely inside it. Her brain
tended to shut down when someone paid her any attention and finding a coherent
thought became extremely difficult which made her feel like an idiot thereby
only making the situation worse. She was an educated woman and relatively
smart, but her social skills were sorely lacking due to a lot of time spent
with books and in classrooms, and not with people in social settings. She saw a
movement out of the corner of her eye that caught her attention.
Holy Crap!
Mr. Hottie was headed her way. No way! She looked around. He was heading to the
bathroom or someone else’s table. No way was he walking over to her table. No
chance. Nope. None at all.
He walked
with a smooth rolling gait with not even a bit of arrogant swagger. He knew he
looked good, but didn’t give off the vibe that he was overly concerned about it
like some guys did. God, what she wouldn’t give to run her hands down that
chest and grab his perfect ass, preferably without the jeans on. He was yummy!
She shook her head to clear her addled brain. Mind out of the gutter, Maddie,
she scolded herself.
To her great
consternation, he stopped next to her table and said, “Hello. My name is Lucas.
Are you expecting someone or do you mind if I join you?” His voice was a lovely
sound somewhere between a tenor and a baritone. She decided instantly that she
could just sit here and listen to him talk all day. She just sat there letting
his voice wrap around her.
She
hesitantly looked up into his smiling face and saw absolutely beautiful almost
iridescent blue eyes under that ball cap with the longest, thickest lashes she
had ever seen on a guy. Ellie would kill for those lashes. He seemed to be
looking at her expectantly, like he was waiting for a response. Wait! What had
he said a second ago?
For a minute,
her tongue forgot how to work. Literally forgot, and she could feel the heat
rising to her face. My God! I have a
college degree and taught high school government and history to exasperating
teenagers with raging hormones for a few years, and my brain is now functioning
as if I was back at the first day of freshman year and the hot senior
quarterback said hello in the hallway. Damn! Say something! Hello. My name is
Maddie. I’m not waiting for anyone and
I’d be happy for you to join me. Please have a seat.
“Umm…Hi.
Thanks. You’re welcome.”
Ooops! That
is so not what her brain had said to her mouth. Apparently her brain and her
tongue had decided that they were not going to work together right now. Crap!
She decided to go for non-verbal communication and save herself the visit to
stupidityland. She raised her hand to the chair, hoping that it indicated to
him to have a seat. She then dropped her eyes to the table hoping to be able
get her brain and her mouth in sync – and fast! Please, God, help me out a
little here or this was going to get really embarrassing in a matter of
seconds. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Apparently,
he could understand idiot starstruck female sign language, because he pulled
out the chair next to her and sat down in it, relaxing back as if he didn’t
have a care in the world. He took the chair next to her, not across from her.
Oh my gracious! His proximity did not help her brain kick into gear, not at
all. She could smell some really nice cologne, the scent of leather, soap, and
an undertone that had to be just his scent and altogether it was enough to
knock her senses on their ass then kick them up into overdrive. My God, he was
dangerous to sit next to. The worst part was that he did not even seem to be
affected at all or even notice the affect he had on her now raging libido and
recently departed brain. That thought began to snap her brain back into
functioning. He was merely being nice and friendly and she needed to get a
grip.
“Thanks, and
your name is?” He smiled again. She was momentarily blinded. No one should have
teeth that perfect and white. It should be illegal or something just for the
distraction factor alone.
“Ummm….Madalynn…Maddie
Melton.” Well, at least she knew her name. That was getting somewhere.
“It’s nice to
meet you, Maddie.” He held out a hand to her.
She took it
and felt an electrical current go up her arm, flash through her body, head
straight to her pussy, and it refried her brain cells. His hand was so big and
warm. She really liked a man with large hands. Her grandfather had been a large
man, and as a child, she always felt safe when he held her hand in his large
work roughened ones.
“Thanks.” Her
eyes dropped back to the table and she began to blush furiously again. Did she
revert back to high school, because she was pretty sure that was the last time
she had blushed this much?
Thank God,
the waitress chose that moment to bring her drink, and to ask Lucas if there
was anything that he would like to eat.
**********
Lucas noticed her blush again and
thought it was the most adorable thing that he had seen on a woman. He rarely met women who blushed. Batted their
eyelashes. Yes. Were unnecessarily complimentary to him. Yes. Asked him to
autograph their breasts. Yes. Blushing with a simple compliment. Nope. He found
it very refreshing.
“I’ll have
what the lady’s having, Ashley.” He said to the waitress and grinned at Maddie
when she looked up with a startled expression.
“Are you
sure? You usually have a steak,” Ashley replied with mild confusion.
“Yep. Unless
it’s a salad, I don’t do lettuce. That’s for rabbits.” Ashley walked away
writing on her little pad. He looked at Maddie and was stunned.
She was
looking right at him with the biggest grin on her face. It lit her whole face
up and it was stunning. He felt like he was slammed in the chest with a fist.
He wanted to kiss her right then, decided that he would do whatever it took to
have more of those smiles bestowed upon him.
He had
already taxed his brain to remember what he wanted to say to her. He actually
had to think about it all the way to the table. Then she looked up at him with
those beautiful, wary whiskey colored brown eyes and he had forgotten what he
wanted to say. He didn’t just walk up to random women and invite himself to sit
down. He was not interested in winding up in a tabloid, so he really didn’t
like to chance being recognized and preferred to be discreet when meeting a
lady that interested him. However, it seemed that Maddie had not a clue at all
about who he was. He liked that as well. Another point for the lovely lady.
“I say that
all the time. I don’t like lettuce. I’ll eat just a bowl of tomatoes before
I’ll ever eat a salad. I love tomatoes.”
“Well, I like
that we have something in common. Do you mind if I ask what I just ordered?”
She looked at
him with a twinkle in her entrancing eyes. Her eyes were brown but they had the
coloring of a nice aged whiskey, like Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Whiskey with
a darker ring of almost black at the edges of her irises and they were eyes
that he could lose himself in very easily. Someone had once told him about
bedroom eyes. This bewitching woman had bedroom eyes. They were big and very
expressive, and he sure as hell wanted to see them looking at him in his
bedroom.
Sitting next to
her, he could smell the soft scent of lavender. It was such a fresh, clean
scent. No heavy perfumes for this lady. He noticed that she also wore very
little makeup, and her skin was almost an ivory color with no tan to speak of,
and he could see freckles dotting her small nose and cheeks. The freckles
merely added to the natural appeal of her. He had no interest in women who used
a lot of makeup. He always thought that they looked better the more natural
they were. Last, but definitely not least, were those beautiful, full pouty
lips that were a natural cranberry color. He could tell that she wore some kind
of shiny gloss, but the color was natural. He would be dreaming about those
tonight. He was pretty sure that he would lose himself as soon as he kissed
those full lips. He almost groaned when his mind began to conjure images of how
amazing they would feel wrapped around his cock. Crap! He was now hard as a
rock. These thoughts needed to stop now or he would never be able to stand up
again.
She looked at
him with a thoughtful look and said, “I think I’m just going to wait and let
you be surprised. But I’ll give you two clues. It’s not a steak and it’s not a
salad. Does that help you narrow it down?”
He threw his
head back and laughed. She was smiling at him again.
She was
sassy, smart, cute, and a tad sarcastic. A winning combination in his book. He
liked that. Liked it a lot.
“I guess I’ll
just have to be surprised then. I’ve never been good at guessing. Is this your
first time here?”
“Yes. I’ve
been meaning to come for a while. I just decided to come tonight. I thought I
would listen to some music and have dinner.”
“The band
starts playing in about an hour and a half, but there’ll be some other music in
about a half hour. They usually wait until more people are here. What kind of
music do you like?”
That question
started the conversation and he was glad that she was relaxing and didn’t seem
so uncomfortable and on edge anymore. He also found that he was enjoying the
conversation and was interested in her answers.
He wanted to learn more about her. A lot more.
**********
Maddie was enjoying the conversation
and found that she was relaxing more and more the longer they talked. The
waitress brought their meals, and he seemed pleased with the burger and fries,
but asked that she bring him a sweet tea. She was ecstatic that her brain had
started working. Thank God. She was beginning to feel like a total idiot.
They talked
about a myriad of subjects with the topics tending to jump rapidly. They talked
about their families, education, previous jobs, musical interests, who had the
worst boss ever. He laughed when she told him that she had won a contest for
the worst first date. He laughed even harder when she told him about the date.
They talked about their childhoods, and what they had wanted to be when they
grew up. She liked his easy smile, and had not enjoyed herself so much in a
long time. He was smart, funny, and actually seemed interested in what she had
to say. Then the music started and people began to get up and dance. She
watched the couples dancing. She always liked to people watch.
She glanced
back and saw Lucas looking at her with a heated gaze.
“Would you
like to dance?”
Her mind
slammed to a stop, happy mood gone. “Ummm…..I’m not really good at dancing. I’m
a little uncoordinated.”
“Come on. You
just need to relax and let me lead. I’ll
even let you step on my feet three times for free.” He stood up and held his
hand out to her and beamed that beautiful smile that made her insides melt
straight into a puddle of mush and leak slowly from her core to her cotton
underwear. If he kept it up, her jeans would be soaked.
She looked at
his hand for a second and was at war internally. She really couldn’t dance, and
she hated to be embarrassed and look like a fool. Not that she had ever managed
to avoid it, she just hated it when it happened. However, she had been enjoying
Lucas’s company, so maybe she should give him a chance.
“Ok.” She
stood up and tentatively took his hand. There was that warm safe feeling again.
She walked behind him to the dance floor holding his hand. She hadn’t danced
with anyone since the sixth grade. Not even at prom. She went by herself and if
you didn’t have a date then you were relegated to your seat with the other
wallflowers. She’d decided that it would have been hard to dance in her hoop
skirt anyway since the theme was the Old South and she went for the whole
Scarlett O’Hara look, so it had been fine with her and her fear of
embarrassment had helped to keep her butt in her seat. It had been hard enough
for her to find a dress, and she had been satisfied to sit back and watch
everyone else dancing.
Lucas took
her in his arms as one song ended, and the next one began. It was Open Arms by Journey. She felt herself
beginning to flow with the music, and she looked up into Lucas’s eyes. She saw
the warmth and desire looking back at her and got lost in those beautiful blue
eyes. She wasn’t sure how to process that look since no one had looked at her
like that in years and with nowhere near the intensity he was throwing her
direction.
He leaned
over to her ear and whispered, “Put your arms around my neck, close your eyes
and relax. Just enjoy the music.” She felt the sound of his voice reverberate
through every part of her body and it left a delicious warmth in its wake. She
hesitantly put her arms around his neck, and closed her eyes. She felt him
begin to rub small circles low on her back, and felt herself relax into his
amazing body. It just felt so nice and she felt those touches sending tingles
throughout her body.
The next song
up was Wanted by Hunter Hayes. She
laid her head on his chest. His scent was intoxicating. She breathed him in
deeply, taking in the full effect of the scent of him that had tickled her nose
earlier. His masculine scent was making her pussy get even wetter. She was
afraid she was going to leave a puddle on the floor where she stood, and her
whole body felt like warm honey was running in her veins. It was a heady
feeling. She decided that maybe she needed to take a chance, order a drink, and
see where all of this with Lucas was going. Maybe he was just what she needed
to break out of her safe comfortable shell. She didn’t realize that she had
begun to hum and sing softly with the song. Her thoughts drifted, they were
getting along and she was sure he liked her if the rock hard bulge pressed
against her abdomen was any indication. She just felt so comfortable and so
right in his arms. She heard the song finish and Lovesong by Adele began to play softly through the sound system. It
was one of her favorites, and in seconds she was again letting her mind drift
as she began humming along with the tune.
**********
Lucas could hear her softly humming
with the songs. He could smell the scent of lavender even stronger with her
head tucked below his chin. He wanted to bury his nose in her hair and just
breathe her in. He was pretty sure that it was her shampoo, but the scent just
seemed to waft around her like she dipped herself in it. The feeling in his
chest was something he had never felt before and then he heard her softly
singing with the words. He was almost positive that she didn’t even realize she
was doing it. He closed his eyes and smiled gently, the soft singing was
beautiful and haunting, coupled with the scent of lavender surrounding them, it
felt like a spell was being woven around the two of them. He felt like he was
getting lost. She felt so warm and soft in his arms. Her breasts were pressed
against his chest, her fingers were stroking the hair at the back of his neck,
and it just felt so right. It was obvious that she was a tactile person who
craved contact, but tried to deny it by keeping herself away from people. All
of the thoughts and feelings were working to make him hard as a rock and he
knew she could feel it. Damn, she just felt so good!
He took his
hand from her back and brought it up to lift her chin, and slowly leaned down
and brushed his lips back and forth over hers softly, like a whisper. Her lips
were so soft, and he felt like they were the only two people in the room. He
pressed his lips lightly to hers. In that moment, he was lost in her and the
spell that they had created. She pulled away slightly and he opened his eyes to
see her beautiful whiskey eyes staring into his with a slightly dazed look.
Softly he
heard her whisper, “Have you ever felt invisible?” Her voice was so soft, he
almost didn’t hear her.
He wasn’t
sure how to answer that and he wasn’t quite sure what she meant, but he felt
that it was important to her. Before he could answer, the song ended and he
really didn’t want to break the spell around them, but the next song was faster
than he really liked and the dance floor was getting increasingly crowded, so
he took her hand and led her back to the table.
When they got
to the table, she picked up her purse, smiled that beautiful smile at him and
said “I need to go to restroom. I’ll be back in a minute. Can you order me a
Jack and Coke?”
“Sure. I’ll
be right here when you get back.” She smiled again as she walked away. He
called Ashley over and ordered a Jack and Coke for her and a beer for himself.
Ashley had
only been gone for a minute when Mark walked up to the table and demanded his
attention as only Mark could.
“Hey, dude.
The night turned out better than I thought it would. I found us a couple of
chicks. They’re definitely up for a good time. Promises to be fun. Come on,
they’re waiting to meet you.”
“Thanks. I’m
fine. I found someone interesting all by myself.”
“The fat
chick? The one you were dancing with? Have you lost your mind? What is it with
you?”
“I like her,
Mark. I really like her.” He looked up at Mark. Sometimes Mark was a complete
ass. Lately, it was a lot more than sometimes. Lucas’s sister, Casey, had
already ripped him a new one earlier in the week for a particularly crass
comment about her impending divorce and her weight. If a woman wasn’t skinny
with big boobs, a short skirt, and stilettoes with only air between her ears
then Mark wasn’t interested. Brains didn’t even enter into the equation for
him. Every woman he took home and fucked looked the same, like a bunch of
cookies cut from the same mold. Lucas wasn’t interested and never had been. He
never went with Mark or even showed any interest in his preferred choice of
female. Lucas had told him several times that he liked women with curves and
brains. She had to be able to carry on a conversation. Real women, not vapid
toothpicks or Barbie Dolls. Mark had never paid attention to that or just didn’t
care, and the Barbie parade continued.
“Seriously,
dude, you did the pity sit with the fat girl. Are you going for the fat girl
pity fuck? Are you that hard up? Come on. I have two hot blondes waiting for
us. Just leave, she’ll never know. I don’t get….”
Lucas heard
the gasp the same time Mark did, and they both turned around to see Maddie
standing behind Mark. HOLY SHIT! OH GOD! NO! He hoped that she hadn’t heard
everything Mark had said, but his heart knew she had. Maddie stood there
staring at him wide eyed with a shocked look on her face and her hand covering
her open mouth.
**********
Please purchase your copy of
Scent of Lavender – Part One
from your ebook retailer and enjoy the first
part of
Maddie and Lucas’s unconventional romance.
Look for Part Two on February 21, 2014!
P.S. There will be a sneak peek of Part Two posted tomorrow! Come back and check it out!
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