His Curvy Beauty by Lana Love

Chapter 3

Sonia

You having a good time?” Harriet walks up to me and gives me a big hug. I smile as I hug her back. Harriet is the rock in my life. Whenever I need her, she’s there, just like I am for her. We’ve been friends for years and I know our friendship will last until we’re old and gray and can’t remember our own names.

“I am,” I say, though I can’t keep the touch of sadness out of my voice. All I’ve wanted is for Boyd to show up. I mean, I knew he wouldn’t, but it didn’t stop me from hoping. He’s always gruff with me, but sometimes I catch him looking at me. That only ever feeds my daydreams about him and it probably gives me more hope than I should have. Sometimes it feels like he goes out of his way to avoid me, even though he hired me and tells me I do a good job.

“Has he texted you or anything?”

“As if!” I grab my glass and drain the rest of the vodka tonic. “One day I’ll find a man who will show up for me.”

“Your boss is a fool if he doesn’t see how much you like him and how wonderful you are, Sonia. You deserve someone who truly appreciates you.”

“I know, I know.”

Knowing that one day I’ll find a guy isn’t helping me today, when the man I’m convinced is perfect barely talks to me.

“What about him?”

I try to follow Harriet’s gaze across the crowded bar, but I can’t see who she’s talking about. Roscoe’s has filled up and it’s jam-packed with people letting off steam on a Friday night.

“Who do you mean?”

“Over up against the bar, on the right. That guy’s been staring at you like a stalker.”

Great.It’s probably some guy who thinks that because I’m fat I’m desperate and easy. Turning to follow Harriet’s gaze, I brace myself for the worst.

“Oh my God!” I can’t believe my eyes when I see Boyd looking at me. He raises his glass to me and takes a drink of his beer, his eyes never leaving me. He’s wearing a clean pair of pressed jeans and a short-sleeved white button-up shirt, with the sleeves rolled up over his tattoos and muscles. I’ve never seen him outside the garage before – or cleaned up for that matter – and what I see tightens the desire I feel for him. “That’s Boyd!”

“That’s the man you’ve been lusting after? Damn, girl. I get it. I really do. He’s got one helluva body on him. And he’s so…focused.”

“He’s more than that.” I’ve been scared to tell even Harriet how much I like Boyd. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a man. From the moment he interviewed me to be his part-time bookkeeper, it was clear as day he was the only man I’d ever truly want. I still can’t put words to why I’m so certain about him, but I am.

“Go over and talk to him!” Harriet puts a hand on my back and pushes me so hard I stumble a little, but I turn back and smile at her. “Fingerscrossed you get a birthday present that keeps you up all night!”

“Yeah, right.” I try to downplay it, because I want more than a one-night stand. Sure, spending the night with Boyd would be pretty fucking awesome, but that’s not what I want. I want forever. “Wish me luck!”

Even though my brain is screaming at me to run through the crowd, I force myself not to appear too eager.

My elation immediately shatters when Annabelle Klein and her friends step in front of me. I know that Harriet didn’t invite them, so it’s either bad luck they decided to come here tonight or they heard about my party and decided to crash it.

My money is on the latter, because that’s the kind of girls they are and they’ve always gone out of their way to make me miserable.

“Excuse me,” I say, trying to squeeze past Annabelle. All I want right now is to talk to Boyd before he disappears. Even if nothing else happens, just being able to spend time with him – and away from work – would be a gift in itself.

“How come you didn’t invite us to your…” Annabelle pauses, then dramatically looks around the bar. When her eyes land on Harriet and our friends, all sitting in some booths against the wall, her sharp features fall into a scowl. “I guess I can see why you didn’t invite us to your party. I mean, look at this place!”

“What’s wrong with Roscoe’s? I like this bar!”

All three of the girls look at each other and burst into laughter, and I realize I’ve walked right into Annabelle’s trap. I look past them, my eyes searching for Boyd, hoping he hasn’t gotten up and left. I hope to God he’s not seeing this. My cheeks are already burning from embarrassment. You’d think that after years and years of going to school with these girls, that I’d have learned how to deal with them or that they’d find someone new to pick on, but…no. Sadly no.

“Oh, who you looking at?” Annabelle’s friend Emma asks, turning to look in Boyd’s direction. He’s looking straight at us. “You’re going to talk to him? What planet do you live on that you think he’d want to talk to you? Annabelle, isn’t that the guy you were talking to?”

Annabelle turns her head and her body stiffens. When she turns back to her friends and me, there’s a faint blush on her cheeks.

“He was nothing. Asked to buy me a drink. Of course I said no. As if!” She juts her chin in the air and I recognize the insecurity. What actually happened? “I mean, he’s sure easy on the eyes, but I like my men with a little more…class.”

If I don’t get away from these girls, I’m going to lose my temper, which is one of the last things I want to do on my birthday.

“Excuse me,” I say, roughly trying to push past them. I don’t even care that it’s rude, but I’m not going to stand and listen to them put me down or talk badly about Boyd. He’s better than all of them put together.

“You think you can just push me out of the way?” Annabelle’s voice is a menacing hiss as she grabs my arm so much it hurts.

“Ow! Let go of me!”

“What’s going on over here?”

All of a sudden, Boyd is standing next to me, pulling Annabelle’s fingers off my arm, and then wrapping his arm possessively over my shoulders. Instinctively, my body leans into him. Having his arm around me is more than comfort, I feel protected, like him touching me is the most commonplace thing in the world.

Annabelle’s eyes flare as she looks at Boyd, and then back at me. “You’re…she’s the one you were waiting for? She’s your…girlfriend?” The word comes out of her mouth like it’s poisonous.

“You’re damned right she is.”

Then Boyd pulls me so that I’m facing him and he kisses me so passionately I see stars.