“Her.”
I pointed out the hot chick with the rack and ass that would stop traffic. She
was fucking gorgeous. I should know, my cock does not lie and he was giving her
the twenty-one-gun salute. Shit, with my luck she’d be here with someone, lucky
bastard.

“That’s Melissa, she’s a friend of Spanky’s wife
I think.”

“Huh.” That’s all I
said, I wasn’t ready to give anything away yet. Soldiers are gossiping fucks
and I didn’t need my business all over the barracks come sunrise. The guys were
letting off some steam after three weeks in the desert doing drills. The little
get together at the local watering hole wasn’t my usual scene but it was good
for the men’s morale if their captain at least put in an appearance.

It wasn’t all about
blowing up motherfuckers and shit. There was life outside the army, something
other than blood and guts and fucking war. I kept my eye on my prey for the
rest of the evening, which saw me staying way longer than I’d intended.

I’d ascertained that she
wasn’t here with anyone. That didn’t necessarily mean she didn’t have a man at
home but if the idiot was dumb enough to let her out on her own he deserved
what he got. I’m an equal opportunity motherfucker. And the way she made my
body hum there was no way I was leaving here tonight without at least talking
to her.

I noticed that she
seemed a little shy, staying to the sidelines more than getting in the middle
of conversation. Every once in a while private Spanky’s wife I think her name
is Jennifer, would walk over to her and say something but she’d just shake her
head and stay seated. She only moved to go to the bar and refresh her drink,
which she’d only done once since I’d noticed her.

That one look had been
enough for me to get a good look at her amazing curves. She was wearing a long
flowing skirt with an off the shoulder top and some sort of large belt that
hung around her middle. She wore her blonde hair shoulder length and cut in
some sassy do that swiveled and swirled each time she moved her head. I knew
she couldn’t see me from where I was sitting in the dark corner across from her
and that was a good thing because I hadn’t taken my eyes off of her in almost
an hour.

I had to assess the
situation so to speak. My body hasn’t reacted that way to a woman in a long
time if ever. The pull was stronger than any I could remember, not something I
could take lightly. A man in my position usually followed his gut and mine was
sending out signals that I knew better than to ignore.

I studied every inch of
her as she sat there all shy. I don’t see why the fuck she was hiding; she had
the rest of the women in the joint beat hands down. Fucking gorgeous, throw in
that sweet shyness and I was ready to fuck, protect and shield. Serious
business.

Jennifer or whatever her
name was said something to her that made her smile and that’s when I saw the
dimples, fuck she’s gorgeous. I wouldn’t say some corny shit like I was stunned
by her beauty, but I will admit to being caught off guard. I looked around to
see if anyone else was seeing what I was but the men seemed to be preoccupied
with their tall tales at the bar. That was a good thing I didn’t want to have
to pull rank. The music was about to change and I could see from the way she
picked her head up and moved her shoulders to the music she liked this
particular song.

Okay that’s it time to
make my move before one of these assholes see what I see and ask her to dance.
I took my bottle of beer with me and headed for the corner where she’d been
hanging out all evening. The closer I got the more my dick twitched. “I hear
you boy I’m going to get her calm the fuck down.”

Her eyes widened when I sat down across from
her. Damn, bright-eyed girl.

“Hello,
Melissa is it?”

“How…how
do you know my name?” She looked around a little flustered.

“That’s not important right now, I have one
question for you.” I waited until her eyes were on mine before continuing. “Do
you have a man?”

She blushed and looked
down at the table. Her shoulders slumped for a second and her bottom lip seemed
to tremble before she got it under control. That shit tore at my heart and had
me reaching for her hand. What the fuck is this anyway? I had the strong urge
to wrap her up and take her home.

“Not right now no.” Even
her voice was a thing of beauty. Fuck she’s probably some fucking nut or some
shit. There’s no way anyone can be this fucking perfect. She comes across as
the real deal. Soft, sweet, and hot as fuck. The Caleb McNamara trifecta, felt
almost too good to be true. Only one way to find out though and whatever she
was, from the feel of her hand in mine my body was now sending out signals like
I’d touched a live wire.

“That’s good.” I placed my card down in front of
her.

“Call
me when you get home I’ve got to get going but I’d really like to hear from
you.”

She
looked around as if to see if anyone was going to jump out at her and laugh or
some shit.

“Are
you going to call Melissa?”

She looked down at my card and then back up at
me with wide innocent as fuck eyes.

“Are you…do you need someone to clean your house
or something?”

“What
the fuck, why would you ask me something like that Melissa?”

“Well why else would someone like you want me to
call you?”

I felt that in the gut. That one statement said
a fuck of a lot but we’d just met so I’ll have to deal with that shit later.

“Babe
I want you to call because I want to take you out.”

She still didn’t seem to believe me so I ran my
finger down her cheek as I held her eyes. Soft skin and so fucking sweet.

“Just call okay better yet give me your number.”
I wasn’t taking any chances my girl seemed to have confidence issues.

She
fumbled around in her purse after studying me like she expected me to say some
fucked up shit to her.

She
passed me a card of her own. Melissa Jackson florist.

“You
own your own flower shop?”

She nodded her head that blush back in full
force.

“Anyone who can
accomplish running their own business should be more confident babe. I’ll call
you in a little bit. How soon do you think you might be leaving here? I have to
be up early in the morning and I have a lot of questions so we might be on the
phone a while.”

“Oh, um I’m here with my friend and her husband
I’m not sure how long they’ll be.”

“Fine
I’ll call you in two hours if there’s no answer then I’ll call you tomorrow. Is
this your house or cell number?”

“It’s
my cell number.”

“Fine then I’ll at least call to say goodnight,
enjoy the rest of your night sweet Melissa.”

I left her sitting there
my heart heavy. I didn’t like that conversation and I especially didn’t like
the way she looked at me as if she thought I was playing some type of high
school game with her. I guess she’s had some experience with assholes that
couldn’t appreciate a woman who wasn’t a size six, that’s not me.

I love all women, tall
short skinny fat my cock knows what he likes and he lets it be known. Right now
he likes her. How far that will go or how long it will last is up for grabs. He
hasn’t found one yet that he wanted to keep so we were still looking. I will
say he’s never had such a strong reaction to a woman before but the fucker does
have impeccable taste.

The last long term
relationship had ended six months ago and not too amicably either so I wasn’t
exactly looking to jump back on that horse. But I must say she’d sparked my
interest in a way no one else had in quite some time and not just my dick.

In watching her I’d
noticed and appreciated that quiet way she had about her. I only hope she
wasn’t that way because some asshole had crushed her spirit. Then again if this
shit was going where my dick seemed to be leading it will be up to me to build
that shit back up. Who better?

Chapter 2

Melissa

My heart’s about to beat
me to death, is he for real? Can’t be; there’s no way a man like that could be
interested in someone like me. I glanced around furtively after he walked away
to see if anyone was looking at me. Maybe it was some sort of joke among the
men here; let’s see who can make the fat girl cry.

I’ve played that one
plenty in my lifetime. I felt the telltale sting of tears but refused to let
them fall. A cursory glance around the room didn’t turn up any pointing,
laughing soldiers but that still didn’t mean that it was on the up and up.
There was no way that he could be interested in me I mean come on. He’s
gorgeous, like movie star gorgeous with his dark colored hair shaved close to
his head. I’d even kick Brad Pitt out of my bed for him, and he was giving me
his card? No way was I going to fall for that.

“Wow what did the captain have to say to you
Melissa?”

My
best friend Jennifer sat down across from me and I felt my face heat up again.

“He
gave me his card.” Here comes the laughter.

“Wow that’s great Mel.” She was very excited but
that’s Jen, she always expects the best of people. I was still holding onto the
idea that it was all just one big joke.

“Are you crazy? I’m sure
it’s just all some sick joke at my expense. I mean why else would someone who
looks like that even talk to me?”

“Because you’re gorgeous like I’ve been telling
you all our lives. Please don’t let that jerk Jonathan ruin this for you too.
The captain’s one of the good guys, all his men love him and speak very highly
of him even Spanks and you know how he is.”

“But why?” I hated the little kernel of hope her
words gave me; this can only lead to more heartache I’m sure.

“Melissa Jackson, don’t make me smack you.
You’re a bright beautiful successful woman and any man would be lucky to have
you now cut it out. When are you supposed to call him?”

“He
said he’d call in a couple hours if I’m home.”

“That
settles it, SPANKS.” She yelled for her husband.

“Ssh
Jen, quiet.”

“You’re not missing that call.”

“You rang my little
gentle kitten?” Her husband came over and kissed the top of her head before
filching her beer. They’re so cute together they make me sad. I know I’ll never
have that, that love and companionship. Never have a man look at me like I was
his world and it was my own stupid fault.

Size sixteen, not
exactly harpoon worthy but it wasn’t good enough to land me a guy who’s going
to love me like that. My last attempt had just wanted someone he could use. I’d
found out the hard way what he really thought of me when I caught him with his
real girlfriend.

The slender petite
beauty that’d laughed me to scorn as I’d stood in the middle of the mall crying
my eyes out like the jerk I am. They’d been in on it together. No wonder we’d
never had sex and no wonder she’d seen no danger in letting her man play that
game. There was never any danger of anything happening between us, I was a fat
overweight whale.

“We have to get Melissa home she’s expecting a
very important call in a couple hours.”

“Sure
no problem just let me say bye to the guys.”

“Jen don’t say anything.” I tried to shush her
as he walked away. The last thing I need was for her to tell him and the joke
got around. I am very sure that man wasn’t interested in me, but that didn’t
stop me from wanting to rush home and wait by the phone. When will you learn
Melissa? Even a dog stops coming back after he’d been kicked enough. But some
part of me always hoped as silly as it was.

Jonathan had been nice
looking too, nowhere near as nice as Caleb admittedly. I looked down at his
card again. Even his name sounded hot and vaguely familiar. I’d never met him
before though of that I was certain. I bit my lip in uncertainty. What should I
do? Could I really open myself up to that pain and humiliation again? It had
taken me a long time to get over what that idiot had done to me. Worst than him
was the girlfriend, someone who had befriended me at my shop and then gone home
and plotted with her man to con me.

Sonia had come into the
flower shop one day to buy flowers for her mom. She’d been so bright and
engaging I didn’t think anything of it when she struck up a conversation. Soon
after that I would see her at least once a week. I must’ve told her my life
story in that time. How alone I was since my grandma had passed away the year
before.

I guess she’d read
between the lines and figured out I’d received a small inheritance and the
wheel had started to turn in her greedy little head. I met Jonathan a few weeks
later supposedly by chance. He’d come on strong and swept me off my feet. I
know now that she’d used everything I’d shared with her in confidence against
me to reel me in. Thank heavens I’d caught them together with his tongue down
her throat at the food court before I’d been stupid enough to lend him more
than the five thousand I’d already lent him for his bike shop.

After they’d both
laughed in my face when I confronted them I’d ran from the mall a blubbering
mess and had locked myself in my condo for a week; leaving my assistant to run
the shop under the pretense of being ill. Jen had finally dragged the whole
sordid tale out of me and she and Spanks went on the hunt for him. It was no
surprise that the address he’d given me was bogus. His number had been changed
as well so there was no way of getting my money back now.

I looked down at the card in my hand again and
felt a hitch in my stomach. I wonder what color his eyes are? He’d been wearing
sunglasses, which just added to his appeal. And his shoulders beneath the long
sleeved tee shirt he wore had looked nice and strong. His ass in those jeans
when he walked away wasn’t anything to sneeze at either. But the whole package
together is what gave me pause. Of all the losers I’d ever found myself
involved with none had ever come close to him. None had ever made me tingle in
all the right places either.

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