Love Handles - Boot Camp 1

An Alpha Older Man and Curvy Younger Woman RomanceAdamFrom the first moment I set my eyes on her, I know I have to have her. Too bad she's on a date with another man. But when things go awry, I'm the first one to step in.PennyAdam saved me from a bad date... and now he wants more.But with all my hang-ups, I walk away because he is way too out of my league.But it turns out, he's not willing to let me go.Author Note: Take it easy on Penny. She's a little insecure (aren't we all sometimes), but I promise she comes around!This is a Steamy, Sweet, Short Story Romance! No Cliffhangers! If you love short romances with insta love, hot love scenes, and a sweet story, then this one is for you.

Chapter 1

ADAM

“I’m going to hit it tonight. I mean it should be easy, she’s a fat ass,” Private Jess Franklin tells the others.

My blood starts to
boil. He doesn’t know I’m standing in the hallway outside the locker room. I know exactly how men like this are. They are cocky. They sail through ROTC in high school and automatically think they are a soldier. While they’re here, I
weed out the weak. The ones that are too cocky for their own good. The ones that make stupid decisions. The ones that have no moral code. They won’t make it to the next level if I don’t pass them. But obviously Private Jess Franklin had me fooled because he graduated a few days ago. He is now officially a solider with the United States Army.

I’ve been in the army for twenty years. For the last twelve I have been the Boot Camp
Coordinator and moved from base to base. Now I am stationed at the training
facility here in small-town Tennessee. I’m over the whole facility and rarely
get involved in the training. However, I will make a point to teach Soldier
Franklin a lesson. He is here still waiting on his assignment for advanced
individual training. He may be gone in a few days, but I will make sure he
remembers us here at boot camp.

The rest of the day is uneventful. Walking into the only restaurant in town, The Grease Rack, a few hours later, I see a few of my men eating. I walk to the table and after a
round of ‘hello’s’, I order a steak and glance around the room. I come here quite a bit, just because I don’t want to cook for one. It’s a decent restaurant and I’m usually gone before it gets too wild later at night.

My eyes are drawn to the door when a woman walks in. She looks unsure as she scans the room. The light shining behind her from the open door almost acts as a halo on her long
blond hair. She’s a curvy woman and I don’t even try to hide the fact that I take
in all of her curves, staring at her. She has on a skirt to her knees with calf-high boots. Her shirt is loose and buttoned all the way up her neck. I don’t know if she thinks she’s hiding her curves by wearing that, but it’s obvious to any man exactly how curvy and beautiful she is.

Her lips are pinched together as she looks around the restaurant until suddenly she breaks into a wide smile, causing me to suck in a breath at the dramatic difference that
smile brings to her face.

I consider walking over to her. She’s younger than me, quite a bit younger, but she’s definitely
old enough. As I get up from my chair, I find that I’m a little late. Soldier Franklin walks up to her, brushes her hair off her shoulder and whispers something in her ear. At first she tenses and pulls away as his hand brushes against the
slope of her breast when he touches her hair, but then she smiles tentatively at him before following him to a table toward the back of the restaurant.

Turning back around in my chair, I watch her as she walks across the room. Her hips sway slightly and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her even if I wanted to. I find that I have a perfect view of her at the table. His back is to me, so I have no idea what he’s saying to her, but I can see every expression she makes.

My food comes and I can barely touch it. I don’t know what it is about this woman; maybe it’s what I heard Franklin say in the locker room earlier today. Was it her he was talking about? My fist clenches around the knife in my hand until I drop it to
the table. The conversation goes on around me but I can’t take my eyes off her.

Franklin gets up from the table and she looks around the restaurant. When her eyes finally land on me, I am staring blatantly back at her, almost daring her to keep looking at
me. Even from here, I see the blush on her cheeks.

Penny

I finally have a date. It’s my first one since graduating college and coming back home. I was
warned by my mom and my friends not to go out tonight with Jess. I know he’s
not exactly what I need in a man. I met him a few nights ago when I was here
for dinner with some girlfriends and he was here celebrating his basic training
graduation. I was the only single one in the group, so after finding out that
he didn’t have a chance with any of my married friends, he then put his sights
on me. He’s arrogant and overly confident, but I’m not ashamed to admit it,
when you are twenty-five years old and you’ve had sex with one man and it
wasn’t all that, you feel like you sometimes have to take your chances.

So far, it’s going
fine. He’s been nothing but polite to me. He went to the restroom and gazing
around the room, I see a man obviously staring at me. When I look back at him,
he doesn’t look away—if anything his gaze doesn’t waver. He’s older and handsome,
obviously an army man. He’s built and his shoulders span almost the width of
the side of the table he’s at. He’s surrounded by other men, talking and
laughing, but he’s not part of the conversation. It’s like his whole attention
is on me. I feel my face heat at his scrutiny and I have to tear my gaze off
his when Jess returns to the table.

I try to ignore his
obvious interest, but it’s really hard. It’s like he’s burning a hole in me
with his striking gaze.

The waitress Kaylee
walks up to the table and asks, “What can I get y’all?”

“Uh, I will take a
hamburger with a side of fries…” I start to order.

“She will take a
grilled chicken salad with dressing on the side and I will take the burger and
fries,” Jess interrupts me.

The waitress looks
between the two of us and after giving Jess a disgusted look she walks off.
“Uh, I don’t want a salad,” I tell him.

“Yeah, but you need
a salad,” he insists.

I gasp at his words.
I know I’m a big girl. I know it. Does he not think I realize it? I’ve spent my
whole life heavier. I have done all the diets until finally, I decided to be
happy with myself. And although I was excited about this date, I now realize
what a bad idea this was. My shoulders slump and I sit back in the chair.

Jess doesn’t even
notice. He’s droning on and on about his training and I keep looking between
the table and the door, willing myself to get up and walk away.

I look up when I
notice a man standing next to the table. My mouth drops when I realize it’s the
man from across the room. He’s eyeing me, never taking his eyes off me, even
when he asks Jess, “Soldier Franklin, how’s it going?”

“Good, First
Sergeant. Just having dinner with my date.”