Voluptuous

Natasha
Moore

When Meredith is stood up by another blind date, she hooks
up with sexy coworker Sam at the local bar. She’s drooled over Sam for months,
but getting to know him better in a back booth makes her wish guys like him
want to stick around.

Sam’s been attracted to Meredith’s lush curves, bright-green
eyes and throaty laugh ever since he met her. Sharing drinks, bad-date stories
and sexy innuendo makes him like her even more. But her lousy one-night stands
have convinced her she’s not worth a second glance. Spankings and a little
bondage just might help the voluptuous Meredith understand that not only can
they share adventurous sex and pizza at midnight, but a future together as
well.

Inside Scoop:
This book contains mild BDSM elements.

A
Romantica®
contemporary erotic romance
from Ellora’s Cave

Why did they make barstools way too hard and way too small?
Meredith Larkin shifted her hips and tried to get comfortable. She wished
they’d crank up the air-conditioning a little higher too. The place was getting
crowded and bodies kept bumping into her as people tried to maneuver in the
small space.

This meeting place had been Evan’s idea. Another glance at
her watch told her that her date was already fifteen minutes late. Why was she
surprised?

Her friend Lori had promised this guy was different. She’d
promised he was a nice guy. One Meredith could trust if she wanted to get hot
and kinky in the bedroom. One who liked a curvy woman. Meredith downed the rest
of her drink. Evidently he couldn’t be trusted to be on time. Or even to show
up at all.

Meredith sighed. She was never going on a blind date again.

She needed another drink. The bartender was cute and nice,
but he didn’t hover around her the way he did the skinny, giggling group of
women at the other end of the bar. That was okay. She didn’t want anyone
hovering. She just wanted another drink. After several attempts at waving him
down, he finally looked her way.

“Another martini, miss?”

“Please.”

She was never going to be a size four. Not even a size
twelve. That was okay too. She walked a lot. Ate as well as she could stand.
Her blood pressure was good. She was just a big girl, as her mother liked to
say. Although some people would just say fat. Meredith had accepted it years
ago. And if guys didn’t like it, fuck ’em all.

She looked around while she waited for Evan. Lori had said
he was a golf pro at the local country club where she worked in the pro shop.
She warned Meredith he used to be a player, but she’d heard rumors he was
looking to settle down. He wanted to meet a nice girl who wasn’t shy in the
bedroom. He didn’t mind a woman with some extra curves.

Yeah, that’s what they all said at first.

Guys just weren’t worth the risk. She didn’t know why she’d
agreed to this date in the first place, except that she was just a little
lonely. Her work at the lab kept her busy all week, but on the weekend, was it
wrong to want a little fun? To want some satisfaction from something other than
her vibrator or her own hand? Even a one-night stand was better than nothing.

And now with those thoughts, along with the liquor in her
system, her body was waking up. Longing for a man’s hands on her body. His
mouth on hers. His cock buried deep inside her.

Her nipples tingled. So did her pussy. Meredith moaned.

“Something wrong with your drink?” the bartender asked.

“No. Sorry.” She hoped her face wasn’t red. “My date is late
and I’m getting a little pissed.”

“I’m sure he’ll show up soon.”

“Yeah.” Meredith took a deep drink. She wasn’t going to hold
her breath.

Sam Burrows shouldered his way into the bar. His cowardly
buddy Evan hung back. Sam grabbed his arm and pulled him along.

“What made you pick this place?” Sam asked. He had to raise
his voice to be heard over the roar of conversations taking place around them.

Evan shrugged, then pulled Sam to a stop before they reached
the long bar that ran along the far wall. “Do you see her?”

He couldn’t even see the barstools yet. “I don’t get why I’m
the one looking for your date.”

“I get burned on most blind dates,” Evan said. He paused as
he checked out a couple of hot chicks with long legs and short skirts, then
turned back to Sam. “There are a lot of fat and ugly women desperate enough to
go out on a blind date. I want to know what I’m getting before I make my move.
If I make my move.”

“What? Do you mean to tell me you stand your date up if you
don’t like the looks of her?”

Evan frowned. “Don’t you?”

“No. But I don’t go on blind dates.” His breakup with Tanya,
his longtime girlfriend, had left a sour taste in his mouth. “Guess you must be
one of those desperate people, right?”

“Me? Desperate? No. I just like to explore all my options. I
thought you were my friend.”

“Yeah, well, right now you’re being a jerk. Why did you say
you’d meet her if you don’t want to?”

“Hey, she could be the next best thing. But Lori gave this
woman my description, so in case she’s not, I don’t want her to see me first.”

“Like there aren’t a couple dozen short, skinny guys with
receding hairlines in the place.”

Evan ignored Sam’s dig. “If she’s a hot babe, I’ll send you
on your way and I’ll do my thing.”

“Your thing?” Sam wasn’t sure why he hung around with Evan
anymore. They’d had fun together for a few years, but Evan seemed stuck at
twenty-one when he, like Sam, was actually pushing thirty. They pressed their
way a little farther through the crowd. Sam was almost a head taller than Evan,
so he had a better chance of getting a glimpse of the woman through the crowd.
“Who am I looking for now?”

“She’s got long, blonde hair, the same as half the women
here, I see. She’s supposed to be sitting at the bar, wearing a blue dress with
some kind of black shawl or scarf or something.”

Sam thought it might have been her about halfway down the
bar. The woman’s back was to him, but he saw shiny blonde hair spilling over
the shoulders of a deep-blue dress and a black shawl draped around lush hips
and looped over her arms. Long, bare legs stretched for miles before ending in
strappy black heels. The toe of one of those shoes was tapping, as if she were
bored. Or impatient. Or both.

“I think I see her.”

“What does she look like?”

“I can’t see her face yet. We have to get closer.”

Evan grabbed his arm. “Not yet.”

“You’re an idiot.” But Sam inched a little closer at the
same time as she began to swivel on her stool to look toward the door. Probably
wondering where the hell Evan was. As she turned his way, the first thing Sam
noticed was her generous cleavage. Lust hit him hard and hot.

He’d always been a breast man. He didn’t apologize for that
fact. And this woman’s dress wrapped around those luscious globes in a way that
made his mouth water and his cock harden. He envisioned himself burying his
face there and not coming out for days.

“Can you see her yet?” Evan whispered.

Sam dragged his gaze up from those magnificent breasts and
caught a glimpse of her face. And choked.

“What’s wrong?”

He couldn’t take his eyes off her. “What did you say her
name was?”

“Mary something.”

He swallowed. “Meredith?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Why?”

“I know her. She works at the lab.” He saw her every day. He
went out of his way to make sure he saw her at least once a day, even if it was
only in passing.

“You and her and half the people in this town. So what does
she look like?”

The thought of Evan touching her, Evan fucking her, made his
stomach twist, but she was his date. Not Sam’s. He’d waited too long to make
his move. He had to answer honestly. “Hot. Sexy. Great smile. Really great
laugh.”

Evan pushed him out of the way. “Let me see.” Sam stepped as
far out of his way as he could. Evan took a step forward, then backpedaled
fast, pulling Sam back toward the door. “Her? Are you crazy? She’s a cow.”

“What? No. She’s…” What was the word he wanted to describe
her luscious body?

“Fat,” Evan said with a sneer.

“No. Shit. What’s that word?” He was a researcher, not a
fucking English major. “Voluptuous. That’s the word I want. Those breasts.
Those hips. Voluptuous.”

“Fat,” Evan repeated. “I’m out of here.”

Sam grabbed his arm. “You can’t just leave her sitting
there.”

“Sure I can. People do it all the time.”

“She’s a nice person, Evan. Don’t stand her up.”

“If you like her so much, you go have a drink with her. Do
more than that with her if you want, though, ugh, I can’t even imagine.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Yeah. Yeah. Are we still on for golf in the morning?”

Sam turned back to look at Meredith, staring now into her
martini glass. “Yeah. Golf. Okay. I’m going to go have a drink with her. You go
fuck yourself.”

“Yeah. Yeah. See you in the morning.”

Sam couldn’t deny the relief that rushed through him when
Evan left. Meredith deserved someone better than that jerk. This was the first
time he’d seen her outside of work and he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity.
He made his way through the crowd and was glad to see the stool beside her was
empty.

“Hey,” he said as he came up beside her. He put his hand
lightly on her shoulder and he felt as if he were a teenager copping his first
feel. She was soft and warm to his touch.

Meredith eyes widened when she recognized him. “Sam! How are
you?”

“Good. Is this seat taken?”

“No.” Her surprise was clear in her voice. “Be my guest.”

His inner teen was still present as he brushed up against
her thigh when he took the stool. She didn’t shift away, which he took as a
really good sign. But she did look over his shoulder toward the door, still
looking for her date.

“I’m glad I saw you.” He should probably tell her about
Evan, maybe even make up a lame excuse so she didn’t keep looking for him. But
he couldn’t do it. He didn’t even want her to know he was aware she was waiting
for Evan. Or that he even knew Evan. So Sam said the first thing that came to
his mind. “I’m supposed to meet a blind date, but she hasn’t shown up yet. I
saw you sitting here and thought, why drink alone?”

She toyed with the stem of her martini glass. “Is this the
hot place for blind dates or something? I’m supposed to meet someone too. And
he hasn’t shown up either.”

“Maybe there’s a black hole for blind dates somewhere in the
building,” Sam said wryly. “Sucks bad matches out into the ozone.”

Meredith laughed. He’d always loved the sound of her laugh,
a little throaty, as if she’d just gotten out of bed. Or maybe that was wishful
thinking. Either way, she’d never laughed at one of his jokes before and he
liked it.

“Do you think your date was a bad match?” she asked.

His conscience prickled. “Probably. I haven’t had a good
blind date yet.” Since he’d never had a blind date at all, it wasn’t
technically a lie.

“Me either.” She tossed back the rest of her drink, then
turned to look at him. “Why do we do it?”

Her bright-green eyes sucked him in. They looked extra big
with the sparkly makeup she had on. “I don’t know. Ever hopeful we’ll find that
perfect match, I guess.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t see that happening.” When she shook her
head, her shiny hair bounced around her shoulders. Meredith always wore her
hair pulled back at work. He loved the way the soft curls framed her pretty
face.

“Come on.” He brushed a stubborn curl away from her face and
lightly cupped her jaw. “Don’t give up.”

She studied him for a moment, probably confused at the line
he’d just crossed. Her tongue darted out to moisten her pink lips and he
dropped his hand before he gave into the impulse to brush her sweet lips with
his thumb. Or his mouth.

“I’ve had so many bad dates,” she said. “I could tell you
horror stories…”

“Me too.” He signaled for the bartender, who seemed to be
spending all his time with a group of women on the end. “Why don’t you tell me
one?”

“One what?”

“Story.” He turned on his stool to see her better and their
knees bumped. He shifted so that one of his knees rested between hers. Her eyes
widened slightly, but she left her legs parted, her dress riding a little
farther up her thighs. He swallowed before he could speak. “I bet whatever you
come up with, I can beat it.”

“Oh yeah?” She took a deep breath and his eyes were drawn
down her chest, to the long shadow between her breasts. “I’ll have to think a
moment. I have a vast library of stories to choose from.”

He chuckled. The bartender finally made his way over. Sam
ran a finger lightly over her hand. “Can I buy you a drink?”

“Sure.”

“Another martini, miss?”

She slid her gaze to Sam’s and a small smile lifted her
lips. “Please. And make it extra dirty this time.”

Meredith couldn’t believe she said that out loud. It was
just that Sam was looking at her as if he wanted to eat her up and she’d never
had a guy look at her quite that way before. It had made her stomach tickle.
And then he touched her as if he wanted this evening to take an unexpected
path. Her body agreed. Her nipples prickled. Her pussy clenched at the thought
of spending the night with him.

She couldn’t believe Sam Burrows came up and sat next to
her. All the women at work sighed over his soulful brown eyes and thick dark
hair and crooked smile. He had one of those perpetual five o’clock shadows that
simply added to his sexiness.

What was he doing on a blind date? He had to have the pick
of any woman he wanted. Still, the look he was giving her at the moment said he
wanted her. She’d heard he had a bad breakup a while ago. Maybe he was just
getting back into the game. Those little touches had sent shivers along her
skin. And she liked it.

The bartender plunked their drinks down on the bar and Sam
tapped his thick rocks glass against her more delicate martini one. “To
friends.”

“Is that what we are, Sam? Friends?” Before tonight she
would have said they were merely coworkers, certainly less than friends. Now it
seemed as though he wanted them to be more than friends. At least for tonight.
She realized she was actually considering the idea.

He took a sip of whiskey and looked at her over the top of
the glass. “I hope so.”

She tossed her hair over her shoulders and gave him a small
smile. She hadn’t simply flirted in years. It was fun. “Me too.”

“So?” Sam prompted. “Story?”

Which one to start with? She plucked the olive out of her
glass and popped it in her mouth to buy some time. “First off, I’ll admit this
isn’t the first time I’ve been stood up. I think a guy sees all this,” she
gestured over her ample body, “and heads for the door as fast as he can.”