AllFreeNovel
Share Us
1
Madelyn
Damn,girl!Youbig.
He didn’t even have to say the words out loud, because I could already hear them in my head.
I had agreed to meet Vin in person at a local coffee shop because it seemed like neutral territory and since I’d met him on a dating app, I wanted to be sure there were plenty of people around us.
Chances weren’t good he’d get anything over on me, but I’d had a bad experience in college that had colored all my interactions with men since the tender age of nineteen. In fact, it was only within the past few years that I’d started to dip my toes back into the brackish waters of the over-30’s dating pool.
Let me tell you, the water in here wasnot fine. It felt like I was trying to dodge typhoid half the time. The odds were clearly not in my favor and my physical presence further reduced those odds, because the truth was that I. Scared. Men.
In a land filled with ex-Brooklynite hipsters, Onondaga and Oneida men and locals of indiscriminate origin that probably worked out to be some polluted Dutch bloodline–like my own–the pickings weren’t exactly great. This was especially the case for someone who looked like me.
“So, Madelyn…” Vin stood, clearing his throat uncomfortably and I knew he’d already clocked both exits. “Uh, nice to finally meet you–you know, in person. You’re…uh, taller than your picture.”
Thank you, Captain Obvious. Why is it surprising that I’m bigger than the screen of your phone?
I tried not to roll my eyes, but it was obvious I was making him nervous, the guy who’d admitted to me after the first five messages exchanged that he had “a real thing for bigger girls.” I was several inches taller and had a good twenty pounds on the guy, but it was already painfully obvious that I was not what he meant when he said “bigger girls.” He didn’t mean tall and muscular, not at all.
Suppose some clarification on his kink might’ve been a good thing.
I smiled benevolently, because I’d known the instant I agreed to meet Vin that I was wasting my time. He would disappoint me and I would disappoint him and both of us would be back to the dating app drawing board by the end of the day–or week–depending upon how long it took for us to work our hopes back up.
“Mads?” The voice was incredulous and I watched something like relief wash over Vin’s face as he realized that a distraction meant he could make his escape without so much as a polite goodbye. I watched him do it, too, a sour expression on my face as he snatched his paperboard cup off the table and made a beeline for the door.
I turned to sarcastically thank whoever it was that had recognized me. He’d provided a distraction for the jerk. I wasn’t exactly happy about it, that much was evident by my expression, but when I caught sight of Adam, the scowl turned immediately into an incredulous smile that I couldn’t control.
“Beckman! What the hell are you doing here?”
Adam Beckman was your stereotypical brother’s best friend: tall, built, and gorgeous. And still just as completely unattainable as he’d been the day I first set eyes on him in the fourth grade.
Probably still a horse’s ass, too.
I saw him first, though.
Pffft, like that counted for anything.
“What the hell areyoudoing here?” His voice was warm as he covered the distance between us in just a few long strides. His arms went up immediately like he was going to hug me and I swallowed hard, because to be fair, an inordinate number of my fantasies still involved being held by him, though perhaps in situations a bit more intimate than what was appropriate in a coffee shop.
“Last time I talked to your brother, you were still stationed overseas. Air Force medic, which I knew…but pararescue?”
He’d asked Steve about me? They talked aboutme?
Stop wobbling, stupid knees.
“Yeah, 57th Rescue Squadron the last five years. Italy.” My voice sounded scratchy to me as he wrapped me up in a tight hug and my face was smashed into all that long, glorious black hair of his. “I’m out now…trying to figure out my next steps.” I had to spit out some of his hair to say it, but I wasn’t mad about it because it was the first time my tongue had been on any part of Adam Beckman.
“Fucking impressive.” He pulled back much, much too quickly. “That makes you an official badass, Mads. The dropout rate for PJ training is insane–but you stayed with it.” He looked proud.Of me.
The only time I didn’t hate that nickname was when it came out of Adam’s mouth.
“You know me.” I laughed weakly, still completely hypnotized by the gorgeous man still standing close enough to kiss. “I like a good challenge, so when there was even a whisper a girl could get her wings…”
Pararescue with the Air Force was theultimatechallenge.
Adam laughed, a low, rumbly sound that did terrible things to places that had been neglected for far too long. “A good challenge? That’s ridiculous. You know most people have slightly lower standards.”
