Finding Her Soldier (BBW, Military Erotic Romance) (2 page)

A few days later, as I sat in the office filing
papers, my phone buzzed and I got the same notification on my phone:
Soldier1985
is looking at your profile
. My heart skipped a beat. If he was coming back
for a second look, he must have liked what he’d seen the first time.

I put my phone down and took a deep breath. For me,
that seemed like enough of a signal to swallow my fears and send him the first
message, but as I started to type it out, I realized I had absolutely no idea
what to say.

I’d never actually sent anyone the first message
before. Sure, I’d had messages sent to me, but I’d never actually had to write
the first one. How should I start the conversation on here?

As it turned out, I wouldn’t have to send the first
message, after all. While I was staring at my phone, pondering what to write,
another notification popped up:
Soldier1985 just sent you a message!
My
heart raced, excited about what it had to say. I tapped the notification to
open it and found a message, short and sweet.

Hey, how are you? I see
you’ve been looking at my profile. According to OKCupid we have a really strong
match percentage and judging from your profile it seems that we might really
get along well. But the fact is, I don’t think you really know whether you get
along with another person until you actually meet them and spend some time
together. I’d like to take you to dinner and find out if we’re really a match.
Let me know if you’re interested.

Best,

          Bronson

Yes! Not only was he not a douchebag just looking to
“chill”, he was actually offering to take me out to dinner. Straight to the
point, not a meandering chain of messages asking me about my interests and
whatnot. It’s not that I didn’t like talking about myself and the things I was
passionate about; I just got the impression that none of the guys really cared,
they just asked because they thought that was what they were supposed to do,
and that if they pretended to find it fascinating for long enough eventually
I’d sleep with them. I could see right through that sort of game.

I liked the fact that Bronson had been direct with
me. I agreed with him that you had to meet someone in person to know if they
were a good fit for you.
What good were shared interests without any
chemistry
? So I decided to write him back right away.

I hesitated a second, thinking maybe I’d appear to
eager and that maybe it was better to wait. But no, I didn’t want to play
games. I was interested, and I decided to be confident. There was no reason to
be shy now.

Hi Bronson! I’m definitely
interested in going to dinner sometime. What/when did you have in mind?

-Angie

P.S.: Your dog is the
cutest! ;)

I pressed send and crossed my fingers. Even if
nothing came of this, right now it was providing a great distraction from the
pile of papers on my desk. Looking over at the pile, I decided I should
probably get back to dealing with those contracts if I wanted to get out of the
office on time today. But then I received another message from Bronson.

Hi Angie, how does
tonight sound for dinner? I realize it’s short notice, so I understand if you
have plans, but I figured that if you don’t, what’s the point in holding off?
I’m fine with any sort of food, so pick the restaurant and we should be good to
go. It’s a weeknight, so we shouldn’t need reservations.

Bronson

This message made it nearly impossible to
concentrate on my work. I didn’t have plans tonight, so I was available. Of
course, I’d need some time after work to get ready. I didn’t want to go to
dinner in my work clothes, after all. Then I had an idea. I wrote him back.

         
Hey, Bronson. I’m actually free
tonight, so sounds good to me :)

I was thinking though,
since this is our first time meeting each other, would you maybe want to keep
it a bit more casual? We could grab a pizza or something and just get to know
each other. Does that work for you?

-Angie

Minutes later, he messaged me back.

Hi, Angie. I think that
sounds like a great idea. I know of a great place, that always has sports on
TV. It’s got a good atmosphere, quiet enough to talk, but not too quiet. How
does that sound?

Bronson

I wrote back again to confirm and sent him my
number, telling him to text me the name of the place and that I would meet him
there around 7:30 PM. Soon enough, my phone buzzed again and it was a text
message from a new number with the name of the pizza shop.

It looked like things were actually in motion. Too
bad I still had several hours of work to kill. Ugh, please let me make it out
alive!

By the time five o’clock finally rolled around I was
quick to make my way out of the office before my boss could ask me to stay late
again. Sure, I had plenty of time until 7:30 PM, but I needed to shower and
change clothes.

 Deciding what to wear was going to take a long time
in and of itself. I figured I could always ask my roommate her opinion; I knew
she’d steer me in the right direction.

Unfortunately, my roommate wasn’t home when I
arrived back at the apartment, so I decided to call Becky and ask her to come
over.

“Becks, I am in serious crisis mode. I need help
deciding what to wear tonight. I think this is the first date I’ve actually
been excited about.”

“What time do you have to meet him?” asked Becky.

“7:30,” I said, my voice impatient and a bit
stressed.

“That’s plenty of time. I’m getting in my car now.
I’ll be over in about twenty minutes.”

“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver.”

I hung up and hopped in the shower. By the time I
got out, Becky would be arriving. When I heard the knock at the door, I let her
in and explained all the details.

“So, we’re going more casual, but I still want to
look pretty, you know?”

“Of course. Where are you going?”

“Some pizza place. My suggestion. I didn’t want
there to be any pressure.”

“That’s good. I think that was a smart idea. OK, so
dresses are out of the question?”

“I think? I don’t know. You tell me.”

“Do you have a favorite pair of jeans? Something
that makes your butt look good?”

“Umm, yes. Yeah, I do.”

“Are they nice jeans, or kind of old and worn in?”

“They’re pretty nice. They were expensive, anyway.”

“Ok, go get them. I want to see you try them on.”

I went to my bedroom, still in my towel, and got my jeans
out of the closet, slipping them on and pulling them up to my waist. The fit
was tight, but good. I knew they did a lot of justice to my curves.

“Let me see here,” said Becky. She gave my butt a
little pinch. “These are good. They really show off your assets.”

“Ha, thanks.”

“Now what about a blouse. Do you have something
maybe a bit sexier, lowcut?”

“Becky, it’s March. It’s still freezing outside.”

“I know, but you can layer on a nice little
cardigan. And you’ll be wearing a jacket when you’re outside, of course. Trust
me here, Angie, I know what I’m doing.”

Becky went into my closet and grabbed a top she
liked and tossed it to me. I put it on and modeled it for her.

“Perfection. Just the right amount of cleavage, not
slutty, but not
too
innocent either. Now, what are we doing for makeup?”

When it was time to head out, Becky had me looking
absolutely gorgeous. I was certainly putting my best foot forward. As we headed
out the door, she stopped me, putting her hands on my shoulders and looking me
in the eyes.

“Angie, I want you to know that you look beautiful
right now. Any guy would be lucky to have you. Be confident, OK?”

“Thanks, Becks. You’ve been so helpful tonight.”

“And what are you doing right after the date ends?”
she asked, giving me a mischievous look.

“Calling you to give you the details?” I guessed.

“Good girl,” she said as she gave me a big hug.
“Good luck and have fun.”

As I walked to my car, my heels clicked on the cold
pavement of the parking lot. The heels were Becky’s idea, of course, but I had
to admit they added a bit of sophistication to the look. I felt good after all
of Becky’s help and encouraging words. I would do my best to remember them when
I finally got to the restaurant.

Unfortunately, I was a bit behind schedule. I hoped
that my lateness wouldn’t send a bad impression. I texted Bronson to give him a
heads up so that he would know I wasn’t standing him up or anything.

When I got to the restaurant, I parked and headed
inside. It was surprisingly crowded for a weeknight.  Then I remembered, it was
March Madness, so a ton of college basketball games were on and everyone was
sitting around drinking beer and munching on pizza.

I looked through the tables of people to find Bronson.
It took me awhile, but towards the back of the restaurant I found him sitting
alone in a booth. It was unmistakably him, a Budweiser bottle in hand, eyes
trained up at one of the games on a large flat screen that hung off the ceiling
about fifteen feet away.

I put on a big smile and walked over. When he saw me
coming, he got up to say hello. A small, but charming gesture which I
appreciated.

At first we made the typical small talk. You know,
how
are you?
,
how was work?
,
the weather outside
, things like
that. Bronson waived over a waiter so that I could order a drink. Then we
decided on what type of pizza to get.

Truthfully, I wasn’t that hungry. I hadn’t eaten in
a while, but I was still very nervous and my stomach was tied up in knots, at
least for those first few minutes. So I decided to let Bronson pick whatever he
wanted.

But after a few sips of my beer, I started to loosen
up. I didn’t know much about college basketball, so I asked Bronson a few
questions and had him explain things to me.

“Who’s your favorite team?”

“Kentucky,” he said. “My family is from that area.
My younger brother goes there. And I graduated about six years ago.”

“So it’s a family tradition.”

He laughed.

“Yeah, something like that. Don’t worry,” he added
with a wink, “they’re not on TV tonight, so I won’t be too distracted.”

He asked me some questions about my job and I answered
them. I hated talking about my job, it was always so
boring
, but he
seemed genuinely interested in getting to know about me, so I gave him the best
answers I could. But eventually I blurted out the truth.

“Actually, I really don’t like my job,” I said. “Can
we talk about something else?”

“Of course,” said Bronson, taking a sip of his beer.

“Can I tell you something?” I asked.

“Sure.”

“I can’t believe I’m saying this. I haven’t told
anyone this, but for some reason I feel like telling you. For the longest time
I’ve wanted to be an author.”

“Yeah?”

That seemed to pique his interest, he leaned across
the table, his eyes and face more attentive than before.

“Yes. And I’ve written a few short stories, but I don’t
know what the next step is. It’s hard to be a successful author. I certainly
couldn’t make enough money to quit my job.”

“But you write on the side?”

“Yes,” I said.

“Well, I think that’s great. I think the best thing
to do is just keep up with it and see what happens. You never know what will
happen until you really give it a shot. Now, I’m not saying quit your job by
any means, but keep working at it. You might be surprised.”

Telling someone about my dreams, about my true
passion felt great. Finally, I’d gotten it off my chest, and Bronson’s response
let me know the kind of person he was. I know a lot of people would have just
laughed, or smirked, or told me it was too late or too difficult. They would
have told me to be realistic.
To give up
.

Our pizza came out soon. Bronson ordered us a few
more beers and we laughed and chatted for the better part of two hours. Long
after the food was gone, we were still talking. He was easy to talk to. But
soon enough the place was closing and we had to head out into the cold night
air of mid March.

“Angie, this was really fun. We need to do this
again – soon.”

“Definitely,” I said.

Then I took a risk. I leaned in and pouted my lips. Bronson
knew what to do; he leaned in too and gave me a kiss, wet and flawless.

“Goodnight, Angie. I’ll call you.”

“Goodnight.”

I walked out to my car, silent, but ecstatic,
cheering inside.
YES, YES, YES
. He was great. I couldn’t believe I’d
actually met someone like this. I didn’t wait to get home before calling Becky.
I needed to spill this news to someone. I felt so good, so over the top
excited. It would be very hard getting to sleep tonight, I knew that much.