The Alpha Dating Game: An Extremely Sensual BBW Shifter Romance (3 page)

This for some reason touched him more than any profile he had ever read. She was plus-sized. That much was obvious; otherwise she wouldn’t be on this website he had set up. Then of course, there was the clue which indicated she might be a virgin. He couldn’t very well put up ‘Virginity Status’ as a criteria on the website, but he had learned to look for clues.

It was imperative that she was a virgin.

‘Saving it all for the one.’

That was a red flag if any.

He studied her photo again. She was very pretty. Devastatingly so. She was obviously dressed to go to a ball, but her whole ensemble came across as wistful and happy and eclectic and conformist all at the same time. It was as if there were many facets to her to be explored. He sensed that not many men gave her that opportunity because of her plus size.

Their loss.

He found himself wanting to get to know her better, and not because of the reasons by which he was compelled.

Because she was the perfect candidate.

Simply perfect.

A pang flitted across his chest as he thought of what he must do to her.

The clock was ticking. He had to do it in five days.

HOUR

Jessica hadn’t expected any guy to write to her through the website. Nevertheless, she found herself checking every hour if someone had anyway.
You’re such a loser.
She knew she shouldn’t set any expectations at all because there were so many women out there, and most of them were probably prettier and more accomplished than she was.

Still . . . it was nice to hope. And equally dreadful.

What if no one checked out her profile? The website had a counter for the number of clicks on her profile so that she could gauge how popular she was.

Argggh!

What if lots of clicks registered on the counter, which meant lots of people checked her out, but no one wrote to her? That was far worse!

She wished she could take back her profile now. Oh wait, she could. She could just deregister herself. Yes! That was an option.

Only Lyla would berate her for being a chicken.

Screw Lyla! It wasn’t her life.

But Lyla had always been so well-meaning and helpful that she hated to do this to her best friend without actually talking it over with her first.

But so far, there wasn’t even a nibble. She should know. She checked every hour. All the responses were immediately sent to her Yahoo email account.

Not one single nibble. And she even checked her ‘junk’ messages just in case some of them landed there. No one found her pretty or interesting enough to write to. Was that how she really was? Sooner or later, she had to come to terms with the fact. No one wanted to date her the way she was, even when she was competing against like-sized women.

Argggh!

Desperately, she scrolled through the website and clicked on the other profiles there. Photo after photo of big, beautiful women came up, all smiling, all phenomenally attractive in their way. Caption after caption of likes, preferences, opinions. Every one of them seemed more interesting than her own.

Maybe she had come across as being too opinionated.

Looking for a guy who will accept her for the way she is and not try to change her, and she’ll do the same for him. Very much into monogamy and believes in saving it all for ‘the one’.

Who wrote that kind of thing on a caption?

(Oh yeah, Lyla did.)

Maybe every guy had some innate need to
change
a woman and she was coming across as defiant and recalcitrant.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

With each passing hour, Jessica felt her spirits sinking lower and lower into despondency.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WEB

Kyle hated to do this. Really.

If only it wasn’t a family commitment. If only it weren’t absolutely
essential
that he had to do it for the greater good.

He stared at Jessica’s photo again.

God, she was pretty
.

He knew most men wouldn’t give her a second glance because of her size. He had been one of those males himself, until he was drawn into this at an early age. Since then, he had learned to appreciate women in plus-sizes and their outer (in addition to inner) beauty and charm. He had learned to admire their soft curves, their dancing eyes, their demure laughter and to see them for what they really were – big, beautiful and huggable.

So, as the web administrator, that was why he was blocking all those messages that came from actual guys out there. There were over a hundred so far. Once the guys had a look at her devastatingly pretty photograph and read her honest, heartfelt caption, they wanted to know more about her.

Just like him.

He read some of their (blocked) queries:

“Hi Jessica. You sound so interesting and mature, unlike so many girls I meet. Please write me. I would love to get to know you better. Sam.”

He pressed ‘Delete’. The message dropped off into cyberspace, eaten by the digital gods forever.

“Hi Jessica. You are incredibly beautiful. I hope you would consider going out on a date with me. Fergus.”

What sort of a name was ‘Fergus’ anyway?

He pressed DELETE.

“Jessica. That’s a beautiful name. I was very touched by what you wrote about saving yourself for ‘the one’. I hope I can be that one. Please write me. Gerald.”

Touched smouched. Get in line, pal.

DELETE, DELETE, DELETE.

Soon, he had a whole pile of deleted messages in his virtual trashcan. It had been a whole day since Jessica posted her profile. She had to be clawing at the walls by now, wondering why no one wrote her. He knew the psychology. She had to be questioning her self-worth, having all sort of self-doubts, and her confidence would be plunging like a bathyscaphe into ocean depths.

Soon.

He would make his move. He didn’t have a choice.

FIRST CONTACT

Jessica woke up that morning feeling groggy. The sunlight flitted through the windows of her dorm room and she blinked and groaned. What day was today? Oh thank God it was Friday. That meant her first class wouldn’t be until ten o’ clock and she could sleep in for a bit.

Why was she so sleepy again? Oh yes, she had stayed up till two trying to study. (Yeah, right.) Study and constantly checking her emails after every sentence she read of her Microbiology textbook.

Lyla had already gone. Her bed was unmade, as always, because she didn’t see the point of making a bed every morning only to have it mussed up by night.

Jessica groaned again. Her mouth tasted like something the cat brought in and she didn’t really feel like making it to her ten o’ clock class either. Professor Smythe talked in monotone, and it was difficult to listen to her drone about the creative habits of rod-shaped bacteria when you didn’t have your morning coffee.

Her Dell laptop lay open on her study desk. It was on hibernate mode.

No, don’t go there.

She made herself pad to the bathroom. She took a piss, looked at herself in the mirror, suppressed the urge to scream, brushed her teeth, splashed water on her face, and padded out again.

The laptop sat there like a siren calling Odysseus to his uncertain fate.

OK, OK, you know you want to. Just get it over with.

Bracing herself as though for a dental appointment, she marched to her laptop and tapped the keyboard.

Clickety-clack, clickety-clack . . . bring it on, destiny!

Her Yahoo account appeared, and her heart leaped when she saw the NEW MESSAGE. The sender was from BIG BEAUTIFUL DATING and the subject matter read: ‘Hi, would like to get to know you better’.

Jessica’s excitement mounted. No man had ever said those words to her before. Careful, she told herself, even though her pulse was suddenly pounding. Don’t get your hopes up.

She seated herself before her laptop and clicked the message open.

‘Dear Jessica,

I read your profile and I was very touched by how honest and humble you are. I love eating baked goods, taking romantic walks in the park, on the beach, everywhere . . . and reading too. Additionally, I love fast cars and someone with whom to share rides in them.

I am not the sort of guy who would try to change a woman. Why else would I be dating her if I wanted her to be someone else? I’m very much into monogamy as well and am looking for ‘the one’ who will change my life forever.

Please write me back and I hope we can meet.

Kyle.’

She was stunned.

Meet?

Her?

Someone wanted to meet her! She should be spinning hoops!

But wait. Perhaps he was a troll. She shouldn’t get too excited just yet. He might be really ugly, and this might be the only way he could get to date any woman. She clicked on the link to his profile and it led to the website.

You should be talking about trolls! You are in no place to judge or pick and choose.

His profile appeared.

This time she was floored.

Of course, she reminded herself that ‘Kyle’ could have posted a stock photo he derived from the net. And when she finally met him, the truth would be revealed. Because the man in the photo staring back at the camera was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen on an online profile. What was a guy who looked like this doing on any dating website, let alone a Big, Beautiful Dating Website?

‘Kyle’ had dark, just-out-of-bed hair which was mussed up sexily and the most blazing blue eyes Jessica had ever seen. His nose was as sculptured as a statue’s, and his cheekbones were something a plastic surgeon would put on a display model. His mouth was wide, generous and very alluring. He could have been a model, an actor, or a member of a boy band.

His neck was thick but graceful, and the slope of his shoulders and chest underneath the tight white tee he was wearing suggested that he worked out.

OK.

He was an illusion.

She should delete the email right now and forget all about this. Trash her account and put it out of her mind as one bad dream. But his caption arrested her:

‘KYLE, 24.

Looking for the special someone who will make my life complete. I love big, beautiful women. I always have. I think I owe it all to my late mother, who was a BBW herself. She taught me to see both inner beauty and the larger package which contains it. I know this may sound trite but it’s true. So give me a chance to prove it.’

She blinked, and then read it again. Something about the way he wrote ‘inner beauty and the larger package which contains it’ struck a chord with her. She didn’t think it was just a line.

She stared at his photo again.

Should she reply to him? Should she meet him?

Every fiber in her was screaming to ‘REPLY’.

But wait. She shouldn’t be so hasty. She should ask the love expert, Lyla. Lyla would know what to do.

MEETING

“Are you crazy?” Lyla’s shriek almost splintered Jessica’s eardrums.

She clapped her hands to her ears.

“Let me look at him again.” Lyla grabbed the laptop and blew up ‘Kyle’s’ photo. “Oh my God, he’s surreal. And he lives in the same city as we do!”

“I know. That’s why I’m so reluctant to write to him.”

Lyla let out an expletive. “If he’s a troll, you’d be reluctant to write him. But he’s not!”

“That’s why I’m convinced he’s too good to be true.”

Lyla set the laptop down on the bed and seized Jessica’s shoulders. “There’s only one way to find out.”

“I know you’re going to say that – ”

Lyla had already frantically typed something on the keyboard.

“Huh? Wait, what’re you doing?” Jessica stammered. “Hey, you’re not
writing
to him, are you?”

“If I left it up to you, you’d ruminate till next weekend and someone else will get him.”

Jessica peered over Lyla’s shoulder. Lyla was on her Yahoo account and she was typing a message:

‘Dear Kyle,

You sound like a very interesting and sincere person. I’m delighted that we share so many interests. I’m particularly touched that you are into meeting a ‘special someone’ who will change your life forever.

I’d be happy to meet you.

When and where would you like to meet?

Sincerely, Jessica.’

Lyla pressed ‘SEND’ before Jessica could protest.