BBW on Fire - Complete (9 page)

Piling into the waiting taxi, the girls headed to the bar.  They hit the bouncer and made their way inside.  Picking a table in the second row, the first row was full of teeny tiny princesses, Chloe made quick work of ordering them more drinks and a bucket of beers.

“Both?” Izzy tried to whisper.

“Oh girl, you need to lighten up!” Nikki said. “We are going to have fun and that means you too.”

“Cheers,” Izzy offered, but couldn’t help but say it warily.

Izzy liked a drink sure, but she did not want to get hammered in front of a group of firefighters.  Gawd, could you imagine? Passing out drunk only to wake up to half-dressed hunks checking your vitals? Izzy would surely have a real heart attack and die of embarrassment.

The lights dimmed and a truly terrible MC came on and brought groans from the crowd as his microphone emitted a horrific screech.  Getting himself under control, he welcomed the audience who responded with hoots and hollers.

Izzy was only half paying attention.  She was nursing her drink and peeling the label off her beer bottle.  The first contestant was painfully awkward; Izzy immediately felt sympathy for him.  She wouldn’t get on that stage for a million dollars.  No, not even ten million.  Hells to the no, on that.  The sad little dancer finally hobbled off stage still half dressed.

Next up was what could only be described as a sex god.  No joke. Izzy felt her eyes grow huge at the sight of this studmuffin.  And said studmuffin seemed to be looking at their table.  No way? Right?  But he was, he was looking straight to the center where Chloe happened to be sitting.  Izzy looked back and forth between them as the man named Rafe danced.  She looked at Nikki who was also doing the tennis match head twist between the two.  She caught Izzy’s eye and gave her a huge grin.

Oh my sweet lord, was that guy working it for you?!” Nikki yelled.

“He totally was!” Izzy said bouncing in her seat.

“He was not, that’s crazy,” Chloe said.

“With all those skinny tramps in the front row, there is no way he was checking out the fluffy chick in the second row.” Chloe always resorted to self-bashing when she was embarrassed.

“If he wasn’t dancing for you, then why is he making his way over to our table?” Nikki said with a wicked grin.

Izzy watched in fascination as the firefighter named Rafe, made his way to their table, introduced himself and whisked a still stuttering Chloe off to the back for a drink and a little chat.  Izzy knew that man had more than chatting on his mind.

“One down, two to go!” Nikki said to Izzy.

“Oh sure, I’m going to hook up with half the department tonight,” Izzy said with a hiccup.

Shit, Izzy realized her drinks were catching up with her.  She forgot to eat before she left.  Well she really didn’t forget.  She’d made a calculated decision that no food was going to fit inside her skintight jeans.  Last thing she needed tonight was a wardrobe malfunction.

Izzy and Nikki sat through another terribly awkward dancer, who just looked like he wanted the floor to open up and swallow him.  Even the vapid vipers in the front rows had stopped cheering.

“Alright everyone, I have a three-alarm stud coming up!” the MC rang out.  “Next up we have Chase, Chase has been with District 17 for three years, and loves to hang out with his dog Max and spend time with his daughter Penny. But don’t worry ladies; he is single and ready to mingle!”  A chorus of groans followed that announcement.

Izzy ogled the dark, muscled, swarthy looking hunk of man-flesh that stepped out onto the stage and basically start humping the air.  The freaking bar lost its shit, girls screaming, yelling and pounding on the tables.  Izzy couldn’t blame them, he was luscious.

“No way is he real,” Nikki whispered.

Izzy turned to look at her friend and saw her eyes were glazed over, staring at the man on stage.

“I don’t think he’s real, we must be hallucinating,” she offered.

Then shit you not, the man dropped to the floor and started doing push-ups! Then one-armed push-ups!

“I think I just came,” Nikki said.

Izzy spit out the drink of beer she had just swigged, “Damn it Nikki, you can’t just say things like that!” she squealed.

“I’m not joking Izzy, that man is amazing,” Nikki said, wiping the imaginary drool off her chin.

“You’re too much Nikki,” Izzy said cleaning up the beer she’d sprayed on the table.  She never understood how Nikki could just say shit like that.  It was mortifying when she did it in quiet restaurants, thank goodness they were in a loud rowdy bar.

Then like some scene out of one of Izzy’s books, the guy, Chase, hopped off the stage and strode to their table.  At this point having two hot men search out the table with the chunky chicks, had the vapid vipers (aka skinny bitches) seething.

“Holy guacamole,” Izzy whispered, “It’s happening again!” She watched as the hunky Chase made his way to their table and sat next to Nikki.  There was the usual introductions and banter from Nikki.  She really couldn’t help herself.  She was born with more sass than a group of hungry super models.  It’s just who she was.  But from the looks of things, Chase totally got off on that sass and possibly her ass from the way his eyes kept skimming up and down her friend’s body.

They continued their verbal foreplay until the point that Chase told Nikki no holds barred that he wanted to take her home and do delicious, naughty things to her.  Having totally forget Izzy was sitting, listening to all this.  She really couldn’t blame them, they had eyes only for each other and Iz thought that was beautiful.  That kinda thing would never happen to her.  She had a better chance of getting struck by lightning, and with her luck she probably just cursed herself.

Nikki was in the middle of her reasons not to go home with Chase, when Izzy spoke up, “Really guys, I can head home anytime. I do know how to catch a cab you know,” she assured them.

This was mostly ignored, as Chloe was making her way back from the bar with Rafe.  They were heading out for lord only knows what kind of hot steamy sex.  Izzy really doubted they were going to go play chutes and ladders.  Although that might be fun with the right firefighter.

Chloe got the ok from Nikki to go forth and make pretty firefighter hottie babies.  Izzy managed a weak nod and smile to her.  Chase convinced Nikki to hit the dance floor, although from where Iz sat, it was more of a slow molestation than a dance.

“God, why am I always left guarding the purses,” she sighed into her drink.  She wanted to be confident and secure in her own self, like her friends were.  They had honestly tried for years to get her to see what they saw.  But there was no way Isabella Antoinette McMillan would ever think she was all that and a bag of chips.  Great, now she wanted chips.

Izzy took another sip of her drink, she was just past buzzed and was heading towards drunk.  She would probably stop before she hit sloshed, but the night was young and she was feeling pretty pitiful.

“Hey Angel, this seat taken?” said a deep, honeyed voice that sounded out of breath.

Flipping her head over her shoulder towards that voice, she found herself flipping her head back the other direction as the flash of skin and sex twirled around her.

“Um, I’m sorry?” she said on a whisper, watching the man in front of her bouncing on his toes, his hand resting on the stool next to her.  He was smiling at her, a huge white toothy grin.  That grin was surrounded by thick lips, which were framed in a stubbly strong jaw.  Izzy managed to look up at a pair of sparkling brown eyes, and she wasn’t being poetic, there were sparks in his eyes.  Gold flecks in the brown that were dancing with excitement.  He must have been over six feet tall, broad shoulders, like linebacker broad.  He was wearing a pair of black trousers, a black shirt completely unbuttoned and a slouchy beanie hat on his head.  But guessing by his dark eyebrows, his hair was dark too.

“I asked if this seat was taken? Or really I was asking if there was somebody you were saving it for? Are you? Saving it for someone?” he said, the words rushing out of his mouth.  And he never stopped smiling.  Weird.

“No, no one is sitting there. Do you need it? I mean you can take it if you want. My friends are leaving at a rather fast clip. Like rats from a ship,” she finished, realizing she was rambling. Shit, why was she such a spaz?

“Oh I don’t need it, I just wanted to sit by you. My friends told me I needed to wait to talk to you, but why wait? Like there is some rule about when to talk to someone? I mean who makes these rules? And why?” he asked, continuing his bounce.

Christ, was this guy on something? High? Delusional? “Are you on something?” Izzy heard herself blurt out.  Oh sweet baby Jesus, she did not just say that to a stranger.

“Hah, no, not really. I’m just super pumped about tonight. I like to dance, plus we get to raise money for the burn unit. That rocks! I’m Eli by the way. It’s actually Elias Talbot, but only my mom calls me that, and only when I’m in trouble,” he said with a chuckle.

“You still get in trouble with your mommy?” she teased.  Did she just banter back with the cute guy?  Hell these drinks must have been stronger than she thought.

“Hell yes I do, I’m always being a bad boy. Good thing my mom thinks I’m adorable,” he said with a wink.

“I bet she does,” Izzy murmured, taking a sip of her drink.

“You’re beautiful,” Eli said, his eyes following the curves of her face, “You look just like an Angel, what’s your name?”

Izzy choked on her drink.  She tried to dab at the spray on the table.  Nice one Izzy, she thought.

“Seriously?” she managed once she found the ability to breathe again.  At his nod she said, “I’m Isabella McMillan,” she always said her full name.  Let them figure it if she was an Isabella or an Izzy to them.

“Of course seriously! I’ve been waiting forever to come talk to you. The guys said I should wait until after I did my dance, but I saw you sitting alone and jumped at the opportunity. Didn’t want another guy to get your attention first,” he finished leaning over and running a fingertip over the apple of her cheek, “You look more like an Izzy to me or maybe just Iz? Nah, I’ll just call you Angel,” he went on at hyperspeed.

Fuck a duck, he just touched her.  She felt like she was going to pass out.  Get your shit together Iz, she thought to herself.

“I’d really like to talk to you after my set, would you wait for me?” he asked hopefully.

“Uh, um, sure, I guess I can cancel my standing appointment with the president to hang out with you.”  Ugh, she was such a dork she thought.

Eli just smiled down at her, “Awesome.”

Izzy looked up a little shell-shocked to see Nikki and Chase making their way back to the table.  Seeing the watery, slightly panicky expression on Izzy’s face, Nikki made a beeline for her.

“Izzy?” Nikki started, but Chase jumped in with introductions.

“Eli my man, did I miss your show?” Chase asked.

“Nah, I just couldn’t risk someone else talking up my girl before I could,” he said with a grin.

“Your girl?” Izzy whispered, her head flicking between the two men standing in front of her.

Eli spotted Nikki and offered up his hand, “Hey I’m Eli, I work with Chase.”

“Eli, nice to meet you,” Nikki said, but Izzy could tell her momma bear was out and ready to shred this new cub in their den. Iz really hoped she didn’t.  She really didn’t need any help screwing up talking to a guy.  She’d perfected it over the years.  Luckily before Nikki could lay into him he turned back to Izzy.

“Well, I better get backstage, I’m up in a few,” he said, turning to Izzy he reach his hand up and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.  He let his finger trace lightly down her cheek, “I’ll be back Angel, promise.”

That slow brush of his finger had her breath catching.  She managed a nod but was still holding her breath as he bounded back to the stage.

“Breathe girl!” she heard from Nikki, who sounded kinda far away.  She took a deep breath in and looked from Nikki to Chase and back to Nikki again.

“I, I…don’t…um….” was all Izzy could seem to get out.

“Let me see if I can break this down for you baby girl. That stud came over here, dazzled you, said all the right things and now you have no idea what the hell you are supposed to do. Sound familiar?” Nikki asked smiling sweetly at her.

“Yeah, that about sums it up,” Izzy said reaching for her beer.

Then Nikki broke down her choices for her.  She could keep her ample ass planted in seat she was in and wait for Eli to come back.  Maybe have a chat with him and get to know him better.  Or she could run home and drown herself in ice cream and romance novels.  Sounds like an easy choice, but Ben and Jerry had always taken good care of Izzy and it wasn’t a relationship she was ready to abandon.

While she contemplated her choices, she turned the attention back to Nikki.  Who obviously was heading out with Chase.  And who wouldn’t?  The man couldn’t keep his eyes or his hands off of her.  Normally men undressed women with their eyes.  Izzy could swear Chase was imagining putting clothes on her.  Weird.

Izzy assured her best friend that she was a big girl (no pun intended) and she could take care of herself.

“Don’t worry about me, I think I’ll wait for Eli to get done with his act,” she said.

Nikki gave her a dazzling smile, not only because that released her from any further friend obligation, but she seemed genuinely happy Izzy was hanging out with a real live guy.  Not some hero from one of her books.  Again, like Ben and Jerry, her book boyfriends were always there for her.

She watched Nikki and Chase negotiate their leaving, before he left, Chase stopped near Izzy on his way back to the stage to get his gear.

“Don’t let Eli fool you, he seems happy-go-lucky but he’s pretty sensitive.  Give him a chance and don’t make any assumptions about his intentions. Eli is a straight shooter. You can believe everything he says, yeah?” Chase said, giving her
the look
.  Izzy managed a nod.

“Good girl, have a great night.  And don’t worry I’ll take good care of Nikki. You’ll get her back safe and sound, I promise.”

With that he headed to the stage and then he escorted Nikki out the door.

Izzy sat and contemplated her drink.  She was fighting with herself.  Part of her wanted to run, the other part wanted to jump the nice firefighter and make babies with him in the bar bathroom.  Not the classiest thought, but her naughty bits were seriously demanding a vote.

She had been oblivious to the dancers on the stage once Chase had hopped off and made his grand gestures towards Nikki.  Now she heard the announcer again and turned her head to the stage.

“Alright ladies and I think I see a gentlemen back there, we have another hunk lined up for you! Put your hands together for a five-year veteran of District 17. Former smoke jumper for the forestry service, yup ladies you heard me right. He’s not only a local firefighter, he jumps out of airplanes, willingly! And now he jumps out of airplanes for the fun of it. Give it up for Eli!”

The lights went down and the music boomed up.  And there he was.  Standing, smiling that huge goofy grin.  Instead of some thumping techno song, an upbeat pop song came on.  Eli smiled right at Izzy making her heart stop.  Then it kicked back into gear when Eli started dancing.

Well, he sort of started dancing.  There was a lot of hopping around, some weird leg kicks.  Then he broke out the cabbage patch and Izzy thought he even did the Erkel.  Lord, he was a terrible dancer, but he looked like he was having a blast.  And his smile and enthusiasm was infectious.  Izzy found herself smiling a big goofy grin back at him.

She started to clap along with the song, she even got the courage to give a hoot and a “Take it off baby,” which had him whipping his already opened shirt off and flinging it in her direction.  A few skanky ho’s in the front row tried to snake it out of the air, but Eli was a good aim.  Izzy caught his shirt and held it up as the trophy it was.

Then when Eli winked and turned to the other side of the stage, Izzy took a deep inhalation, her nose buried in the fabric.  Hot damn, it smelled good.  HE smelled good.  If nothing else, Izzy was taking the shirt home as a souvenir.

Looking back to the stage, Izzy had a mini heart attack.  She was so taken by his smile, she actually missed ogling the sculpted, muscled, tattooed, tan chest in front of her.  He must work out every day, she thought.  Or every hour even.  How did you even get muscles like that? Seriously, the man had muscles under his arms on his chest.  Had the medical community even named those muscles? Did they need take Eli to a special laboratory to study his freakishly perfect physique?

Ok, Izzy was starting to hyperventilate between her inner dialog and the half naked man dancing in front of her.  Oh shit, he started doing the running man.  She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.  So she laughed, she smiled, and she even waved at the man dancing his heart out for kids.

At the end of his song, Eli made turns, doing an elaborate bow in all four directions.  The loudest applause when he did his bow to the back of the stage where no one was sitting, but allowed the entire bar an unfettered view of one delightfully tight ass.  Again, the naughty monkey looked over his shoulder at Izzy and gave a wink.

Gawd, those winks were going to undo her.

She watched as he hopped off the stage and headed straight back to her.  So it wasn’t a hallucination earlier when he was standing next to her.  As soon as he reached her, he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“What did you think?” he asked planting his fine ass onto the stool next to her.

Think?  Izzy couldn’t think.  She was almost 100% sure his lips had just made contact with her cheek, but the electrical zip of sensation from those lips short-circuited her brain.  She was staring at him, mouth open, like a guppy.

“Babe, what did you think?” he asked again, “not too bad huh?”

“Uh, yeah, no, you were good,” she managed to mumble. Her brain was not connected to her mouth yet.  She needed to tread carefully.

“Oh, good, I hoped you’d like it.  So what are we doing later? I’m hungry, let’s grab a snack here then we can go get dinner,” he said his head pivoting looking for the waitress.

“Um, were we going out?” she stuttered.  Had she missed some major part of the evening where they’d had a long deep meaningful conversation about their hopes and dreams, then made a date for later, and then planned the rest of their lives together?  Shit, she really hoped she hadn’t missed that.

“Of course, unless you have plans for the night? I’m sorry I didn’t ask. I was so excited to talk to you I forgot to get your info, you probably already have a boyfriend. Fuck me, do you? Shit, I didn’t think about it. Please tell you don’t have a boyfriend. You’re not wearing a ring so I assume you aren’t married,” he finished in a rush.

“Uh, no, no boyfriend, husband or even a cat,” Izzy said.

“Oh, good, that would have sucked. I got so excited talking to you, I jumped the gun. Good no boyfriend so that means we can go out. You do want to go out don’t you? I mean with me? We’ll have fun I promise,” he said earnestly.

He looked sooo hopeful, like a puppy begging for a treat.  And who was she to deny this freaking hot man anything he wanted.  I mean she was attracted to him, of course, you’d have to be dead to not get a girl boner over this guy.

But he was moving so fast, that Izzy didn’t have time to let her nasty little self-doubt monster start in on his usual tirade.  The bastard had a megaphone and would yell the meanest things to Izzy inside her head whenever something good was going to happen.  Seemed like he’d lost his megaphone or was scrambling to keep up with Eli, because Izzy felt like she was barely keeping up herself.

“I guess we can hang out, if you don’t have something else to do,” she offered.

“Nothing better than hanging out with a beautiful girl,” he said back, and fuck a duck, he winked again.

Before she could figure out how to respond to that, because of course she would never have put herself in the beautiful category, the waitress appeared.

“Wings or fries?” Eli asked.

“Huh?” Izzy responded, still reeling from the beautiful comment.

“Wings or fries? I can’t wait for dinner, you like fries? Let’s do loaded fries and a water for me. You want another drink?” he asked to Izzy.

“No, I’m ok, thanks,” she said back, still not sure how to handed the tornado that was Eli.

“So tell me about yourself. You already know about me, firefighter, smoke jumper. But what do you do?” he said turning himself so he was facing her, his knees brushing hers.

“Well, um, are you sure you want to know about me?’ Izzy couldn’t help but ask, the whole situation was so surreal.  She was worried she was passed out in the ladies room and this was some horrible alcohol poisoning hallucination.

“Of course I want to know about you, how are we going to get to know each other. Besides our dates are going to be awful boring if we just sit around and stare at each other”, he said grinning up at her from a pair of long dark ebony lashes. You know those lashes that aren’t fair on boys.  No matter how much mascara or crimping tools used, we could never achieve the same effect.

“I’m sorry did you say dates? As in more than one?” she asked, confirming.

“Of course, aren’t you going out with me tomorrow? Oh crap, you don’t like me! Shit, sorry, I just jumped right in feet first like I always do.  My momma always says I leap before I look. Here I am assuming you’re thrilled I came over and started chatting you up. I’m probably not even your type, shit I’m sorry Iz,” Eli said, hanging his head, looking toward the table. 

He looked so sad, Izzy was horrified at the idea of him thinking she didn’t like him.

“I totally like you Eli, every girl in here likes you. You’re hot, adorable, dance like a dork and like chili fries, what’s not to like?” she said leaning forward to make sure he saw she was being sincere.

Looking up from the table where he was spinning a beer nut he said, “Really? You want to get to know me? I think you’re really pretty Izzy. I wasn’t kidding when I said you look like an Angel. I can’t wait for my mom to meet you.”

Izzy started to choke, “Your mom?” she said huffing to catch her breath.

“Not right away of course, maybe in a few weeks. I want you all to myself for a while. What do you think of hitting the farmers market tomorrow? I really want kettle corn, then maybe we can hit a movie, and then dinner?” he said rapidly without taking a breath.

“How do you even know you want to see me after tonight?” she asked.

“Well, are you a serial killer? Or a compulsive gambler? Maybe a narcoleptic kleptomaniac?” he asked his eyebrow rising up at her.

“God, no! Of course not. Wait, how can you be a narcoleptic kleptomaniac?” she had to ask.

“Well you go to steal something and take a nap instead. Very common don’t you know,” he said giving her
the wink.

Izzy laughed out loud, either the nutty nature of his comments or that damn wink had her loosening up.  So she had a nice night with the crazy hunk, what’s the worst that could happen?

“So, your job?” he asked again, seeing she was going to at least hang with him for a bit.

“I’m a vet tech, I’ve worked with the same veterinarian for five years. I love animals, they’re easy. All you have to do is show them kindness and of course feed them. And they will love you forever,” she said.  Animals, she found very early on don’t judge.  They don’t care if you are fat or skinny, popular or a social leper.  As long as you had a lap to cuddle and were free with the treats, they would never let you down.

“Oh awesome, I love animals, how many do you have?” Eli asked looking interested, but not fake.

“I can’t have any at my apartment right now, someday though. I really want a dog and a cat, maybe a fish. I’d name him Fred, the fish that is,” Izzy said smiling shyly at Eli.

“No pets, that’s sad. We should get you a puppy. You can keep it at my house for now. That’s a great idea, we can go puppy shopping next week!” he said bouncing in his seat.

“Um, puppies are a huge commitment. Maybe we can see how our evening goes?” Izzy offered quietly.  She was more than a little freaked out that the model gorgeous man in front of her wanted to buy her a freaking puppy!  Oh and meet his mom, and ordered her chili fries!

“There I go again, but really, you need a puppy,” he said earnestly.