Kick to the Curves (Eastgate BBW Romance Series Book 2)

KICK TO THE CURVES

Elle Gordon

EASTGATE BBW ROMANCE SERIES

Book 2

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Text copyright © 2014 Elle Gordon

All Rights Reserved.

This book is dedicated to my hilarious friend, Susan.

-elle

Table of Contents

Sand And Why It Sucks

I’ve Got A Coupon
!

Hello, Sensei

Blocking 101

Phone S
creening For Dummies

The Date

Kiss and Tell

             
Summer nights are beautiful, but they can also be extremely unflattering. Every hot gust of wind makes me want to run for the nearest air-conditioned room. Still, I found myself at the beach with my friend Susan. She’s a curvy gal, too. Her long blonde locks and wide hips fit perfectly into her swimsuit as she strutted down the beach toward me.

             
“C’mon, Marcia!” Susan yelled. “I want to go into the water before all the sharks come out!”

             
“Are you being serious?” I asked as I rolled my eyes. Marcia moved over to where I was sitting on the blanket in the sand.

             
“You don’t like to get tan, you don’t like the water, and you don’t like to wear anything that isn’t a full body poncho in public,” Susan complained as her hands rested on her hips. “How are we
ever
going to have any fun?”

             
“You’re acting completely dramatic,” I laughed. Pretending that I was joking around was my defense mechanism. Susan had nothing to worry about. She was confident, well liked, and never cared what anyone said about her or her body. She had beautiful hips that always attracted good-looking men. I always felt that if I had half of her confidence, I would be married by now with two kids.

             
“Take off that sarong and go in the water with me!” Susan whined. “Please!”

             
I looked around at all of the people enjoying the ocean. A couple of muscular, handsome faced guys were splashing at each other in the waves. Secretly, I wanted to be out there, flirting with them. My hope was that I could just sit here and they somehow would notice me. Not that that was likely to happen.

             
“I just don’t like the ocean,” I lied. Truthfully, I just felt more secure where I was sitting.

             
“I give up!” Susan said, defeated. She sat down on the blanket next to mine. “
You
have to pick what we do next. What would
you
like to do next weekend?”

             
“Uh…” I wasn’t sure what to say. Susan was the outgoing one. I just came along for the ride. “Movies?”

             
“Nope!” Susan protested as she shook her head. “It must be something physical we can do together.”

             
“Why does it
have to be
physical?”

             
“It just does. There are so many things to do in this city.”

             
I saw the setting sun start to turn the waves orange. Gazing at the ocean, I thought of potential activities. Ideally, it would be indoors because this summer was far too hot. I saw the handsome guys were now kicking water at each other. One ran to the other side and took a stance.

             
“I’ve always wanted to try karate,” I said.

             
“Karate?” Susan sounded as if her head was going to explode.

             
“Why not?” I said, smiling. “I heard that it really makes you focus and is great physical exercise.”

             
“Karate?” she gasped. “You have to be kidding, right?”

             
“No, I’m serious!” I said, laughing.

             
“If you’re so serious, then why are you laughing?”

             
“What?” I confronted her jokingly. “Are you afraid of getting your ass kicked?”

             
“This is totally idiotic,” Susan griped. “But you know me, I’m up for anything!”

             
“Then it’s settled; we’re doing karate.”

             
I had this plan in my head as if it were going to be something exciting, but secretly, I was scared out of my mind.

              “You won’t believe what I found!” Susan screamed over the phone. I was driving home from work on Friday night, a week after we had been to the beach.

             
“What did you find?” I asked, hesitantly. With Susan, this type of excitement could mean something amazing or terrifying.

             
“I’ve got a coupon!” she shrieked. “It’s buy one, get one for a month!”

             
“For what?” I had no idea what she was talking about.

             
“For karate,” Susan said succinctly. “Please don’t tell me that you forgot about our karate plans this weekend, Marcia.”

             
“I didn’t forget!” I lied. Since that day at the beach, I had completely forgotten about my idea of taking karate classes with Susan. Perhaps I wasn’t serious about doing it at all.

             
“Good,” she said. “Because they happened to have opens, so I booked us for tomorrow morning!”

             
“Tomorrow morning?” I repeated, surprised.

             
“Yes, Marcia, tomorrow morning.”

             
“Don’t we have to buy those robes and everything first?” I asked, secretly hoping that the cost of these items would make Susan change her mind.

             
“It’s this new wave studio,” she started. “You show up in comfortable clothing for the first class.”

             
“Oh,” I said. It seemed as though Susan was going to make me do this, even if karate was my idea.

“I
f you like it, you can continue taking classes with the
gi
,” she explained.

             
“What’s a
gi
?” I asked.

             
“It’s the robe you wear for karate!”

             
“Sounds like uncomfortable underwear.”

             
“No, it’s not,” Susan scoffed. “It’s a robe the size of the sarong you wore to the beach on Sunday.”

             
“Very funny,” I groaned.

             
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow at ten in the morning and we’ll head over to the studio.”

             
“Isn’t that called a
dojo
?”

             
“Nope.”

             
“I don’t get this karate thing at all.”

             
“All you need to worry about is what you’re going to wear and getting your ass up before ten. I’ve got to go, sweetie. See you tomorrow!”

             
“Thanks, Susan.”

             
“Don’t mention it.” Then she hung up the phone. At that point, I was really wishing that she didn’t mention it.

              “Are you ready for this?” Susan said as she slapped me hard on the ass. We were standing outside of the studio after getting out of her SUV.

             
“Ouch!” I yelled, giving her a scalding look. “You are too crazy sometimes.”

             
“Oh, calm your tits,” Susan smirked. “Your outfit looks hot, by the way.”

             
“Thanks!” I smiled with a change in my mood. It took me a while to look through my wardrobe before I found my lost pair of workout pants. They were stretchable yet tight fitting. The way they hugged against me made my curvy hips give even Susan a run for her money.

             
“Shall we?” Susan motioned to the door. Then we pulled it open and entered into the room.

             
“Hello,” said a younger guy at the door. He appeared to be in his early twenties and had on a tight fitting shirt that said
Eastgate City Karate Studio
. “How are you ladies this morning?”

             
“We’re
pumped
!” Susan shouted.

             
“That’s great!” said the guy. “What’s your name so that I can check you in?”

             
“I’m Susan and this is Marcia.”

             
“Perfect,” he said as he checked our names on the list. “Go ahead and enter the room to the left. The sensei will join you all in about ten minutes.”

             
“Sounds good,” Susan said.

             
“Thank you,” I smiled at him and he smiled back.

             
Walking down the hall, we saw a door and entered. The room was large with a wall length window overlooking a canyon below. Only a few students were standing around, talking to each other. There were a couple of guys and about six other women talking quietly to each other.

             
“I feel relieved,” I said to Susan.

             
“Why?” she asked.

             
“I was worried there would be kids here.”

             
“You’re crazy! Of course I signed us up for adult karate. Could you imagine kicking a little kid in the face during a sparring match?”

             
“That would be terrible!” I shouted. A group of ladies glared at me.

             
“Looks like we’re already the class rejects,” Susan joked.

             
“What else is new?” I added.

             
Suddenly, the door pushed open and a tall, muscular man walked through. He had dark brown hair and a smooth jaw line. His face was handsome but stern. I found myself staring at his chest, which was wide and tightly packed into his short-sleeved t-shirt.

             
“Hello, everyone,” the handsome man said. “I’m my name Mason, but you may call me
sensei
.”

             
“Hello,
sensei
,” the group sounded together. Susan and I missed the boat on that one, as we stumbled in late on the chant.

             
“How did they know to do that?” Susan whispered to me.

             
“I was just wondering the same,” I whispered back.

             
“Today will be the beginning course,” sensei Mason explained. “We are going to learn the simple art of blocking your attacker.”

             
“I wouldn’t block anything he threw my way,” Susan joked. “Too bad he seems pre-occupied with that group of sorority girls in the class.”

             
The sensei went to the front of the class and looked around at the class.

             
“I want all of you to know that–“ Suddenly, our eyes locked. I could almost feel his gaze glancing inside of me. Quickly, I became flush as he seemed to lose track before he spoke again. “I’m sorry, as I was saying, it’s important that all of you give yourselves some space.”

             
“What was that?” Susan asked me.

             
“I’m not sure,” I said. There was something about the way he looked at me that sent a tingle inside of my chest.