Learning Curve (BBW Romance) (2 page)

Wondering if it was too good to be true, he
shot her an email.

****

“
Hey Callie.” Susie slid
into the seat across from her friend in the break room. “I’ve
gotten a few responses already!”

Callie looked up, and her heart swelled with
joy at the genuine smile on Susie’s face. Her rounded cheeks were
flushed, her green eyes sparkled, and her smile was so bright as to
be dazzling. Her eyes moved to the phone clutched in her hand as
Susie laid it out on the table.

“
Well you look pretty darn
pleased with yourself. What happened?”

“
I got some emails back
from that dating profile we put up last night, and I think I found
someone who sounds pretty decent.”

“
Really?” Callie grinned.
“Well, that’s a relief. I was sure you were going to get calls from
all those serial killers you were fantasizing about.”

“
I actually got five
emails,” Susie said, rolling her eyes at the offbeat humor and
sarcasm, “but I liked this one better than the others, so I thought
I’d share it with you.” She brought up the email on her phone, and
then handed it over.

Callie read it aloud. “Hi Suzie. My name is
Ryan. I saw your profile on Singles Hookup, and I have to say you
sound like a fun girl. I’d love the opportunity to get to know you
more. Here’s the link to my profile if you want to learn a little
more about me.”

She followed the link to his profile and
grinned at the picture—he was a sandy-haired male with deep brown
eyes, a chiseled face, and with just a little bit of quirk in his
smile. “This is really great, Suz. Have you emailed him back
yet?”

“
Well… no.”

“
Why not? If you don’t do
it soon, he’s going to think you’re not interested!”

“
Umm.” Susie fidgeted
nervously. “I’m not sure what to say. I don’t want to scare him
off.”

“
Just be yourself.” Callie
patted her on the shoulder. “Obviously don’t say anything that
would freak him out completely, but the point of this is to see if
you can find someone who will like you for your personality. That’s
not going to happen if you hide behind some façade or something.
You have to be you, no matter what. And if he doesn’t like it, then
too bad. You don’t have to jump on the first guy who shows an
interest in you. Believe it or not, there are plenty of fish in the
sea.”

“
You’re right. Of course
you’re right.” Suzie smiled. I’ll send him something before I go
back on shift.”

****

Hi Ryan. Thanks for emailing me! Sorry I
didn’t get back to you right away. To tell you the truth I’m a
little nervous about this kind of thing because I’ve never done
online dating before. But I’d like the opportunity for us to get to
know each other better, so if you have any questions you’d like to
start with, then fire away!

Ryan smiled a little as he read the email
from his phone. He was sitting in the back of a cab, on the way
back from a business lunch, and he hadn’t expected to see an email
from her, so it was a pleasant surprise. She came across the same
way in her profile—sweet and bubbly, and it seemed also that she
was just a little shy.

Pulling out his stylus, he tapped out a
quick reply:

Hi Suzie. That’s okay; I’m new to the online
dating scene too. So, first question… what kind of music do you
like to listen to?

He then replaced the phone in his pocket,
and continued his journey back to the downtown office with a smile
on his face.

****

When he reached his office, he couldn’t
resist pulling out his phone one more time to see if there was a
response. To his delight, there was.

Good to know! Makes me
feel a little less nervous. Music? Let’s see. I like all genres…
but I’m a fan of artists that sort of mix them, like Celine Dion
for example. She’s got this blend of R&B and Classical that
warms me all the way to my toes.


Alright, now it’s my turn. What kind of
books do you like to read?

“
Mr. Marshall?” his
secretary poked his head through the door. “Just a quick reminder
you have a meeting with Mr. Prospect in fifteen minutes.

“
Thank you, Jordan.” He
waited until his secretary had closed the door, then turned back to
his phone with a smile.

Fifteen minutes was plenty of time to send
another email, wasn’t it?

****

Susie’s heart was drumming loudly in her
ears as she paced back and forth in her bedroom, waiting for Ryan’s
call. She’d opened a bottle of wine and had left it by her
nightstand to air next to a wine glass, and kept looking longingly
at it as a way to calm her nerves. It was there as a sort of
celebration as well as to set the atmosphere—not just for her to
get drunk off!

“
Take deep breaths, Suz,”
she whispered to herself. “Deep, calming breaths.” Seating herself
on the edge of the bed, she did just that—and then gave in and
poured herself that first glass of red wine. She watched it spill
into the glass like blood, then lifted it to her lips and savored
the first dry drop on her tongue.

They’d been emailing back and forth the past
few weeks like giddy, moonstruck lovers, and Suzie had eventually
forced herself to leave her iPhone in her locker during her shifts
because she couldn’t stop checking her phone whenever it was near.
They’d learned so much about each other in such a short time—little
things, like his love of Frank Sinatra and midnight walks—but it
was still more than she’d know about any other man she’d considered
dating in her life.

Eventually they decided that email was too
slow, and they’d exchanged phone numbers, with a promise from Ryan
that he would call her at eight o’clock tonight. Picking up her
phone, the digital numbers told her that it was still only 7:59.
She sighed. Why did these last sixty seconds seem like the longest
of her life?

The phone rang, vibrating in her hands and
nearly scaring the life out of her. Quickly, she thumbed the SEND
button and pressed the phone to her ear with a cheery, if somewhat
breathless, “Hello?”

“
Hi there.” The voice on
the other end was friendly, masculine, and just husky enough to
send a pleasant shiver down her spine. “Is this Susie?”

****

“
Yes. Yes, it is.” Susie’s
voice came through the phone, cheerful, but with that hint of
nerves that made her human in a way that no supermodel or female
power exec ever had for him. “You’re Ryan?”

“
I am. It’s nice to hear
your voice.” It was light and sweet and smooth, he mused, a smile
coming to his lips. Like whipped cream.

She giggled, a foolish sound that warmed his
heart. “You don’t sound too bad yourself. Did you know that you
called exactly at eight o’clock, on the dot?”

He felt faintly embarrassed that she’d
noticed, but didn’t let it show in his voice. “Are you going to sit
there and tell me that you weren’t watching the clock for this past
ten minutes?” It had actually been more like half an hour, but he
didn’t want to come off too strong so soon.

“
You’ve got me there,” she
admitted with a little laugh. “I guess I just couldn’t wait to talk
to you.”

His smile widened. “Same here.”

They spent a long time on the phone, talking
and laughing like old friends, sharing details about their lives,
both past and present. He learned she was from Arizona, and had
brothers living back there.

“
Life on a farm as the
only girl was tough,” she admitted. “But eventually I went to
college, got my nursing degree, moved out here.”

“
Why New York?” he wanted
to know. “It’s so far from your roots. Taking off across the
country to start a new life must have been hard.”

She sighed, and he thought the sound was a
little wistful. “I admit I do miss Arizona and I go back every so
often to visit the family. But at the time I was so sick of country
life, and after going to college and getting a taste of what the
city was like I knew I couldn’t go back. So I got out a list of
states with the biggest urban and suburban cities, looked at some
brochures, and decided New York was it for me. I packed my bags,
booked a plane, and I’ve been happy here ever since.”

“
Wow. You just came in
blind, without ever having set foot here before?” He shook his head
with a low whistle. “That’s brave. Incredibly brave.” And he
couldn’t help but admire her for it.

“
It was tough and first,
but I was able to land a job in my field with little difficulty.
After that, things just sort of took off. So what about
you?”

“
I’m afraid I’m not so
adventurous.” He laughed. “I was born and raised on Long Island
with two sisters and one brother. My dad owned a local construction
company, and I learned the ins and outs of the business growing up,
and then went off to college for an MBA. Once I got out I worked
for him awhile, then decided that the family business deal wasn’t
for me, and moved on—no hard feelings,” he assured her, not wanting
to scare her off with the idea that he had family issues. “The
company I work for now is in construction too, funnily
enough—except we’re big time. We do a lot of corporate and
government-type contracts.”

They continued on in this vein, tossing
questions back and forth much the same way they did in emails, and
yet it was somehow so much more intimate. Emails didn’t enable you
to share a laugh in the same moment, to hear the breathy little
sighs and giggles of the woman you were talking to. It didn’t allow
you to hear the subtle nuances in the person’s voice, or to hear
what was unsaid as well as said.

“
If I could, I would spend
the rest of the night talking with you, but I’ve got to be up
bright and early,” he finally said.

“
Me too. I’ve got
patients, you’ve got clients.” She paused for a moment. “You want
to call, same time tomorrow?” That hint of shyness, uncertainty was
back in her voice—did she think he would say no, after all this? He
wondered why she was so insecure, what it was she was worried about
that he wouldn’t like, but he didn’t press.

“
Of course. I’ll talk to
you later.”

“
Goodnight.”

****

That night, she dreamed of Ryan. Of walking
on the beach with him, hand in hand, the moon rising up over them
like a guardian, to light their path and watch over their love. His
sandy hair was tousled by the night breeze that crooked grin from
his profile picture on his face. But instead of his eyes being
sleepy and sexy, they were filled with affection as he stared down
at her, as they poured their souls out to each other on that
moonlit beach.

When he took her in his arms, when the
warmth of his fingers seeped into her body and his lips pressed
gently against her own, she felt it was the most natural thing in
the world. He caressed her curves lightly through the summer dress
that she wore, and didn’t seem to mind that she was more ample than
most. And when he slid the straps down her shoulders so that the
dress pooled at her ankles, she didn’t feel the least
self-conscious.

He made love to her slowly, tenderly, her
orgasms crashing over her like the waves smashing against the rocks
near the surf. It was sweet, it was agonizing, it was everything
she’d ever wanted.

And when she woke up, she carried that dream
close to her heart, and it warmed her for the rest of the day.

****

“
I had a dream about you
last night.”

“
Oh?” They had been
talking for nearly forty-five minutes, and this confession had come
from the left field. But rather than making him feel uncomfortable,
Ryan was intrigued. “What about?”

The hesitation on the other end of the line
only intrigued him more. “Umm… we were walking on the beach, at
night. Holding hands.”

“
A moonlit beach walk?”
Ryan couldn’t help but be touched that she had dreamed of him in
that kind of setting. “That must be your romantic soul coming out,”
he teased.

“
Oh, like you don’t have
one yourself,” she protested, but he could hear the laughter in her
voice, and knew she wasn’t upset.

“
So, what did we do? Just
walk?”

“
We walked, and we talked,
just like we always do, except you were there in person.” She gave
a little sigh. “Your hand was warm against mine and when you kissed
me—”

“
Kissing?” Ryan grinned.
“Was I any good?”

“
You were terrible. Kissed
like a fish.” Her tone was slightly petulant, and he knew she was
annoyed because he interrupted, but he couldn’t help
laughing.

“
Mwah, mwah,
mwah.”

“
Oh hush.”

“
You know you liked
it.”

Susie laughed. “You were a great kisser.
And…” she trailed off, and if he had been a fox, his head would
have come up and his nose would have started twitching. She was
holding back something.

“
And?” he said after a
moment of prolonged silence.

“
Nothing really,” she said
lamely.

“
It’s okay, Susie,” he
soothed. “I won’t laugh, no matter what it is.” And at this point,
he was just about dying to find out what it was she’d dreamed that
made her so uncomfortable that he’d stuff a log down his throat to
keep that promise.

“
We… umm…” she cleared her
throat nervously, and he marveled that he’d never heard her sound
so vulnerable before. “You made love to me. In the
sand.”