ROMANCE: MY ALIEN KING: Scifi Alien Invasion Abduction Contemporary Romance (Paranormal Fantasy BBW Alien Contact Anthologies & Collections Book 1) (77 page)

Denise laughed at the story her friend was recounting and took a sip from her drink. Her brown eyes glanced around the bar at all the other groups of people gathered around each other in their own cliques, laughing and enjoying themselves. There was a group of young women in one corner obviously in the middle of a bachelorette party (judging by the tiaras and veil they were wearing), a group of mixed genders similar to her own group of friends standing beside the bar, a few couples here and there, and a large group of men ranging from ages twenty-one to fifty. It was this particular group that had caught her eye. The men looked like they were part of some biker gang judging by the matching logos on their leather jackets. Denise tilted her head and studied the men from her safe spot across the bar.

“Are you even listening, Denise?” Her friend asked, drawing attention to her people watching. Denise’s eyes went wide and she quickly averted them from the group of men at the back of the bar. A blush rose to her cheeks and she gave an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry, I was people watching.” She apologized meekly. Jennifer shook her head and laughed at her. Their other friends were engaged in a heated conversation and didn’t seem concerned or bothered that Denise wasn’t listening. Denise let out a relieved sigh and turned her focus back to Jennifer.

“What did I miss?” She asked. Jennifer shook her head and took a sip of her drink.

“Nothing much. At least, nothing of importance. Gerald was just posing a question to us ladies of the group regarding what it was about him that put off women. He just can’t understand how man-bun over there can pick up a chick and he gets looked at like he’s a creeper.” Jennifer explained. Denise laughed and looked over Jennifer’s shoulder at one of the men in the biker gang to locate this “man-bun.” Sure enough, just to her left there was an attractive man who looked like he’d rather be surfing than in a bar with his long, sandy blonde hair pulled back into a bun at the back of his head. He was talking up one of the already drunk women from the bachelorette party and judging by the smile on her face, she seemed to be rather enjoying his company. Denise giggled and shook her head.

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s his eyes? He does seem to have a smoldering kind of look to him.” Denise joked. Jennifer giggled.

“Or maybe it’s his smile?” Jennifer hypothesized. Denise turned away from man-bun and shrugged.

“I honestly have no idea. He’s not bad looking, I even like the beard, but I don’t think I could take him seriously if he tried hitting on me. The bun is just too distracting.” She said. Jennifer nodded in agreement and finished her drink.

“I’m going to get another, want one?” She asked, gesturing toward the bar with her empty glass. Denise glanced down at her half-full one and shook her head.

“Not yet, thanks.” She said. Jennifer shrugged and sauntered off toward the bar to order another drink. Denise scanned the bar again and her eyes locked onto one of the men from the biker group from across the bar. Her breath hitched in her throat and her heart stopped for a split second. His green eyes bore into her and she couldn’t move or look away. He was breathtaking—literally. His sandy blonde hair was a little long and came just below his ears and swept across his forehead in a very “devil-may-care” way. He was tall with broad, muscular shoulders, and a square jaw that was made even more prominent by the slight stubble on it. His eyes had a fierce look in them as he regarded her but it was off-set by the small smirk that turned up his lips.

Denise let out a shuddery exhale and nervously glanced down at her drink. Men didn’t typically look at her the way he was—like she was the only woman in the room—and she didn’t know how to handle it.
He probably is just wondering why someone my size has the nerve to look at him
, she thought glumly to herself. There was no way he was looking at her like that because he actually wanted
her
out of all the other thinner women at the bar. She glanced over at the bachelorette party and sighed. He probably struck out with one or two of them and saw her as an easy target.
All big, curvy women are just desperate for attention, aren’t we?
She thought bitterly. Well, she wasn’t some easy last resort. She turned away from the man’s intense gaze and looked over at her friend Gerald who was glaring at man-bun over her shoulder. She smiled and laughed at the bitter expression on his face.

“Seriously Gerald, I would choose you over man-bun any day.” She said, patting his shoulder reassuringly. He just scoffed at her and took a swig from his beer.

“You’re just saying that because you’re my friend. I know it’s a lie! No one could resist man-bun over there.” He growled. Denise laughed and shook her head.

“No, really. If man-bun came and hit on me there’s no way I could take him seriously. However, if
you
came and hit on me, I would actually indulge you—depending on your conversation starter of course. I know you’re fond of those cheesy pick-up lines and if you opened with that I
would
choose man-bun over you.” She said. Gerald winced guiltily and looked hopelessly over at one of the pretty girls in the mixed group of friends by the bar.

“So you’re saying
that’s
the reason the girl in the red over there rejected me?” He asked, his tone like a forlorn child who just found out Santa wasn’t real. Denise laughed and put her hand on his cheek.

“Oh, honey. Yeah, that’s absolutely why she rejected you. You’ve got to stop doing that.” She told him.

“Stop doing what?” Jennifer asked, rejoining them with a fresh drink in her hand. Denise shook her head and gestured to Gerald.

“He needs to stop using cheesy pick-up lines as his opener.” Denise clarified. Jennifer gave their friend a disgusted look and nodded.

“Yeah, don’t ever do that. It’s not as cute as you think it is.” She said. Gerald let out a frustrated breath and stomped his foot childishly which just seemed out of place for a man of his thirty-three years.

“But it’s meant to be facetious! If these women are too stupid to see that I’m not actually seriously trying to pick them up with that line, then maybe I’m better off not engaging in a conversation with them.” Gerald said. Denise and Jennifer both shook their heads.
“That only works if they have a good idea about your sense of humor.” Denise said.

“And the eyebrow wiggle doesn’t help.” Jennifer added. Gerald scoffed and started on another rant about it and their other two friends joined in. Jennifer leaned in close to Denise and Denise bent her head down a little to listen to her shorter friend.

“There’s a man on the other side of the room who has not stopped staring at you since I got back from the bar. You should go talk to him! He’s freaking gorgeous.” Jennifer said, glancing over her shoulder to the mysterious man Denise had made eye contact with earlier. Denise’s breath hitched again and she glanced away. Her heart was racing and the last thing she thought she was capable of doing was talking to him. She was pretty sure that if she tried it would come out as a garbled mess.

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m sure he’s not really looking at me anyway.” She said, letting out a nervous chuckle and downing the rest of her drink. Jennifer pursed her lips and gave Denise a knowing look.

“Of course he’s looking at you! Why wouldn’t he be? You’re gorgeous and you’re rocking that dress—it makes your ass look amazing and I’m incredibly jealous and will be stealing it out of your closet later.” Jennifer said matter-of-factly. Denise laughed and shook her head. She looked down at her black, short-sleeve t-shirt dress that came to her knees. She wore a big silver belt around the dress to draw it in at her waist and accentuate her curves. She was a bigger woman and she had plenty of curves to show off. Perhaps the ankle boots were a bit much, but she hated heels. She shrugged and looked back up at Jennifer.

“I don’t think it’ll fit you, but you can try.” She teased, looking her slender friend up and down. Denise was easily twice her size but Jennifer never seemed to focus on that. In Jennifer’s mind, size was an arbitrary number. To Denise, though, size directly correlated with the type of men who would hit on her. Either she was the desperate back-up plan for when all the other women turned the guy down, or she was his first choice because he had some weird fetish for fat women. Neither option was appealing to her. She just wanted a man who was like Jennifer—didn’t necessarily see size but saw her and thought she was beautiful as she was. She glance back over at the man and sure enough he was still staring at her. The look in his eye wasn’t anywhere near desperate nor did he look at her like she was the answer to some wet dream. He was looking at her like she was the most beautiful woman in the room and he wanted to devour her. Denise went to take a sip on her drink but just got ice from the empty glass. Frowning down at it, she nodded her head toward the bar.

“I need another drink, are you good?” She asked, looking at Jennifer’s full glass. Jennifer nodded and waved her off.

“Yeah, I’m good. Good luck up there, it’s a mad house trying to get through all those hipsters to the bar.” She groaned. Denise laughed and headed over to the bar. True to what Jennifer had said, she had a hard time pushing through the groups of people she had been watching earlier to even reach the bar top. Once she managed to squeeze through, she let out a sigh of relief and tried to wave the bartender over.

“It’s a busy night, isn’t it?” A deep voice said beside her. Denise’s heart quickened and hope rose in her chest. She turned to the voice and tried not to let her disappointment show on her face when she realized that it was not the mysterious man talking to her, like she had hoped, but instead was man-bun.
His bridesmaid must have gotten roped back into her party, how sad.
She thought sarcastically to herself. She gave him a forced smile and nodded.

“Yes, it is but I suppose it is a Friday night, after all.” She said politely. She may not be interested in man-bun, whose half-lidden eyes told her that he had had one too many shots with the bridesmaid and was nice and intoxicated, but he was pleasant enough and didn’t deserve to be treated rudely for no reason.
His only fault is that he’s not Mr. Mystery over there. I can’t really be upset with him for that.
She told herself, trying to push her disappointment down so that she could be polite to the man-bun. He smiled at her and lifted his hand to help her get the bartender’s attention.

“What are you drinking?” He asked. Denise glanced down at her empty glass.

“Rum and diet coke.” She answered. Man-bun nodded and walked toward the other end of the bar where the bartender was helping other customers. Denise let out a breath and watched him as he ordered her a drink. The bartender nodded at the surfer man-bun and began to mix their drinks. Denise smiled a little,
that was very nice of him, but I hope he knows I’m not about to go home with him for it.
She thought. She met his kind, half-lidded eyes across the bar briefly before she lost him in the crowd of people as he made his way over to her. While she was waiting for him, the hairs on the back of her neck prickled and a shiver crawled up her spine. She knew the mysterious man was still watching her and she glanced over her shoulder to confirm.

Her eyes met his green ones again and she smiled softly at him.
Why hasn’t he come over yet? If he can’t stop staring at me surely he would want to talk to me?
She wondered. She didn’t have the nerves to go to him, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want him to come to her.

“Here you go, beautiful lady.” Man-bun said triumphantly upon his return. Denise’s eyes widened at the number of glasses he held in his hands. He hand her rum and diet coke in one hand, a beer for himself in the other, and two shots sandwiched between the two glasses.

“Oh, thank you.” She said, reaching for her drink and ignoring the shots. Maybe he got them for one of his bros. He smiled at her and handed her one of the shots, dispelling that idea. Denise smiled and cheersed him, taking the shot with less eager than him. One shot wasn’t going to push her over the edge, but she certainly wasn’t about to start indulging him past that.

“Thank you, how much do I owe you for the drink?” She asked. Man-bun scoffed drunkenly and shook his head.

“Nothing, that was my treat!” He shouted over the music. Denise smiled and saluted him.

“Well thank you very much, have a good night!” She said dismissively, turning to go back to her friends. A hand on her arm stopped her and she turned back to the smiling face of the surfer.

“Don’t run off just yet. You seem really cool.” He said sweetly. Denise gave him another forced smile and halted her escape. She should indulge him a little since he bought her a drink—it was the polite thing to do.

“Well thank you. I’m Denise, what’s your name?” She asked holding her hand out to him. If she was going to chat with him for a bit it was best she found that out so she wouldn’t accidently call him “man-bun” during the conversation. He seemed like a chill guy, but she wasn’t sure he would respond well to that.

“Darren. It’s a pleasure to meet you Denise. What brings you out tonight?” He asked. Denise let out a slow breath and tried not to roll her eyes.
I’ll have to let Gerald know that his cheesy pick-up lines are better than this. At least I’d get a laugh out of that and not feel like I’m forced into a conversation that feels like pulling teeth.
She thought.

“It’s just Friday night and my friends and I try to go out once a month. It’s hard to keep in touch with work and everything… all those adult responsibilities.” She said, trying to draw subtle attention to their age difference. She wasn’t old, she was only twenty-seven, but Darren looked like he was probably twenty-three and she didn’t have any interest babysitting tonight. He was nice enough, though, so she couldn’t complain too much. At least he wasn’t some crazy creeper or drunken slob falling all over her, which was nice.