Touch Me Tender (Alpha Squad Book 1) Read online

  I rolled my eyes. “Dude, I would have to be ten days dead not to think you are gorgeous. I'm curvy, not stupid.”

  “You are curvy,” he said with a little growl.

  I stopped and looked up at him. He was looked at me. Really looked hard at me. His blue-gray eyes skimmed over me from lips to toes and back again and there was nothing but appreciation in that look.

  “Are you asking me out?”

  His gaze met mine. “I've been waiting two hours to try.”

  “Why?”

  “Why not?”

  I sighed. “What's your name?”

  “Corporal Andrew Dixon.”

  “Right! So, listen, Drew. Two of my three jobs are located in places that military guys swarm to and in the three years I've worked those jobs I've learned two things. Y'all don't know what twenty percent is and that if you guys bother to hit on me, you want to do it away from your buddies so they don't know you are trying to bang a fat girl.”

  He looked around. “Would this be going better if I kept Leon here?”

  “Leon is the jerk?”

  “He's also my brother.”

  I nodded. “His presence probably wouldn't help.”

  “What would help?”

  I shrugged and continued to search for my keys. Why couldn't I find them when I needed them the most? “Dude, it's not you. It's your choice of occupation.”

  He glanced down at the dog tags hanging around his neck. “You don't date military guys?”

  “I know a lot of girls go ga-ga over the uniform. You know, aesthetically, I get it. Every girl goes crazy for a sharp dressed man.”

  “Did you just quote ZZ Top?”

  My estimation of him improved a couple of degrees. "That I did. But that's not the point. The point is that military guys are just frat guys with guns. They like to party, they like to get laid, and they like to shoot guns."

  "You don't like parties, sex, or guns?" He was beginning to look confused. I almost felt bad.

  “I don't have time for any of those.” I finally found my keys and yanked them out of my purse. “Like I said, I work three jobs. I take online classes. I don't have time to-”

  I heard him first, and then I saw him. A multi-colored ball of fuzz no bigger than my hand. He was peering out from beneath the dumpster with big yellow eyes.

  “There you are,” I said in a soft voice.

  Drew

  For a tenth of a second I thought there was another guy. Her eyes lit up and those soft lips spread into a smile as bright as the sun itself. She stepped around me and I thought that she was about to run into the arms of another man. I wanted to kick myself. Of course she had another man. A woman as hot as she was, well she was bound to have ten guys. When I saw that look I forgot all about her telling me she didn't date military, and that she didn't have time. All I could think was that I'd lost her before I could even prove myself.

  I turned, ready to size up the competition, but I saw nothing. She walked around me, and all I could see was the sway of her hips and the jiggle of her ass. My cock jumped in demand. I gave it a silent order to shut up.

  She didn't like my job. It was a kick to the balls, but I wasn't going to hold it against her. The military was filled with good men and women, and bad ones too. The bad ones were louder and they gave the rest of us a bad name. I'd just have to prove I wasn't one of them.

  “Hey baby,” she said in a voice that was soft and light. She was looking around in her bag again. “I have something for you.”

  I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A dark shadow with spots of white moved around the edge of a dumpster.

  “Is that a cat?”

  “He's been hanging out around here since he was a kitten. I keep trying to coax him out, but he's scared.”

  There was so much softness in her tone. It shocked me that a woman could go from throwing a whole pitcher of tea on Leon to talking so gently to a cat.

  She pulled out a bag of cat treats. She shook it and the cat watched her warily. It took a step forward and she gasped. I didn't need to ask why. The front paw was hanging at a weird angle.

  “He's hurt.” Her eyes welled with tears. “He got hurt.”

  I didn't think - I just acted. I stepped up and put an arm around her. “Hey, he'll be okay. We'll take him to the vet. It'll be fine.”

  She looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. "I can't afford the vet. I can barely afford rent. How am I supposed to…."

  I put my hand on her cheek. She was so damn soft. “Don't worry about that. Let's just get him out first.”

  Her quivering lip stilled and she closed her mouth. She squared her shoulders with the strength of any of my squad-mates and gave a little nod. God damn I was in love with this woman. I had barely had a conversation and a half with her and I was already sure I wanted her to be in my life forever.

  “Go around that way, and I'll go around over here. We will get him.”

  “He'll get scared.”

  “Of course he will,” I said gently. “We are big and scary and he's injured.”

  Between the two of us and the bag of treats I managed to scoop the cat up. A quick look informed us that the beast wasn't a boy after all.

  “We need to get her to the vet,” she said. “Her paw looks hurt.”

  It wasn't the first idea for a date, but I'd take it.

  “Take her, I'll drive.”

  Lydia

  There was only one 24 hour emergency clinic. Drew didn't even blink when the lady at the front desk said there was a $200 fee for getting checked out. He just took out a card and handed it over.

  “For everything else too,” he told the woman. I opened my mouth to argue but he gave me a small shake of his head. “Don't worry about it.”

  If I weren't so tired, and nervous, I would have argued. I am almost positive. But I was scared.

  “How long have you noticed her hanging around?” Drew asked as he sat down next to me in the waiting area.

  I shrugged. "A couple of months. Her mom was a stray. My boss called animal control and they picked her and the rest of the cats up. But Shadow? That's what I called her. Anyway, she managed to hide. She's really self-sufficient."

  He smiled. “Like you?”

  “You gonna tell me I don't need to work hard?”

  “I would never.” He gave me a side glance. “But now that you bring it up. Why are you working three jobs?”

  "Because my roommate decided to abandon me to go live with some guy in Key West." I don't know why I told him. It didn't matter. It wasn't any of his business but I couldn't seem to stop myself. He was easy to talk to. "Three months ago I thought my life was going somewhere. I was doing an internship with this retro clothing company. I was working part-time at the diner to cover my third of the rent. My car wasn't leaking oil. Then we all decided to take a vacation. A graduation gift to myself for finishing at college, right! Then the day before we leave; my intern manager tells me that they are downsizing so I wasn't coming home to the full-time seamstress gig I thought I was."

  He looked at me. “You like to sew?”

  “No. I love to sew. I grew up learning how to do alterations because my sister and I had to share clothes. We were poor.” I shrugged. “Anyway, I still go to Key West, thinking that I'll just have to find a job when I get back. No big deal. I have years of training and a degree and who else knows how to make historically accurate corsetry?”

  With a grumble I stand up. Too much anxious energy was running through me, and honestly sitting next to him was distracting. It was like my skin turned to electricity when he brushed against me. I wandered to the drink machine and looked over my sugar filled options. I already filled out my plus-sized jeans. I didn't need a candy bar, but it had been a night.

  I pulled some of my tip money out of my purse and tried to feed it to the machine. It spit the bill back out at me.

  “Oh come on!” I snarled, trying again. Again the machine gave me back my money.

  “Here,�
� he said, swiping his card.

  “I don't need charity.”

  “I did actually want to buy you dinner.” He gave me another smile. My knees turned into water.

  I rolled my eyes, but I knew I smiled. I hit a couple of buttons. The machine spat out my prepackaged dinner and we went back to the waiting area table.

  “So what happened in Key West?”

  "They met Fabian." I rolled my eyes. "But Fabian had a brother, and suddenly I was the fifth wheel on a vacation I didn't want be on. Next thing I know I'm coming back here all by myself." I sighed and opened my candy bar.

  “So you took on three jobs to make things work?”

  “I promise you, it wasn't my first choice.” I glanced at him. He was watching me like I was special. It wasn't just the horny look from earlier. He was looking at me like I was the best thing he had ever seen. “What?”

  “Fuck dinner! Let me take you to a chapel.”

  I laughed and once I started I couldn't stop.

  Drew

  She had the best laugh. Her whole face lit up and her eyes crinkled, and her massive tits jiggled. It was sweet and sexy all at once and I almost felt dizzy with the way my blood rushed from one place to the next.

  “You are so damn sexy.” The words were out before I could stop myself.

  Her laughter cut off. “You don't need to say things like that.”

  “I always say what I mean.”

  She crossed her arms. “Dude, guys like you just don't go for women like me.”

  “Hot! Passionate! Talented!”

  “You don't know if I'm talented or not.”

  Yes I did. I might not have proof yet but I was already sure this perfect woman was everything I could ever want and more. “You don't go through college and not come out with some kind of talent.”

  “Fine… Whatever…. But Corporal, I still stand by what I said.”

  “That guys like me don't go for women like you?”

  “Yes.”

  I shook my head. “Okay, I'll play. Tell me about the kind of woman I should be going after.”

  She held up two fingers. "Guys like you go after one of two types." She paused, and then put a third finger in the air. "I take that back. One of three types. Type one? The guy with ‘tits’ type. The kind of girl who runs with the boys, shoots with the boys, cusses, and drinks like the boys. She's basically one of the guys. But she has lady parts."

  I snorted and popped open my soda. “Lady parts!”

  “It's my super adult term for vagina. Keep up.”

  Hot... Driven... Sense of humor… If my dick didn't explode in my pants in the next thirty seconds I was going to drag her back to my truck.

  “Okay. I dated that girl. Way, way, way, back in high school.”

  “See.”

  “I also broke up with her because my heart wasn't in it. Next?” I took a long swig, amused when her eyes narrowed at me.

  "Type two is the counterpart to type one. They are ultra-femme. The girl who loves her makeup and super fluffy floaty skirts and knows how to make peanut butter from scratch. She is the perfect yin to the overtly masculine yang of the military man."

  "She sounds high maintenance."

  “She deserves the best. Making homemade peanut butter is a bitch.”

  I raised my brow. “You sure you don't wanna date her?”

  She shrugged. “My life might have been easier if I liked the ladies. But that's not the point. Type three is the cousin to type one, the fellow military girl. She's a total fitness junky, wants to be a dietitian. She looked like a model but is probably really down to earth and just wants the best for herself and her Instagram.”

  I shook my head. “They aren't the ones for me. You are.”

  She startled. “You are coming on awful hard you know.”

  If only she knew just how hard I was.

  “I've never been so interested so fast.”

  “Oh please.”

  “Who hurt you?” I asked. When she just laughed I asked it again. “No, really, Lydia. Who hurt you?”

  She looked away and I knew I was right.

  “C'mon you can tell me.”

  She sighed and plucked at her snacks without taking anything. The look on her face was distant, angry, and sad. "It wasn't just one guy, Corporal. There wasn't some guy in my high school that made a fat joke at my prom. It wasn't just the time I tried out for the school play and the part got handed to the girl who looked more like Juliet than I did. It wasn't all the times that guys swiped right just so they could message me about how much better I'd look if I lost a few pounds."

  “Those guys are dicks.”

  She snorted her agreement. There was an angry pink in her cheeks and a super brightness in her eyes. I knew she was mad but honestly? It made her look even better. That flare of heat was just a little too close to what I thought she'd look like right before her body twitched as she came on my tongue.

  “They are,” she said. She shoved her candy bar away. “But they aren't as bad as the assholes who only like me because of my curves.”

  “What?”

  “You can't tell me you've never heard of chubby chasers before.”

  “Yeah, I have. But how is that worse than the rest?”

  She gave me a look that was almost sorry, like she was going to reach across the table and pat my hand before telling me something terrible.

  “Corporal-”

  “Drew,” I said. “My name is Drew.”

  She hesitated and then nodded. "Okay, fine. Drew it is. Drew, you've got money to spend right. Protecting your country pays well. You got all those benefits."

  “Yeah.”

  “Know a lot of girls who date military guys just for those?”

  “I've seen some around.”

  “And?”

  I thought I was beginning to get her point. “It's kinda shitty.”

  “Yeah. It is. Finding out that someone only wants you because of what you have rather than who you are makes a person feel less like a person. Now, imagine if those girls thought having money was something dirty, or different, or kinky. That it was a shameful little secret and that they thought you should be appreciative because someone was interested in your money.”

  I winced. "That's not great."

  “No, it's really not. It's worse than the guys who are just upfront about their insults. At least I didn't put any effort into them.” She plucked at the packages of food in front of her, and I hated how much anger I saw in her eyes.

  I reached across the table and wrapped my hand around hers. She didn't pull away. I was going to take that as a plus.

  “I'll be honest. I noticed your curves first. I liked them. I like the way you fill out your pants. I like the jiggle when you walk and when you laugh. I'm not ashamed of liking that.” When she started to pull back, I squeezed my hand around hers. “But I knew I wanted to ask you out when you tossed tea all over Leon. Here, I thought, was a woman who took no shit. Here was a woman who would smile as she told you to fuck off. It was the hottest thing I've ever seen a woman do.”

  She raised her brow, but she gave me a little smile.

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah!”

  Her hand turned over in mine. “Okay.”

  Her eyes met mine and my chest went tight. I wanted to wrap her up in my arms, show her that we weren't all bad. I wanted to prove to her that I'd love and protect her for forever if she'd just let me. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to push her to a wall and make her moan loud enough that every man who ever made her doubt herself could hear it. I wanted to show her off and keep her to myself all at once. I wanted-

  A vet tech came out - “Dixon?” Lydia jumped. Her hand went tight in mine and I squeezed back.

  “Hey,” I said. “I'm here.”

  Lydia

  "Welcome home, Charlie." I knelt and opened the cat carrier that Drew had bought at the vet clinic. A very woozy, very confused cat stayed near the entrance, poking her uncertain nose into the air
of my apartment. She made absolutely no move to leave.

  “Let her be,” Drew said, putting a hand on my shoulder. His touch lingered long enough that I could feel the heat of his touch through my shirt. “She's had a weird night.”

  That much was true, I thought as, at the unexpected hour of four in the morning, I finally stepped out of my work shoes. I'd called out of my morning shift. It was the first time I'd ever called out so of course my boss was way more pissed at me than he was at the people who called out all the time. But Drew had made me take the $200 tip, so that would cover the missed hours.

  It was my first day off since I'd come home from Key West. I didn't even know what to do with myself. I had a cat and a...I don't know what Drew was.

  He'd pretty much proposed. Not really. But kinda? When a guy said “Let me take you to a chapel” then a girl got the idea that he was a little serious about the relationship. But, I reminded myself as I tossed my purse down on the little island that separated the kitchen of my apartment from the living room of my apartment. My space was way, way too big for just one person. A three bedroom apartment was for a family, not a single girl. But when I moved in I hadn't planned on being alone.

  "These yours?" he asked as he set a brand new litter box down on the linoleum

  Next to the island were three dress forms, each cluttered with fabric.

  “Yeah.”

  He looked them over. “They're historic?”

  “I like history,” I said.

  “Me too!”

  I smirked and plopped a massive bag of cat food next to my purse. “Of course you do.”

  “What's that supposed to mean?”

  I glanced at his dog tags. “All soldiers loved history. It's full of stories of guys just like them.”

  He smirked. “You've got me there. How is it you like history but not soldiers?”

  I shrugged. I didn't like soldiers, but he was growing on me. It wasn't just his Greek god body, and that boy-next-door smile. It was how he hadn't even batted an eye at helping me with Charlie. How he looked at me like I was a person, a person he wanted to know and a person he wanted to get naked. It was an intoxicating combination.