Curvy Perfection

Chapter One

“You know the polite response is to say thank you,” Ward Hildreth said, glaring at his opponent.

“And if I wanted you to intervene with my place of business, I would certainly not ask you!” Kirsty Blake had her hands on her hips, and he imagined if she could, she would be shooting fireballs out of her eyes at him.

“Wow, so you’re going to let your stubborn attitude ruin your place of business? Is that it?” he asked. “Is that what you’re trying to do?”

“It’s none of your business what I do! You should just be grateful I don’t ban your ass.”

“Ha, go ahead, ban me if you want!” He didn’t even know why he challenged her. There was no other bar to drink in their small town, and it wasn’t a good idea to start a fight with the woman who owned the bar.

He’d been doing her a favor, and all he’d gotten for his hard work was abuse. Next time an asshole tried to destroy her bar, he would just leave it to wreck and ruin.

“Get the hell out!”

Ward noticed she didn’t ban him, and right now, he was considering that a win. Rather than be too smug about it, he made his way to the door. “Don’t you worry, I’ll leave.”

“You can’t leave when I’ve just thrown you out,” Kirsty said.

“I will take this as a weird thank you.”

“I’m not thanking you.”

“Good night, Kirsty, sleep well.” He knew from years of experience that the more he pretended to misinterpret her feelings, the more annoyed she got. This was their thing, and he honestly couldn’t help but wind her up. It was a lot of fun.

Stepping outside, he saw Christopher, his longtime friend and fellow tattoo artist.

“I thought you’d be gone by now,” Ward said, and made his way toward his best friend.

“Be gone and miss all the Ward and Kirsty drama? Yeah, I wouldn’t let that happen.”

Ward rolled his eyes.

“I can sense the sexual tension.”

“Sexual tension?” Ward asked.

Christopher rolled his eyes. “You two have been playing this dance for so long. How can you not see that you’ve been … in love, meh, maybe wanting each other.”

Ward held up his hand and shook his head. “I have a horrible feeling you hit your head or something.” He walked over toward his best friend and placed the back of his hand across his forehead. “Are you feeling woozy?”

Christopher shrugged him off with a laugh. “You can play all you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that you and Kirsty have been like this for years.”

“That’s because we hate each other.”

“I’ve always heard there’s a thin line between love and hate.”

“Yeah, well, that line is wide, okay.”

This time, Christopher held his hands up. “You could have fooled me. You and Kirsty have this way of standing in each other’s paths, and I don’t know, setting off fire without letting it consume you.”

“I think you’re going to way too many poetry readings, and it’s messing with your head.”

Again, his friend laughed.

“Come on, dude, think about it. You and Kirsty have always been like this, even in high school. She was the nerdy, chun—ugh, I mean, more womanly—than the rest of the girls at school. You don’t think I noticed how you changed whenever she walked into the room?” Christopher asked.

Back in high school, Ward used to be a football jock, one of the most popular guys in school, and Kirsty was the nerd. Unlike most of the team, Ward wasn’t obsessed with football. He preferred art. He simply liked football, and for the most part it kept his dad off his back if he was playing the game. When it came to the team, they would say horrible things about Kirsty, especially with regard to her weight, and they would have to deal with him.

He wasn’t going to deny it. Kirsty had always been curvy. Curvy perfection, as far as he was concerned, and there was absolutely no reason for her to change, which she hadn’t. Those curves had become even more sexy.

He’d excelled in art, and followed that path. He played a little college football, but then he dropped out. Worked his ass off to become one of the best tattoo artists in the state, and opened his own place right here in town.

As for Kirsty, he knew she’d gone away to college, but when her parents got sick, she came back home and started to run the bar. Her parents had passed away a few years ago. Ward had gone to both funerals, and it was the only two times he’d gone to Kirsty and simply pulled her into his arms for a hug. He had this overwhelming feeling to comfort her, and he did exactly that. Of course, after a short time in mourning, he’d decided he needed to put the fire back into her eyes, and he’d acted the asshole.

Kirsty stopped looking sad, and he felt he helped her to move on by being a dick. Tonight wasn’t about him being a certain appendage. There had been another dick intent on destroying her bar. He’d stopped the asshole from breaking furniture.

Shaking his head, he turned to Christopher.

“You’re wrong. There is no sexual tension between Kirsty and me. There is nothing going on with us, and nothing ever will. See if I come and drink here.” He climbed into his truck, and he already saw the doubt in Christopher’s eyes.

He probably shouldn’t have said the last part, because the truth was, he was totally coming back here. It was the best place a guy could drink.

But that was it. He didn’t believe, for even a second, there was any other reason to come to the bar. Not for the owner, certainly not for the owner.

****

“I mean, can you believe him?” Kirsty asked.

She looked toward her best friend, who had pressed her lips together and her eyes looked wide. Bethany had been her best friend her whole life. She absolutely loved her, and every fourth Saturday of the month they would meet up, grocery shop, and then go back to her place to prepare a whole bunch of make-ahead meals for the coming month. Not to mention snacks.

The reason they went to her place, and not Bethany’s, most of the food would be attacked before it even got in the freezer. Her best friend had four kids, and was completely in love with her husband, who she’d been dating since high school, Randall. Even to this day, they couldn’t keep their hands off one another.

“Can I believe that Ward Hildreth played the perfect gentleman and kept you from having a cleanup bill this morning?” Bethany asked.

Kirsty opened her mouth and closed it. “I still have a chair to replace, and I thought you would take my side.”

“Oh, believe me, I do take your side, and I’m not going to forget that Ward can be a dick. I remember that Halloween, when he told you no one was dressing up, for, well, you know, Halloween, and you didn’t dress up. You were in those cute little dungarees.”

“I didn’t care that people laughed at his joke. It wasn’t funny.”

“I know it wasn’t funny, but what I’m trying to say is, Ward is known for being … well, Ward, and this time he wasn’t doing anything at your expense. He was trying to save you money and a messy cleanup, and all that nonsense.”

They stopped at the meat department, and Kirsty pointed to the ground beef, to which Bethany thanked her. They loaded up their cart with ground beef, pork cutlets, and lots of different kinds of chicken.

Kirsty didn’t have a big family. She only had to cook for herself, but her mother always did this, as did Bethany’s mother. It was a tradition they had passed on to their daughters, and Kirsty always looked forward to the make-ahead Saturday.

Admittedly, by now, at thirty years old, she had hoped to have found a family of her own, but that hadn’t happened. Dating was a nightmare for her, and in college, she’d never been attracted to any of the guys who asked her out.

The biggest problem with guys in town was, first, they were her own age, and, well, if she wasn’t a big fan of them through high school, she wasn’t going to fall for them now. Most of them came to drink in the bar and at times acted like children.

“You’ve got that sad face. Tell me why you have that sad face?” Bethany asked.

“I’m not sad.” She couldn’t help but look at her own cart, and then over at Bethany’s.

“I know what this is, and I’ve told you what to do.”

“I’m not just going to randomly throw myself at any man.”

“I haven’t told you to, but you won’t try online dating. You certainly don’t like guys attempting to pick you up in your own bar, and there is nothing else to do. You’ve already given a firm no on all the guys in town. Unless, of course, you take things to the next step with Ward.”

This made Kirsty pause. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Come on. You guys have been dancing around each other for years. Ever since you were in high school. You know, I think there is even a bet going on as to when one of you, or is it both of you, realize you’re secretly in love, or at least in lust with one another.”

“What?” Kirsty couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“You don’t know about this?” Bethany asked. “It’s not like it’s a secret.” Her friend nibbled her lip.

“I don’t know about any of this. What? When? Huh?”

“Oh, it’s probably just a silly thing.”

“If it is just a silly thing, how do you know about it?”

“Ugh … Randall kind of told me.”

“Randall?”

“Yeah, he’s paid into the overall bet at some point. I think he did that around prom.”

“Prom?”

“Yeah, you know how people get, and also, he had seen you in the dress you’d chosen, and we all know you looked amazing.”

For prom, all those years ago, her mother had taken her to the city, and they had spent the whole day looking for the perfect dress, only to find it in the last shop. It had been pretty expensive, but what was more surprising was they had one in her size, and when she tried it on, it fit perfectly.

It was fitted through the bust, and the straps that wrapped around her neck provided support, which meant she didn’t have to wear a bra. It flowed down her body, giving the illusion of fullness, when it fact it had been super comfortable.

“If I remember correctly, Randall said that Ward was pretty much drooling that night, and his own date got a little bitter, which is why punch ended up being thrown over you.”

Kirsty remembered that night. Once the punch had been thrown on her, she thought the dress was ruined. Ward had surprised her by being the perfect gentleman and taking her home.

That had been an interesting experience. Her mother had been able to fix the dress, she still had it, and it also fit, which was incredible. It’s not like she’d changed her diet or anything. The only thing that had changed for her was running the bar, and that was a lot of exercise.

Bethany kept talking, trying to make her understand why people assumed she and Ward were going to get together.

It was never going to happen. They hated each other, and people who hated each other didn’t get together. It was against all the rules.