6. Darren
DARREN
I step over the rubble of the former princess bridge in front of Katie’s fashion boutique.
Long ago, this building was an event space for children’s birthday parties. I can still remember it decades ago, in its former glory. It had a zipline, a paintball field, and a castle with a working moat that doubled as a lazy river in the summer.
Then the owner closed it down. Over the years, the property was sold and renovated several times. The moat was drained and filled. The castle was torn down. But the princess bridge stayed, the wooden planks sun-bleached and warped, a vacant dirt patch beneath it.
Until I bought the place, saw what a liability the bridge was, and tore it down.
I didn’t think it would upset Katie, so I didn’t warn her. But oh, I was wrong. She was upset. And she believed I must have done it on purpose, just to hurt her.
I would never do something like that. I don’t hate Katie, I’ve just never known how to be around her without going crazy. Not since that kiss eight years ago.
I look upwards at the large sign, a mix of rustic elements and bright pink. The words FAT CHICK CHIC are large and proud on the front of the building that I, as of a couple of months ago, am the owner of.
Katie opens the front door, a hand over her brow to shield her eyes from the afternoon sun.
“Would you please stop giving my sign a dirty look?” Katie says as I come inside. “I can name my business whatever I want. You’re my landlord, not my co-owner.”
“I know that.”
“So why do you always look at my sign like it’s got dirty words all over it?”
“I’m just trying to figure it out.”
“Figure what out?” she asks.
“All my life I was raised to be a gentleman,” I continue.
“I was told to never talk about a woman’s age or her weight or anything like that.
And if I ever called a woman ‘fat’ or even ‘chick’, for that matter, my mama would have lost her mind.
But now the words are in bright huge letters on the front of a store all the women in this town are obsessed with. ”
I watch as Katie goes around the counter at the front, where another similar sign is posted on the front of the counter above a display of lingerie.
I clear my throat uncomfortably, looking away from the lace and straps and bows.
I’ve only been inside of this place a couple of times.
Once when the realtor gave me a walk through before I purchased it, and again when Katie called me about a leaking pipe.
I’ve never really looked around in here. Why would I? It’s Katie’s place, and it’s women’s clothing. Some of it modest, some of it sexy and revealing. Problem is, I can’t look at any of it without imagining Katie wearing it. And when I imagine that, I imagine myself ripping it off of her.
To my chagrin, Katie reaches into the display and pulls out a black lace teddy.
“Fat isn’t a bad word anymore,” she says, holding it up proudly.
“At least, not in this context. I got tired of all the euphemisms that the fashion industry uses to describe my body. It’s like they invented a hundred different terms just to avoid saying the F-bomb.
So I decided to reclaim it and strip it of its negative hold over me and women everywhere. ”
“The F-bomb?”
“Fat,” she explains, as though it’s obvious.
“Oh, of course. The F-bomb.”
Katie grins as she holds the black teddy against her body.
“What do you think? Could I pull this off?”
“Hell yes. But I’d rather pull it off for you,” I blurt out.
Her eyes widen but I don’t regret a thing.
I’ve officially lost all control and now that I have, I’m not going back to the way things were before Katie called me last night.
She loved me. And I’m not going to stop until she loves me again. Katie will be mine. And I’m ready to be the kind of man she needs.
“So,” she says. “You’re here to fix the pipe, I assume?”
“And just look around,” I nod.
“You’re shopping?” she raises a brow.
“No,” I say, eyeing the black teddy that Katie is still holding against her curves. “But I wanted to look around and see if there’s anything I can fix.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because for once, you’re going to allow me to,” I say. “You’ve wanted me to stay away from here since I bought the place. Not anymore. This old building needs a lot of work.”
And I’m not letting my woman work in some rundown old shack.
“Are you going to rebuild my bridge?” she jokes.
“Yes.”
This takes her by surprise.
“Darren, I was kidding. What do I need a bridge for?”
“Clearly it meant something to you. You’d walk across it all the time. Even ate your lunch on it a few times when the weather was nice.”
“You’ve been stalking me.”
She doesn’t sound displeased about this. And I don’t attempt to deny it.
“It was sentimental,” Katie says, gazing out of the storefront windows at the pile of old wood. “I had a couple of birthday parties here when I was a kid. And then in high school, me and my friends would sneak out in the middle of the night and meet on it.”
“That was a hangout spot?” I ask. “I had no idea.”
“No boys allowed,” she explains. “Even cute ones.”
“So you thought I was cute.”
“Everyone thought you were cute,” she rolls her eyes. “And they were constantly asking Dot and me about you. What does he do at his house? Do you ever see him shirtless? What kind of shampoo does he use? Does he talk to any girls on the phone?”
“So you were spilling my secrets.”
“I didn't tell them a damn thing,” Katie says proudly. “I respected your privacy. Also, as far as I was concerned, you were mine. I wasn’t about to help them charm you by giving them inside information. In fact, sometimes I intentionally misled them.”
“What do you mean?”
“You remember going on some dates with Summer Settler?”
“I think so.”
“I told her that you absolutely loved show tunes. That’s why she bought you the Annie soundtrack for your birthday.”
“You put her up to that? I always wondered what that was about. That was so…weird.”
Katie smiles sheepishly as I shake my head, bewildered to absorb this information. Not only was Katie in love with me, she was so possessive over me that she intentionally sabotaged my dates.
Should that be a turn on?
Because it kind of is.
“Sorry,” Katie says. “I would never do something like that now. I was a teenager in love and all of these popular mean girls who would normally never be caught dead hanging out with me were suddenly trying to be my best friend. I realized it was just so they could get close to you.”
“That sucks.”
“It wasn’t just me. Dot, too. Oh, Dot loved to mess with them so much. You don’t even want to know the kinds of rumors your sister would start about you.”
“You’re right. I don’t think I want to know.”
“So…you’re really going to rebuild my princess bridge?”
“If that’s what you want. Yes. However you want it.”
“Can we paint it, too?”
“I assumed painting was implied,” I reply. “But I don’t even remember what the original paint looked like, do you?”
“It was pink,” she says confidently. “It’s a princess bridge, after all. Oh – this time, we could match the shade to the sign on my store!”
“Whatever you want, firecracker.”
She blushes.
“I missed your nicknames.”
I walk around the counter, taking the teddy from Katie’s hands and pulling her close to me. Her breasts push against my chest and I know she can feel how hard I am right now, my cock pushing into her soft belly.
“I missed you , firecracker,” I whisper. “And now that I know I have a chance with you, I’m not going to leave you alone. I hope you know that.”
“I don’t know.”
I nod. I want her to know that I’m not going anywhere. But she doesn’t trust me. The last time I kissed her and made her a promise, I broke it. This time, it’ll be different.
My lips crash into hers. My tongue parts her lips as I pull her tight into my body, kissing her in the way I wish I’d had the guts to kiss her years ago. Not just a kiss but a claim to this woman.
I’ll be the only man to kiss her this way. The only one to be inside of her body. To plant my seed inside of her and watch her belly swell with my child. I’ll protect her from harm, provide for her, make sure the rest of her days are the best days.
She’s mine .