Total pages in book: 21
Estimated words: 19017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 95(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 19017 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 95(@200wpm)___ 76(@250wpm)___ 63(@300wpm)
When Lyric went on a first date to a boxing match with a man he met online, he was hoping for a love connection. What he found was a judgemental tool. But all was not lost; Lyric ends up being swept away…by the boxer in the ring. It is the first in a string of incredible events which will change his life forever.
This low angst, quick read novella is full of sweet moments and steam. It contains no cheating or cliffhangers and has a very happy HEA!
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
Lyric
I paced back and forth in front of the convention center, waiting for my date Brice to arrive. He’d told me to make sure I wasn’t late; that he hated tardiness, so I made sure to be half an hour early. But the event started in just a few minutes and Brice was nowhere to be found.
I was growing worried - for his safety, not about potentially missing the event. I wasn’t that excited for the date he’d picked; a boxing match. I didn’t share his love for the sport. I wasn’t much of a ‘sports guy’ to begin with, but I especially wasn’t a fan of fighting. I couldn’t relax while watching; I always worried people were going to get hurt.
But Brice said that if I wanted to go out with him, I needed to do things he enjoyed, so I agreed to meet him here. I hoped that he would want to do something I enjoyed for our second date…if he wanted a second date. I wasn’t sure he was going to show up for our first date.
I hadn’t had much luck in that department lately. I was a member of several different dating sites, and I traded messages with men fairly often, but actually meeting up with them was a different story. It wasn’t that I didn’t try; men just didn’t seem that interested in me.
So, I jumped at the chance to meet Brice in person. I craved a deep, true connection with someone. I hoped this date could be the beginning of something great…if the date had a beginning.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw Brice approaching. I recognized him from his dating profile; he was tall and thin, and had shaggy brown hair and pretty green eyes.
I waved excitedly over my head. When Brice saw me, his shoulders slumped. He looked behind him, and I thought for a moment that he was going to leave. But, he turned around once more and approached. I wrote it off as no big deal…until he spoke.
“Lyric?” he asked, and I nodded as his lip curled into a sneer. “You don’t look like your picture.”
Surprised, I told him, “I just took it a couple of weeks ago.” I couldn’t imagine that I had changed in such a short amount of time. I also didn’t remember it being at a strange angle or anything; I thought it was a nice picture.
“Yeah, but you took it from the neck up,” Brice huffed. “It didn’t show all of that.” He waved his hand over my body and I finally understood the issue.
I wasn’t a small guy. I had a full figure and soft curves, which apparently were turn offs for Brice. I didn’t intentionally hide them from my dating profile photo; I was just trying to get a nice picture of my face, while trying to avoid an awkward body shot in the reflection of a mirror.
I thought my build would be obvious from my photo, and the way my round, stubble-covered cheeks overtook my light blue eyes when I smiled. But apparently, I was wrong. Unsure what else to do, I apologized for the confusion and asked Brice if he still wanted to continue with our date.
He gave a long sigh and shrugged. “I’m already here.” I hoped that after we spent some time together, he could overlook any flaws he saw in my body. We’d spoken a few times on the phone and he liked me enough to invite me out, so that had to be worth something.
Brice reached into his pocket and pulled out two slips of paper. I realized they were our tickets when he handed one over to me. “You owe me forty bucks.”
Oh. I was under the impression that the tickets to the fight were his treat, given that was what he told me, but I didn’t mind paying for my own. “I don’t have any cash on me; I usually just use my credit card for everything. But I’m sure there’s an ATM inside. I’ll withdraw forty to give you.”
“Great. In the meantime, can you get snacks at the concession stand? They take cards and I’m starving.”
“Oh…sure,” I replied with a smile. I was hoping he would join me for dinner after the fight, but I didn't want him to be hungry until then. “I can grab us something.”
“Us?” Brice moved his gaze up and down my body. “Do you really think you need the extra calories?”
My cheeks heated as I looked down at my soft body. Snacking surely did add to my figure. Maybe if I put a little more effort into my appearance, Brice would be more interested in a relationship with me. “You’re right, I probably don’t need anything. I’ll just get something for you.”
He nodded and we joined the line of people waiting to get into the venue. The queue was short, since the event would be starting soon and most people had already entered.