“I’m worried about you, Libby.”  My mother’s voice was cutting in and out, and I shifted my cell phone to my other ear.  I crossed the room and drew back the drapes, staring down at the park across from me.  Dusk was falling.  There was a glow of green and red Christmas lights that were strung through the trees in the park, illuminating the people hurrying down the shovelled paths.

“I told you, the roads were fine.  I’m at the hotel and I pick up the key for my new place tomorrow afternoon.  I’m good.”

“You’re not good.  How can you be?”  My mother almost wailed into the phone.

I tried to hold in my sigh of irritation.  “Because I’ve just landed my dream job?  I’m not only the first female partner at the law firm of Martin, Clarke and Bones, I’m the youngest partner in the history of the firm, Mom.”

“What good is a dream job when your heart is broken?”

“My heart is not broken.”

“I know you still love him.”

“No, I don’t,” I snapped.  “He cheated on me.  Repeatedly.  In our bed with a twenty-two-year-old.”

“Honey,” my mother said, “I know that Wayne made a terrible decision and I understand how difficult it’s been for you but men have needs.”

“Don’t, Mom.  It’s been a long day and I’m tired,” I warned.

“Hear me out, honey.  You were working a lot of overtime and you had - ”

“I was working to secure our future,” I hissed into the phone.  “Do you think Wayne was going to provide for us by being a short-order cook at a second-rate diner?”

“See, that’s what I’m talking about,” my mother said.

“I have no idea what you mean,” I said.

“You were always belittling him, honey.  I’ve had some long talks with Wayne since you broke up with him and he told me how you didn’t approve of his job or his dream of one day owning his own restaurant.  If you want to keep a man, you have to be supportive of their dreams.  Add in the fact that you’ve let yourself go in the last few years and is it any wonder that Wayne was tempted to stray?”

I wished I could say I was shocked by my mother’s behaviour but I wasn’t.  I’d spent my entire life listening to her lecture me on all the ways I failed at – well – everything.  I’d already heard this particular gem of a lecture twice before but I suddenly couldn’t stand to listen to it for a moment longer.  Unfortunately, my mother was relentless.

“You did so well to lose all that weight, honey, and it’s a real shame that you lost focus and gained it back.”

“I didn’t lose focus.  I was very busy at work and I got tired of starving myself and going to the gym every night for two hours,” I said.  “Just because I’m fat and busy at work doesn’t give Wayne the right to cheat on me, Mom.”

“Of course it doesn’t,” my mother said.  “But, honey, you know men are visual creatures.  They want to be proud of their lady and you can’t blame Wayne for not being proud of the fact that you’ve gained forty pounds in the last two years.  You have such a pretty face, Libby, it’s a shame that - ”

“I have to go,” I interrupted. 

“Honey, wait!  We haven’t talked about Christmas.  What day are you driving back?”

“We did talk about Christmas, remember?  I said I wasn’t going to be there.”

“I didn’t think you meant it,” my mother said.  “You’re really going to leave me all alone on Christmas?”

“You won’t be alone,” I said.  “You’re going to grandma and grandpa’s and the rest of your siblings will be there as well.”

She carried on like she hadn’t heard a word I’d said.  Honestly, she probably hadn’t.

“Christmas is for family, Elizabeth.  Family!”

“It’s a very busy time at the firm, and they needed me to start this week,” I lied.

My mother sighed dramatically.  “Well, my only child is abandoning me for her career.  I guess I can understand where Wayne is coming from.”

Anger and frustration and a healthy dose of hurt settled in my stomach and I blinked back the tears savagely.  “That’s not what I’m doing and you know it.  I have to go.  Good night, Mom.  I’ll call you in a few days when I’m settled.”

I pushed the end button on my phone before she could reply and could barely restrain myself from throwing my phone across the room.  I leaned my forehead against the window, closed my eyes, and tried not to let my mother’s obvious disappointment in me change my mind about what I was going to do.

I straightened and crossed the hotel room to study myself in the full-length mirror.  I was wearing my tightest pair of jeans and a shimmery blue top that hugged my breasts and had a scandalously low neckline.  My push-up bra was doing a marvelous job of keeping my tits where they were supposed to be, and I studied my cleavage before pulling self-consciously at my top.  I was certain that if I took too deep of a breath, my boobs would fall right out of my shirt.  I glanced at my suitcase and briefly considered changing my shirt before turning to the mirror again.  I needed a pep talk stat.

“Elizabeth Gertrude Brecken, you are not changing your shirt.  One does not simply walk into a generic hotel bar and seduce a stranger wearing a t-shirt.  Your tits are amazing and you’re going to need them out front and center and working overtime.”

I turned and stared at my butt.  I couldn’t hide the size of my ass or thickness of my thighs or my extra-large muffin top.  Not in these clothes.  For a moment, I mourned the loss of my thinness before I shook my head.  I was being stupid.  Until I walked in on Wayne banging the twenty-two-year-old like a screen door in a tornado, I’d been perfectly content with my larger body. 

Always a chubby kid and teenager, I’d finally grown tired of my mother’s constant nagging about my weight and started a strict regime of diet and exercise when I entered university.  I’d stayed thin through starvation and exercise until the last two years.  My busy career and my lack of enthusiasm for constantly monitoring what I ate, led to a slow but gradual weight gain.  I still exercised on a regular basis and I ate healthy for the most part but my body wasn’t meant to be thin.  I wasn’t bothered by it, it was a relief to finally be myself again, and Wayne hadn’t seemed upset by it either.  Of course, the twenty-two-year-old he was screwing had the lithe body of a gymnast and when I’d confronted him, he had said that -

I cut off that thought immediately.  Bile rose in my throat and I swallowed it down.  Best not to think about Wayne and his betrayal.  Despite what my mother thought, I was supportive of his dream of owning his own restaurant.  It wasn’t my fault that he lacked the motivation to actually pursue his dream.

I shook off the memories of Wayne and grabbed my purse from the bed.  I was starting a new job in a new city and I couldn’t be happier.  Christmas was a week away and yes, I would be spending it alone for the first time in my life, but even that didn’t upset me.  My new company was more than willing to let me start in the new year.  They were a little surprised that I wanted to start so close to the holidays, but I couldn’t get away from my old life fast enough.  Given the choice between spending Christmas alone binge watching my favourite shows on Netflix, or spending Christmas with my mother listening to her lecture me on all my shortcomings, it wasn’t hard to choose. 

“Netflix,” I said to my reflection in the mirror.  “Definitely Netflix.  Okay, girl, let’s do this.”

Libby, are you sure you want to do this?

I ignored my inner me.  My self-esteem had taken a nosedive when I walked in on Wayne and his floozy.  While I might have been happy with how my career was going, there was a stupid part of me that was desperate to find out if I could still seduce a guy into sleeping with me.  It had been years since I dated, and while I wasn’t interested in dating right now, I was interested in finding a man to fuck.  I blushed at my dirty thoughts, but if I couldn’t be truthful with myself about what I wanted, then I shouldn’t be going to the damn hotel bar in the first place.

Wayne and I hadn’t had sex in months, I was single, and I was in a city where no one knew me.  I wanted to prove to myself that I was still attractive enough to land a man, even with a muffin top and oversize ass.

Prove it to yourself or to your mother?  Inner me whispered.  We both know you’re not a one-night stand kind of woman.  Also, men like thin girls, not a fatty like you.

I spun around abruptly and stalked out of the room, letting the door slam behind me.  I was getting laid tonight, no matter what.

 

* * *

 

For a Saturday night, the hotel bar was relatively empty and my prospects for having sex with a stranger seemed dismally slim.  Although, it was still early, I told myself.  In this particular case, maybe the early bird didn’t get the worm.

Girl, you need to look for something bigger than a worm.  You’ve spent years denying it but Wayne’s dick was small and nothing special.  You need a man with a big dick who knows how to use it.

When had I become such a damn nymphomaniac?  I had always liked sex but in the last month or so I’d become obsessed with it.  Become obsessed with finding someone who would find me attractive and sexy at my current size.  Someone who wouldn’t tell me that –

Nope, I wasn’t going there.  Reliving the memory of Wayne telling me that my weight was crushing him – both figuratively and literally – was a terrible idea.  I straightened my back before sweeping my gaze over the bar.  There was a group of businessmen sitting at a table close to the entrance.  They were talking loudly, and from the look of their flailing hands and red faces, they’d already had too much to drink.  I crossed all of them off my mental “try and have sex with” list.

A few couples were sitting at the booths and tables scattered around the bar.  A trio of women wearing jeans and t-shirts – they had the harried look of overworked mothers – were conversing quietly.  The one closest to me glanced at the street entrance and I followed her gaze when her eyes widened and she nudged her friend sitting next to her.

My breath caught in my throat.  The two gods who had just walked in were smiling at the hostess and even from here she looked flustered and nervous.  I couldn’t blame her.  Both men were well over six feet tall with broad shoulders and narrow hips.  The one on the left had dark hair and he was slightly taller and heavier than his friend.  I could see the muscles bulging in his arms as he stuck his hands into the back pockets of his faded jeans.  The motion made his t-shirt cling to his abdomen and my pussy made a weird little flutter as I stared at the ridges of muscles.  His friend had a leaner build and sandy-brown coloured hair and I took a deep shuddering breath when he grinned at the hostess and two deep dimples appeared in his cheeks. 

Oh God, my panties were getting wet.  The two men practically screamed sex and for one moment I allowed myself the fantasy of sleeping with one of them.

One of them?  You want to choose?  Go for both!

I almost laughed out loud.  I was barely the type of girl who had a one-night stand with one man, let alone two.  Besides, men who looked like them were not interested in women who looked like me.

Of course, that didn’t prevent my heart from stopping and then galloping back into beat when the dark-haired god glanced my way.  I stood frozen to the spot as his gaze drifted down my body before returning to my face.  Was that… lust on his face?

I could feel my cheeks burning and I sucked in my gut and looked away.  I was an idiot.  The denim-wearing god and his dimpled friend were way, way out of my league.  I was wasting my time even fantasizing about them.

Forcing myself not to peek at them again, I studied the curved wooden bar.  Mirrors lined the wall behind it and I studied the reflection of the lone man sitting at the bar.  He had olive coloured skin and black hair that was thinning on top.  He looked a little older than me and he was clean shaven and wearing a custom-made suit.  He was handsome enough and he looked…safe.  Like someone I could seduce.

Keeping my head high, I walked to the bar and slid onto the stool beside him.  He glanced at my face and his gaze dipped briefly to my cleavage before he returned to staring at his glass of wine.  Not exactly an encouraging start but I checked for a wedding band anyway.  His ring finger was bare.  It was time to put my plan – code name “bang a total stranger” – into motion.

I waved at the bartender.  She took her sweet time walking over and gave me a polite smile.  I ordered a glass of wine and when she returned with it, I fumbled my money out of my wallet.  God, I was so nervous.

I took a few sips of wine for courage before clearing my throat.  “Hi there.  My name is Libby.  What’s yours?”

The man glanced at me again.  “Dwayne.”

I jerked wildly and nearly fell off the stool.  Fuck, that was too close to Wayne for comfort.  The man arched his eyebrow at me and I gave him a weak smile.  “Sorry, I’m a little clumsy.”

“Sure,” he replied. 

I held out my hand and after a moment, he shook it briefly.  His hand was soft and sweaty and his nails were perfectly manicured.  He tapped one finger against his wine glass as I said, “So, are you in town for business?”

He nodded but didn’t offer any more information.  I took another sip of wine.  “What do you do?”

“Marketing,” he said.

I waited for him to ask what I did and when he didn’t, said, “Do you enjoy it?”

“Yes.”  He drank some wine and I was encouraged when he took a quick peek at my tits.  Maybe he was shy.

“That’s good.  Enjoying your work is important.  I’m a…”

I trailed off as the dark-haired god sat down on the stool on my other side.  His dimpled friend had already sat down next to him.  The butterflies flickered to life in my stomach and I forgot about Dwayne from marketing as I inhaled.  The dark-haired man smelled incredible and I gripped my wine glass as the bartender came hurrying over.

“Hi there.  What can I get you guys?”  She said.  She placed her hands on the edge of the bar and bent a little at the waist, giving them both a smile and a good look down her shirt.  She had nothing on me when it came to tits but I supposed that didn’t matter.  She was beautiful with tanned skin and long dark hair and a slender body.  She probably did yoga every day and drank organic kale smoothies.  Seeing as she was the most gorgeous woman in the bar, there was no doubt in my mind that she’d be going home with one of the gods tonight.

So, wait to see which one she takes and then you take the other!

I almost scoffed out loud as they ordered beers and the bartender gave them a slow inviting smile before hurrying off to get their drinks.  Just because they happened to sit next to me at the bar didn’t mean I could seduce which ever one the bartender rejected.  No, they weren’t for me.  I needed to concentrate on nice, safe Dwayne.  He was probably amazing in bed.  Didn’t they say that the men who looked stuffy and stiff were actually animals in the sack?

Yes, I decided as the bartender returned with the beers, that’s what they said.  Dwayne was probably incredible in bed and, dammit, I was determined to find out for certain.  I ignored the god sitting on my left side and turned back to Dwayne.

“So, Dwayne, what do you like to do for fun?”

Dwayne smiled condescendingly at me before saying, “Look, Lily, you seem like a nice lady but I’m not interested in you.  I like my women a little more fit, okay?”

Hot shame flooded my cheeks as Dwayne drank the last of his wine, slid off the stool and walked away without looking back.  I clenched my hand around my wine glass as I blinked back the hot tears.  No doubt the hottie sitting next to me had heard every word.  I was beyond humiliated.  Why the fuck had I ever thought a man would find me attractive?  Wayne and my mother were right.  Men didn’t want a fat girl, they wanted –

“You’re going to break that glass, sweetheart.”  A big hand, warm and covered in hard calluses wrapped around mine.  He tugged lightly on my fingers.  “Let go of the glass.”

I let go and dropped my hand into my lap.  It latched onto my other one and they worried and twisted together as I stared dully at the top of the bar.  Oh God, I couldn’t stand the humiliation.

“You okay?”  His voice was a deep rasp that sent shivers down my spine.

I nodded and croaked, “I have to go.”

“He’s an idiot, sweetheart.”

Now the tears were slipping down my cheeks and I brushed them away.  “Th-thanks.  I have to go now.”

“Don’t go, love.”  A second voice, just as low as the first, spoke from my right.  The dimpled god had moved to sit on Dwayne’s empty stool and I groaned inwardly as he said, “Have a drink with us.”

“I shouldn’t,” I whispered.

“You should,” the dark-haired one said.  He signalled for the bartender and ordered me another glass of wine.  When it arrived, he paid for it and handed it over.  I took two large swallows and was about to take a third when the glass was tugged from my hand. 

“Whoa, slow down, love,” the dimpled god said.  “We don’t want you getting drunk on us.”

I didn’t reply.  I couldn’t look either of them in the eye and fresh embarrassment washed over me when the dark-haired one said, “He really is an idiot.  You shouldn’t listen to a word he says, Lily.”

“Libby,” I whispered.  “My name is Libby.  He-he got it wrong.”

“See?  Complete idiot,” the dark-haired man said.  “My name is Seth and this is my friend Theo.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Libby.”  Theo held out his hand and after a moment I shook it.  His hand had rough calluses as well that scraped across my palm.  “Are you visiting our city for pleasure or business?”

“I – I just moved here.  I’m staying at the hotel tonight because my, uh, place isn’t ready until tomorrow.”

“Welcome to Mansford,” Seth said.  “I assure you that not all the men here are assholes like old Dwayne.”

I shrugged and Seth leaned closer.  I shivered when I felt his warm breath on the side of my face.  “He’s wrong, Libby.  You look - ”

“I know what I look like,” I interrupted.  “Thank you for the glass of wine but I’m dying of embarrassment and I want to forget this ever happened.”

I grabbed my purse but before I slid off the stool, Seth said, “Libby, wait.”

The command in his voice kept me frozen to the stool.  I didn’t object when he tugged my purse from my hand and placed it back on the bar before taking my hand and rubbing his thumb over my palm.

I was trembling and my skin felt hot and tight.  I watched Seth’s thumb rub across my palm and shamefully made a soft moan when he leaned in and brushed his lips against my cheek.

“You’re beautiful, Libby and much too good for a man like him.”

“I’m not,” I whispered.

“You are,” he insisted.  “Look at me.”

I dragged my gaze away from his thumb and stared into his eyes.  They were the colour of dark chocolate and a shiver went down my spine when he dipped his head and pressed a feather-light kiss against my mouth.

I whimpered quietly, my body arching toward him and a ghost of a smile crossed his lips.  “Beautiful and responsive.  Your turn, Theo.”

I blinked at him but before I could ask him what he meant, Theo was cupping the back of my neck and tugging gently on it.  I turned to face him and moaned when his mouth descended on mine.  The tip of his tongue traced my lower lip and I parted my lips immediately.  He pulled back and smiled at me, squeezing the back of my neck before dropping his hand from my neck and picking up his beer.

He took a long drink as I said in a low and shaky voice, “What is happening?”

“Why are you in this bar tonight, Libby?”  Seth’s voice was right in my ear and I licked my lips as both men crowded close.  The babbled conversation of the other patrons in the bar faded away and I had to work very hard not to lean against the warm bodies of either men.  Their shoulders brushed mine and their heads were tilted toward me.

“I came here because I,” my face flushed, “I couldn’t sleep and I thought a nightcap might help.”

Seth’s eyebrow arched up and he glanced at Theo.  “Do you believe her, Theo?”

“No,” Theo said with a small grin.  “Do you?”

Seth shook his head and I gasped when his big hand rested on my thigh.  His fingers pushed between them and he rubbed my inner thigh as Theo put his hand on my lower back and traced tiny circles.

“I think you’re lying to us, sweetheart,” Seth said.

“I’m not,” I whispered.

“Lying gets you a spanking,” Theo said.

All the muscles in my pussy clenched in a heart-stopping spasm of pleasure and my nipples beaded into hard points.  I was nearly panting now and a flush was rising up my neck.  Why did the thought of being spanked by them bring a shameful amount of liquid to my pussy?  Spanking wasn’t my kink.

How do you know?  Old stick-in-the-mud Wayne liked two positions and wouldn’t know a kink if it smacked him in the face.

“Tell us why you’re really here, Libby,” Seth said. 

His big hand squeezed my thigh and the words came tumbling out of me in a low rush.  “I came home one day and my boyfriend was having sex with a much younger and thinner woman in our bed.  When I asked him why he said, he-he said …”

I trailed off and swallowed past the aching burn in my throat.  I couldn’t say it.  It was too humiliating.  Seth rubbed my thigh and Theo pressed a gentle kiss against my cheek.

“How are you guys doing?  Need a fresh drink?”

The bartender was back and I stared grimly at my hands in my lap as Seth said, “No thank you.”

“Are you sure?”  The bartender was persistent, I’d give her that.  “I can bring you a menu if you’re hungry.”

“No thank you,” Seth repeated.  “We want privacy please.”

“Oh, of course.”  The bartender sounded both surprised and deflated and my inner voice cheered loudly.  Score one for the big girl.

When she was gone, Seth said, “Tell us, Libby.”

I hesitated and then said, “If I don’t, will you spank me?”

What the fuck?

“Yes,” Theo said in a low voice.  “We’ll bend you over the bed, pull down your jeans and your panties and spank your lovely ass until it’s covered in our handprints.”

I moaned and Seth squeezed my thigh again before grinning at Theo.  “I think we might have better luck if we threaten not to spank her.”

“Oh God,” I whispered.  “What is wrong with me?”

“Nothing,” Theo said.  “Tell us what we want to know, love.”

“He cheated on me because I’d gained weight.” 

I didn’t have to tell them exactly what he said.  I’d just make sure that if I did have sex with one of them, I wouldn’t be on top.  Easy.

I jerked when Seth made a low curse.  Theo was studying me and I closed my eyes and said, “I came to the bar because I wanted to find someone to sleep with me.  I wanted to convince myself that I was still attractive and desirable.  I just wanted a fling, you know?”

“Why did you choose Dwayne?”  Seth asked.

“Well, because he looked safe and,” I paused, “attainable for someone who looked like me.”

“You saw us when we first came in, didn’t you?”  Seth said.

I nodded and he squeezed my leg again.  “You saw the way I looked at you.  You knew I wanted you.”

“I didn’t,” I lied.

“You did,” he insisted.

“I – I didn’t think it was real,” I whispered.

His hand moved off my thigh and he turned me on the stool to face him before kissing me again.  This time there was no gentleness in the kiss.  He took my mouth with a hard possessiveness that made me ache with need.  His tongue pushed past my lips and flicked against mine.  I forgot that we were in the bar and returned his kiss with an eagerness that surprised me.  My heart was pounding in my ears and I was pressing myself against the stool in a vain attempt to ease the ache between my thighs.  When Seth pulled away, I nearly fell off the stool.  Only Theo’s hand on my hip kept me in my seat.

“I want you, little Libby,” Seth said bluntly.  “I want to take you back to your hotel room, spread your legs and fuck you into the best orgasm of your life.  Does that clear things up for you?”

I stared mutely at him before whispering, “You – you’re not safe.”

He grinned.  “Is safe what you really want, sweetheart?”

“I don’t know.”

Theo’s breath was warm on the back of my neck.  “It isn’t, love.”

I had forgotten completely about Theo and I shivered when he pressed up against my back and kissed my neck.  “Play with us tonight, Libby.  I promise it’ll be a night you won’t forget.”

“Us?”  I whispered.  I gave Seth a shocked look and he nodded gravely.

“We’re a package deal, sweetheart.”

“I – I can’t take both of you to my room,” I said in a low voice.

“Why not?”  Seth asked.

“Well, because it isn’t – I mean, what would people say if they knew that I…”

I trailed off and Seth grinned at me.  “We won’t say anything if you won’t.”

I didn’t reply and Theo kissed the side of my neck again.  “Say yes, love.  We want you very much.  You want a one-night stand, let us give it to you.”

“You can’t tell anyone I did this,” I whispered.  I was being ridiculous.  Seth and Theo’s rough hands and the way they were dressed suggested they were laborers.  The thin layer of sawdust that clung to Seth’s jeans and the paint spatters on Theo’s shirt meant they most likely worked in a trade.  This was a large city and since my circle of friends would probably be the people I worked with, we wouldn’t be in the same social circle.  After tonight, I’d never see them again.

Then take them to your room and fuck them!  For God’s sake, you could have the time of your life tonight if you’d stop thinking about what others might say.

Inner me was right.  I came to the bar looking to find a man who found me attractive and wanted to fuck me.  I had found not one, but two, and suddenly I was getting cold feet?  Fuck that.  No, not fuck that – fuck them, both of them… a lot.

“We won’t say a word, love,” Theo said.  “Cross our hearts, hope to die.”

Seth made an X across his chest before winking at me.

“Yes,” I said abruptly.