Table for Three Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Table of Contents

  Acclaim for Zoey Thames

  Look for these titles from Zoey Thames

  Title Page

  Copyright Warning

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Zoey Thames

  More Romance from Etopia Press

  Excerpt for Curves for Fighters

  ~ Acclaim for Zoey Thames ~

  For Curves for Fighters

  “The passion felt real and the twists were unexpected. I found their relationship fun and intense. And the combined chemistry between these men and Ruth was hot.”

  –Manic Readers

  Look for these titles from Zoey Thames

  Now Available

  Big Girls and Billionaires

  Table for Three (Book One)

  Quick & Sexy Wolves

  Curves for Three (Book One)

  Curves for Fighters (Book Two)

  Curves for Shifters (Book Three)

  Curves for the Cage (Book Four)

  Table for Three

  Big Girls and Billionaires Book One

  Zoey Thames

  Etopia Press

  Copyright Warning

  EBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared, or given away. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is a crime punishable by law. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded to or downloaded from file sharing sites, or distributed in any other way via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Published By

  Etopia Press

  1643 Warwick Ave., #124

  Warwick, RI 02889

  http://www.etopiapress.com

  Table for Three

  Copyright © 2017 by Zoey Thames

  ISBN: 978-1-944138-98-1

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  First Etopia Press electronic publication: May 2017

  ~ Dedication ~

  For Janelle in Georgia. We ended up lost on that trip, but what memories!

  CHAPTER ONE

  Josie Smith was hurrying toward table five with a full tray of drinks when a customer unexpectedly stood from his booth and moved right into her path. She spun, carefully balancing the tray as she pirouetted around him. She might be a big girl, but she did have a few smooth moves in her. All those dance lessons as a kid still paid off to this day. As she swept past him, a surprised look flashed across his face. She smiled at him and kept right on going without spilling a drop. Without even rattling the cups on her serving tray.

  Sometimes she still got lucky. These days, she’d take any luck she could get. She dance-walked her way down the aisle toward her section, swaying to the live music blasting from the small stage at the far end of the restaurant. She was determined not to think about her recent run of bad luck and jinx herself.

  As usual, it was a busy Friday night at the Highland Grill. The restaurant did brisk business on Fridays and Saturdays. Mostly with the locals, but a few tourists and people from surrounding towns always came in. The live music helped. Right now the band Bluegrass Highway was ripping it up on stage.

  She made it to her intended table—the McKinley family, who were longtime regulars—and handed out the drinks. Coffee for Mr. McKinley, a wine cooler for Mrs. McKinley (“I earned this working in the trenches all week,” she always said, referring to her job as a first-grade teacher), and chocolate milk for the kids. Josie made sure they didn’t need anything else and headed back toward the kitchen, weaving her way past full booths and tables. The air was full of music and chatter and the clack and clatter of tableware on plates. Friday night at the Highland sounds, in other words.

  She only hoped a table on the back deck opened up for Dan and Lucas before they arrived on their motorcycles. Over the past six months, the two gorgeous men had become her very favorite customers. Both of them were charming, funny, and handsome as sin. Also, they looked stunning in their riding leathers. She had to remind herself not to drool when she was serving them because how embarrassing would that be? They were both completely out of her league, looking like bad-boy, movie-star-slash-male models, if that were a thing. Lucas was as big as a football player, with dark and broodingly hot looks. Dan could’ve stepped right off a Viking ship, he was so blond and blue-eyed. Not as intense-looking as Lucas, but the scars on the part of his jaw that ran down along his neck made him look like a tough character, although he was always an absolute gentleman and a sweetheart to her. Both of them were. She even had a secret where they were concerned. Both men had starred in plenty of her private vibrator fantasies since she’d met them. She’d throw herself off the Junction Falls water tower before admitting that aloud, but it was the truth.

  Unfortunately, fantasies were all she’d ever have with either of them. Lucas and Dan were in a relationship with each other. One night when she’d been taking out the recycling, she’d spotted them locked in a breathtaking kiss. They’d been in the side parking lot near their motorcycles, making her knees weak with those leather pants and jackets and all that forceful male passion. Yum.

  That was pure bad luck there, for her at least. Why were all the best guys gay? The universe must be taunting her. No, no, she had to stay positive and keep a smile on her face. She was determined. Her luck in life would change for the better. Even if she had to make that luck herself.

  She headed behind the counter and started prepping for table six, while she waited for Jim to finish table eight’s order. Table eight had four construction workers who always ordered Smoking Guacamole Burgers—two quarter pound patties with her own secret guacamole recipe, diced tomatoes and jalapenos, pepper jack cheese and a squeeze of lime on lightly toasted buns—every time they came in. It was a point of pride for her, because the Smoking Guacamole Burger was one of her recent menu creations. Jim Forkner, the owner-slash-head-cook-slash-only-cook at the Highland, had been putting many of her new hearty meal creations on the menu. They’d been a big hit, too. She doubted anyone at one of those fancy culinary institutes would agree, but the people around here loved that stick-to-your-ribs cooking.

  “How long on eight?” she called to Jim, glancing at the ticket carousel.

  “They’re cooking,” Jim drawled back, as unconcerned as always. “They’ll be done when they’re done, girl.”

  “Well hurry up, boss,” she shot back. “Those construction workers look hungry. I don’t like the way they’re looking at me—like if they don’t get food in their bellies soon, they might just eat me for dinner.”

  “Don’t you worry, sweetie,” Christie, the other waitress on tonight and one of her good friends, said as she hurried over, grabbing silverware and napkins. “They’re big boys, not zombies. No one’s getting eaten tonight. Except maybe me.” She winked at Josie and leered. “Got a hot date with Mike.”

  Josie couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s not polite to brag,” she chided.r />
  Christie never had any filter on a word she said. She was in her mid-thirties, short but cute, favored more eye shadow than Josie would ever use, and always had her brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Josie had never met anyone as obsessed with horoscopes, palm readings, and the like as Christie. Also, Christie tended to think of Josie as a little sister. That could be either annoying or endearing, depending on Josie’s mood at the time and the subject at hand.

  “Listen, sweetie,” Christie said. “I’ve been meaning to tell you all night. I got some good news for you.”

  Josie paused in her setup. “I can definitely use me some of that.” She reached for the coffee carafe. “Better tell me quick, though. I already see I have coffee to refill.”

  “Don’t burn your biscuits, I’m getting to it.” Christie put her hands on her hips and gave her that “big sister” look. Jim overheard them. He grunted from the kitchen where he was flipping burgers on the grill and turning corn with tongs. “Don’t burn your biscuits” was one of his pet phrases.

  Deke Miller, a customer at one of Josie’s tables, caught her eye and lifted his coffee cup. “Hold that thought,” she said quickly to Christie and hurried over to refresh the Deke’s coffee. The band finished their first set. They headed over to the “band table” sitting against a wall decorated with framed pictures of every band that had ever performed at the Highland Grill. The band table was typically filled with lots and lots of beer bottles. Tonight was no different.

  Josie finally made her way back behind the counter again, but it was another ten minutes before their comings and goings lined up enough for Christie to talk to her again.

  “Don’t you want to hear the good news?” Christie asked her, as if Josie were purposely avoiding her.

  She stood at attention. “Fire away, commander! I’m ready to face my fate. Tell me I’m going to wake up rich and beautiful tomorrow.”

  Christie frowned. “Hon, you unfamiliar with how a mirror works or something? You are beautiful. I wish I had those curves.” Christie slapped a hand on her thigh. “Instead I look like I’m related to a beach ball. Like I tell my men—no fear, I’m all sphere.”

  Josie laughed and shook her head. Christie had such a charming personality and warmth that she was never alone when it came to men. Not like Josie. Well, especially after she’d finally dumped her lying jerk of an ex-boyfriend almost year back now. It had been her fault for dating someone named Dennis who drove a Pontiac Trans Am and believed mullets were destined to make a comeback. But she’d been lonely, and he’d had a certain charm…at first. Josie had always been what people liked to call Rubenesque, so when he’d come on strong for her, she’d been flattered by all the attention. Too bad he’d lie to his own mother about what he’d had for breakfast.

  But she wouldn’t deny she was a big girl. Her thighs were thick, she had a lot of ass, and her boobs certainly didn’t fit into a b-cup. She did like to think she had a pretty smile, and she had enough of an hourglass figure that she was determined to believe there was a special man out there for her.

  Somewhere.

  Maybe two thousand miles away in Alaska.

  Nope. Had to stay positive.

  “Hurry up and tell me!” she practically pleaded with Christie. She needed all the good news she could get right now.

  “Right, right. You’re gonna love this one,” Christie said, grinning. “I read your horoscope for you. You know, the expanded version on that site I pay for. For the real dirt on the influence of the stars. Anyway, something life-changing is going to happen to you tonight.”

  Josie arched her eyebrow at her friend as she continued setting up her next table with napkins, tableware, and straws. “Life-changing? That could be wonderful…or very scary. Because winning the lottery is life-changing, but so is getting run over by a bus.”

  “No, no, this is good. Because it involves a mysterious stranger.”

  “Christie, did you ever see that horror movie, Friday the 13th? I bet all those poor, soon-to-be murder victims considered Jason a ‘mysterious stranger.’”

  “Listen to you!” Christie chided, wiping the top of a ketchup bottle with a spare cleaning towel. “You used to be more positive about the influence of the celestial zodiac.”

  “That was before Dennis dumped me. And I am positive. I’m positive Dennis is a lying, manipulative, cold-hearted jerk with a small penis.”

  “Well, I’ll just take your word about his man parts. But your mysterious stranger who is going to change your life forever will have impressive manparts. I guarantee it.”

  “Did your horoscope say that? Something like, ‘Your life will be changed by a mystery man with manly manparts?’ Because if so, maybe I should start reading the horoscopes…”

  “Nothing specific, but I’m thinking positive. See how that works? Now. The only thing your horoscope wasn’t that clear on was whether it was going to be one dark and mysterious stranger or two.”

  “Two? So now I’m going to be life-changingly murdered by a coven of serial killers? What do you call more than one serial killer? A troupe? A clutch? A cluster? A gang?”

  They looked at each other and spoke at the exact same time. “A murder!” Then they both started giggling.

  Jim dinged the order bell to get their attention. “Food’s getting cold, ladies. We’re busy as the devil at a political convention if you haven’t noticed. I’ll never get to retire if y’all stand there cackling like crows.”

  Josie hurried to pick up the orders and get them to the hungry customers, all the while thinking how she didn’t believe Christie’s horoscope predictions for a minute. The only mysterious stranger in the restaurant right now was the guy who’d nearly crashed into her. He wasn’t a local. And he had a mustache as bristly as one of the brooms in the storeroom. Also, his beard reminded her of a mop. A clean mop, but still…a mop. He looked like a nice man, although he certainly wasn’t the mysterious stranger or strangers, God help her, here to sweep her off her feet into a new and wonderful life of love and happiness.

  Of course, her ex-boyfriend Dennis had looked like a nice man, even though he couldn’t grow a beard that qualified as anything but a scraggly, pathetic tangle. Look how he’d turned out. As fork-tongued as the devil and twice as shifty. Yet another time in Josie’s life unlucky in love.

  Stay positive! That was her mantra as she expertly handed out the four dinner plates to the construction workers, throwing back their banter as good as she got and leaving them laughing. Laughing customers were happy customers. And happy customers left good tips. Lord knew she could use the money. She’d been working at the Highland Grill for the last few years…and maybe some things needed to change. She needed a bigger town than Junction Falls for one thing. One where she didn’t know all the locals, and they didn’t know all her business. A new place where her luck was sure to change for the better.

  She glanced at the door and scanned the row of windows along the front of the restaurant. No sign of Dan or Lucas yet. She usually heard them coming anyway if the band wasn’t rocking out. Lucas rode a Harley, and you could hear a Harley coming from a mile away.

  Every Friday, like clockwork, the two stunning men came wandering in. Sometimes early. Sometimes late. But they would swagger through the door in their leathers, looking all windblown and road-worn like ten thousand tons of muscley hotness. Both of them radiating panty-melting levels of heat. Both of them worthy of the most scorching of fantasies. As she knew firsthand. A vibrator and a horny girl’s imagination could be a volatile combination.

  She couldn’t help but think back to the time she’d caught Dan and Lucas locked in a world-crushing kiss. That was her favorite fantasy, hands down. The whole time she’d felt a little like a voyeur, but their passion for each other had been so compelling she hadn’t been able to look away.

  Josie should’ve guessed it a long time ago, she supposed. You could see the love in their eyes when they looked at each other. It lit up their smiles too. It was sigh-worthy lo
ve. She only wished she had a love in her life like Lucas and Dan shared—one that shone in the eyes of the man looking at her, as bright as a beacon in a lighthouse. No one could ever mistake that love. People would envy her for it. But she’d just appreciate it all the more, knowing how lucky she was and never taking it for granted. Not even for a second.

  That’s what she wanted. And no mysterious stranger was likely to give it to her.

  The band started up again. Bill Mullin at table seven caught her eye and motioned her over. She sighed and hurried to table seven with the check.

  * * *

  Lucas Pearce was well on his way to the Highland Grill, roaring down the road alongside Dan on their motorcycles, when Dan signaled him to stop at the next turnout. He followed behind Dan’s sleek black Ducati as he slowed and pulled onto a dirt turnout flanked by tall trees and a green wall of brush. It didn’t look or sound as if Dan’s crotch rocket of a superbike had any mechanical problems, so he wasn’t sure why they were stopping. The heavy rumble of his Harley Davidson’s engine stopped as he shut it off and put down the kickstand. Then he leaned back on his bike’s leather seat and watched Dan with a smile.

  Dan put down his bike’s kickstand and pulled off his helmet. He hung it on his handlebar and swung off the bike with that smooth grace Lucas admired. Admired? Hell, seeing Dan’s athletic grace always had him half-hard, his sex engine ready to rev to full throttle at the thought of the other man naked. A grin spread across his face. He was going to have to tell Dan about that whole “sex-engine” thing over beers later. Dan would get a great laugh out of it, but Lucas also knew the compliment would please him.

  Dan had those high cheekbones and the strong jaw of his Nordic ancestors. Blond hair, blue eyes like a perfect summer day. Tall, with a body that was in perfect shape, and an easy smile, he was handsome, charming, and still down-to-earth. He would always grin and shrug off compliments, even from Lucas. Although that never stopped Lucas from speaking his mind about what he liked. He understood Dan was self-conscious about the scarred skin on the right part of his jaw and down onto his neck. His right ear was also missing a bit of the lobe. As stunningly handsome as Dan was, Lucas knew those burn scars from a beach party when Dan had been a teen bothered him. Though he rarely spoke about it, Lucas knew those scars made Dan feel…not ugly, but flawed, and that near-enough broke Lucas’s heart every time he thought about it.