Publisher's Romance

Chapter 1

I felt myself turn rubbery. My legs stopped working as I grasped the sleek silver handle of the glass door to Watson and Vastag Publishers. This was the moment I had been waiting for my whole life. I wanted this. Badly. But my fears got the better of me.

"Are you going to enter or just stand there?"

A voice that was deep and rough like deckle edges on luxury stationery skittered down my arms like a feather touch. I turned around and had to tilt my head up to see him.

He was standing almost a foot taller than my five foot seven and had a beautiful head of wavy auburn hair going silver at the temples and down his sideburns. I couldn't stop taking him in.

Smiling, his blue eyes squinted at me as he took the door and began to swing it open. "Nervous, are ya?" He asked in that timber that made me have illicit thoughts.

"I, uh, I-," I was stammering. Me! I was a professor of history at the local community college. I was used to giving lectures to strangers. I couldn't find my tongue to give an articulate response. I felt the door swing open and my hand finally loosened from the door handle.

I cleared my throat and began anew. "I have an appointment here, but my nerves are getting the better of me."

There. Finally a complete coherent sentence.

He held the door open like a gentleman and walked in behind me. "It's a good sign when you have an appointment here," he said as he stepped around me heading towards the elevators. "Usually they run a tight ship and you can't get past the security guard without proof you belong here."

I stopped when I realized there was indeed a security guard who had been speaking to me. Lost in my weird fantasy about the tall stranger I faintly heard the guard asking me for my name and who I was there to see.

The stranger looked at me and winked as he stepped into the open elevator. "Good luck, miss," he called out, and then the door shut with a soft snick.

I turned my attention to the guard and apologized. "I'm just so nervous," I explained.

The guard smiled and handed me a visitor badge to clip on. "Don't worry about it, ma'am. He was right that it's a good sign to have an appointment with Mrs. Heath. Take the elevator to the fourth floor and turn left. The receptionist will tell you where to go."

"Thank you, sir," I responded as I clipped the badge on my floral shirt. It was the only shirt I had that was remotely sexy and yet still professional, as I kept my wardrobe quite modest. Classy, but modest. As someone who had been large my whole life, I adapted a particular style to look clean and neat, but gives the illusion that I'm a tad skinnier than I am. I was slowly losing weight, but I'd never be skinny and athletic like Milla Jovovich. I envied her body and wished all the time I could be skinny and fit like that. A healthy looking skinny.

I sighed through my nose as the elevator rose to the fourth floor. My hands became less clammy and my confidence came back in spades.

"I've got this," I whispered to myself. "I've got this."

After rounding the corner I saw a small desk with the receptionist seated behind it. "Hello, you must be Miss Gregory," she smiled.

"Yes, that's me."

"Please, follow me. I'll show you to Mrs. Heath's office. She will be right in." The receptionist brought me into a well decorated corner office with a beautiful view of the park across the street. I sat in a chair and began digging my printed copy of my book out of my briefcase.

"Good morning, Miss Gregory."

I stood up to face Mrs. Heath, who turned out to be a woman in her 60s with expertly styled hair and makeup.

"Good morning," I returned with a smile that I knew was my best feature. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Heath."

"Please, call me Joan." She swept a hand toward the chair I had vacated then sat behind the desk. She picked up my physical copy of my book.

"I have to say, Miss Gregory, we were very pleased by what we read. I admit we never read your entire book, but Mr. Vastag was adamant about getting you in here so we could discuss it face-to-face. We like having a physical copy on hand as well as a full digital copy because, well, everyone upstairs is still very old school." She smiled and flipped through the pages.

"You know we pride ourselves on publishing the very best information in academia available. Your book on the Solutrean theory was absolutely the most outstanding and astonishing look we've ever had at the excavation of the second Solutrean site. Given your track record as a professor, we were very delighted to see what you had been up to considering you're the youngest professor to ever have been invited to one of Doctor Himmel's digs."

Joan sat back and laid a palm flat on the cover sheet.

"We want to offer you a publication deal where your book will be published in six parts in several academic magazines. I don't consider National Geographic to be academic given their recent history with publishing some false information that had to be redacted," she paused and rolled her eyes, "but they are also interested in carrying the entirety of your book. We feel it will better serve Watson and Vastag to publish it as a six part serial before publishing it as a book as it will reach more people faster and will help boost sales."

I grinned as I listened to her. "Mrs. Heath, er, Joan, that sounds wonderful!"

She smiled and produced a leather bound folder. As she opened it, I could've sworn I smelled the oil used to make the leather shine. I couldn't wait to see what dollar amount they were planning to give me.

"We have worked up a figure for you to go over with your lawyer, or if you feel confident we can sign today."

I sat forward and was vaguely conscious of my shirt gaping open to reveal some cleavage. "This is truly a dream come true. I never imagined in a million years I'd be sitting with you today. Thank you so much for this opportunity."

"Miss Gregory-" she began before I interrupted her.

"Please, call me Alice."

Smiling, she slid the folder over to me and swiveled a Visconti pen holder so it was within reach. "I'll step out a moment and let you look this over."

I waited until the office door shut before I began reading the contract. My heart leapt up into my throat and I had to blink several times before realizing the large figure on the paper was not a figment of my imagination. I couldn't believe a 35 year old professor was being published to this magnitude. All because I wrote the truth about what was found at the dig site.

I closed my eyes and did my deep breathing exercises to calm myself down. I was getting such an adrenaline rush as I sat in Joan's expensive chair with a beautiful six-figure contract in my hands.

Joan came back in with the receptionist and explained if I wanted to sign then the receptionist would serve as a witness. I looked at them both as I smiled and lifted up the Visconti. "Absolutely," I said as I signed my name.

Once everything was done I sauntered down towards the park.

Sitting on a park bench that overlooked the small pond I let my mind wander. I should've been thinking about telling my family about my stroke of good luck, but I found myself imagining sexual things with that red-headed stranger.

I was always a romantic, so I began thinking of him standing behind me placing both hands on my shoulders. He would lean down to nuzzle my neck and whisper naughty things he planned to do with me with that deep voice of his. Gosh, that voice, I thought. That alone would make my toes curl.

Then he would slowly slide his hands down to cup my breasts and tell me so sweetly how much he loved my perfect handfuls. I would stand up and we would end up face to face. His hands would run over my rolls while he would give words of appreciation for soft, fluffy women and how lucky he was to have found me. Of course I would lose complete control at the onslaught of perfect words I have always longed to hear.

Our hands would travel and I'd cup his manhood. Slowly I would work my hand up and down over the rough texture of his jeans while he lifted my shirt off and his mouth clamped down on a nipple. I felt my core heating as I imagined his hands undoing my pants and slipping in to rub on the outside of my panties.

I was just at the thought of him slipping a finger into my wetness when I heard a very loud, "Hi!"

I literally hollered an "ah!" as I jumped and turned around to the side and saw the stranger standing behind me. He began to laugh. "I tried getting your attention, but you were lost in your own world."

I felt my cheeks get hot. If only he knew what I had been thinking about with him.

"Hi. I, uh, I'm Alice."

"I'm Andras. May I sit next to you?"

I scooted over and with my very generous rear end he had just enough room to sit next to me without our hips touching.

"Sorry, I was mulling some things over pretty hard."

He set his bag down between his feet. Those are some worn in work boots, I noticed. I really liked that.

"How did your appointment go?" He asked.

"Oh, very well!" I told him what happened and how excited I was. I explained my idea for my future and how thankful I was for the generous contract I was given.

"You haven't been teaching very long and you already want to retire?" He laughed and I enjoyed how rich his laugh was.

I sighed. "Being a teacher was never my dream. I did it to satisfy the wrong people and have been trying to get out of it for awhile. At one point I even thought of becoming a truck driver like my friend Denise did. She's doing quite well at it. But mostly I want to write."

Andras looked at me then with a look I couldn't decipher. A small smile tugged at his lips. Full kissable pussy eating lips, I noticed. I'm glad he couldn't read my thoughts. "Well, Miss Alice, you sound like a woman who's a force to be reckoned with." He leaned in and I bit my bottom lip as his stare became intent. "I'd very much like to know if you're single and if I can take you to dinner. To celebrate," he added.

Speechless for the umpteenth time that day, I swallowed then licked my lips. I watched his eyes flicker down to my mouth and noticed he slid a hand down his leg closer to where my hand laid.

"I'm not seeing anyone and I'd be delighted." I hoped my false bravado made my voice stronger than it felt.

We exchanged numbers and when he stood up I did also. I figured it was time to get home and walk the dog. Quite unexpectedly he leaned down and gave a quick peck on my cheek. "See you soon, Alice." He smiled and picked up his bag and left.

I wondered to myself if I was in a dream as I walked to my car. No guy ever asks me out. Not like Andras did. This was an absolutely surreal day.

Chapter 2

I arrived home with a chicken caprese sandwich and a mango smoothie from one of my new favorite restaurants in town. My dog Bella began making her excited noises as I made my way inside my modest condo. She was a medium sized mixed breed dog that had shown up at campus and always evaded the security guards and students who tried to capture her. It was a stroke of luck she decided to pick me to be friendly towards as I had just moved into the pet friendly condominium.

I greeted Bella and opened the patio doors to the extremely small yard. It was perfect for her as she wasn't a high energy dog. She was content to zoom around, do her business, then be a velcro dog as I laid my dinner out on the table.

My phone rang and I reluctantly picked up when I saw it was my trucker gal Denise. Sometimes she can be a real pill.

"Hello Alice!" Denise shouted into the phone. She always shouted or talked with gusto whenever she was on the phone. "How did it go today?"

"Hey, Denise. It went great. I signed a contract to be published." I opened my sandwich wrapper and the smell of basil and olive oil wafted up at me. My stomach began growling in earnest, but I couldn't tear into it until I was off the phone. I was nothing if not polite when on the phone.

"Oh, darlin, that's great news! Well, I've got a story for you," Denise began to ramble about her latest conquest.

I pursed my lips and did a small sigh through my nose. I've been doing a lot of that lately. I have known Denise for going on thirteen years. It had been an odd pairing to say the least. Denise was a tomboy, but an attractive one who always was the life of the party. I was the quiet, bookish type who faded into the background when Denise was around despite being three times as large. Being a big girl had always been my biggest hang up. Some of my family always put me down because of it ever since I was a small child and didn't know any better except being large was bad. Like having cancer bad.

I picked slowly at my sandwich and enjoyed a few sips of the mango smoothie. It felt good that my choices in food lately were more on the healthy, low calorie side. It helped that I could see my pants getting larger on my waist, too.

"And I couldn't say no to that, so I invited him along of course." Denise was still rambling about her latest beau and how he was now riding with her across the country. I shook my head and wondered why I bothered entertaining Denise and her low morals. I didn't much value the friendship anymore and thought it had run its course years ago. But me being Alice meant I was sometimes too nice and sometimes too lonely to want to give up something that was comfortable.

"Listen, Denise, I'm sorry but I have to go. Bella needs to be fed and we need to have playtime yet."

"Oh sure doll, go do what you gotta do. I'll holler at ya later. Bye!" Denise hung up and finally, I took a big bite of my sandwich. A bit of olive oil and pesto rolled down my chin. As I used my thumb to wipe it off I fell into another fantasy about the stranger called Andras. Strange name, I thought to myself. I wonder what the origins are.

Just as I was imagining Andras's sticking his thumb into my mouth after wiping my chin and his other hand kneading my breast my phone rang again.

I didn't recognize the number, but I picked up anyway. I'm glad I did as I was met with a familiar deep voice after I said, "Hello?"

"Hi, Alice. I am calling to set up a date with you." I could hear the smile in Andras's voice.

I smiled as we began to chat and finalize our date. After hanging up, I was so surprised at myself. Normally I feel self conscious when a man shows interest because being over 300 pounds it usually means one of two things: He has a fat fetish and he's only speaking to me because it's purely sexual or it's a joke with his friends on how badly he can tear down a fat girl for a bet or something. I've had both happen and it took me a long time to get over it enough to not hide constantly.

I went through a period during college where I went to classes, work, then back home where I never went out. I didn't want to be seen in public longer than I had to. It always felt like everyone was staring at the land whale. Meeting Denise is when it all changed. She was so effervescent that I stopped caring what strangers thought of me. I came more out of my shell and she helped me land my first official boyfriend at the tail end of college. Sometimes I'm ashamed to admit, but being 23 and a virgin was like being a nun. I had one guy find out when I told him the truth in conversation laugh at me. It was pretty awful.

Thankfully, college ended and I did well enough to be hired at a community college in my hometown. I was doing quite well for my age. I was smart and could be incredibly sassy as needed. I learned to cop a bit of a healthy attitude from Denise which helped to deal with the young, immature students. I quickly became one of the favorite professors in the English and History departments.

That's how I was picked to go on Doctor Himmel's dig in Virginia. Fast forward three years and here I am with a place of my own, a cool dog, a publishing contract, and a date with the hottest man I've ever laid eyes on.

Chapter 3

I heard the doorbell chime and Bella answered in kind. I heard a laugh through the door and gasped when I opened it. Andras stood there with his broad, tall frame filling up my doorway. The splay of burgundy roses he was holding completed a picture of absolute sensuality.

He was dressed in a smart pinstripe suit that was dark blue. It set off his blue eyes like chips of sapphire. His hair was slicked back, but some waves still managed to escape and do their own thing. I loved how handsome and boyish he looked. Like an old cowboy or lumberjack, Andras looked like a man's man. He could protect me, lift me out of danger, love me until I came again and again- okay, I had it really bad for him.

I smiled and moved out of the way. I told Bella to be a good girl and she apparently liked Andras enough to bring him her favorite toy to play with.

"I'm glad you've passed Bella's test. She doesn't tend to like many people."

"I love dogs. Teddy passed away a couple of years ago and I can't see myself with another dog yet. He was a terrier mix that was probably the best dog I've ever had. These are for you." Andras held the bouquet of roses out to me.

"They're beautiful, Andras. Thank you. Let me get them trimmed and in a vase. Your Teddy sounds like Bella. She's one of a kind and it will be terrible when it's her time to go."

"Sure. Take your time. At least your girl likes to play. Teddy never wanted to do much more than sleep and bark at the neighbor's cat." He bent over to pick up Bella's kong toy and tossed it at her. I admired Andras's tight ass. Those pants he wore had to be tailor made because they fit him like a glove.

We made small talk as I took care of the roses. "Andras is an interesting name. First time I've ever heard it, actually," I said, placing the vase of roses on my dining table. "Where is it from?"

"It's Hungarian." Andras was now playing tug of war with Bella. She growled and wagged her tail as he moved the toy back and forth. "My family is originally from Szeged and moved here in the fifties because of the Communism there."

"Ah," I said. "So it's like a Hungarian Andrew?"

"Something like that," Andras let go of Bella's toy and she contentedly settled down and chewed on it.

I smiled at her. She never failed to make me feel happy.

Andras walked over to me and reached a hand up. I held my breath as his fingers brushed a piece of hair behind my ear. "You look beautiful, Alice." His eyes grew soft and a small smile remained on his face. I didn't recognize this look, but it made me feel really nice inside.

"Thank you. I was hoping the dress would be appropriate for wherever you're taking me."

"Oh yes. You'll fit right in. Shall we?" Andras held his arm out and I linked mine with his. It was lovely until I had to go through the door and we couldn't both fit. One of my shortcomings I have to deal with on a daily basis. As I turned the key, I felt Andras's hand at the small of my back. He remained close to me until we were in his car speeding towards what I hoped would be a wonderful evening.

I couldn't believe it when he pulled up in front of Chophouse. It was one of the expensive steakhouses in town that even had valet parking. One of the valets opened the door for me and helped me out. As Andras came around, he tipped him as he handed his keys over. He looked at me and blew out some air. "Alice, that dress makes you look even more stunning under these lights."

I did my best feminine wiles at Andras. I looked up at him from under my eyelashes and smiled. "This old thing, huh? I'm glad you think so. I wouldn't want to embarrass you as sharp as you're dressed."

My dress was actually pretty old. It was from an old designer sale from a website that used to rent clothes, so you could keep your wardrobe trendy. I decided to buy this dress as it was expertly made for a person like me. The dress was claret and had shimmers in all the right places to make a large person look a tad skinnier. It was simply a classy dress without showing too much skin. It worked great for me because I'm the classic pear shape with smaller breasts, and large hips and rear end and legs. It hid all the parts of me I didn't feel comfortable showing anyone.