All Chapters of Secret Curves (Dangerous Curves 5): Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Jax came into the kitchen and found Sarah sitting at the table drinking a cup of green tea. He dropped a quick kiss on her red curls, sat across from her.“Hey, doll.” He nodded at the bridal magazines strewn around the big oak table. “So did you and your Mom find your dream dress today?”“Not even close.”Jax paused at the look on her face. “What happened?”“Oh.” Sarah shrugged. “Turns out? I’m way too fat to go wedding dress shopping.”“What?” Jax exploded. “What the fuck are you talking about?”“Well, I didn’t know this until this morning, but the average wedding dress sample size is a ten.”Jax stared at her. “I – don’t know what that means.”“It means that I’m at least three sizes too big to try on wedding dresses in the store.” Sarah drank some more tea. “I’m a sixteen, Jax, not a ten. Sometimes I'm even an eighteen, depending on the label.”“OK,” he said slowly. “So… they had nothing in your size to try on?”“Nope. We went to three places, and the biggest dress they had was a f

Aidan and Gabi were curled up on the sofa together. He was holding her close and tight; closer and tighter than he had in ages. He was waiting, though, waiting to see if she’d start to freak out and pull away.Four months had passed since Gabi had been buried alive and left for dead, and in that four months, she’d had endless nightmares about being trapped in the dark and unable to breathe. Together, they’d worked through so much shit, it was amazing to contemplate: Gabi’s return to their bed to sleep next to Aidan, her return to work at Curves, her return to his arms for longer than ten seconds at a time.Her biggest fear – the one that she was still struggling with almost hourly – was of being suffocated. It was this fear that made even Aidan’s careful embrace potentially triggering and terrifying; it was also the reason that they hadn’t made love in four months. Gabi was scared to death of losing her breath, and she was afraid of having Aidan pressing down on her. They’d talked abo

"Curtis…” His name came out as a sob, and in two steps, he closed the distance between them. He stopped in front of her, not at all sure what he should do, what he could do. Would she let him touch her? God knows, he wanted to.Tessa stared up at him, longing for him to hold her, to touch her, just once. Her body had never, ever forgotten what it was like to be pressed close to Curtis Manning and here he was, all that muscle and strength just inches away. So near and yet so far, and all Tessa wanted was to fall into him.“Why are you upset?” He raised his hand to stroke her golden hair, saw the dirty tape wrapped around his knuckles, dropped it again. He glanced down at his chest – covered in sweat and scars and tattoos – and knew there was no way he’d be able to hold her against it. Tessa was clean and sweet, and she had no business being anywhere near Curtis at all, but most especially when he was like this.“Because,” she whispered. “I’m scared.”“Of me?” he gritted out. “You scare

Curtis let Tessa sit down in the restaurant booth first, then he hesitated. He supposed that since this was, technically, their first date, he should show the woman some basic respect, and sit across from her. But it was, technically, their first date, and they’d had their first kiss, so he felt like she’d permit him to sit right next to her. This is what comes from not dating properly, man. You have no goddamn clue how to act.Tessa smiled up at him as he stood there, a look of panic on his gorgeous face. She patted the seat next to her. “Sit here, OK?”“You sure?”“Totally.”He slid his bulk into the booth and right away, she curled up against his side. Without one second of hesitation, Curtis wrapped his arm around her, pulled her in tight.“You good, baby?” he asked softly, his lips in her glorious hair. She nodded into his chest. “So good.”He lifted her chin with his finger. “I love you.”“Oh, Curtis.” She blinked back tears. “I love you, too.”He stiffened. “You don’t have to

"What?” Curtis was horrified. “What about your Mom?”She fell silent as the waitress brought over her breakfast and Curtis’ toast. He didn’t even glance at the woman: his eyes were nailed on Tessa. He waited until the waitress had refilled their coffee cups and moved on to the next table, then he repeated his question. Tessa sighed again.“She – she wasn’t well the whole time I was growing up,” she said quietly. “My Dad couldn’t deal, and he left us when I was three, so I don’t remember a time when he was around, really. But my childhood was… unpredictable. Totally out of control. Mom couldn’t handle anything like a job, or paying bills on time, or getting me dressed appropriately for school. She’d forget to buy food and I’d go two or three days without a meal, then she’d freak out and order enough Chinese takeaway to feed a family of eight, and we’d both just gorge ourselves.” Tessa stared at her toast and fruit, totally uninterested in eating it. She was trying hard to get up the c