บททั้งหมดของ Secret Curves (Dangerous Curves 5): บทที่ 71 - บทที่ 80

Curtis unlocked the apartment door, hoping that Tessa wasn’t back yet. He wanted to put her present under the tree without her seeing it. He’d had them wrap it at the store, since he had no faith in his ability to do a decent job with paper and tape. He’d even asked for them to put a small silver bow on top.He opened the door, saw Tessa sitting on the sofa. Her face was streaked with tears, which was bad enough, but she also looked terrified. When she saw him, she jumped to her feet with a cry.“Curtis!”The panic in her voice made him look around the room. When he saw that fucker sitting calmly in a chair, he saw red, then he felt a stab of fear. What had he done to her? Had he hurt her? Curtis wouldn’t put it past him; Curtis wouldn’t put anything past him.“Tessa!” Curtis shot across the room, got between her and that asshole. He grabbed her, pulled her against him. He held her face between his hands, looking for damage. “You OK?”She nodded, hesitated, shook her head.“Did he hur

Tessa recovered from the second punch, and now she started to stomp on Lloyd’s feet and kick at his shins. Pissed off, he sighed, shook her hard enough to rattle her teeth, then spun her to face Curtis.“Stand still, bitch,” Lloyd growled in her ear. “I have no problem knocking your fucking head off your shoulders, believe me.”“Listen to him, baby.” It killed Curtis to agree with this prick, but this wasn’t about him. It was about Tessa, and not antagonizing a man who’d hurt her just for fun. “Just stay calm, alright? Please?”Right away, she stood totally still and silent, watching Curtis for instruction. Her trust in him almost took the knees out from under him, but he managed to give her a smile.“It’s gonna be alright,” Curtis said gently. “I promise you.”Tessa nodded, knowing that he’d do anything at all to make this right. She hated having this man’s hands on her, hated his sour whisky breath on her skin, but she’d do anything Curtis said. Even staying here in the arms of the

Tessa sighed, exhausted and in pain. She stared at her face in the hospital bathroom mirror, twisted a bit, and lifted her shirt to see her upper back and shoulders. The doctor had said that nothing was broken, but the bruising was something else. Her cheek was a sickly purple, her nose was swollen, and her eyes were tinged with black and green. Her back was a landscape of violet and black, and it hurt when she moved.The police had already been at the hospital when she and Curtis had arrived, dealing with something else, so she hadn’t had to wait very long to make her statement. She’d seen how the cops had looked at Curtis as he stood there, his bruised and swollen and bloody hands in his jeans pockets. They’d glared at him with knowing suspicion, and he’d not said one word in his defense. No, instead he’d looked oddly resigned and defeated. He also hadn’t laid a finger on her after he deposited her in the hospital wheelchair, not even a careful touch on her face. He hadn’t been the

His eyes flashed. “He hurt your mother. He killed her. He showed up here today looking for money. He held me hostage, he punched me, he threatened to rape and kill me. He did all of that, Curtis. Him.”“Tessa…”“No. You need to really see this, OK?” Her voice was more gentle now. “You need to see that even though there are hundreds are ways that you’re not him, there’s one huge thing that separates you from him, that makes you so totally different from him. This thing means there’s literally not one damn hope in hell of you ever becoming him. No matter how much you may look like him. No matter how well you can punch, or how violent you can be when taking down some drunk with a knife… this one thing means that you’re not him. You’re better than him. You always have been, and you always will be.”“What?” he asked, desperate. “What’s the one thing?”“Regret.”He froze, staring at her."You’re sorry for things you’ve done, even if you didn’t intend to get anyone hurt by doing any of it,”

"Tessa. You awake?”She snuggled closer to Curtis, made a small sound. “I could be. Why?”“It’s past midnight, baby. It’s Christmas.”“Ooooh.” She struggled to sit up, and he helped her. “Really?”“Umm-hmmm. You want your present?”She gave him a slow, hot smile. “I thought you were going to give it to me tomorrow morning.”“Not that one,” he huffed. “That one’s not exclusive to Christmas.”“God, I hope not.” Her long hair fell over her shoulders, hiding her lush breasts from his view. “So you want to give me my other present now?”“Is that OK?” he said, suddenly unsure. “It’s just that – I’ve never had anyone to give a gift to before. I kind of can’t wait.”“God, Curtis.” Her heart broke for him, just a little bit. “Of course it’s OK.”“Be right back.” He kissed her mouth carefully, avoiding the worst of the swelling and bruising, jumped out of bed, and wandered out of the bedroom totally naked. She practically drooled at the sight of his amazing ass and shoulders, then almost drool