Perilous Curves Collection (BBW Romance) Read Free Page A

my skin. "Anything you want, Liv. If it's in my power, it's yours. Every last dollar, every piece of property."
    I shook my head. He had nothing to offer. Once he had been everything I wanted, but I could never be that stupid, trusting girl again. Neither could he give me back all the intervening years or the lovers I might have been happy with if they had only come before him.
    "Liv--"
    Feeling the brush of his lips against my ear, I shook my head again, more violently. "I don't want your money, Serrano. And no matter what Diamond finds, you'll need every last dollar for the attorney to make the evidence matter in court."
    He stopped arguing -- with words at least. His hand skimmed up my arm until his fingertips landed softly against my collar bone. He was betting on all my little pleasure points being the same. I closed my eyes and prayed they weren't.
    "I said anything, Liv." His hand dipped beneath the silk shell I wore under my jacket. A short caress parted my lace bra from my skin and his hand slid inside to palm my breast.
    "Dante…"
    I didn't expect what came next.
    "I divorced Alex's mom the summer you got engaged to Dumont."
    I wanted to cry, uncertain whether the response was regret or the sweet pain of having Dante touching me again. Peter Dumont had been my second engagement -- my father's choice, not mine. Alex would have been about three the summer I gave in to family pressure. But I hadn't been able to go through with the marriage. What Dante had done to me, I did to Peter in a way. I never set a date and after a few months, Dumont had stopped pressing. A year later, he walked down the aisle with another woman.
    Clearly Olivia Miller, so plump and awkward, was easy to get over. Dante had done it, so had Peter and a handful of other men.
    I pressed my lips together, trying hard to keep any tears at bay. I couldn't take the case. I wanted to punch Dante, I wanted to laugh in his face about his failed marriage. But I also wanted to lean into him, my breast filling his palm as I tilted my head up toward his mouth.
    Recognizing that I was riding a roller coaster of angry and aroused, I knew I couldn’t risk subconsciously sabotaging the investigation. I had to tell him no and keep on telling him until the message sank into his dense skull. "Take the card and go, Dante."
    His hand moved deeper into my bra. His thumb slid toward his palm to trap and tug at my swollen nipple. "Alex didn’t do this, he didn’t kill Ray."
    A moan threatened to erupt but I swallowed it down. Turning my head, I glared at Serrano but made no move to stop his hand as I bit out, "And Craig or some other PI will help you prove it."
    Turning my face towards his was a tactical mistake. His mouth captured mine, his tongue quickly drawing me into a kiss I didn't want as his fingers grew more teasing. He plucked the nipple, smoothed it before rolling the whole puckered areola as his tongue and mouth ravaged me.
    When the next moan threatened, I couldn't stop it.
    Sensing he had me, Dante slid his other hand behind my neck, his fingers wrapped around the back of my skull so that he had full control over the kiss. Another wave of memories washed through me. My thighs slicked as I remembered the subtle ways he had dominated my body. Persistent, he had always refused to let me retreat from my arousal. There had been no hiding, no lights out -- as a lover, Dante would accept nothing less than my body and need fully exposed to him. I'd felt beautiful then. Beautiful, loved, desired -- but Alex was proof that I had been nothing more than gullible and stupid.
    "I can't," I gasped, ending the kiss as my hand came up to stop his tormenting caress.
    "One week, Liv." Dante stared deep into my eyes before his lips traced a line from my cheek down to the side of my mouth. "Then I’ll let you hand the case off to this Diamond guy."
    I swallowed a sigh. He knew to always start small with me and chip away from there. That’s how it had started back in