Secret Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 5) Read Free Page B

presumption when she gave him an impish grin.
    “Wow,” she said, her voice sultry and teasing in return. “So you’ve got a hidden sweet tooth, huh?”
    “I do.” He grinned on back at her, loving the game. “I like to nibble on sweet things when nobody’s looking.”
    “What kind of sweet things?”
    “Hmmmm.” He blinked at her innocently. “Sugar cubes.”
    “Like a horse?” She looked him up and down. “God knows, you’re as big as one.”
    “You know it, babe.”
    She giggled a bit, and handed him a piece of cake. She watched as he took a big bite, then he shook his head.
    “It’s amazing,” he said. “Perfect. Thank you.”
    Tessa blushed. “You mean it?”
    “Yeah.” He took another bite. “I think it’s the best first birthday cake that anyone’s ever had.”
    “I’m glad you like it,” she said quietly. She paused. “Curtis?”
    “Yeah?”
    “People will care about you, if you let them,” she said hesitantly. “The people who work here, they’re good people, you know, and they want to be good to you. So, maybe, just let them?”
    He stared at the floor, turned over her words in his head. He wondered why he wasn’t angry at her for poking in to his life; all he knew was that he wasn’t. No, if the truth be told, he was happy to let her in. Maybe it was OK to let other people in, too?
    Curtis lifted his eyes to hers again. “You think that’s true? That people would care about me?”
    “They already do,” she said, then she lightened the mood. “Not that you make it easy for them, with your growling and glowering all over the damn place.”
    Startled, he laughed aloud. Tessa jumped.
    “Was that a laugh ?” she said, astonished. “Like, for real?”
    “Yeah. Don’t tell anyone.”
    “Your secret’s safe with me,” she promised solemnly. “Now… you want to share some of your birthday cake with everyone else?”
    He had wanted to, and that was the night that everything changed for Curtis at Curves. It had always been a damn good place to work, in terms of the money and the job, and he’d liked his colleagues just fine. Jax was a great boss, and Curtis had even liked most of the regulars. But he hadn’t shown any of that. He hadn’t gotten to know anybody, not really, and he sure as fuck hadn’t let them get to know him.
    Tessa’s small gift changed him in ways that Curtis never saw coming: she made him soften and open up a bit, made him start to talk and flirt and tease. The other waitresses had always looked to him to protect them, but now they joked around with him, too, and he found that he liked it. His fellow bouncers had known they could count on him when the shit hit the fan, but now Dillon and Alex and Wes invited him out for a beer and to their poker nights, and he liked that just as much.
    Curtis had been alone for a very long time, and he thought that things were always going to be that way for him. But Dangerous Curves was now his home, and the staff were now his family, and Tessa was even more than that. She was his fucking heart’s blood, his life’s breath. She was his sun, and the center of his universe, and he’d do anything for her – anything at all.
    He’d never touched her – not even on her hand, not even once – until that night that drunk fucker grabbed her, and then punched her in the back of the head.
    She’d collapsed in to Curtis’ arms, and for the very first time in his life, rage and a desire to fight had taken second place to love. He’d walked away from the asshole who’d hurt Tessa, totally focused on getting her somewhere safe. He hadn’t thought about anything except taking care of her. OK, yeah, he’d gone back after and beaten the crap out of the dickhead – but not until Tessa was safe. She was his priority.
    He’d known that holding her when she was unconscious was a questionable thing to do, that her body wasn’t his to touch and caress the way that he did that night. Her asshole boyfriend had that right,