Dangerous Curves Ahead: A Perfect Fit Novel Mass Market Paperback

by Sugar Jamison

“What!” He wasn’t the shallow asshole she thought he was. He loved her body and every soft curve she possessed. He was sick of her preconceived notions and was about to tell her so—until he saw the tears in her eyes.

  He melted. No other woman had such an effect on him.

  “I—I saw what happened between you and Jared’s mother yesterday.”

  “So?” He was confused. “I’m not attracted to her, and even if I was I wouldn’t even consider her when I’m with you.”

  “‘I never thought somebody like you would be with somebody like her.’”

  The woman’s words—he couldn’t even remember her name now—came crashing back to him. She’d called Ellis fat. He didn’t think it was much more than a cheap shot at the time but now he knew better. Now he understood how Ellis saw it.

  “Somebody beautiful?” He kissed her forehead. “And smart?” His lips traveled down the bridge of her nose. “And sweet?” He kissed her cheeks. “And sexy?” His mouth found hers. “And funny?”

  “And fat. Don’t forget fat.” She smiled sadly and hugged him tightly. “I know you like my body but you’re a total weirdo. When we walk down the street together women look at us. They’re wondering how the hell I managed to snag you.”

  He didn’t think that was true but he humored her. “Men look at us, too. Didn’t you notice that guy in Roma’s yesterday? If he looked at your ass one more time I was going to punch him.”

  “The one by the cooler?” She raised her brows. “Really? He was cute.”

  “Not the point.” He frowned at her. “I’ve never dated a girl for more than two months in my adult life. But I want to keep seeing you. I want to be with you, Ellis. Stop trying to push me away.”

  *

  “Fine. You win.” She should feel happier. He was saying all the things that she wanted to hear, that any woman wanted to hear, and more important she believed him. He wanted to make this work, to give them a shot. Why was she so reluctant to take a chance on him? “Just promise me that when you’re ready to bail you’ll talk to me about it. Don’t get all weird and mannish on me.”

  Don’t be like Jack.

  Her heart couldn’t take it.

  Anger flashed in his eyes, and she knew she had said the wrong thing. “Why do you assume it’s me who’ll bail? Why are you predicting the end of us before we begin?”

  Because the end is coming, she didn’t say. It was just a matter of time and as much as she wanted to trust him not to hurt her, she couldn’t. She was in love with him and unless he loved her, too, they wouldn’t work. “Why didn’t you have sex with me yesterday?”

  She changed the subject to a safer one. She didn’t have the energy to argue with him. She wanted to enjoy him while she could.

  “Because of this.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “I wanted you to be sure.”

  “Test results?” She frowned. “Negative for…” She read down the list, her heart rate slowing. “You got tested? For me?”

  “For us.” He looked bashful for a moment. “It bothered me when you told me that we were a mistake. But you were right. You don’t know who I had been with. You’re the only one I’ve never used…” He looked her helplessly at her for a moment. “I want you to trust me.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Say something.”

  BOOM.

  “I’m going upstairs to get naked now.” She headed toward the stairs, smiling at him over her shoulder. “Are you coming?”

  *

  The first time they made love that night was quick, hard, and explosive. It had been weeks since their last time. Weeks of pent-up sexual frustration to fuel them. She came twice before he did and he gave her that little cocky smile that she found both infuriating and adorable. The second time was slower, more leisurely. He took his time exploring her body with his mouth, kissing every exposed inch of her skin, licking her in her most sensitive places, till she was a quivering happy mess. And when he finally entered her, he experimented with rhythms and positions. He asked her what she liked, what she wanted from him, what he could do to make it better. It brought her to tears. She didn’t know that sex like that existed. She didn’t know that there were men on this earth who were made to please a woman.

  “Are you okay, Ellie?”

  He was propped on one elbow, looking down at her, his free hand stroking the hair from her face.

  She shrugged. “I’ve been better.” She was a bad liar, unable to stop the grin that spread across her face.

  “When I saw the tears in your eyes I—I thought I had hurt you.”

  “No. No! Of course not.” She raised his hand to her lips kissing his palm. “You were very good, so good that I’m thinking of renting you out.”

  “Really?” he grinned. “How much would you charge?”

  She shook her head. “Can’t tell you. It could affect your ego.”

  “It could?” He absently touched his fingertips to her nipple, causing it to pebble. “If it’s anything less than a grand an hour I will be sorely disappointed.”

  She smiled at him. “The truth is that I don’t like to share, so I guess I can’t rent you out.”

  He gave her a gentle peck on the mouth. “I want you to do something for me.”

  “Anything.”

  “Tell your sister about us.”

  “Oh.”

  She nodded. They were no longer just sleeping together, just seeing each other on occasion. They were a couple now. Tonight made it official. It was only right that Dina should know. But telling her big sister was the last thing she wanted to do. She knew how Dina would take it. They were just starting to get along. This would undo everything—but Mike wasn’t just some guy to her anymore. He was her boyfriend. She loved him. It shouldn’t be a secret. But she still didn’t want to do it.

  “Give her more credit, baby. She’ll be cool with this. It’s not like you stole me from her.”

  “Okay, Mike,” she said.

  “We can do it together if you want. Ask her to come to lunch.”

  “No.” The last thing Ellis wanted was to have Dina see her with Mike. This was something she was going to have to do alone. She would need to think of a gentle way of informing her sister that she was dating that once tore them apart. “I’ll tell her, Mike. Please don’t worry about it.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Lactose Overload

  I apologize for the short blog today, but I ate half a gallon of strawberry cheesecake ice cream and I’ve got a bad case of the sugar shakes. Please feel free to shame me in the comment section.

  Ellis, Cherri and Belinda stood side by side in the storeroom, their heads tilted, staring at Ellis’s work.

  “Wow.”

  “It’s breathtaking.”

  “You like it?” Ellis bit her lower lip and studied her work.

  Karen’s wedding dress was complete and it looked like a … wedding dress. A bona fide designer gown that you might pick out of any bridal salon. And it was pretty. Ellis was surprised with the outcome. She’d never thought she was capable of creating something so … complicated. Her chest swelled with pride. Making a wedding dress was a better high than selling clothes, for the simple reason that Karen would wear the dress on the day she started her new life with the man she loved. She would look back on it fondly. It would always mean something to her.

  “I don’t like it. I love it,” Cherri gushed. “I want you to make mine.”

  “Yeah, Ellis,” Belinda added. “I thought you were out of your mind when you told me you were going to make one, but it’s gorgeous, and not Bitzy’s Bridal gorgeous but Vera Wang Couture gorgeous.”

  Ellis’s cheeks burned. “You’re only saying that because I sign your paychecks.”

  “No.” Cherri squeezed her hand. “We wouldn’t lie to you. The five grand you’re getting is what you deserve. I think you stumbled upon your calling.”

  “My calling?” Ellis blinked at Cherri. She thought owning Size Me Up was her calling—but it wasn’t selling c
lothes that she was passionate about. It was altering them, redesigning them, seeing the looks on her customers’ faces when she presented them with garments that were made just for them.

  “Have you ever considered designing bridal wear?”

  She shook her head. “Whoa. We’re just getting on our feet with this place. I can’t imagine taking on something else right now.”

  “But you’re so good at this. Besides, you won’t do it alone. We’ll help you,” Belinda said. “I’ll take over the books, and my mother is great with a needle. She can come in a few times a week to help. She gets bored being at home all day.”

  “I could come in earlier,” Cherri volunteered. “It’s not busy in the mornings, so I could do some of my schoolwork here.”

  Ellis’s throat tightened, slightly uncomfortable but infinitely touched by their offer. “You’re both so sweet but I can’t ask you to do that. I barely pay you enough as it is.”

  “You don’t have to pay me any more, dummy,” Belinda said. “I don’t just want to be an employee; I want to be an investor. I was with you when you dreamed of opening this place. I want to be with you when you expand. I’ve got some money saved up. I think your work is amazing. I think we could go far with bridal.”

  “I’ll be an investor, too,” Cherri added. “I’m broke but I’ll invest my time and whatever else I can, so long as you promise to make my dress for free when my day comes.”

  Ellis stood absolutely still for a moment. This was too much. Too far beyond the scope of her dreams. “I cannot take your money, Belinda.”

  “Look at me, Ellis.” Belinda motioned to herself. “Does it look like I am a person who would ever settle for being broke?”

  “Huh?” Ellis rubbed her throbbing head.

  “Listen to me carefully, honey. I’m not just giving you money. I’m investing, and I don’t invest unless I know I’m going to get a return. I know I’ll earn my money back plus loads more with your fingers on the needle.”

  “But I don’t have anybody else who wants a dress. I don’t even know if Karen will like this one.”

  “You know she will. And if there is a Karen out there, imagine how many women are out there like her. I mean, look at me. I have never been able to just buy clothes off the rack. You’ve had to alter nearly every item of clothing I own.”

  Ellis studied her best friend. Belinda was the curviest of the three, reminding her of every pinup girl and sexpot of the past. She was exotic and gorgeous with red hair and bronze skin and a way about her that made the world want to stop and look. But she was an outsider. Just like Ellis. Just like Cherri, who was nearly six feet tall. They had bonded because they had a hard time finding clothes that fit. From her blog followers alone she knew that there were many women out there like them. Who didn’t fit in. And out of those women who didn’t fit in, some of them had to be getting married.

  Holy shit. This could work.

  Belinda grabbed hold of Cherri’s arm and headed for the door. “Just think about it.”

  They left her alone with the wedding dress and a head full of thoughts. Mike’s face flashed through her mind again. She needed to talk about it with him, ask him how he felt. Maybe when he came home tonight they could make this big decision. The wheels in her mind stop turning with that thought.

  They?

  Home?

  Ask Mike how he feels?

  Why bother? As much as she valued his opinion, this store was her baby and her dream. This was her life, and she’d vowed never to let another man have a say in how she lived it.

  The bell over the front door sounded. Ellis paid little attention to it as she tidied her work space, thinking one of the girls had forgotten something. She yawned, trying to stretch the exhaustion from her bones. All she wanted to do when she got home was eat, take a hot shower, and fall into bed, preferably with Mike. He’d waited for her to get home every day this week. Sitting on her doorstep, smiling when she pulled in. Every night they went to bed together. Every morning they woke up in each other’s arms. And every day part of her wondered when the time would come when he wasn’t waiting for her to come home.

  “Smelly Ellie?” Dina called from the front of the shop.

  Ellis startled. Dina? Her sister had only been to the shop once before it opened. She was the last person Ellis expected to visit, the person she had been hoping to avoid. Mike had asked her to tell Dina about them. She hadn’t yet. She was afraid. Afraid that Dina would blow up, would hold a grudge, would sever ties. They were getting close again. Mike Edwards had come between them once. She couldn’t bear for it to happen again.

  “I’m in here, Dee.”

  Dina sauntered in in a pair of skintight leather pants, motorcycle boots, and a gray leather jacket. She was absolutely gorgeous with her mane of auburn hair flowing behind her.

  “Going to a biker bar, dearest sister?”

  “Concert in Albany. I just wanted to swing by the ’rents’ house first. I’m a little short on funds this month.”

  Dina was always a little short on funds but Ellis held her tongue. It was none of her business if her parents wanted to give their thirty-four-year-old daughter money every other week. Ellis had her own issues to deal with.

  “So,” Ellis said, changing the subject. “I heard you have a new boyfriend.”

  Dina shrugged. “Yeah, he’s out in the car. We finally ditched the kid tonight. Hey, I like kids as much as the next person but this one is so needy. He won’t even go to bed without Vigo tucking him in. He needs to grow up already.”

  Now, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?

  Ellis suppressed an eye roll. “Isn’t he five?”

  “Yeah, but he’s messing up my mojo. It’s hard to get intimate with a guy when he’s always worried about his kid.”

  The guy actually cared about his kid. Maybe he wasn’t so bad. And listening to Dina talk about him he seemed … nice. Maybe it wasn’t the guys Dina choose. Maybe it was Dina.

  “You should probably make an effort to get to know his child, Dina. Mom said you were serious about him.”

  Dina gave a long sigh. “I was wrong. He’s nice but he lives in a basement apartment. And honestly he doesn’t ring my bell if you know what I mean. Now, Detective Mike…” She sighed. “He had it all—a good job, no kids, no criminal record. I wonder what he’s up to.”

  Ellis said nothing, afraid she might give herself away. Mike was right, she should tell Dina and let the consequences be what they were.

  Tell her now!

  I can’t.

  Chickenshit.

  “I know. I know.” Dina put her hands up in defense. “I need to move forward, not look back. I need to make choices for the me I am now, the me I think I should be.”

  “Your therapist is good, Dee. Worth every dime.”

  “He is.” She leaned forward and pecked Ellis’s cheek. “I gotta go. Call me later. We’ll have a girls’ night in.”

  “Okay,” Ellis agreed, feeling guilty. They hadn’t had a girls’ night in years. They hadn’t acted like sisters in years. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  Dina left. Soon Ellis heard the door again. This time Mike appeared, scaring her half to death. Immediately she wondered if he had seen Dina.

  “What the hell are you trying to do to me, Edwards? Give me a heart attack?”

  “Sorry.” He grinned, leaning his tall frame against the door and studying her.

  She studied him, too, taking note of how good he looked in his dark suit, how his dark hair curled around his ears.

  “You’re here late tonight,” he said after a moment. And even though there was no censure in his voice, her guard went up.

  Toward the end Jack started wanting to know her whereabouts. He wanted times, and names of people she was with. He wanted details. Ellis balked at being controlled. The arguing started. Jack’s criticisms grew harsher.

  “Did you expect me to call you?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I just worry about
you after the robbery. I don’t like it when you’re alone in the store.”

  “Oh.” She was at a loss for words. He wasn’t Jack. She needed to stop expecting Mike to act like him. She needed to stop waiting for him to hurt her. “Do you know what’s going on with my case?”

  He closed the gap between them and stroked her cheek with his thumb. The bruise was long gone but the memory of that day stayed with her. She could still see her attacker’s face, smell his overpowering cologne, feel the bite of his ring as it slashed her skin.

  “They have nothing. I’m sorry.” Mike sighed in frustration. “I thought he would have hit again but he’s not as stupid as we hoped. I wish I was on the case. I don’t like that the bastard’s still out there.”

  “You shouldn’t have kissed me that day. You’d be on the case right now.”

  “I had to kiss you.” He shrugged and then gave her a little grin. “These are for you.” He pulled a set of keys out of his jacket.

  She stared at the shiny silver objects. “What…”

  “The first one is to my front door. The second is my mailbox key.”

  She looked up at him.

  UH-OH.

  She wasn’t prepared for this. Exchanging keys was a big step, one she wasn’t sure they were ready for. “These are … for me?”

  “No, they’re for your parents so they can walk in on us again.” He looked at her as if she were insane. “Of course they’re for you!”

  “I—I just wasn’t expecting them.”

  “No shit.” He grabbed her waist and pulled her into him, boring his beautiful eyes into hers. “I don’t want you doubting us. Okay? This isn’t a fling. This is real for me.”

  She fiddled with his tie, unable to look in his eyes any longer. The playboy was trying his hand at settling down and she wanted to believe it. Wanted to. She swallowed the golf-ball-sized lump in her throat. “I suppose you want a set of my keys, too?”

  He nodded. “It’s starting to get cold outside and I rather not freeze my ass off waiting for you to get home.”

  She rubbed against him. “But it’s so much fun warming you up.”

  “Don’t tempt me.” He kissed her brow and set her away from him. “If you don’t want to give me your keys right now it’s okay, but when you’re ready to…”