by Elisa Leigh
“Hi mom, I’d like you to meet my fiancé’ Wyatt Thompson.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, ma’am,” Wyatt says letting go of my hand, so he can shake hers. Instead, she pulls him into a hug. I have never, not once, seen my mother hug someone. I’m shocked.
“Wyatt, call me Kitty. You’re going to be family after all.”
Kitty? Her name is Katherine for fuck sakes. And why is she so touchy feely with him?
“Lanie, so good to see you, dear.” She says kissing me on my cheek. Who is this woman?
“Come in, come in. Leo and Lydia are already out on the terrace.” Looping her arm through Wyatt’s, she walks ahead of me. “Lanie, I thought I told you to be here at ten o’clock.”
“You said ten-fifteen.” I murmur to her back.
Walking outside I see Leo on his phone and Lydia standing up to greet us.
“Lydia, Leo. This is Wyatt, Lanie’s friend.” Oh, dear Christ.
“Actually, we are engaged to be married,” Wyatt says, starting to get irritated.
Lydia walks over to him and gives him a hug, rubbing his back and neck. “Well aren’t you just a big strong man. I’m Lanie’s sister Lydia.” Wyatt pats her back awkwardly then disengages from her. Coming over to stand next to me, he wraps his arm around my side and kisses my temple. “I’m sorry. I’ll fake a call in a few minutes, and we can get out of here.”
I smile up at him gratefully.
Leo walks up to next and shakes his hand, introducing himself, but stays silent otherwise. Leo never really bothered me so much as just ignored me from the time I was born. So out of all the people here, I’m thankful for him.
We sit down to eat, making small talk for the next twenty minutes. Mostly it’s my mom and Lydia asking Wyatt about himself and his job. How successful he is, what he plans on doing in the future.
“How are you, Lanie? You run Nana’s shop into the ground yet?” Leo asks, laughing at his own joke. Never mind, he’s an asshole too.
Wyatt stills beside me, but I squeeze his thigh, hoping he doesn’t say anything.
“The shop is doing amazing. I’ve improved profits by ten percent since last quarter.” I say, proud of my efforts. The shop never did poorly, so to increase means the little extra that I’m doing is paying off.
“Well, that’s to be expected since you’re into the summer now and its tourists season.”
Finished eating, I stand to clear the table, needing a minute to cool off. Lydia stands with me and begins grabbing dishes, following me into the kitchen. Once the table is cleared, I start washing while Lydia sits at the bar watching me.
“Lanie, Wyatt seems like a great guy, but I don’t think he’s right for you.”
I stop what I’m doing and turn the water off. “I’m sorry?”
“I’m just trying to protect you from getting hurt in the future. A man like him, he has needs. After a while, maybe you get a year, he’s going to start looking for those needs to be met somewhere else, by someone else.”
“Is there a reason you believe I can’t fulfill his needs?” I ask, trying hard to reign in my anger.
“Look at you. What man wants to have sex with a woman who looks like you? You’re fat.” Lydia says in disgust.
“You can’t honestly believe he’s in love with you Lanie. He probably found out about our money and hoped to get some of it. Don’t be naive. Make sure he signs a prenup.” My mother says as she walks in, using that tone she’s used on me since I was a child. The one that always made me feel like I wasn’t enough. Four years ago, their words would have got to me. Now I’m stronger. I might not ever know why they treat me the way they do, but I don’t have to put up with it.
“That’s it! I have had it with you three!”
“Lower your voice young lady.” My mother says.
“No! You’ve sat here and insulted me, made me feel like I was less than like I’m not enough, and that’s just this morning. I am beautiful. I love who I am. So, what if I don’t meet some standard of beauty you believe should define me. So, what if I’m not thin. I’m healthy just the way I am. If you don’t like it, then stop fucking calling me. Wyatt loves me, and all my curvy parts, not my money that he knew nothing about.”
Turn to my sister, I point my finger in her direction. “And Lydia, I am not your whore you can prostitute out to all the slime balls you want something from. I’m your fucking sister. If anyone else calls me, stops by the shop, or tries to date me because you told them I was interested, I will destroy you.”
“You don’t have the balls to take me on, you stupid cunt.” She hisses, walking towards me and raising her hand to smack me.
“That’s enough!” Wyatt barks. “Lanie come here, baby.”
“I’m so sorry. I lied to you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I told you before that nothing about you is stupid. It’s a lie, your family is the stupidest fucking thing in your orbit, and I hate that they treat you this way.” Then he turns and looks at my family, Leo standing back looking bored.
“You two should be disgusted with yourselves. The vile things coming out of your mouths are unforgivable. And Leo, why the fuck are you allowing them to treat your little sister this way? Lanie let’s go.”
Wyatt takes my hand and leads me out of the house and to his truck. We’re driving for five minutes before we say anything.
“I did it! I stood up for myself. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“Your family is awful baby. I don’t know how you grew up to be as sweet as you are.”
“It’s because of my Nana. She taught me to see the good in people and to love myself. The latter just took a lot longer to learn.”
Wyatt drives us home, and we spend the rest of the afternoon and into the night making love.
EPILOGUE
Lanie
Fourth of July
A few hours ago, I got to marry the best man I’ve ever known. Wyatt wanted to go to the courthouse and get married the day after he proposed, but I told him no. I wanted a wedding, a day we could look back on and remember for the rest of our lives. He gave me a month, and I suggested today, knowing he’d love it.
Wyatt doesn’t talk much about the things that happened while he was a Marine. I know leaving was a difficult decision for him since that’s all he ever wanted to be when he was growing up. I think for him, he had to love himself more than he loved his country and that was hard for him to accept. In the end, he left knowing there were brave men and women in this country ready to do their part in his place. He gave to his country for over a decade, and that was all he could give.
I’m proud of the man he is today and the sacrifices he’s made to honor our country. He stands here today proudly wearing his dress uniform that he did at my insistence.
We decided to have a small wedding with only our immediate friends and family. I only invited my Nana, Georgie, my girls. After the incident at my mom’s house, I figured it would be better that they not be invited. I haven’t talked to them since. Wyatt had his family, his boss and a few of his colleagues come, but other than that it was small.
The ceremony was held at sunset on the beach which was perfectly us. Georgie walked me down the aisle and gave me away. It couldn’t have been more perfect. We had our reception at one of the nice restaurants overlooking the water. My mother in law was amazing and planned almost all of it, getting mine and Wyatt’s preferences on the little details.
Now that the night is slowing down, most of the guests have left, and a small group of us remain. We sit around a large table listening to good music and laughing with our friends, passing a bottle of champagne around, not bothering with glasses.
Leaning back in my husband's arms, we sit watching the fireworks light up the sky. I’ll never think of the fourth of July the same ever again. It’s the day the nation celebrates our freedom, but it’s the day we celebrate our love.
EPILOGUE TWO
Wyatt
Fifteen year
s and four children later, I’m happier than I have ever been. A few weeks after we were married, Lanie found out she was pregnant with our firstborn Christopher, a few years later Trinity was born, and then finally Killian and Kolton were born.
Through the years a lot has happened, but the one thing that remained the same was the love I have for my wife. She came into my life right when I was ready to accept love again.
To this day Lanie is still the owner of The Ice Dream Shoppe on the boardwalk, but she now has a general manager to deal with the day to day operations. I opened my own consulting firm and work with various companies to bring them current in technology to make things run smoother.
“I’ve got a surprise for you,” I tell my wife, waking her up from her nap.
“What kind of surprise?” She asks, still not awake.
“Come one, Chris is watching the kids. Let’s go before they try and come with us.”
When she’s finally ready to go, I grab a bandana and wrap it around eyes. I walk her out of the house and down to the dock.
“Wyatt, what are we doing on the dock?”
“Open your eyes baby.”
“No!” She screams with a big smile on her face, clapping her hands and jumping around.
“I knew you wanted one. I couldn’t help myself.”
“She’s beautiful Wyatt.”
Over two years ago the boat we had was damaged beyond repair from a hurricane. We had insurance, but it didn’t cover the cost of a new boat. Over time I added to the boat fund, hoping to get one in the future. I was finally able to do it.
“Oh my god, you named her The Curvy Goddess? I love it! Thank you.”
“You wanna go out on a date with me?”
“Of course, I do.”
Meet the Author
ELISA LEIGH
Author of the Panthera Security series, the Steel Daggers MC series and the All For Love series, Elisa Leigh writes steamy love stories about men who know exactly what they want from their lady love, that being everything and forever.
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https://www.facebook.com/groups/foreveralphabeauties
Twitter & Instagram: @eleighauthor
You can follow her on Amazon and Goodreads and Bookbub to stay up to date on upcoming releases.
Other Books by Elisa Leigh
Panthera Security
Finally, Our Forever
Keeping Our Forever
Fighting Our Forever
(Book 4 Cash Owens)
(Book 5 Adam Kingston)
Steel Daggers MC
His Sweet Treat
Thanking Her Hero
Their Holly Bell
Saving His Princess
Hacking Into Love (Coming Late Summer 2018)
Book 5 (Coming Fall 2018)
All For Love with MK Moore
All For Erica at Christmas
All For Gemma (TBD 2018)
Holding On
Holding Onto Kinsley
Holding Onto Becca (Summer 2018)
Acknowledgments
Karlee, I’m so proud of you for being a part of this project and writing your first solo book. It’s going to be amazing! Also, you are an excellent beta reader! I love reading all your suggestions.
Mary, thanks for the push to get this project off the ground. I love that we got to work together on this. Also, thank you for always beta reading my books.
C.M. Steele, oh my goodness I’m totally going to fangirl here and let you know that I loved working on this project with you. I’ve been reading your books before I even thought about writing one of my own. Being able to do this means the world to me, so thank you!
Sarah, thank you for all your valuable suggestions and support through this book. You rock woman!
Merin thank you for all your support and answering all of my questions. You’re a fantastic author, and I’m happy to call you a friend.
Jeb, my hubby. I love you.
Shelly, Elysian, Kelly, Ruby, Ashley, Shannon and all the ladies a part of Forever Alpha Beauties. Thank you for your comments and encouragement and understanding when I push my due date out a few days. You all are the reason I keep writing!
ARC readers, thank you for your patience and for encouraging me to keep writing and posting your reviews early. I read each and every one, and they mean everything to me. I try my best to learn from them and make the next book even better. I love you ladies for being on my team and supporting me through this journey!
New readers, older readers, second timers, thank you for taking the time to read Sweet Curves. It means so much that you chose this book to get lost in.
His Sweet Treat Excerpt
Steel Daggers MC #1
One
Emersen
You got this Emersen. Walk in there, find Chelsea, and everything will be okay. I hope. The truth is, things haven’t been okay between Chelsea and me for a while now. In college, we had been complete opposites, but I thought we balanced each other well. Her outgoing personality and my quiet one worked when we roomed together.
We graduated about six months ago, and we haven’t seen each other much. We stopped talking and hanging out altogether about a month after graduation. Chelsea surprised me when she called me last week and invited me to a costume party on Halloween at a bar she is working at.
I almost didn't come, but my interest won out. Where has she been? My hand hovers over the handle to the vibrating door. I’m about to walk away when the man at the door interrupts my inner battle.
“You going in, or what?” The man is well over six feet and built to cause damage. He’s got a black leather vest on with Steel Daggers on one side and Sergeant At Arms on the other. Judging by the look he’s giving me, I doubt the man is wearing a costume.
I look down at my costume that I had so much fun picking out and smile. I remember when I was a little girl and my momma would take me trick or treating. We used to have so much fun for those few uninterrupted hours. I loved getting to play dress up with momma and spending time with her. Stew didn’t like going trick or treating with us. So, one day a year we could be together not worrying about my stepfather.
“Look, babe, it’s in or out. If you aren’t coming in, you need to leave.”
“Do you know Chelsea?”
He quirks an eyebrow at me but stays silent. There's something there, recognition maybe?
“Right. Okay, going in then.”
He opens the door for me, and as soon as I walk in, I immediately know this is a mistake. The people closest to the door stop talking and stare. Yep. I’d stare too if I were them. I look around the entire bar and see that no one is wearing a costume. In fact, most of the men I see are wearing leather vests like the guy outside. Am I in a biker bar? Chels didn’t say anything about it being a biker bar.
Not seeing Chelsea, I decide I can’t do this and turn around to leave without making a bigger ass of myself. Before I get to the door, I hear someone call my name. I look back and see her waving me over to where a group of women standing and staring. I really don’t want to go over there, but I do, for Chelsea.
I feel the eyes of everyone I pass and my skin begins to crawl at the awareness of being watched. I know they’re laughing at me. I hear their sarcastic comments about what I look like. Every step I take, I regret my choice to walk in here.
“Emersen. I can’t believe you came!” Chelsea yells over the music and hugs me quick.
“Hey, Chels.”
She releases me and stumbles backward, but rights herself by grabbing onto my arm.
“Girls, this is my friend Emersen I told you about.”
They nod. Not ‘Hey, I’m so and so, nice to meet you.’ It’s basically a fuck off, in the form of a chin lift. Yep, my night is rocking. Not! I can’t belie
ve she invited me to this and let me think it was a costume party when it apparently isn’t!
“Uh, Chels. Why am I the only person in here wearing a costume?”
She just laughs and shrugs. The girl is wasted. She can’t stand still, and her eyes are glazed over. Great, she’s going to be no help.
“Come on, let’s go get you some water,” I tell her, grabbing her hand, trying to pull her over to the bar.
“No, I love this song!” She screams and runs out into the crowd of people dancing.
“So, no costumes?” I ask the women standing near me. They eye me over but go back to their own conversations.
“Alrighty then.” Used to being ignored, I let the sting of their rebuff roll off my back. I need a drink if I’m going to stay for this, which I feel obligated to do now that my once best friend is here, out of her mind.
I push through the groups of people and eventually make it to the bar. The men sitting there staring at me, but quickly go back to their conversations.
“What can I get you doll?” The man behind the bar asks. He’s tall and is wearing a leather vest like everyone sitting here at the bar. He's younger than some of the guys in here but older than me. He’s in his late twenties maybe. He's got a kind face but looks like he's seen too much to be free from the pain of regret.
“A shot of whiskey.”
“You got it.” He says, pouring it quickly and handing it over.
I grab it and shoot it quickly. Not used to the taste or the burn of it going down my throat, I shiver. I set the shot glass down on the bar, and the bartender laughs and asks if I want another. I hold up a finger, and he pours me one more, sliding it over to me.
“Thank you.”
Still smiling, he nods and watches me take my second shot. This time the cool liquid goes down easier.
I’m wearing a black tutu with a black corset laced with ribbon down the back. The cherry on the top of my embarrassing sundae is the black wings attached to the corset. I wanted to be a dark fairy, but now I’m left feeling like an idiot.