“Can’t stand it, can you?” She gave him a slight grin and pulled his hand to her mouth to deposit the last bit of strawberry. “There’s more chocolate on your fingers than was on the damn strawberry.” She lifted his thumb to her mouth, placed it inside, and removed all traces of food with her tongue.
Holy shit.
His entire body went rigid. All his blood, every ounce went rushing from his head, flooding into other places.
“What?” She looked up at him, his thumb still in her warm, moist mouth.
The silly girl hadn’t meant to make him harder than cement, but she had. Mike heard a choking sound and looked up to see Colin wide-eyed. Nothing shocked his friend, but today Ellis had managed to do it. Ellis slowly removed his thumb from her mouth and turned to look at Colin and her friends. Cherri’s mouth hung open; Belinda stared at Ellis as if she had never seen her before.
“It’s not what it … He had chocolate on his…” Ellis groaned. “I need a drink.” She climbed over Mike, her breasts brushing against his cheek, and quickly headed for the bar. “So freaking stupid,” she muttered. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”
*
Ellis made her way up to the bar, her chest heaving, her mind racing. How could she be so stupid? How could she let such an infuriating man make her lose all common sense? She let him feed her! Multiple times! And then she got so caught up in their back-and-forth that she forgot to be rational and sucked on his thumb. The worst thing about it was that she didn’t realize how intimate it was, how wrong it was, until Mike froze and looked at her like she was a total slut. And she was a total slut. Who else would suck on a man’s thumb in a bar?
“Hey, Red,” Ellis heard behind her. She ignored it, thinking the man behind her was talking to someone else. The line at the bar was long and Ellis really needed a drink. She wasn’t going to have one, though. A bottle of water was all she was going to be drinking. Who knew what another dose of alcohol would cause her to do? “Hey, Red.” This time she felt a tap on her shoulder.
She turned to face the tapper. “Yes?” It was one of the frat boys she had seen earlier.
“What are you drinking?” He slurred and then looked at her breasts. “I’ll buy.”
“No thanks. I’m just going to have water.” She turned around to wait patiently for her turn. She didn’t need this bullshit.
“Oh come on, Red. I’ve got a bet going with my friends that I could get you back to my dorm before the final round.”
She turned around again. Oh no, he didn’t. “Well, honey, I think you might want to tuck your tail between your legs and head back to your friends because that is a bet you are going to lose.”
“Oh, don’t be such a stuck-up bitch. How many guys want to take you home tonight? You’re like a six. Tops.” He wavered on his feet. “You just better be glad I like ’em a little fat.” He drunkenly grabbed Ellis’s arm. “Give me a kiss.”
“Hey, buddy.” Ellis looked up and Mike was there. He grabbed the kid’s wrist and twisted it into the most unnatural position Ellis had ever seen. The frat boy dropped to his knees. “Watch how you speak to her and the next time the word bitch comes out of your mouth you better be referring to a dog. Got it?”
“Yes,” the boy panted.
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now take your drunk ass home.”
Mike let the guy go but before he could turn his attention back to Ellis, she left.
*
Ellis escaped through a side door to the alley. Her lungs squeezed, gasping for air. Mike had nearly dismembered that kid and all because he called her a bitch. What was up with him? And why did have to look so damn good doing it? Thirty seconds later Mike came barreling through the door, his eyes searching for her in the dark. Why couldn’t he be the same asshole who’d tried to get it on in her bed? Why did he have to do little things that made her not hate him?
“Are you okay?” he asked when he found her.
No, she wasn’t okay. She was a nut. “Why the hell did you do that?” she yelled at him. “You had to act all macho and nearly break the kid’s wrist. I didn’t need to be rescued. I could have handled him. It was nothing.”
His blue eyes flashed with confusion, then anger. He came at her, pressing her against the brick wall of the bar, one arm on either side of her head. “He called you a name no man should ever call a woman, he put his hands on you, and you have the nerve to be pissed at me?”
He was really angry. That was new for her and she didn’t know what to say. Nobody had ever championed her before.
“So what? I have been called a lot worse than fat.”
“He called you a bitch!” He smacked the wall behind her in frustration. “Damn it, Ellis, it shouldn’t be okay when somebody speaks to you like that. You deserve respect. How the hell could you be mad at me? You need help, Ellis, serious mental help.”
Good Lord, she thought. He was absolutely right. Her skirmish with Jack that day must have liquefied her common sense. Mike continued ranting but Ellis stopped listening. All she could think about was how warm his big body was, how good he smelled, how sexy he was when he was all worked up. He was so different from Jack—the way he looked, the way he made her feel, everything about him.
Look out, stupid, here I come.
She grabbed him by the ears and pulled him close, forcing his lips to come into contact with hers. She kissed him hard to shut him up but soon that hard kiss turned hot and her tongue was in his mouth tasting all the chocolate and cream that still resided there. He kissed her back and she felt it deep in her bones. It could be because she hadn’t been kissed in such a long time, or because she had never been kissed with such single focus, but she heard that same Ah! The choir of food angels seemed to sing for kisses, too.
He broke their kiss with a pop and looked at her, his expression bewildered. “Holy shit.” He shook his head. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked, his large chest heaving. “You don’t pull somebody by the ears when you want to kiss them.” He looked at her lips, which she was sure were swollen. “You’re driving me fucking crazy, Ellis.” He ran his fingers through his short dark hair, turned away from her, then turned back. “Half the time I want to strangle you, the other half I want kiss you.”
“Go with the second one.” She grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer. The BOOM was there. “Kiss me.”
*
The electricity wasn’t imagined. Mike leaned into kiss her once again. Ellis’s soft body and irrational behavior left him, for the first time in his life, totally unsure of himself. His hands wandered her body as he tasted her mouth. They smoothed down her back, found her neat little waist, and then managed to find their way under her shirt. He pulled her closer, feeling skin that was softer than he imagined. Her breasts squished against him and he groaned into her mouth. All of her soft weight, those pouty lips were his for the taking. His erection returned with force. Ellis was one of those women who knew how to kiss, take pleasure from a man and give pleasure in equal measure. He wanted to crawl out of his body and into hers. It was like his soul was sighing because for the first time in a long time he felt satisfied.
A blunt object connected with his head and he broke the kiss to look at Ellis. Her eyes were closed, her pink lips were puffy and kiss-swollen, and her arms were wrapped tightly around him.
“More,” she ordered.
Like magnets his lips sought hers again and this time he felt the smack much harder than before. He turned around to see a pissed-off redhead, an openmouthed Cherri, and Colin grinning like a giant jackass.
“Go away,” he told them and turned his attention back to the girl who drugged him with her mouth.
“No,” Belinda said firmly. “We’re going to take Ellis home.”
“I don’t want to go home with you,” Ellis mumbled as she leaned in to kiss Mike again. This time Belinda whacked Mike so hard with her handbag that he saw stars.
“Damn it, Belinda.”
> “Ellis.” She ignored Mike’s outburst. “You told us to save you from being stupid.”
“Where the hell were you an hour ago?”
“We didn’t think you would be dry-humping him against a wall!” Belinda placed her bag under her arm and gave Ellis a good tug. “He’s bad news. He slept with your sister and tried to get it on in your bed without you.”
“Oh crap!” Ellis smacked her head. “That’s right. You slept with Dina, you dirty man. Get away from me.”
She pushed herself away from him and followed her friends.
All of a sudden it came back to Mike. Dina, he remembered Dina from four years ago, but he’d never actually gotten to sleep with her because her sister … Her sister! Shit. Ellis was her sister.
“You having a lightbulb moment?” Colin asked, still grinning like a jackass.
“Yeah, I remember who Ellis is. And now I know why she doesn’t like me.”
Chapter Six
Skinny People Need Spanx, Too!
As a fashionista it’s my job to school you about a common misconception. Spanx, girdles, body shapers—whatever you want to call them—aren’t just for fatties. Skinny people need them, too! They have jelly bellies and jiggly asses and stretch marks just like us. So next time you’re at a bar and see a girl wearing a knit dress, just think: There’s a pair of Spanx holding up and sucking in all that stuff under there.
“Do I look okay in this color?” Maryanne, one of Ellis’s regular customers, asked.
Ellis looked at the women who had just emerged from the dressing room. She wore an army-green shirt-dress with brass buttons down the front. It was statement-making dress. Military chic. Ellis loved the piece when she ordered it but it took a certain type of woman to pull off the look. Maryanne was in her thirties, blond, sweet looking, round with apple cheeks. She was too cute for the dress.
“No, you don’t, honey,” Ellis said honestly. “In fact that dress is all wrong for you.”
“I thought it was. It looked so cute on the hanger.” Maryanne sighed. “I always run into this problem.”
Ellis had had that problem, too, and nodded sympathetically. “It’s a cute dress and you do have fabulous taste. It’s just not the right dress for your body. But don’t worry. If there isn’t a dress in this store that works for you I’ll make one myself.” She turned around to search through a few racks when a sapphire-blue dress caught her eye. “See, Maryanne. You’re what I like to call diamond-shaped. Girls like you aren’t meant to wear such structured clothing, you’re meant to be easy breezy and a little bit sleazy with a low neckline.” She handed over the dress. “Here, try this. Blue always looks good on blondes.” Ellis paused. “Wait.” She put her finger on her chin and studied her customer. “I think you need a smaller bra.”
“Smaller!” Maryanne laughed. “I haven’t gotten a smaller anything ever!”
“You are now. The girls should be squished in and pushed up.” Ellis grasped her own bra strap beneath her top and tugged it. “I know,” she agreed when Maryanne frowned. “It doesn’t sound comfortable, and it’s not. But the truth is that a well-fitting bra should fit you snugly. Some man probably invented it. He’s probably the same bastard who invented high heels.”
“Where can I send my thank-you letter?” Maryanne asked sarcastically.
“Hell,” Ellis answered. She turned around in search of her manager. “Belinda, would you mind doing a bra fitting with Maryanne?
“Of course not.” Belinda went off in search of her tape measure.
Ellis looked at the dress her customer had slung over her shoulder, satisfied she was going in the right direction. “I think this color blue is going to make your eyes look amazing, although once we get you in the right bra nobody is ever going to look into your eyes again.”
Maryanne giggled. “One can only wish. Thank you, Ellis. I’m so glad you opened this place.”
“You’re welcome.” Ellis smiled back, feeling confident that she made the right decision to leave her old life behind. “Now go try it on so I can see if the hemline is right for you. If it isn’t I’ll fix it for free, because you’re such a good customer.” She gave a conspiratorial wink. “Just don’t tell anybody.”
“I won’t”—Maryanne’s face bloomed into a naughty smile—“if you tell me everything about that hot guy standing behind you.”
“What?” Ellis followed Maryanne’s eyes to see Mike standing twenty feet behind her in the store.
OH LORD.
A white T-shirt was molded to his hard chest. His hair was damp, his skin glistening. He wore shorts and sneakers. It was obvious that this man had just come from exercising. Damn him. He was emitting some kind of pheromones. He must have been because Ellis’s feet gained a mind of their own and moved toward him before she could stop them.
For the past two days the kiss they’d shared had played in her head like it was stuck on repeat. She could still feel the ghost of his lips on hers. It was one of the stupidest things she had ever done.
He slept with Dina. He slept with Dina. She had to keep reminding herself. He’s slept with everybody. He’s slept with everybody. She shouldn’t be attracted to him. She shouldn’t want anything to do with him and yet she found herself stopping mere inches in front of him.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was in the neighborhood jogging and I thought I would stop by.”
“Jogging, were you?” Ellis placed her hand on her hip and studied him. “I only run if I’m being chased.” He gave her that one-sided smile that she was starting to become familiar with and she didn’t like that it did funny things to her stomach. “Nobody jogs down St. Lucy Street. What are you really doing here, Mike?”
“I really was jogging.” He looked down at himself. “Can’t you tell?”
“Uh-huh.” She nodded, pulling her lower lip between her teeth as she once again studied his athletic frame. His shirt was so wet that she could see his skin through it, his pecs, every muscle that he worked so hard to maintain. “Why are you here?” She turned away from him and headed to her office/sewing room. He followed. She could feel his heat on her back.
“You kissed me the other night.”
She wondered how long it would take for him to bring that up. She wanted to say that it was a mistake. It was, but she couldn’t say she regretted it. Every woman should be kissed like that once. Too bad Mike probably kissed every woman the way he kissed her.
“I did.” They came to a stop just inside her office door and she turned to face him. “You’ve probably kissed thousands of women. You can’t tell me that mine was anything special.”
His gaze searched her face, resting on her lips before coming back to her eyes. “I watched you help that woman out there. You were good with her—honest, without putting her down.” He was quiet for a moment. “This is what you should be doing.”
She nodded. “Thank you. This place is my baby.”
“What did your parents say when you told them that you wanted to stop being a lawyer and open up a boutique?”
“Same thing yours probably said when you told them you wanted to work for the NYPD.”
Mike shrugged and took two steps closer to her. “My parents didn’t send me to Harvard Law.”
He caught her by surprise. “How did you know I went to Harvard?”
“I remember you now, Ellis.” He closed the short distance between them and cupped her face in his hands. “I remember this.” He kissed her very softly on the lips. “I remember that you used to wear glasses, and that you always kept your hair tied up, and that you have a thing for ugly Harvard Tshirts. I remember that you’re afraid of pigeons and that you idolize Jackie O. I remember that your feet were bare that night and your toenails were painted hot pink.” Ellis looked up at him amazed; even she hadn’t remembered what color her toes were. “I kissed you that night because I was attracted to that brain of yours. I went off to your bedroom with Dina because at the time I didn’t want to be, because being wi
th a woman like you scared the hell out me.” His eyes searched her face. “I didn’t know that was your bedroom, though. If I had known I would have never done that to you. I’m not as big of an asshole as you think. I never have sex in beds that don’t belong to me or the woman I’m with.”
“Mike…” She didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t expecting this, for him to remember her at all, much less so incredibly clearly.
He rested his lips against her ear and pulled her close. “I’m sorry, Ellis.”
He couldn’t be this sweet. She didn’t trust it but despite herself she melted a little. “Why are you apologizing?” She said trying to muster up some bravado. “You think if you’re sweet to me you’ll get me in bed so you can compare me with my sister?”
“Don’t be a brat.” His hold on her waist tightened. “Not right now. I never slept with Dina. The last time I saw her was that night.”
Something inside Ellis whispered, Believe him, but the cynical part of her knew that men lied; that he was probably just saying that to get in her pants. For a brief moment she entertained the thought.
Why couldn’t she sleep with him?
He and Dina had been through for years, and it wasn’t as if she’d had any serious feelings for him. Ellis certainly wouldn’t gain an attachment to him. She knew what she was getting into. She knew Detective Edwards was a world-class player. The thought caused her to sigh as he held her close to him. If he had been with Dina, Ellis couldn’t be with him. She wouldn’t survive the comparison.
“Get off me,” she halfheartedly complained. “You’re all sweaty.” But he also smelled good and she made no move to stray from his embrace.
“No wonder I didn’t remember you, Elle. I would have never guessed that the nerdy girl from four years ago would be the one who would stick her tongue down my throat against a bar wall.”
Dangerous Curves Ahead: A Perfect Fit Novel Page 7