Curves for Him - 10 Delicious Tales

by Aubrey Rose, Dez Burke, A. T. Mitchell, Catherine Vale, Marian Tee, Harper Ashe, Eliza Gayle, M. G. Morgan, Shirl Anders, Milly Taiden

  “In Silver Canyon Estates,” Vincent muttered.

  Tess was in an appreciative Vincent daze, but that got her attention. Rich people lived there. Like really rich. She knew many of the tribe members, especially ones on their council, lived out there. There hadn’t even been a Silver Canyon Estate until after the Indian casino was built. Making many of them rich.

  Wow, Vincent must be wealthy. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Of course, she knew he just ran charities ... something only rich men did. But it appeared he was also partially in charge of Redrock. They’d been too busy in bed and dodging ex’s’ fire for her to really register all those things about him.

  She was just going to ask him if he would maybe lose that big house, when he asked her the same thing. “You won’t keep the house, baby?”

  “Umm,” she muttered, kind of stuck on Vincent being rich. “Maybe, but I don’t trust him with my stuff.”

  “How much stuff?”

  That attracted her gaze back to him. He sure didn’t dress like a rich man. Boy, she was glad. Vincent in a thermal and jeans was so hot she could just stop everything and look at him all day ... but in a suit, maybe not so much. Steven wore suits, and come to think of it she really didn’t like that.

  “Baby?” his voice sounded again. “Where you at?”

  “Just slow in the morning,” she lied. “Enough stuff I am going to get a storage unit,” she decided. “Oh, and movers too.”

  He turned to face her, leaning closer. “Now that part I really got. I’ll take care of moving you.”

  She searched his face, for what she didn’t know. Did he really mean it? Lugging her stuff was quite personal and, well, kind of boyfriend-like, at least. “Okay.” She decided she really liked the idea.

  “It’s all just going to end up here eventually,” he declared, then lifted his coffee mug to his lips. His eyes stayed on her, judging her reaction, which was surprise.

  Vincent watched how cute Tess was avoiding what he’d said. But it was true, and he was just going to move her stuff to his place without telling her. He had a modern barn out back that had his motorcycle, quads, a big motorhome he used sometimes, and lots of space for both their things. He’d smooth it over later. After she found out.

  She kept her head down, fiddling with her coat and purse, until he got her out the door and he’d turned back from locking it. He caught her wrist right before she was going to take the first step down off the porch. He tugged until he had her where he wanted her ... pressed full frontal.

  “I’ve waited long enough.” His voice, always rough, sounded uncompromising.

  “Waited for what,” she exclaimed with a softness that always aroused him. Her purse banged his hip as he pressed the small of her back keeping her tight and keeping those breasts of hers nicely pillowed on his chest. She had on some sort of jeans skirt. She wore skirts a lot, and he liked it a lot, but it took concentration to keep his hands from going under the hem.

  “For morning tongue,” he told her startled blue eyes. Then he dipped his head. Glad a second later when she rose up on her cowboy boots to meet his mouth.

  He tangled his hand in her silky red hair and kissed her until she was practically climbing up his body to get more. Then he broke their searching lips apart. “Every morning, we kiss,” he ordered her.

  “It’s hard to just kiss you and stop,” she admitted, fiddling with his hair as she spoke. “I guess that is your way of telling me I need to initiate stuff more,” she muttered.

  He pressed his lips near her ear. “Maybe,” he muttered back.

  With Luna he was a dog lapping around her and all the sexual attention had to be on her and how she liked it. With Tess this was all new and it felt fucking fantastic. He’d known he was a tough thinker, but he’d not known he had all this, “bossy” as Tess called it, in him.

  No way was he going back. And he was pretty certain his woman liked it that way.

  He didn’t answer her, just guided her to his truck and drove her to her shop with the plan he’d come back to get her in a couple hours.

  They kissed lightly before she got out. She initiated it, and he smoothed his knuckles down her cheek once. “Call your lawyer about your ex’s financials.”

  She nodded. “Okay.” Then she started to get out, but paused partially out the door to look back at him. “And, Vincent, I really like this ... Us.” She whispered the last part, then she was swinging her stellar ass, covered by a short skirt, up to the back door of her shop. While he watched every move.

  TWENTY-ONE / WANT THAT SWEETNESS FOR ME

  Vincent headed to the Silver Canyon house, intent on getting his personal stuff, getting the rest ready to be picked up, then getting out. Last time he would have to be in the place would be the best.

  When he got there, he got sideswiped. He’d been hauling up the grand staircase, intent on getting to his upstairs office to pack the few things he’d left there, when the master bedroom door opened just as he was set to walk by it. He braced himself expecting to see Luna, but fuck him, Coronado walked out. He should have damn well checked the five-car garage for cars, but he’d been certain Luna would be camped at Coronado’s ... not the other way around.

  He got a close look at him for the first time and he saw that Coronado was a tall Italian with black curly hair interspersed with some gray. The prick was in a blue floor-length robe and at least he was as surprised to see him as Vincent was.

  “Unbelievable,” Vincent uttered, stopping, and then backing up.

  Coronado would have been handsome but for a severely broken nose that had not been set right.

  “She’s too thoroughly screwed right now to see you,” Coronado clipped with a curled upper lip.

  Vincent didn’t utter a word—he just turned and headed back down the staircase. Coronado blurted behind him, “What kind of pussy man lets his wife be screwed by another man, in his own home.”

  Vincent hit the foyer without comment, but when he reached the front door and pulled it open he looked back and up at Coronado. “Man, I hope you like her, I really do. I’ll give you the fucking house if you’ll just keep her.”

  Vincent didn’t wait for a reply, he just left, shutting the door. He walked to his truck, assessing the events ... seemed his blackmail of Luna was shot. It’d been Coronado in those pictures. Seeing him up close and personal had proved the grainy picture ID. But he wasn’t going to give up. He would come up with a way to keep Luna on a short leash if he had to toss all his money at it to do it.

  Since he was stalled getting his belongings, he went to WTSF for a few hours to catch up on paperwork. He wasn’t officially back, but time off or not, paperwork never stopped. When he walked into the main reception area, he saw WTSF’s office manager, Carly, sitting behind the reception desk.

  “Hey, Olive Oyl,” he greeted, walking toward her. They had a running joke.

  “Hey, Popeye,” she called, smiling back at him.

  “We lose another teenage receptionist?” he asked, leaning on the side of the desk beside her.

  Carly looked up at him with sparkling gray eyes. She had wavy, long blond hair, and an asshole husband she’d dumped earlier that year. “One a week, I swear,” she muttered. “But this last one was pregnant and she’s having her baby.” Carly filled him in, then they talked about a security gig he was going to have to be the lead on, when he came back.

  “You bill for the wife I caught with the masseuse?” he asked, watching Carly’s gaze track someone in the offices to the right side of them.

  He knew by the look in her gray eyes who she was looking at. It had to be Cabe. Cabe never saw or maybe never “got” the looks she gave him when she thought Cabe wasn’t looking, but Vincent did. He didn’t have to turn to look and know Cabe was back there.

  “Yeah, I did,” Carly answered his question, then she whispered, “Cabe took her back.”

  Vincent raised an eyebrow, seeing the sadness reflected on Carly’s face. If Cabe hadn’t been marr
ied, Vincent sure as hell would have informed him that Carly, who Cabe had known since their oil days, always had, still had, and always would have a thing for him.

  Vincent shook his head, disappointed ... for his friend. But he’d keep his opinion to himself. It just took a man as long as it took him to give up on the promise of what was really not there.

  ***

  It was noon when Tess heard the bell on the door to her shop ring. She swiped at her eyes, looking up to see Vincent striding toward the front counter. Wow ... he was in her shop, she should be excited.

  “Beautiful, what is it?” Dang, she couldn’t hide anything from him. She glanced over her shoulder to see that Shannon was in the walk-in cold locker as Vincent rounded the counter and arrived next to her. For a second she thought about fibbing, because he had enough problems with Luna.

  But Vincent curled her into his embrace and the words just fell out of her mouth. “I’ve lost the shop, unless I want to send Steven to prison.” Then, horribly, she burst into tears and burrowed into Vincent.

  “Let me guess,” he said. “He forged your name and double mortgaged it.”

  She nodded against him, crying harder, while praying Shannon or even worse a customer wouldn’t walk in. Then Vincent rocked her world, shaking it to the core and rearranging it.

  “It’s you, baby, not the damn building. You’re the business.”

  Why that made her cry harder, she didn’t know, but Vincent took it all with his hand cupped to the back of her head, while holding her tight. She didn’t know what she’d do without him.

  Her sobs finally quieted into the shoulder of his thermal, wet from her tears. Then he did a pure Vincent thing. “Here, use the end of my shirt to wipe your eyes.”

  That was how Shannon found them, with her pulling up Vincent’s thermal, exposing his ripped abdomen, while she bent forward as if she were drooling over his six-pack abs.

  “Sorry!” Shannon squeaked. She was a tad shy.

  Tess unbent from Vincent and the bottom of his shirt. “It’s okay, Shannon. This is Vincent.”

  “Hey, Shannon,” Vincent said, pulling her back into his side, where his arm crossed her back, then his hand fitted into the waistband of her jeans skirt.

  “Hey, Mr. Whitehorse,” Shannon answered.

  Okay, so Shannon did know Vincent. “I’ll be back in time to close, Shannon. You call if you need anything, okay.”

  “Sure, Tess.” Shannon did a small wave, then marched back into the cooler.

  “Good kid,” Vincent said. “I know her dad.”

  Ah, yes, Tess thought, she remembered then that Shannon’s dad might work at Redrock. She picked up her purse from under the front counter, and then Vincent guided her outside. Once in his truck they sat to talk.

  “So if you sell the building will you get out from under?” he asked quietly.

  She sighed heavily, nodding as he reached over and clasped her hand, and she answered, “It should sell for at least the amount of the mortgages.” She tilted her head, glancing at him. “I’m surprised you aren’t advocating I send him to prison.”

  Vincent squeezed her hand. “I thought about it. But it’d break that sweetness you got and I want that for me.”

  Oh my God. Tess sucked in an amazed breath. “Okay,” she whispered. She never thought she could find a man that would make her feel so good even in the midst of an awful situation.

  “I’ve got space at Redrock. For a bigger flower shop.”

  “Vincent!” she gasped, then he pulled her across the seat until he had his arm around her and his hand on her chin lifting her gaze to his. He studied her astonished gaze for long moments.

  “I’ll give you a really good break on rent, until you sell this place.”

  “I can’t believe ...” she started to say. “You, you can’t. Not with us ... together. It won’t look right and—”

  “Hush,” he all but ordered, and her lips pressed shut. “I’m doing it for me and I can do for me what I want to. But, beautiful, it’s really good business for Redrock. I know once you calm down, you can see that.”

  Doing for me. Oh my God. Her fingers curled against his side. Maybe he was right if she could think straight about it. But right then tears started filling her eyes.

  “Aw, baby,” he murmured, and his lips touched hers lightly.

  “For me,” she whispered.

  “Yeah,” he breathed against her mouth, then he kissed her deeper and her tears dried into the beginning heat of passion.

  But at just a slow burn, Vincent pulled back, let go of her chin, and sifted his hand through her hair. “Went to my place,” he said out of the blue, making her blink and regroup.

  “Your place?”

  “Silver Canyon.”

  “Oh.”

  “Coronado was there. He came out the bedroom.” His hand fisted in her hair as her eyes grew wide. “I should have fucking checked the garage for cars, before I went in. Next time, I will.”

  She stroked his hard jaw, cupping it. “Sorry, honey.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I don’t give a damn, just pissed I can’t use those photos to keep Luna’s ass off us.”

  She rubbed his jaw, liking the feel as she made understanding sounds. Then he leaned back more, turning his gaze down to her. “Burgers before we go get your stuff?”

  She smiled. “Yeah.”

  TWENTY-TWO / YOU SO OWE HIM

  Friday afternoon, Rusty was lying on her stomach across the master bed in Vincent’s house. Tess came out of the bathroom wearing her fifth set of heels.

  “These?” she asked Rusty.

  “No. I keep telling you the gold ones.”

  “But they look like slut heels and this dress is so short already.”

  “Uh huh.” Rusty nodded. “That’s why!”

  “You’re not helping,” Tess scolded her.

  “You so owe him, babe,” Rusty said with a smile and a wink.

  Tess had spilled everything to Rusty, about Vincent, about Cabe, the oops kiss, her flower shop, and more about Vincent. Rusty had taken up Vincent’s side, agreeing Tess owed him a night out with her wearing the Vegas dress.

  In the last three or four days, she and Vincent had been living a kind of normal life. Although it was like the new stages with any new boyfriend. There were exciting moments, warm moments, and “wow” moments.

  Still no sex.

  Vincent was a man of his word.

  Lots of phone sex, though.

  Wow.

  But that left days and partial nights, before the hot cell phone sex ensued, to get to know each other and do things like make dinner (she had twice for him) (he had once for her).

  She’d started going to WTSF after work for an hour self-defense session with Tag. He was Vincent’s main bounty hunter, PI guy. And the reason Tag was training her was Vincent had a hard time keeping his hands off her with the no-sex thing going on. Training sessions were all about body contact and she had to admit it was difficult not to get aroused and distracted when in full-body contact with Vincent, while he put her in body holds, and then told her to get out of them.

  Vincent finally called Tag in after one session where she might have accidentally elbowed Vincent’s erection. That shouldn’t be erect ... but was. He forgave her, after she kissed him into it.

  But that was okay, Tag was cool. Ex-military with dirty blond hair and a sarcastic mouth. Tag was also a drill sergeant, not taking it at all easy on her. But she learned quicker that way.

  Glad she did, but it didn’t help for the run-in she had with Luna on Wednesday in the thong section of Cha-Cha’s Fashions and Lingerie.

  Tess had been there updating her underwear selection as Vincent had encouraged her to do. She was also looking for some lounging lingerie to maybe drive him wild with when they camped out after dinner, spooning on his big couch, to watch a movie or the cooking channel. Vincent was a tad obsessed with the cooking channel, even though he didn’t cook. His night of cooking consisted o
f Chinese takeout, and then he heated some egg rolls in the oven. After, she’d showed him how.

  Still, when Tess heard the woman’s growly voice behind her, she knew she was in trouble.

  “I’ll take ten of those hundred-dollar ones. Put it on my man’s card.”

  Tess looked over her shoulder, from toying with some emerald-green thongs, to see Luna at Cha-Cha’s counter, but Luna was glaring directly at her.

  Umm? Ignore her or ...

  “Nothing you get, hon, is going to make that round booty of yours attractive to Vincent,” Luna snarked, throwing down right there in Cha-Cha’s.

  Tess cringed inwardly, instantly remembering taunts from her school days. But outwardly she turned toward Luna, squaring her shoulders. She had training behind her now. Right. Yeah, like two days. Oh well ...

  “Man, I hear Coronado’s like very hot and very rich!” Tess exclaimed, adding some gushing in there. “I see why he latched on to you.”

  Inwardly, Tess cackled at the comical look on Luna’s beautiful face. It was as if she’d been smacked with surprise, then dawning pleasure.

  “Well, umm, yeah,” she stuttered.

  Tess walked closer, but not close enough she couldn’t run if she had to, and then she lowered her voice.

  “Steven could never get you as far as Coronado will.” Tess leaned closer as Luna’s eyes brightened. “You’ll make Coro-man famous.”

  “I will,” Luna breathed, conceitedly agreeing.

  Tess nodded. “I’m so jealous. But talent, you either have it or you don’t.” She’d heard that blather from Steven often enough, she could spout it in her sleep and lie as slick and convincing as, say ... Steven could.

  “Girl, you are so right!” Luna exclaimed.

  Just then, the sales clerk was handing Luna her bag, and Tess backed up to the emerald thong section.