Secret Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 5) (2 page)

Aidan had seen him walking over, and waved at him.

“Hey, man,” Aidan called, his Texan drawl more pronounced than usual. Curtis knew that he did that to warm up to the ladies, and damned if the fucker didn’t get away with it every single time. On many,
many
occasions, Curtis had watched the female Curves clientele practically melt in to a puddle right in front of Aidan, shedding their panties as they went down. “C’mon over and meet Tessa Mahoney. Darlin’, this is Curtis Manning.”

Tessa. Fucking beautiful name.

He’d stalked over, stood next to her. She wasn’t a small woman, and she was in sexy-as-all-hell high-heeled boots that added about three inches to her height, but he
still
towered over her. He stuck out a large hand, wishing that it wasn’t so rough.

“Hi,” he growled at her.

“Hi,” she responded, her hand disappearing in to his. “You work here too?”

“Yeah.” He’d jammed his fists in to his jeans pockets. Fuck, his hand was
tingling
from even that minute contact with her soft skin. “I bounce.”

“Curtis is one of your personal bodyguards,” Aidan explained smoothly, knowing full well that conversation wasn’t Curtis’ strong suit. “His job is to watch your back, keep you safe.”

Tessa had nodded, gazing up at him, taking in his broad shoulders and rippling arm muscles. “I can see that.”

“So,” Curtis said curtly. “Any shit starts, you back your ass the fuck up. Leave it to me and the boys to take the dickheads out in pieces, yeah?”

Aidan rolled his eyes and sighed. “Really, man?”

“What?” Curtis snapped back.

“
Language
. We
are
in the presence of a lady, you know.” Aidan had grinned at Tessa, who’d been staring at Curtis in shock. “He’s OK, I promise you. Just a bit rough around the edges.”

At that exact moment, Curtis would have killed on the spot for just a tiny bit of Aidan’s natural charm. By this, Curtis meant that he’d have killed
Aidan
on the spot for charming Tessa this way. How did Aidan
do
it, anyway? How did he always know just what to say and do with women? It was incredibly fucking annoying.

“Uh-huh,” she said, still a bit taken aback.

“But when trouble starts, there’s nobody better,” Aidan said. “You just step back, leave it to Curtis. He won’t let anyone so much as touch you if he can help it, but if someone makes a move, he’ll make sure it’s the last thing they do before kissing the ground outside and picking up their teeth.”

She’d smiled at Curtis then, and his stomach had tightened up at the sight. What a fucking gorgeous smile – so bright and open. Real. Yeah, Tessa Mahoney was the real deal, and he was screwed. No way she’d ever go for a rough, foul-mouthed ass-kicker like him, but she was all he wanted now.

“Never had my own bodyguard before,” she said.

He’d stared down at her incredible body, and thought that he wanted nothing more than to keep every inch of her in his sights, at all times. If he could just watch her move, keep her safe and secure, he’d never even need to touch her. Just knowing that she was out in the world smiling that smile was enough; just knowing that she’d walk in to his life once in a while, and bring it some light was everything.

“At your service,” he said gruffly, taking a small stab at charm. “You need me, I’m here.”

Tessa nodded, turned, and picked up her serving tray. With a final smile at both men, she’d headed over to one of her tables. The semi-drunk men had watched her approach with clear interest, and Curtis narrowed his eyes as she chatted and laughed with the customers. It made him weirdly jealous to see other men flirting with Tessa, and seeing her lightly flirting back. But that was the deal at Curves, and Curtis knew it: the ladies serving up the alcohol had to keep the clients happy and relaxed, and flirtatious conversation was a big part of that.

“She’s cute, huh?” Aidan commented.

Curtis grunted.

“Yeah, I know you think so.” Aidan shook his scruffy blond head. “Christ, man, you actually
smiled
at her. It was terrifying to behold, but it was also kinda nice to see. I had no idea you even
could
smile.”

“Shut it, Carter.” Curtis had stalked away again, his glower firmly fixed back in place.

And that was it. That was how it had been for over a year since Tessa had come to work at Curves. She’d shown up and sparkled and shone, and Curtis had stood with his massive arms crossed and a scowl on his hard face, watching her. Keeping her safe.

Over the course of that year, and against all the odds – the odds being Curtis himself – they’d become friends. It was inevitable, really, since Tessa’s humor and kindness had just demolished every single one of Curtis’ defenses. It was a sweetness offensive, and he was pathetically helpless in the face of it. He didn’t even
want
to resist it, and that was the most baffling part of it all.

The truth was, though, that he’d totally given in to her about three months after she started working at Curves. It was his birthday coming up, and the other staff had been threatening to buy him a few shots on the big day. Curtis had been his usual silent self on the whole damn subject. He didn’t celebrate his birthday and he never had, and he saw no real reason to start now. If the guys and the ladies wanted to throw a few shots his way, he’d take them, he supposed. But that was hardly a celebration, and that was just fine with him.

He should have known that Tessa would have other ideas.

She showed up that night with a homemade cake, complete with a candle and his name written in icing on the pale yellow frosting. She gave it to him in the staffroom when they were alone; she’d instinctively known not to make a big, public deal about it, and that made him love her even more.

He stared down at the cake, blinking in shock. She waited, her glorious hair curling all around her perfect face.

“You – you made this?” he finally said, more abruptly than he intended. “From scratch?”

“Yes.”

“For me?”

She smiled at him. “It’s
your
name on the cake, Curtis. Happy birthday.”

He stared down at it again, touched beyond belief. It had been a long,
long
time since anyone had given him anything freely, with an open hand. It had been even longer since anyone had done something nice for him ‘just because’. That was when he decided to open up to her, just a little bit.

“Thanks, sweetheart.” Unlike every other guy at Curves – both staff and customers – Curtis never dropped casual endearments with the female staff. They felt fake and forced in his mouth, but with Tessa and in this moment, this one flowed out smoothly. He took a deep breath, prepared himself to be honest with her. “I’ve never had a birthday cake before.”

“You haven’t?” She cocked her head at him, her brow furrowed in the most adorable way. “What about when you were little?”

He shook his dark-blond head. “Never.”

She was quiet then, looking up at him. He saw a hundred questions in those green-and-gold eyes, questions that he waited to see if she’d ask. And when she
did
ask a question, it wasn’t one of the ones that he expected… but it was pure Tessa.

“Does it upset you that I did this?” she asked. “Should I not have – did I overstep?”

“No.” Horrified that he’d made her feel badly after doing something so damn sweet, he rushed to reassure her. “
No
, Tessa. I love it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” He gave her a rare grin now, all slow and warm, and she smiled back. “Weird to get my first-ever birthday cake at the age of thirty-four… but better late than never, huh?”

She laughed. “So… you want to blow out the candle, too? Do the thing properly?”

“Yeah.”

She set the cake down on the table, and pulled a blue candle and a lighter out of her backpack. She stuck the candle in the cake and lit it.

“OK,” she said. “Now, I have a terrible voice, but you can’t have your first-ever birthday cake and
not
have me sing ‘Happy Birthday’.”

“Is that the rule?”

“I think so.” She picked up the cake, and held it in front of her. “Brace yourself, Curtis. This is gonna be painful.”

“I’m ready.”

She hadn’t been lying, he saw, or more like, heard. Tessa’s speaking voice was sweet and sexy, but her singing was definitely sub-par. He didn’t give a shit. He stood there, watching the way the flame lit up her face, and made her eyes glow gold as she sang to him. It was hands-down the best moment of his whole life.

“Make a wish,” she told him. “Go on, now.”

Why, baby?
he thought.
I think all I ever wanted just happened.

He nodded, though, blew out the candle, forgot about making a wish. The one and only thing he wished for and wanted to come true was standing right in front of him, and she belonged to another man. She laughed again, and then set the cake down.

“You want a piece?” she said, already busy digging out a knife and paper plates and plastic forks from her backpack.

“I sure as hell do.”

“I didn’t know what kind to make you.” Tessa frowned at the cake, considering. “In the end, I decided on vanilla cake with lemon frosting.” She glanced up at him. “I didn’t think you were the kind who was in to sweet stuff.”

“I like sweet stuff once in a while,” he said, holding her eyes. “Just depends what it is.”

She stared back, her beautiful face a bit startled. Curtis knew that she was surprised by this different side of him, this softer, kinder side, a Curtis who teased and flirted, and he wondered if she was finding it too much, too soon. He was just about to apologize for his 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, not Curtis, but he did it anyway. She’d been so scared and confused, and all he’d wanted to do was make her feel safe again.

Holding Tessa as she lay helpless and vulnerable, his hands in her hair, her face pressed in to his throat, was the only real sweetness that he’d ever known and he took it, selfishly and without regret. He’d dreamt of it since, and he’d kill to be able to have it again. It was all he wanted, and it was the one fucking thing that he was sure he’d never, ever have again.