Dark Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 6) (8 page)

“Hmmm.” Naomi sighed. “Maybe I’ll ask Matt if he can build me a shoe room. We don’t
need
that third bathroom, really, do we?”

The women laughed, then Elise and Annie went off down the hallway after Colin. Sarah sat and sipped her drink, stared around the shop some more.
God
, Elise’s stuff was stunning, and she wondered just what the woman would bring back for her to try on. She was starting to feel like a fairy princess, and this was such an unusual sensation for her, that she decided to just sit back and enjoy it fully.

“So.” Gabi drank some of her own Champagne. “We gonna be back here for
you
soon, Naomi?”

“Oh, for sure.” Naomi’s green eyes went to the emerald engagement ring on her finger. “I mean, maybe not
soon
soon, but I’ll get a wedding dress made with Elise, no question.” She shot Sarah a teasing look. “And I’ll
definitely
consult with Colin about footwear. Can’t ruin everything by wearing the wrong shoes, can I?”

“Snarky,” Sarah muttered. “Then again, what the hell do
I
know about shoes?”

“So, Naomi… back to you and King,” Gabi butted in. “Any idea when things will cool down, and he’ll step away from King’s Men, and make an honest woman of you?”

“None.” Naomi heard the regret in her own voice. “He says as soon as things are sorted out with Kirk Jensen, he’s all-in. But I don’t think it’s possible to set a date on it happening. A guy like Jensen is… unpredictable.”

Gabi nodded, tried to fight the wave of anxiety that was moving over her at the mere uttering of Jensen’s name out loud. Without any warning at all, suddenly she was back in that box, buried underground, running out of time and air. She felt her chest tighten, felt her throat close, felt her breath speed up.

Sarah and Naomi both saw it on her face. They shot to their feet, sat on either side of Gabi on the sofa.

“Breathe, honey,” Sarah said softly. “You’re safe. Just breathe.”

“I’m – I’m…” Gabi gritted her teeth, fighting hard for control. “I’m sorry.”

“No.” Naomi’s voice was also pitched low as she tried to keep Gabi calm. “No apologies, sweetie. Just focus on breathing. That’s all you have to do right now, OK?”

“Oh, God.” Gabi shut her eyes, scrambled to recall some of the coping and calming techniques that her therapist Francine Cabot had taught her. “Can you – can you hold my hands?”

Right away and without a word, Sarah and Naomi each clasped one of Gabi’s hands in their own. Ignoring the startled looks being directed at them by other customers, they just focused on Gabi’s pale face. She was fighting hysteria, and they saw it all over her, on every inch of her body. They couldn’t do anything but hang on to her, and wish with all their might that Gabi regained control.

Slowly, so painfully slowly, she started to ease: her breathing loosened up, her hands released theirs, her body started to relax. At long last, she opened her tearful black eyes, looked at them like she was lost.

“Gabi, honey,” Sarah said. “You good?”

She nodded.

“You sure?” Naomi touched Gabi’s dark curls.

“I’m sure.” Her gaze swung to Sarah guiltily. “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I didn’t want to ruin this for you.”

“You didn’t,” Sarah told her. “You did great, Gabi, so don’t even worry about me, alright? All I care about is how you’re doing.”

“I’m fine.”

“You want us to call Aidan?” Naomi asked. “You want him to come and get you?”

“No.” Gabi shook her head, sat up straighter. “No, I’m
really
fine. I promise. I want to stay.” She managed a weak smile. “I’ve been looking forward to this for a week.”

“Oh, Gabi… I don’t know.” Sarah bit her lip. “Aidan’s going to
kill
me if I don’t let him know what just happened.”

“Please, Sarah. No.” Gabi gave her a beseeching look. “I love weddings, OK? I love anything and everything to
do
with weddings… the dress, and the flowers, and the food.
Please
, I really want to be here. I want to see you try on dresses and I want to see the shoes that Colin chooses…”

“And you want to see the tiaras, huh?” Sarah teased her a bit.

Gabi’s eyes flared with relief. “
Totally
.”

“OK.” Sarah exhaled. “I won’t call Aidan – but you have to tell him what happened. You promise me?”

“I do, and I will. I always tell him.”

Sarah and Naomi exchanged looks, then Naomi cleared her throat.

“It happens a lot?” she asked carefully. “The panic attacks?”

“They’re way better now,” Gabi said slowly. “But… well…”

“What, hon?” Sarah asked.

“Me and Aidan, we – we’re still – we’re not…” Gabi wasn’t sure how to say it, so in the end, she just went for it, no mincing her words. “I’m scared when I’m out of breath, and I can’t stand the thought of having Aidan on top of me, cutting off my air. So, we haven’t made love since… since I was kidnapped and buried alive. We haven’t been together in almost six months. Not like that.”

Sarah and Naomi both stared at her in total shock. They’d known that she’d been struggling, of course, but they also knew that Aidan and Gabi were in the same bed. They hadn’t done much speculating about their friend’s sex life, but they’d at least assumed that sex was on the table.

“Oh, Gabi,” Naomi said softly. “I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah, well.” Gabi tried for bravado. “So
that’s
why I won’t be back here as a customer any time soon, you see, and it’s why I need to live vicariously through those of you with functional relationships.”

“What makes you say any of that?” Naomi asked a bit sharply. “Why do you think you and Aidan aren’t functional, and why do you think that he doesn’t want to marry you?”

“Are you
serious
?” Gabi stared at her. “You think that Aidan’s going to propose to a woman who can’t even
touch
him, let alone have sex with him?”

“My God, Gabi.” Sarah was stunned. “You
really
think that’s the most important thing to Aidan? You
really
think that sex is all that you’ve got between you?”

“Well, no,” Gabi faltered. “But… it’s important, right?”

“Sure it is,” Naomi agreed. “But have you
met
your boyfriend?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“So then you should know that he loves you more than anything in the entire cosmos,” Naomi said. “You should
also
know that Aidan doesn’t
do
guilt, and that he’s one of the most patient, giving men that I know. I sure as
hell
hope that you know that he’s
never
going to push you to do anything you aren’t ready for – and he’ll wait for you to be ready. He’s not going anywhere, and he’ll wait for you until the end of time if that’s what you need, and he won’t even
care
, just so long as he goes to sleep next to you, and wakes up next to you. If he’s got that, then Aidan is happy, because it means that he’s got
you
. “ Naomi paused, made up her mind to ask the question. “What makes you think that’s not enough for him?”

Gabi and Sarah were gaping very unattractively in the face of Naomi’s little tirade, and they both snapped their mouths shut now.

“Um,” Gabi finally mumbled. “I guess – I guess it is enough.”

“You’re damn right it is,” Naomi said, her smile taking the sting from the words. “So don’t you say
one more
word
about Aidan not wanting to commit to you, Gabi. I think the man has demonstrated time and again that he’s already as committed as it’s humanly possible to be, so I truly don’t see how a ring is going to somehow show you that.
Aidan
shows you that, shows you every single day. Just open your eyes, sweetie. See what’s right in front of you, yeah?”

They gaped at Naomi some more, then Gabi and Sarah looked at each other.

“Well,” Sarah said with a grin. “You got
told.
”

“I did,” Gabi agreed. “And I needed that. Thank you.”

“Yeah?” Naomi checked in. “Not too much tough love?”

“Nuh-uh. Just enough.”

“So – are you alright?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah.” Gabi nodded, and they were relieved that she looked absolutely like herself again. “I am.”

This time, they believed her.

“Sarah!” Annie appeared now, carrying a tiara in her hands. “
Look
!”

They all turned to face her, all smiling. Annie launched herself at her daughter, hands extended.

“Try it on!” she said, almost bubbling over with excitement.

“Without the dress?” Sarah said, hesitating. “I mean, shouldn’t I wait and get the full effect?”

“Are you
kidding
me?” Gabi said, catching the enthusiasm immediately. “No dress, no shoes… put on the crown, woman.”

Sarah giggled, took the tiara from her Mom. Carefully, she lifted it to her head, settled it on her lustrous red curls. Then she turned to look at herself in the full-length mirror, and the women stood behind her. Everyone gazed at her, silent.

Sarah couldn’t
believe
it; couldn’t
believe
what had just happened to her. The tiara wasn’t huge, wasn’t dripping in gold or diamonds, wasn’t anything like over-the-top – but it changed her.
All
of her.

Her casual, comfy jeans and white t-shirt and brown high-heeled boots looked stunningly fashionable, all of a sudden. Her face looked brighter, lighter. Her hair was shiny, her eyes were clear blue. Sarah sparkled with happiness and love, she just
glowed
.

“Holy crap,” she muttered. “Is that
me
?”

“It’s all you, baby girl,” Annie responded, a lump in her throat. “It’s what Jax sees when he looks at you.”

“Wow.” Sarah shook her head, watched how the light caught the flame of the icy-white jewels. Something about their brilliance gave her pause, and she stared at them harder. “
Tell
me that’s cut glass, Mom.”

“Nope. Swarovski crystals.”

“Oh,” Sarah squeaked, reaching up to take off the tiara, already mentally putting it back. “Man. I don’t think –”

“If you think that Jax won’t love this on you, you’re insane,” Gabi said.

“But –”

“What’s your budget, Sarah?” Naomi jumped in. “What did Jax say to you?”

“Uh… no budget.” Sarah squirmed. “He said he didn’t care about the money – he said to go to town. To buy whatever I think will make me feel beautiful and sexy when I agree to be his wife.”

“Is Jax Hamill a liar?” Annie asked her.

“
What
?” Sarah stared at her mother. “No. Of course not.”

“Then if the man sent you here today with specific instructions, I think you’d better do what he says. Don’t you?”

Sarah gave herself another look in the mirror. “Maybe…”

“You feel beautiful, honey?” Annie asked her.

“Yes.”

“Then you get it.”

Still, Sarah hesitated. “How much –”

“Seven hundred dollars.”

“Argh!” Sarah damn near ripped the thing off her head. “No! No, I can’t. I just can’t.”

“Sarah…”

“
No
.” Sarah set it down on the table as carefully as if it were a live grenade about to detonate. “I can’t justify that. That’s
crazy
. I mean, a custom-made dress is one thing, but a goddamn crystal
crown
? One that I’m gonna wear for exactly two hours of my life? Nuh-uh. No go.”

“Ladies,” Elise said now. She approached, dragging a rack of dresses behind her. “You all ready to start dress shopping?”

“
Yes
,” Sarah said, thrilled to have a distraction. “That’s what I’m here for today, right? A dress.” She shot the other women a look. “
Not
a tiara that costs more than my and Jax’s food budget for the month.” She thought for a second. “Actually, almost
two
months.”

Annie sighed. “You sure?”

“I’m as sure as sure,” Sarah said firmly. “A dress. Maybe some shoes. That’s
it
. If I want sparkle near my face, I’ll buy some sparkly eyeshadow and shiny lip gloss at Walmart.”

“Ohhhh-kay,” Gabi said, totally deflated. “You’re the boss.”

Sarah gave Elise a huge smile as she sat down again, grabbed her Champagne. “Alright, Elise. Let’s see what you got.”

“Oh, Sarah.” Elise returned her smile. “Get ready, honey. You’re going to have fun, I
promise
you.”

Chapter Seven

Shay awoke with a start. She was disoriented, and sore all over. She was also starving, and really,
really
needed to brush her teeth.

It was dark outside now, and she squinted around the room, trying to see in the dimness without her glasses. Where
were
her glasses, anyway? The fire had mostly died, and she felt a chill in the air. She shivered, hauled the thick blankets up to her chin. She was still just in her underwear, and for the first time it occurred to her that she had no idea where her clothes were. She was starting to think that keeping her half-naked was part of that asshole's messed-up power play.

Trying hard to relax, she listened for any sound at all, inside the cabin and outside. Nothing but the wind howling, a lonely, haunting sound. It made her feel like there was nobody else in the whole world, and her chest tightened in fear.

She wondered where he was. Wondered what he was doing. Wondered if he was going to keep her locked in here for hours or maybe even days, just to show her that he could.

Wondered if he was going to hurt her, now that she was starting to heal. Hurt her just because he could.

“You awake, honey?”

The voice came from the shadows at the far side of the room, and she gave a sharp cry.

Warren appeared now, materializing as if by magic from the darkness. She swallowed, tried to stop the panicked sob that was rising in her throat. She wasn’t entirely successful.

At the strangled little sound, his face changed. Became tender again, became almost soft. “You OK?”

Not trusting herself to speak quite yet, she nodded. She gathered up her shot nerves, forced her mouth open.

“How long have I been sleeping?” she said.

“Just over seven hours, and you were
completely
out. I changed your bandage about four hours ago, and you didn’t even budge. I was a bit worried about you, so I just sat here, kept an eye on you. Waited for you to wake up.”

She couldn’t think of a single thing to say to any of that. The thought of Warren just sitting there in the shadows for hours on end, watching her sleep, made her feel something dark and deep. She wasn’t sure she could actually name it, but she didn’t think that it was anything bad.

He came closer, and automatically, she shrank back.
God
, he just looked so much bigger in the half-light, and she felt incredibly small, all curled up under the covers. She was afraid, she admitted to herself, and for the first time since this all began, she thought about crying.

“Easy, Shay,” he said quietly. “I’m not the slightest bit interested in scaring or hurting you, alright? I just want to check your stitches again, and get you fed and watered. Maybe cleaned up, too. If you feel up to any of it, I mean.”

She peered up at him, even more confused now. His words and voice were a complete one-eighty turn from her last memory of him threatening her and then bolting out of the bedroom, locking the door behind him. The whiplash was back, big-time, and she couldn’t even
begin
to cope with his changing moods and behaviors, so she latched on to the thing most essential to her at the moment.

“Feed me?” she asked cautiously.

“Uh-huh.” He sat on the bed next to her, and she found herself gazing in to his gorgeous blue eyes. “I want to make you some dinner.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.” He cocked his head, smiled at her. “Can I take a look at your stitches now?”

“Um.” She clutched the blankets tighter. “Can I put on a shirt first?”

“Oh. Oh, right.” He looked startled, like it honestly hadn’t crossed his mind that she’d have an issue with flashing her breasts at him again. Some more. Maybe he thought that since he’d already seen… well, pretty much
everything
… that she wouldn’t care if he saw it all again now? “Uh. One sec.”

He got up again, crossed the room, disappeared once more in to the shadows. She squinted after him.

“Do you know where my glasses are?” she called in to the darkness.

“Yeah,” his faceless, formless voice answered. “On the window sill.”

“Thanks.” She lifted the long curtains, and sure enough, there they were. It was an immense relief to put them on at last, and see the world for the first time in what felt like a very,
very
long time. That was when he re-emerged from the darkness, and Shay took her first real-time, clear-eyed, non-brain-addled, look at Warren.

Dear. Sweet. Lord.

Why was her dream man also an MC asshole? Why?
Why
? What kind of cruel fate stuck her in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, all alone with the sexiest, hottest man that she’d ever laid eyes on… and then made said man a brutal, horrible human being?

But –
was
he? Was he
really
?

He lumbered over to her, all muscles and bulk in well-worn jeans and a tight black t-shirt, all soft blond hair and hard blue eyes, all raw power and cool toughness. It was literally unbelievable to her that this man –
this man!
– had held her through her fever and delirium and shaking. That
this man
had cared for her as tenderly as if she were a helpless infant. That even after their ugly argument and all his threats,
this man
had sat here in the dark, watching over her, keeping her safe.

It just didn’t make any damn sense. None of it.

“Here you go,” he said, extending his arm. “Put that on.”

She took the long-sleeved denim shirt, and he turned his back. Shay blinked in astonishment, then decided that she liked this little gesture of respect. She liked it quite a bit, actually.

She slipped the shirt on, and it fell over her slim hips, fell way past her knees. She did up the buttons, rolled up the sleeves, then she pushed the bed covers aside.

“All set,” she said, swinging her feet to the floor.

He turned back to face her as she sat in his shirt, and a glint of something flared in his eyes. Just for a second. But then his stare dropped to her exposed wrists, and he cleared the space between them in two steps. Knelt down in front of her, reached for her.

Shay gasped, but didn’t dare to protest when he took her hands in his. He turned them over, examined her wrists. His thumbs touched the bruises and cuts carefully, then he glanced up at her.

“Hurts?” he said, his voice raspy.

“A bit,” she whispered, caught in that intense blue gaze. “Not bad.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded, his eyes still locked on hers. “I’m sorry.”

She fell silent. She had no idea what exactly he was apologizing for, but she
did
know that it was sincere, and she knew that it was about more than a few bruises. This huge, terrifying man, this hard-boiled MC beast, was kneeling at her bare feet, saying that he was sorry – and she believed him. She believed him with everything that she had.

Slowly, Warren reached out again, hoping to God that she didn’t shrink back. He couldn’t explain it – not even to himself – but he
had
to touch this woman. If he didn’t, he thought he might go insane, or maybe even die, right there and then, on his knees on the floor, in front of her.

He’d spent the past few hours sitting in the corner of the bedroom, watching her sleep. He’d just sat there in the dark, thinking about what had happened between them earlier – the thaw and the sweetness, then the chill and the harsh words. The threats, the intimidation, the fear.

It had hurt and disturbed him deeply to do that to her, he’d been surprised to discover. Yeah, he’d had his reasons, and they were damn good ones. But they weren’t good enough to justify what he’d done to her, and he didn’t want to do it anymore. He didn’t want to threaten, or intimidate, or scare Shay. Not ever again.

It made him a selfish prick, he knew, but he understood now that he
needed
to be good to her. He
needed
her to look at him the way that she’d done earlier: all warm and soft and sweet. She’d looked at him like he was a man that she could trust to take care of her. Like he was a decent man.

He
had
been that kind of man, once upon a time. He really had. The past eight months had chipped away at that decency, though, taken it from him a piece at a time. Some pieces he’d given away all by himself, out of the necessity to survive, and the few pieces that he’d managed to hang on to were hollow victories.

Warren’s biggest fear was that he was one violent act away from turning in to a full-blown monster. He didn’t want to believe that about himself, didn’t want to believe that he could go
that
far down that dark road – but his faith in his own goodness and humanity had been severely shaken, questioned, tested by his time in the MC. He knew now that his faith in himself was almost gone.
He
was almost gone.

Well, he
had
been almost gone… until Shay. She’d made things resurface in his soul, things that he’d thought were lost forever. Without either one of them even knowing it, she’d called those good things out of him, retrieved the scattered pieces that he’d thought were beyond saving, started to put him back together again.

She’d given him the chance to be kind and nurturing. To be decent. And – as it turned out – a chance was all that he’d needed and wanted.

He didn’t want to stop being good to her. He didn’t want to be anything
but
good to her.

If she’d just let him.

Shay tensed as his large hand moved to her face, but she didn’t move away. In fact, despite her lingering fear and uncertainty, she leaned forward, just a bit, to meet it. To meet him.

His palm cupped her cheek carefully; his fingers moved in her hair carefully; his thumb stroked her lower lip carefully. He was being so damn
careful
with her, and while that was the
last
thing that she’d have ever expected from an MC member, it was the
first
thing that she’d come to expect from Warren.

That knowledge washed over her, so strong and real, that she felt it on her skin. She felt it as sure as she felt his gentle touch. It settled on her, then sank on in to her; she absorbed it in to her blood, and bones, and cells. In to her heart and soul.

No matter what he’d said earlier, this man wasn’t going to hurt her. She knew that now, knew it with as much confidence as she knew the sun was going to rise tomorrow. He’d had plenty of chances to take advantage of her – to rape her, or hit her, or worse – and he hadn’t. And he wouldn’t… of that, she was certain.

She looked at him as he knelt there in front of her, cradling her face in his huge hand, and she
saw
him. She
saw
Warren. And just like that – between breaths and heartbeats – she stopped being afraid.

She smiled at him. “Hi.”

He smiled back, and it changed his whole face. Made him look younger, all of a sudden, and lighter. And so,
so
much more gorgeous, which made him totally, utterly, breath-stealing.

“Hi,” he replied, his voice husky. “You ready to get up, baby?”

“Yes.”

“C’mon, then. Let me help you.”

“Alright.”

Carefully, he eased her up on to her feet. She winced as pain shot down her right calf, and her legs wobbled under her. God, she was weak and shaky, and he saw it. Without a word, he swept her up in to his arms, and she let him. She rested her head against his chest, and his arms tightened around her.

“So what do you want first?” His voice rumbled in his chest, and she pressed herself up against the vibrations. “Food? Bath?”

“Bath, please.”

“OK. Hang on to me.”

As if she’d ever let go of
this
body, given a choice. He felt so damn good to hold on to, his muscles flexing and sliding under her hands. She just closed her eyes, her whole body relaxing in to his embrace. Trusting him, despite it all.

She didn’t know why she felt that way about him. But she did.

Warren carried her through the cabin, down the hallway to the bathroom. He set her on the edge of the tub as if she were made of spun sugar, then he started the water.

“No bubble bath, I’m afraid,” he said. “You’ll have to make do with some body wash.”

She quirked her eyebrow at him. “You mean the Fallen Angels hide-away doesn’t come stocked with bubble bath?”

“Can you believe it?” He checked the water temperature, adjusted it a bit. “I guess the guys don’t hang out in the tub for hours on end after a stressful day.”

“Crazy.”

“Right?” Warren grinned at her. “So can I look at your stitches now?”

“Sure.” She extended her leg in front of her, and he knelt down again. He set her foot on his thigh, ran his hand up her smooth skin. Gingerly, he unwrapped the bandage and she watched his hands, liking how they moved on her body.

He revealed the injury, and she took her first look at his handiwork. She blinked when she saw how neat and even the stitches were, and she knew that he’d really taken care when he’d done them.

“Wow,” she said, still staring at the tiny stitches. “You should have been a seamstress.”

He laughed. “You think?”

“I do.” She leaned forward a bit to examine her wound more closely. “You really know what you’re doing with this stuff, huh?”

“Sometimes, with some things.” He set her foot back on the floor, checked the water again. “Like I said, I learned a lot back on the farm.”

“Your Mom taught you, right?”

“Yep.” He squirted some body wash under the faucet, and fragrant white bubbles started surfacing. “Mom ran the farm, and us kids helped out.”

“How many kids?”

“Nine, including me. I’m the youngest.”

“Big family.”

“Ummm-hmmmm.” He grabbed two towels from the shelf, set them on the edge of the tub. “OK, so… you’ll be alright in here on your own?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now, most of the infection around the bite is gone, but don’t get the stitches wet, and if you need help, you call me.” He gave her a wolfish grin that made her heart do a summersault. “Maybe with drying off?”