Love Beyond the Curve (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (4 page)

“Get off of me, you pig! I swear I’ll kill you!” she growled at him as she tried to gouge the back of his leg with the heel of her shoe.

“Charlotte, you forgot…What the hell!” Reed rushed through the door and yanked Matt off of Charlotte by the neck of his shirt, crashing his fist into his face as he turned around to lunge at him.

“Get the hell out of here, now! Don’t ever let me see you around here again! Go, Matt! Get out!” Reed yelled and shoved him toward the door, causing him to stumble.

“That fat bitch wanted it, and she knows it. She just wanted to play hard to get. She should be grateful some guy was willing to fuck her fat ass.” Matt struggled to stand and turned around, glaring at Reed.

“I’m sure she wasn’t asking to be raped by a drunk fucker like you! Get out before I break your jaw to match your nose.” He pushed Matt out the door, slamming it in his face and locking it. He ran his hand through his hair as he moved around to sit on the edge of the sofa beside Charlotte. She had covered her face with her hands and was crying softly into them. He glanced down and saw that her dress was still pushed apart, revealing her well-rounded breasts heaving up and down as she continued to sob into her hands. He also noticed a long, bleeding scratch between her breasts that must have happened when Matt had torn her clothes apart.

Reed pulled her dress together to cover her, causing her to flinch at his touch. She gazed up into his eyes with a look of bewilderment as she sat up, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. He held her close and stroked her back as he made quiet shushing sounds in her ear. He became acutely aware of how soft and yielding her body felt in his arms as he held her in a protective, soothing embrace. Candace was all angles and sharp corners when she was in his arms. In fact, every woman he had ever been with felt bony and hard, like they would break if he hugged them too tightly. But Charlotte felt whole and uniquely feminine, like a woman in the truest sense of the word.
A man could really see her being the mother of his children.

What the hell am I thinking?
He shook his head to clear his present thoughts. This wasn’t the time to be thinking about how she felt in his arms. He needed to take care of her right now. He pulled away from her, wiping away her tears with the pad of his thumb.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

Charlotte shook her head and ran a hand through her disheveled hair. “No, only my feelings, I guess. He scared me, Reed. If you hadn’t come in when you did, I don’t know what he would have done to me. I didn’t do
anything
to make him think I wanted to have sex with him. It was when I slapped him for putting his hand between my legs that he decided to get forceful. I don’t want you to think…”

Reed placed a single finger over her swollen lips to stop her.

“All I think is that he better not show up anywhere around me ever again. I’m so sorry you had to endure that. I’m just glad that I came over when I did. You left your cell phone at the house, so I was bringing it to you when I saw him all over you. Do you want to call the police?” He took both of her hands in his own, rubbing his thumbs over them.

“No, I just want to go to bed. Thank you for coming to my rescue. Looks like your tab just cleared. Now, I owe you.” She tried to force a small smile for his benefit.

“Of course. Look, he scratched your chest, so you need to take care of that. I don’t think he has rabies, even if he
is
a son of a bitch, but you can’t be too careful. You go take a shower, and I will stay here until you are out and settled for the night. How does that sound?” He wiped away some of the tearstains on her cheeks, letting his palm rest there for a moment.

“That sounds good. I won’t be long, I promise. Thank you.” She stood up as Reed supported her elbow. Her dress started to part again as she stood, but he grabbed it and held it together for her until she had her bearings.

“Well, I guess we can say we are really close friends since you’ve seen me half naked now.” She started to walk to the bathroom with her head up, but visibly shaken.

Reed stopped her for a moment and stepped around to face her. “You don’t have to make a joke out of this, Charlotte. It’s serious. I’m not thinking about anything except making sure you are okay, and how I can get another chance to bash that guy’s face in again.”

“Thank you, Reed. I’m glad you’re here.” Charlotte rested her hand against his chest, and then leaned her whole body against him with her hands curled up to her chest. Reed wrapped his arms around her, not saying a word. In a few minutes, Charlotte lifted her head and gripped his upper arms. “I’m okay now. I’ll be right back.” She stepped around him and went into her bedroom to prepare for the night.

* * * *

Reed sat down on the couch, wondering how to handle the situation. He worked with Matt only as a consultant on certain types of jobs he encountered. He could be replaced, but he didn’t think he’d ever forget the sight of Matt sprawled on top of Charlotte, with her arms pinned and her leg trying to hit him in the back. He couldn’t help but think about the hateful words he had kept on shouting about her size all the way out the door. He could have bashed his head in for hurting her like that. He had never thought of her as anything but attractive.

In just a few short minutes, Charlotte was standing at the bar saying, “Thank you for staying. I’m all right now. You can go on home.”

Reed stood and turned to find her standing in an emerald-green satin wrapper that stopped just above her knees. She had her arms folded tightly around herself as she stood there looking very vulnerable. She had taken her chocolate-brown hair out of its usual ponytail, and it was cascading in waves over her shoulders. For a moment, Reed was stunned speechless at how beautiful she was, even with no makeup at all. Candace would never think of allowing him, or anyone else, to see her without all the colors and creams it took to make her “presentable,” as she called it. Charlotte, on the other hand, was a natural beauty and didn’t seem preoccupied with her looks. He again shook his head to clear his thoughts and said, “Are you sure you want me to go? I can stay until you go to sleep if you want me to. Naturally, you are pretty upset. I hate to think of you being alone with your thoughts when the lights go out.”

“Thank you for the offer, Reed, but I’m a big girl. No, wait. I’m a fat-assed cow, so I think I’ll be fine,” she half smiled at him as she mimicked Matt’s words.

“Don’t say that. Don’t ever say that again. He is fucking crazy if he doesn’t see how gorgeous you are.” He ran a fingertip over her cheek, amazed at the velvetlike smoothness of her skin.

“And you are too kind. Don’t worry about me. I’ve heard those words or something like them all my life. You think when you’re all grown up it will stop, but it doesn’t. Matt isn’t the first guy that thought I should be grateful that he would be willing to screw a fat girl. He won’t be the last one either. Listen, I’m really tired, so I’m going to go on to bed. I assure you I’m fine. Thanks again for throwing him out on his ass. I will say he is the first guy to not take no for an answer. You really saved me from something much worse than being called a fat girl.” Charlotte spoke seriously as she walked to the door to see him out.

Reed followed her but took her by the arms and said again in a gentle but firm voice, “Charlotte, I’m going to go now because it’s very obvious that you want me to go. I want you to promise me you’ll call if you can’t sleep or feel afraid. I also feel like we should talk more about this whole awful thing, but now isn’t the time. Call me?”

“Yes, I’ll call you. There isn’t anything left to say, Reed. I don’t want to discuss it. I’ve accepted myself, and this is who I am. If that’s not good enough for some people, then they don’t matter anyway. I am who I am. I might get smaller, but I most likely will gain weight as time goes on. I just take it a day at a time. Speaking of which, it will soon be daylight, and I need to get some sleep and not get too far off schedule. I’ll see you later. Good night.” She forced a smile for his benefit, doubted he believed things were really okay.

He squeezed her arm and turned around, leaving her to deal with the hurricane of feelings that must have been going through her mind, feeling helpless to do anything to stop it.

Chapter Nine

The week went by, and Reed didn’t see Charlotte at all. Even though their schedules made it impossible for them to cross paths during the workweek, he usually saw some sign of life from her place. It seemed she went to work, came home, and went to bed. He was still thinking of her and the sound of her voice as she relayed her experiences as a “fat girl.” She was deeply hurt, even though she spoke as if it were nothing to her. He hoped he would get a chance to talk with her over the weekend. He was going out with Candace Friday and Saturday night. If he didn’t see her before Saturday, he would have to go over and knock on her door. He was trying to give her the space she seemed to want, but didn’t think was good for her.

This was so ridiculous! She was his tenant! He couldn’t seem to stop himself from thinking about her eyes, curves, and God help him, the way her breasts looked when he found her on the sofa with her shirt and bra ripped apart! They were full, round, and looked heavy as they fell gently to the side. Her nipples were dark and puckered in the coolness of the air-conditioned room. When her shirt had gotten wet during the car-washing episode, he had seen that they were firm enough to not sag, but stood erect against the soaked fabric. She didn’t take herself too seriously either. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t think of a time when Candace didn’t have every hair in place and look like she had just stepped out of a magazine ad. Hell would have to freeze over before she would think about soaking herself just to pull a prank on him. As far as that went, he didn’t see her pulling pranks of any kind. That would probably be beneath her. Well, he would have to see if he could draw her out of her perfect little world. It probably wouldn’t be easy, but worth it if he could see a carefree side to her like he did when he was with Charlotte.

* * * *

Friday night rolled around, and Reed took Candace out to eat at an expensive Italian restaurant that she really liked. Afterward, they went to a local club where Reed had promised to try to meet up with some friends and their spouses or dates. They pulled up to the club and parked the car a short distance from the entrance. Reed walked around to Candace’s side of the car and opened her door for her to alight from the vehicle. She didn’t move right away, then looked at him with a disdainful look in her eyes and said hopefully, “Do we
have
to go in here? Can’t we just go back to your place or mine and have a drink and see what happens?”

“Candace, you know what will happen. We’ll have a glass of wine. You’ll get up to pour us another one and start undressing as you tell me to follow you to the bedroom. I want to go in here tonight. I promised the guys I would try to stop by and have a drink with them. It won’t take long. Besides, I want us to dance together. We’ve never gone out dancing before. I want a chance to impress you with my moves.” He winked as he took her hand and pulled her reluctantly from the car.

“I’m going in, but I don’t want to stay very long. Promise we’ll leave in just a few minutes?” She bargained with him as he literally pulled her behind him toward the entrance of the club. She liked dancing as well as anybody, but not in places like this. This place was for people who looked like they lived paycheck to paycheck, and most of it was going to be spent in here on beer, cigarettes, and cheap thrills. Candace preferred the dances at the country club and at parties thrown by her friends. There were a few upscale martini bars she would go to with her girlfriends, but they were on the other side of town.

“I wish you would act like a boss to these guys and not their best friend, Reed. You know that socializing with the hired help can lead to insubordination on the job,” she interjected, hoping to give him food for thought, so their exit would be sooner than later.

Reed wheeled around and placed his hands on her narrow shoulders. “Candace, I’ve worked with these guys for years. They are a bunch of my site supervisors and, as much as you hate to hear it, my friends. Come on and let’s try to have a good time. If you’d take off your judge’s robe, you’d probably really like them.”

Candace acted as if she were insulted and followed along behind him into the noisy nightclub. There was a crush of people milling around the bar, as well as a crowded dance floor. Hip-hop music was blaring so loudly that she could feel the bass thumping in her bones. A large group of men and women were gathered in the far corner, where several tables had been pulled together. A few of the guys yelled out over the noise, signaling to them to come over and join them.

“Hey, there. Glad you could make it, Boss Man. We saved a seat for you two.” A tall, blonde man stood to shake hands with Reed. He extended his hand toward Candace, who forced a weak smile and ignored his hand.

“I told you we’d be here. Everybody, this is Candace. Candace, this is the best team of guys a contractor could have working for him. They are why we keep on growing.” He grinned as he accepted a glass of beer from one of the men. Candace forced a polite smile and said, “Hello, everyone. It’s nice to meet you.” She refused the glass of beer that was offered to her and flagged a waitress walking by to order a glass of white wine.

Everyone was laughing and having a good time. Candace was still wearing her frozen smile on her face as she feigned interest in what was being said around her. A slow song began to play, and several of the couples at the table stood up to join the dancers on the floor. Reed took Candace’s hand and said, “Come on, my dear, let’s dance.” He downed the rest of his beer and pulled her out onto the dance floor, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist, holding her close to him. She was much shorter than he, and her head only came to his shoulder, even in heels.