Love Beyond the Curve (BookStrand Publishing Romance) (2 page)

“Excuse me? Oh, just pull over on the left side of the green truck. That’s my work truck,” he replied as he headed over to the lifeless vehicle and popped the hood. He had grabbed a pair of jumper cables out of the attached toolbox in the bed of the truck and was already hooking them up to his dead battery by the time she pulled up into position and popped her hood as well. He quickly attached the cables to her battery, and the truck came to life without much hassle. He jumped out of the cab of his truck and slammed down the hoods of both of their vehicles and approached her window. She hit the power button to let the window glide down as he approached her.

“Thank you so much! I owe you one,” he said, offering her a lopsided grin.

She laughed. “Not a problem. Anytime. Hope you have a good day!”

“You, too. See ya!” he said, shoving away from the door and heading to his truck. She rolled up the window and waited for him to pull away before moving her vehicle back to its usual parking place.

She walked back upstairs and into her apartment, leaning against the door after closing it. “Well, one thing is for damn sure…it isn’t an old man landlord after all!”

Chapter Three

Definitely
not
what he had expected. All he had been told was that a nurse had rented the apartment. A nurse. No nurse he had ever had looked like that. She was bigger than any girl he had ever dated, but she was gorgeous! And that was with no makeup, comfy clothes, and completely caught off guard. Yet she seemed not to care that someone was seeing her like that. Candace would have gone into some conniption fit if he ever saw her with no makeup and had shown up unannounced.

Charlotte had obviously been watching TV and eating ice cream when he had shown up on her doorstep. He hadn’t been with a girl in a long time that even
admitted
to eating ice cream, much less left evidence in plain sight! He had noticed the container on the coffee table, not to mention the speck of chocolate on the corner of her mouth. Funny, but for an instant, he had fought the urge to lean over and lick it off her face. Where did that come from? She was not wearing a bra, and her large, full breasts had literally
bounced
when she walked from the kitchen to where he was waiting for her in the living area. Candace’s breasts didn’t bounce, but hers weren’t very big anyway. The slight shadow around Charlotte’s hardened nipples told him they were dark and bigger than he was used to seeing in the flesh. Her body had been molded by the leggings she had been wearing, revealing long legs with shapely thighs and full hips that screamed to be squeezed just a little, having a softness to them that was incredibly feminine. Candace lived at the gym, thinking she had to have a body as hard as his. She was in shape for sure, complete with ripped abs, but she didn’t make a good cuddling partner.

Reed shook his head as if to clear his thoughts before turning into the driveway of his contractor business in downtown Memphis. He really didn’t need to walk in with a hard-on, which was what was happening if he didn’t get his mind off the chance meeting with his new tenant.

His office was in an old home in one of the earliest residential areas of the town. He had built the successful business from the ground up, much to the dismay of his parents. He was supposed to follow in his father and brother’s footsteps and join the family law firm. A suit and tie and desk work was not for him. Beat-up jeans and a T-shirt were considered acceptable office attire when not scheduled for appointments with clients.

He had worked for a contractor during his college days, and it had gotten into his blood. He loved making something with his hands and had used the money he had saved over the years to start the business. He had a great office to make a good first impression on would-be clients. The best group of reliable men worked with him to make the business continue to grow. If the company succeeded, they all succeeded.

He went in the back door and stopped to make the coffee before entering his office. Soon everyone would be here for the daily morning meeting. After discussing priority projects, they would all jump in the cabs of their trucks, scattering like wild horses in every direction of the city, off to build something that would last for generations. He entered his office to go over the list of appointments and project sites he was scheduled to visit during the day. He turned on the stereo and the sounds of soft jazz music began playing as he sat down and opened his day planner. He realized he had read through the entire list and couldn’t recall a word. His mind was filled with images of Charlotte. Her eyes were bright and her smile lit up the room. He’d heard people use that phrase, but had never really understood it until he saw her this morning. She was really pretty, and that was without make-up and dressed for company. Although he found her to be quite alluring in her tank top and leggings.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, recalling Charlotte as she had looked when he was leaving to come to work. She had walked halfway up the stairs, hips swaying with each step. He had been staring, mesmerized by the way her body shape was all curves. She stopped and looked back over her shoulder, smiling that sunny smile, and waved at him. He held up a hand and drove off, still watching her in the rearview mirror.

What am I thinking? I can’t start fantasizing about her. I’m sure she has a boyfriend. Hell, I’ve got a girlfriend. Funny how I don’t have the same tingly feeling when I try to imagine Candace in workout clothes. Maybe I’ll just have to arrange some more car trouble in the morning. Or need to borrow a cup of sugar. Maybe I need to go ring her bell and tell her I just need to look at her again, then stand there gawking at her.

“Judging by the smile on your face, I’d say you’re having a pretty good dream, Boss Man.”

Reed opened his eyes and saw Clark, one of his supervisors, standing in the doorway of his office. He laughed at his friend’s comment. “And I’d have to say you were right. She is a dream.”

Chapter Four

Charlotte finished writing her reports for the shift and grabbed her purse to go home for the night. She needed to stop by the grocery store to buy ingredients for lasagna and salad. She was also going to make a lemon meringue pie. She did her exercises faithfully, so she would indulge herself with the foods she loved, rather than starving and binging all the time.

She had fought the weight battle her whole life, trying every type of fad diet that was the current rage. She had finally come to realize that at twenty-eight years of age, she only had to please herself. She finally loved herself
and
the body that housed her indomitable spirit. She ate healthy food and did regular exercise, but she would
never
put herself on another diet as long as she lived. She would eat what she wanted in reasonable portions, and sometimes, not so reasonable portions, but food was not going to rule her life.

If she had a dime for every time she was told about her “pretty face,” she could retire to a private island for life! She accepted herself, and the man she would end up with would have to do likewise. But it was hard to find a man who was secure enough in himself to decide he could have a relationship with a larger woman—publicly that is. She had been with good-looking men before, but somehow she had seen a pattern of staying home on dates or going places that didn’t include chance meetings with friends. On the few occasions they had run into a guy’s friends, she had managed to see the telltale look of panic in his eyes as he tried to decide how to introduce her. Most of them acted like they would rather walk on nails than risk possible ridicule for being seen with what was deemed, in today’s standards, a “fat girl.” Needless to say, those relationships were promptly terminated!

Well, as Sleeping Beauty said, “Someday my prince will come!”

* * * *

Charlotte drove up to the house at about twelve thirty and began to unload her groceries. She had gone down to gather the last few bags when a black Range Rover drove up and parked beside the green truck she had helped start that morning. She kept gathering her bags and closed the door with a bump of her hip when she heard a voice call out to her, saying, “Do you need any help with that? I still owe you one for your help this morning!”

Charlotte’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of Reed’s voice calling out to her in the dark. She noticed there was a tall, thin blonde standing beside him with her lips pressed together in a thin line. She ignored her territorial glare and laughed robustly, calling back to him, “No, thank you. I’ve got this. I’m saving that debt for something worth more than a couple of grocery bags delivered to my door!”

“Oh, so you’re going to be like
that
, are you? Okay, let me know. I’ll see you around,” he said, steering the woman toward the screened back porch.

“Good night,” she called out loud, before muttering under her breath, “and good luck getting any from the skinny, blonde bitch after that!”

Chapter Five

“So, I guess that’s your new tenant. She’s a big girl, Reed. You need to let her carry her own things up those stairs. She could use the exercise. She’s huge!” Candace walked into the house and tossed her purse on the kitchen table.

“Is she? I hadn’t noticed,” Reed said as he closed the door and followed her on into the den.

“Well, I’m sure you didn’t. Fat girls aren’t your thing, so I won’t have to worry about who’s living right out your back door. Now, if she had been gorgeous, I may have had to put my foot down about it,” she purred as she slipped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to kiss his mouth.

“You think you have that much power over me, huh?” Reed pulled back, arching an eyebrow at her boldness. Candace never had a problem speaking her mind.

“I’ll have you on your knees in a matter of minutes, my dear.” Candace walked toward the stairs leading to his bedroom, swaying her hips and leaving a trail of clothing behind her.

He put his hands on his hips and watched her slither up the staircase, looking back over her shoulder, saying, “Coming, dear?”

“Of course, do I have an option?” he murmured to himself, shaking his head, following her slowly upstairs.

* * * *

Reed couldn’t sleep after making love with Candace. She dropped right off to sleep after having showered any traces of their lovemaking off her body as soon as they had finished. Why he stayed with her, he wasn’t sure. It seemed easier to go with it than deal with the drama of a breakup. He really needed to think about what he wanted and put things straight with her. Maybe later.

He had gotten up and pulled on a pair of jeans and walked barefoot out onto the screened porch to smoke a cigarette. He sat down on the swing and began to push himself using his toes, smoking to relax after a hectic day.

His thoughts went back to this morning when he had met Charlotte. Something about her made him smile as he took a long drag of the cigarette, looking up to her place. He narrowed his eyes to see if what he thought he was seeing was real. It looked like Charlotte’s silhouette in the French doors, dancing provocatively to some unheard sensual rhythm. She was either naked or wearing some kind of skintight outfit, because he could see every curve of her voluptuous body. Thank God he had replaced the windows with narrow French doors, because this private dance was worth every cent. He felt certain she was unaware that her activity could be seen as a shadow through the sheer window coverings. It was dark in the room except for the blue glow of the television, otherwise he may never have noticed anything.

He stamped out the cigarette and stood up to lean against the door jamb, observing Charlotte’s sensuous moves. She was very graceful and moved fluidly to do what appeared to be some type of belly dancing. Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and every now and then she would slip her arms underneath it and lift it only to let it fall in waves all around her. She was doing a shoulder shimmy that left him barely breathing as he watched her ample bosom shake as her hips made rapid figure-eight movements. He felt the blood rushing to his groin as he watched her perform the erotic dance, completely uninhibited by the privacy she felt she had at two thirty in the morning.

He wondered what she would do if he ran up the stairs to her door and offered himself for a fast fling on a Friday night. How about that for returning the truck favor? He grinned wickedly as he thought to himself how that scene could play out. He had a full-blown hard-on as he looked up, only to find that the house was now dark, and the show was over.

Chapter Six

Charlotte woke up around one and felt like she had slept late for her usual routine. She ate a bowl of cereal and drank a cup of coffee then proceeded to get ready to wash her car. She donned a pair of cutoffs and a white tank top to accomplish the task. She gathered her car-washing supplies and went downstairs to begin the task, hoping to get a little sun in the process. She drove the car closer to the outdoor faucet and hose and began wetting it down. Soon she was slathering it with soap, stretching and bending as she worked her way around it. She was finishing the tires when she heard someone say, “You can do mine next.”

Reed had walked out onto the porch and was propped in the doorway, sipping his own cup of coffee. He had been at the sink when he had noticed the activity. He stood there watching as she bent to wash the bumper, giving him a full view of her voluptuous hips and lush thighs. When she began to scrub the tires, she had turned and was leaning down with a brush to remove the grime. Every time she moved the brush back and forth, her breasts, which were in plain view, moved back and forth as well. He was starting to feel something like a Peeping Tom, so he walked outside to speak to her.