Gentlemen Prefer Curves: A Perfect Fit Novel (7 page)

“And you need me to help you to find sex clothes.”

Katherine’s face turned red but she nodded. “You always look so … seductive. I want to look like you for just one night.”

Seductive. Belinda smiled at the word. She didn’t feel the least bit seductive. The only thing she had ever wanted to feel was pretty. Growing up with a father who treated her like a son and a mother who was the epitome of feminine grace, she sometimes had a hard time achieving that.

“Well, you can’t look like me. Rich doesn’t want me. He wants you. And you want to look sexy. We can make you sexy. We can make it so he’s pawing you like a horny teenager before the night is over.”

“Good. Thank you! Where do we start?”

Belinda took in Katherine. She was pleasantly plump with apple cheeks and an all-around wholesome look. “We need to start from the bottom up. How do you feel about black lace panties?”

“Black lace panties?”

“Yeah, I thought crotchless and garters were a little too much at this point, but if you want that I’ll get my bag and we can head out to the lingerie store.”

Katherine’s eyes widened. “Black lace is fine. Black lace is more than fine.”

“Good. Let’s get started.”

An hour later Belinda watched Katherine walk out of the store armed with an outfit that was sure to turn her math teacher beau into mush. It made Belinda smile knowing that she could help Katherine feel confident. Confidence was a precious thing. It was one of those things she’d struggled with all her life. Especially growing up with her set of parents. She couldn’t count how many times people had said, “That’s
your
mother?”

It made her feel like she was some sort of creature from the black lagoon. That’s why being a part of Size Me Up was so important to her. She wanted to make women feel beautiful, even if the rest of the world kept telling them they weren’t.

She headed toward her office in the back of the store when Mike, Ellis’s husband, stopped her. Before she could speak he looped his arm across her shoulder and pulled her toward the storeroom. “I need to talk to you, Red.”

“You know, Mike, if you wanted me to go to the storeroom all you had to do was ask. I would be glad to accompany you there.”

He looked back at her but didn’t say a word until they were in the storeroom and out of earshot of everybody else. “There’s something wrong with you.”

“There are a lot of things wrong with me, but you’re not so perfect either, buster.”

He shook his head. “Quit with the sassy mouth. Ellis has been too crazy to notice with all the dress orders she has, but I can tell. You’ve been weird for the last few days.”

“Weird?” She laughed, and even to her own ears it sounded forced. “I’m fine.”

“You’ve been quiet and you’re never quiet unless you’re sick. And I know you’re not sick. You’re hiding something.”

“Damn.” She was busted. Before Mike quit to help them run the shop he used to be a detective. He was more perceptive than any man should be. That’s why he was so good for Ellis. He could read her like a book, but Belinda didn’t need reading.

“It must be something big.” He stared at her for a moment and shook his head. “Stay here.”

He was gone for less than ten seconds until he returned, tugging his wife into the storeroom.

“Mikey, what are you doing? You know I have to finish this dress by tomorrow.”

“The damn dress can wait. You need to talk to Red.”

He left them alone. Belinda gaped after him for a moment. She wanted to talk to Ellis. She meant to. She really had. But there never seemed to be a good time. They had expanded Size Me Up by opening a bridal boutique next door. Ellis spent her days making gowns for hard-to-fit women and Belinda took over all the day-to-day duties of running Size Me Up. Their business was doing well, much better than anyone had expected, but they had been so busy lately that they barely had time to talk.

Liar, liar, pants on fire. You could have talked to her. You’re afraid to.

It was true. She didn’t want to tell Ellis. She didn’t know how to tell Ellis. Ellis was her best friend. They had known each other since seventh grade, but there were some things they just couldn’t talk about. Ellis was good at everything she ever tried. She was a super brainiac in school. She went to an Ivy League college and graduated early. She practiced law for a few years. And now she owned this store, which was a success. The girl never failed at anything, while Belinda had tried to find one thing she was really good at her whole life and never could find it. She had bounced from job to job, from state to state, from boyfriend to boyfriend; nothing stuck. And then there was Carter, the one thing she had hoped would stick. But she had failed at marriage, at being a wife, at finding her forever. She didn’t want to tell Ellis that. Especially now that she was so happy with her new husband.

“What’s wrong?” Ellis put the dress she was holding down on the counter and grasped Belinda’s hands.

“I have something to tell you.”

“What is it? Are you pregnant?”

“No, honey. Pregnancy would have to involve sex, and frankly it’s been drier than the Sahara down there.”

“Oh.” She thought for a moment. “You have a gambling addiction? A drinking problem? You’re a shoplifter? You owe money to the mob?”

“No to all of those.” She frowned at Ellis. “What exactly do you think I do when I leave here?”

“You’re sick?” Ellis shut her eyes. “Please don’t tell me you’re sick. I won’t be able to take that.”

“I’m not sick,” she said before Ellis could go any farther. “Well, I might be a little sick in the head, but that’s not what I have to tell you. I’m married.”

“Married.” Ellis opened her eyes and blinked at her. “As in married to the Lord? I’m cool with that. Just as long as you don’t ask me to stop cussing in front of you.”

“I’m not married to the Lord, Ellis. Although I do think about joining a convent from time to time. I’m married to a man. I have been for the past four years.”

Ellis recoiled. “What do you mean you’ve been married for four years?”

“I got married while I was living in San Francisco.”

“You fell in love with someone, you married someone, and you never bothered to tell me?”

“I—I.” She was at a loss for words for a moment. “You were in Boston and we weren’t really talking at the time … It only lasted six weeks before I left. We only knew each other for ten.”

“I don’t care if it lasted six hundred years.” She reached out and pinched Belinda’s arm. Hard.

“Ouch, damn it. That hurt!”

“It should hurt.” She pinched her again. “I’m your best friend. You know everything about me. When I fell for Mike you were the first to know!” She pinched her four times in a row all over her already sore arms. “How could you keep this from me?”

Ellis came after her with two hands, but Belinda was quicker, grabbing them both and twisting them to immobilize her.

“Calm down. Let me explain.”

“Explain? Let me go right now, Belinda Jane Gordon!”

“Are you crazy? You think I’m going to stand here and let you try to kick my ass.”

“Try? I’m going to succeed! I’ve got four inches on you, short stuff.”

“Short stuff?” She twisted Ellis’s wrist backward. “My father made me take four years of karate.”

“Ow. Ow. Okay. Okay. I’ll stop. Just let me go!”

Belinda released her and backed away. “Just stay on your side of the room and let me explain.”

Ellis folded her arms beneath her chest and impatiently tapped her foot. “There is nothing you can say to make this better.”

“I didn’t purposely deceive you,” she started.

“No excuses, just talk.”

She opened her mouth to tell her everything, but the words weren’t coming out. Ellis looked so … hurt. “I’m so sorry, Ellie.” Her eyes watered. “I didn’t mean to keep it from you. I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

It was then that Ellis did something that surprised her. Her face cleared and she came toward Belinda, her arms extended. “Tell me now. I’m here.”

“His name is Carter and I met him when I was in San Francisco—”

“He’s the guy who broke your heart, isn’t he?” Ellis backed away from her a little and looked into her eyes. “He’s the guy you can never talk about.”

She nodded. Not knowing what else to say.

“He’s the guy you’ve been so hung up on for the past four years that you haven’t had a single relationship since.”

“I’m not hung up on— Ouch!”

“Don’t lie to me, and more important don’t lie to yourself. I’ve known you more than half my life. You don’t give your heart away. For you to marry him, you had to have loved him a lot.”

“He’s here, Ellis. He’s in Durant and I don’t know what to do.”

“He’s come back for you?”

“No.” She shook her head. The possibility of that was so far-fetched, it had never crossed her mind. “I think he’s here to divorce me.”

“That’s not a bad thing. Is it?”

“No.” She nodded. “It’s the best thing. I can finally move on with my life.”

“What happened between you two?”

“Ellis?” Maggie, one of the salesgirls, popped her head into the storeroom. “Your one o’clock is waiting for you next door.”

“Oh shit. Tell her I’ll be right there.” She looked at Belinda. “I can’t keep this client waiting. But we need to talk. Really talk.”

“Yeah. We haven’t been doing much of that lately.”

“We’ll make time.” Ellis hugged her tightly. “And if you ever keep anything like this from me again…” She pinched her one last time before she scampered out of the room.

*   *   *

Shopping always made a shitty day better. Or at least Belinda hoped it would. She left work soon after Ellis went to her appointment. She needed a break, a moment to clear her head. Some people did yoga, or meditated. Others went for long walks in the woods or hikes up mountains. Belinda went to the mall. Shoes. A girl always needed new shoes. They were always there for her. No matter what stupid mistakes she made.

She mindlessly searched through the rows of them in a vain effort to distract herself from the mess that was her life. Ugly. Ugly. Too tall. Too strappy. Too flat. Too everything. Then she found her perfect pair. Two-and-a-half-inch wedges in rose gold with four crisscrossing straps. And they were on sale, which lifted her mood greatly. She picked up the box and turned for the register when she saw him.

Carter.

Again.

She’d sworn she wouldn’t run away the next time but she wasn’t mentally prepared to see him today. Not so soon after the spat with Ellis.

Shit.

She hit the floor, crouching behind the athletic shoes, praying he hadn’t spotted her. Why of all the shoe joints in all the world did he have to walk into hers?

She would never forget the day Carter Lancaster had walked into her life. She was the assistant manager of a little boutique in San Francisco, the type of store that only people who made over six figures could afford to shop in. She spent most of her days helping women find dresses for the symphony or some black-tie affair. She also spent most of her days bored out of her skull. And then Carter walked in. Every eye in the shop went to him, not only because males usually never walked through their door, but because he was beautiful. Tall. Black hair. Rock-hard jaw. Patrician features.

As he walked farther into the store she noticed that there was nothing warm about his beauty. He didn’t smile at the salesgirl who greeted him. He didn’t even relax his face. There was a kind of cold efficiency that surrounded him.

He walked past all the salesgirls, who were clearly dying to get to him because he looked like old money and smelled like a big fat commission, and stopped directly in front of her. He towered over her, staring down at her with his dark gray eyes and stony face. She took an involuntary step backward, her heart suddenly racing. He made her nervous and she didn’t know why.

But she mentally shook herself and smiled up at him. “Can I help you?”

He nodded once. “It’s my mother’s birthday and I would like a gift certificate.” His deep, smooth voice distracted her from what he was saying for a moment. It was the type of voice she could listen to reading the tax code. It was the type of voice she wanted to listen to in bed.

“Of course.” She had to shake herself from her inappropriate thought. She must have been hornier than she thought if a few words from one good-looking man could warm her up.

The quicker she helped him, the quicker he would be out of her store, but something made her stop short. Even though he made her slightly uncomfortable, he deserved the best from her. She turned around to face him, but he was following so closely behind her she ended up crashing into him. Their bodies made contact for just the smallest of moments, but she couldn’t deny the jolt she felt when they connected, that little bit of heat that sizzled inside her, or ignore the way his large hands felt on her arms as he tried to steady her.

When was the last time she had been touched by hands so big?

Had there ever been a time? Thoughts of how they would feel on her bare skin crept into her mind and she was mortified. She wasn’t sure why. She was a woman who liked sex. Who liked men and wasn’t ashamed of it. But why this guy? A customer. With a stern face and sterner disposition.

“Oh! Excuse me.” Her voice had taken on a nervous breathlessness, and she hated that she couldn’t be cooler. She backed away, needing space from him to re-gather her thoughts. “This is probably none of my business, but don’t you think your mother would prefer something you picked out yourself?”

He looked into her eyes, and for the first time since he walked into the store she saw emotion coming from him. Weariness mixed with a little bit of uncertainty. “You see…” He looked at her expectantly.

“Belinda.”

“Carter. You see, Belinda, that’s my problem. I never know what to get my mother. She has hated every gift I have given her since I was a child. I want to get her something she would enjoy but the truth is I have no idea what women enjoy.”

“A good-quality vibrator is what most women enjoy, but you obviously can’t get her that. It would just be plain weird.”

As soon as she heard the words slip from her lips she slapped her hand over her mouth. She always said stupid things when she was nervous. Carter made her nervous. She expected him to be shocked or disgusted. She expected him to get angry and walk out but he didn’t. His lips curled ever so slightly into a smile.