Riding Curves Read Online Free PDF Page B

blushed and looked away. Ten feet
from us, a robin was building its nest, oblivious to the way my
heart thundered inside my chest. I was terrified Aiden would walk
away.
    "Kevin--"
    Still refusing to look at him, I shook
my head. Kevin lost his virginity in the back seat of my sedan, but
he lost it to a boy. I had waited on a park bench thirty feet away,
sitting oh-so-carefully so I wouldn't get the hem of my prom dress
dirty. But it wasn't my place to tell Aiden that I spent the last
two years of high school shielding a friend who didn't want his
parents to know he was gay.
    I almost cried from those memories.
Kevin had been considered a real catch. The only thing I caught was
hell. Hell from the girls at school who couldn't figure out what he
saw in me, hell from the boys who thought I must have been hiding
something really good up my plus-size skirt. Most of all, I had
faced the withering scorn of his mother who couldn't understand why
her precious, gorgeous quarterback son was dating that "disgusting
whale, Cece Harpoon" as she so inelegantly phrased it.
    I swiped at a stray tear, my voice
trembling. "We've always been just friends."
    "College?"
    I tilted my chin at an
obstinate angle. "You might be blind to my..." I stopped
before fat could
leave my mouth. "Faults, but the men at the
university--"
    He growled, the sound a wave of
protective heat rolling over me.
    "Those are boys, not men."
He spat the words out like he was scraping shit off the sole of his
boot. "Men don't need Vogue to tell them what's sexy. They feel it in their
balls and their heart."
    He cradled the side of my face so that
my gaze met his.
    "Baby, looking at you not only makes
my heart happy." His hips pushed forward and I felt the rigid bulge
of his cock pressing against me as another growl rumbled from him.
"It makes my dick hard."
    My hips flexed in response and I
whimpered.
    "Fuck, Cece." His hands gripped me
roughly. He blinked, his eyes staying shut a full heart beat or
more. When he opened them, he caught his bottom lip between his
teeth and studied me. "You should have told me, little
girl."
    My heart fell at those last two words.
Doubt clouded his serious gaze. Reverently he scooped my breasts
back into the bra and pulled down my shirt, his head sweeping left,
then right, with regret.
    Standing, Aiden stepped toward the
trundle cart. "I'll finish up. You go back to the
house."
    "Aiden..." I took a step toward him
but froze when he stiffened. "If I'd told you, you would have
stopped. But it doesn't mean anything, doesn't change anything.
Really..."
    Half nodding, his back to me, he
gestured in the direction of the house. "Just go on back, Cece.
I'll be along in a few minutes."
    ********************
    Mom had a look in her eyes when I came
back without any firewood.
    "Aiden's finishing it up," I said
before she could ask. Hoping to avoid her all-knowing gaze, I
looked out the window to the porch where my dad was messing with
the fire pit.
    "Is something going on with you and
Aiden?"
    My eyes flicked her way as my cheeks
began to burn.
    "Cecelia..."
    Oh God, I did not want to have that
talk. I started toward the door mumbling something about Dad
needing a hand.
    "Your father is perfectly capable of
scrubbing the grill, young lady." She tossed the dish towel over
the sink's divide and then her hand found her canted hip. Her sharp
gaze inspected my clothes. "Your button's undone."
    Since I was wearing a t-shirt, there
was only one button and it was on my jeans. Cheeks burning, I
reached down to my belt line and fastened it. "I had to go
pee."
    "Cecelia Harper, you've never once in
your life taken a pee outside!"
    My shoulders slumped. It was a dumb
lie to tell a woman who knew me better than anyone else.
    "You think I'm upset, don't
you?"
    Hearing the faint smile in her voice,
I looked up to find her eyes sparkling at me. "You mean you're
not?"
    "Upset, no." Her hand came up to wipe
nervously at her chin. "But I am worried."
    "You mean?" I looked