Killer Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 3) (4 page)

He narrowed his hard blue eyes, his whole large body aching to just go over and get between her and the morons. He knew – he just
knew
– that there’d be trouble with them tonight and he glanced over at Jax. Their eyes met and he sensed his boss’ unease. So he wasn’t the only one on high alert.

He heard Tessa’s nervous laugh now and he turned his attention back to her. She was smiling at the one guy, those fucking gorgeous green eyes a bit startled, her full lips so soft and pink. His gut tightened as he watched her body move in that skirt. Fuck, what he’d give to hold her, just once… but Tessa was off-limits. Sure, she interested him like crazy but he’d just never made a move. Not once in almost a year of working with her.

She was with that dickhead Kevin now, he knew, and he’d never disrespect that relationship by hitting on her. But damn, he
wanted
to. She was funny and smart and sexy as hell, and it was all wrapped up in an amazing package: she was tall and curvy and luscious. She was no tiny little waif who’d blow over in a strong wind… and he liked all that just fine. He was a huge guy and he needed a woman he could get in to bed with and not worry about breaking in half when he took her hard and deep.

Hell, yeah, Tessa was the one for him – but despite the friendly way she treated him, she also kept him firmly at arm’s length at the same time. Those eyes telegraphed out a silent warning and he’d picked it up, loud and clear. She’d never expressly told him to keep his distance, but then again, he’d never wanted to force the issue or make her uncomfortable around him. So he flirted lightly and watched that generous ass every time he was bouncing during her shifts, and let out all his pent-up sexual frustration at home on his own.

Tessa turned around now and that’s when it happened: one of the pricks grabbed her by her long, curly blonde hair. It happened so fast, she was jerked back and off her feet before she even finished giving a sharp cry. She hit the table with her hip, landed in the guy’s lap. The four men howled and in less than three seconds, Curtis was across the room at the table.

“Let her go,” he snarled. “Right the fuck now.”

“Aw, come on, man.” The dickhead tightened his hand in Tessa’s hair. It was a hard fist now and she made a small sound of pain. “Pussy’s for touching, right, not just looking at?”

“You got five seconds and no lie.” Even without looking behind him, Curtis sensed that he had backup. He guessed Jax was there, Alex too, and probably King and Mac and Aidan. “Let. Her. Go.”

“Fine. Fuck.” The guy released Tessa and she took a deep breath. “Take the fat bitch!” He shoved her at Curtis and he caught her as she collided with his chest. She gave a cry – a combination of shock and hurt – and Curtis caught her to him. He’d just pulled her close when the guy jumped up and took a swing at him, fast enough to actually surprise Curtis a bit. The guy missed, though, and the blow landed on the back of Tessa’s head. Curtis felt her whole body tighten at the shock, then she slumped.

Fuck. Did he knock her out?

“Hey!” That was Jax and Curtis knew that the shit had hit the fan now. “What the fuck, man?”

The four men were all standing, swaying a bit as all those whisky shots hit them full-force. Curtis looked over his shoulder at the row of solid, tattooed muscles and pissed-off faces and all he wanted was to get Tessa out of the way.

“You got this?” he asked Jax.

“Yeah. We got this.” Those enraged green eyes never moved from the men. “Get her out of here.”

In one strong move, Curtis swung Tessa easily in to his arms and carried her out of the main room. She had her face buried in his chest and she was breathing too fast.

“Hey, sweetheart. Deep breaths for me, yeah?” He kicked open the door of the staff room. “I’ve got you. You’re OK now.”

She shuddered and held on tighter. “I – I know.”

Curtis gently set her down on the sofa and knelt in front of her. “Look at me.”

She did, those incredible eyes full of bewildered pain and tears and he reached out to touch her.

“Talk to me, OK?” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “You hurt?”

“My head.”

“Let’s see.” He moved to sit next to her, gently parted her thick hair to feel the back of her head for bumps, looking for blood. Her golden curls were soft under his rough hands and smelled of something sweet and flowery. He inhaled deeply, loving her scent, wishing that he was clutching her hair while buried inside her, making her moan his name as she came for him.

He looked up to see Kenleigh enter the room, her lips set.

“Fucking asshole,” she said. “Tessa… you alright, hon?”

Tessa nodded. “I think so.”

“A bad bump.” Curtis caressed the nape of her neck and Tessa closed her eyes at that tender touch. “You got ice?”

“Yep. I came prepared.” Kenleigh held up an ice pack wrapped in a towel. “I think you need to get back out there, Curtis. It’s going to explode any second and –”

That was when the sound a glass breaking began and Curtis shot to his feet. “You two stay in here, now. Tessa, lie down with that ice pack on your head.”

“I’ve got her,” Kenleigh said. “Go. The guys need you.”

He dashed out of the staff room, closed the door behind him. He heard the lock turn and silently thanked Kenleigh for her usual cool head at times like this. The woman never freaked out and good damn thing, because he needed to go crack some skulls and had to be sure that Tessa was in good hands while he did that.

When he reached the bar area, it was mostly over – with the notable exceptions of the dickhead who’d grabbed Tessa and one of his friends. The other two were down on the floor, one with King’s knee firmly planted in his back, the other with his arms twisted in Alex’s brutal grip. But Curtis only had eyes for one man.

Mistake, fucker. You shouldn’t touch
any
woman like that – and most especially not
that
one.

He launched himself at the guy, knocking Jax with his shoulder. Jax took one look at Curtis’ face and stood aside without a word; the man understood about wanting to throttle a guy who’d hurt the woman you care about. Curtis advanced slowly, watched the coward take a few steps back, his eyes widening when he took in Curtis’ size.

“Where you going?” he muttered. “You want to throw a punch at me and actually make contact this time? Or do you just hit women who have their backs turned?”

“Fuck you,” the guy said thickly through a bloody nose. “Come on, then.”

He picked up a beer glass from the table next to him and flung it at Curtis, who avoided it easily and without a second of thought: years of military training had given him lightning-quick reflexes. He turned to see where the glass ended up, though, and that’s when he saw Gabi.

She was standing against the wall, standing well back. The beer glass was headed straight for her face and she looked frozen in shock.

“Shit!” He lunged towards her, knowing he wasn’t going to get there in time.

Fuck, Gabi… duck!

Out of nowhere came a huge body. It flung itself between Gabi and the glass, took the hit directly between the shoulder blades. The man grunted and covered Gabi’s body with his own. He turned his head and Curtis was almost taken aback at the blaze of fury in those golden eyes.

“
Get him
,” Aidan growled.

**

Gabi didn’t understand what the hell was going on. One second she was watching a heavy glass come at her, the next she was crushed between the bar wall and a wall of pure muscle. Large forearms were on either side of her, bracketing her tightly in place and large hands were on her head, covering it. The man’s body was between her and the chaos in the room and she’d honestly never felt so utterly protected in the whole of life.

Without any conscious thought, she lowered her face to his chest. Her fingers found his shirt front and held on to it. She both felt and heard his heartbeat and she closed her eyes to focus on its steady rhythm.

“Gabriela?” Warm breath in her ear. “You OK?”

Aidan?

She raised her face to his. He was staring down at her with such intensity, it was like a physical touch. He stared at her, through her, right in to her and she felt her breath hitch. His gorgeous body was so solid, so strong. He was close to her and it felt so damn good; she lowered her gaze to his lips, dying to kiss him. Needing to be closer, as close as she could be.

Aidan was wondering just how the hell he had ended up here: pressed up on Gabriela’s hot little body, her hands clutching him. Her amazing breasts were soft and round against his hardness, and the scent of her hair and skin was all around them. His cock was pushed in to her curvy thigh and her dark eyes were full of unspoken desire. The sight of that lust shocked him, exhilarated him.

Fuck, she wants me too… I’m not alone in this.

When her eyes went to his mouth, he almost groaned aloud.
God
, what he’d do to kiss her right now. But not here, not in front of all these people. Their first kiss wasn’t going to be the only one and it wasn’t going to stop there –
no goddamn way
– and he’d better not turn around to display a massive hard-on when this whole thing was over. So instead of doing what he really wanted to, he satisfied himself with just holding her close and stroking her hair.

“You OK?” he repeated.

“Yes.” Her voice was a soft breath. “Thank you.”

“No problem. I’ll take a beer glass to the back for you anytime, darlin’.”

Shock and worry flashed over her face. “Oh, God, Aidan. Are you cut?”

“Dunno.” He was though, he knew. He’d felt the glass cut him deep and the blood was trickling down his back in a pretty steady flow now.

“Let me see.”

She tried to move to the side and out of his arms and he gripped her harder.

“You stay right here until that asshole is face-down under Curtis’ boot. You hear me, Gabriela? Don’t you move until it’s all over.”

She nodded. She couldn’t see what was happening behind Aidan but she heard fists making contact with flesh and bone. She shut her eyes again, trying to concentrate on being close to Aidan. She’d never be here again, she was sure, so she’d better enjoy it while it lasted.

Just – just let him hold you. God, it feels so good to feel safe
.

**

Curtis found that the guy was easy enough to overpower, making him yet another fucker who wouldn’t think twice about assaulting a woman but couldn’t even
begin
to take the same thing from another man.
Christ
, Curtis hated guys like this – sniveling little jerks who intimidated and hurt people weaker than them, just to feel like a big man.

Not so fucking tough now, are you?

The guy was a mess, panting and cursing on the floor and Curtis backed up now, massaging his knuckles. No sense hurting the guy too badly, he figured. He nodded at Jax who came over and hauled the idiot up by his shirt. He sighed and threw him unceremoniously in to a chair. The guy's friend was already slumped in one himself, looking dazed from Mac’s punches to his gut.

“You OK?” Jax asked Curtis. “Your hands?”

“Sore. I’ll get some ice on them later. You?”

Jax waved his hands. “No problem. How’s Tessa?”

“Bad bump on her head.”

Mac looked up, concerned. “How bad?”

“I don’t know. Come and take a look at her, doc?”

“Yeah, absolutely.”

Jax switched his attention over to Aidan and Gabi who were still standing over by the wall. “Guys? OK?”

Gabi shook her head. “Aidan’s bleeding. That beer glass cut him.”

“Goddammit.” Jax looked around the bar. “OK, folks. Me and my staff need to do some clean-up. You all need to move out of this section and if you want a drink, King’ll get it for you.”

King grinned. “I
love
when I get to tend the bar. The tips are just so good, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. Have fun, man.”

King sauntered off to the bar and immediately a long line of women followed him, eager to flirt with him over a shot or two. Jax shook his head and smiled. He knew that King was with Naomi one hundred percent, but it seemed that the women who frequented Curves hadn’t gotten the memo yet.

“OK,” Jax said, back in control. “Alex, you watch these assholes until the cops get here. Aidan, sit your ass down until the ambulance guys arrive to check you over. Gabi, you OK to help me out?”

“Yes.” She looked a bit pale, but she was steady. “What do you need me to do?”

“Help me clean up a bit?”

She looked at all the broken glass everywhere. “Sure thing. Let me go to my room and get my running shoes, OK?”

Jax glanced down at Kenleigh’s sexy-as-fuck high-heeled boots that she was wearing. “Yeah, sure.”

Behind her, Don and Lizard exchanged glances. They withdrew a bit, moved away from Jax and Aidan.

“You heard that?” Lizard whispered. “She has a room here?”

“Yeah. I’ll follow her, see which one is hers.”

Lizard nodded, watched Don head off to the bathroom, walk right on past it. He looked around the bar, a bit stunned that within two minutes everything had just gone back to normal, as if the fight hadn’t just happened. The music was back on, the games at the pool tables had resumed, the booze was flowing, laughter was echoing around the room. He supposed that at Curves, shit like this happened often enough that nobody was all that fazed by it.

My kind of place, for damn sure
.

He sat in the booth again, picked up his whisky. He was running low and he decided to get one more before they left to go report in to Trigger.

Don returned now, looking smug. He sat across from Lizard, threw back his drink. “We’ve got her.”

“Fuck, yeah.” Lizard leaned forward. “Which room?”

“Two. She used a key and I got a good look in before she shut the door. Clothes and makeup and shit everywhere. She’s definitely moved in here.”

“Goddamn.” An ugly grin split his face in two. “Trigger’s gonna owe us so damn big for this.”

“Sure is.”