Page 27 of Dangerous Curves

“For you I would. I mean I’d let you do the red carpet solo but I can go through the back and meet you inside. I mean, if you want.” She shrugs and looks away, nerves dance across her features.

I slide closer to her on the bench and slip my finger under her chin. She looks over at me. “I’d love that.”

“Really?” she asks. I nod my head. “What about Poppy?”

“She doesn’t factor into this. I know that sounds bad but we don’t talk about the things we do when we aren’t with one another. We aren’t a couple, so don’t worry about her.”

We finish the rest of our food in peaceful silence. Once we’re done, I tell her I have two more stops on our tour of Central Park. We walk hand in hand until we reach the Chess and Checkers House. One thing Kenndrix and I used to love to do as a couple was to play board games. We had more game nights than I can count. I hear the audible gasp from Kenndrix. “Game nights,” she says quietly.

I step forward and turn back to face her. Her eyes are wide and I think they might be shining with unshed tears. “I figured we could play a game of Chess which you’ll win and then to soothe my bruised ego we could play a game of Checkers.”

Her head drops back dramatically. “You always beat me at Checkers. It’s not fair!”

“All is fair in love and war, baby.” I wink at her and pull her along as we jog to a table. I borrow some game pieces from one of the employees while we spend a good portion of the afternoon playing the games. Kenndrix, of course, beats me at Chess. I barely even moved my pieces. I did get to redeem myself when we played Checkers. After returning the pieces to the employee, I take Kenndrix’s hand in mine. “I have no idea how someone could be so good at Chess, but lose so badly at Checkers.”

She nudges me in the ribs with her elbow. “Hush it.”

I press a kiss to the top of her head as I wrap my arm around her shoulders. “One last stop then we have to get back so we can go to the movie premiere.”

The last stop is the Carousel. Carousel’s have always been Kenndrix’s favorite at any fair or carnival we’ve attended. It’s always her first and last stop on the boardwalk, too. She squeals with delight when she sees it come into view. “I was so worried we wouldn’t get to ride the Carousel.

“Did you think I’d forget about it?” I ask. She shrugs and I pull her into me. “I mean it when I say I don’t forget these things.”

“I’m starting to see that.” She rises to her tip toes and I meet her halfway. We share a kiss, that’s sweet and loving but all too brief before she yanks my hand and drags me to the Carousel. The first time around we ride side-by-side, but I hop down off my horse soon enough and walk over to hers. She leans down and meets my lips. It’s like a scene from a movie, only this is reality. I hope it’s better than any scene she’s ever written.

Twenty-Five

Kenndrix

By the time Jaxx hails a taxi down for us, I’m exhausted and my feet are screaming despite wearing the most comfortable pair of shoes I own. I would like nothing more than to climb into bed next to Jaxx and take a nap but I’m pretty sure we’re in for a late night. Although, I am excited to see Jaxx’s work in action. I’ve avoided watching any movie he’s stunted in before now. I was always afraid I’d be able to tell the difference and being able to pick out his scenes would pull the haphazardly placed band-aid on my heart off. Needless, to say my movie watch has been cut in half and it’s mostly been in the realm of romance because anything in the action genre (which I love) usually has Jaxx involved in it, too.

I slide in next to Jaxx, my head instantly going to his shoulder. “In case I forget to tell you later, thank you for today. It means more than you’ll ever know.”

His head turns to me and he presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Anything for you.” My eyelids fall shut and sleep quickly finds me. I’m not sure how long we are in traffic, but Jaxx wakes me as we pull up to The Benjamin. Jaxx helps me out of the taxi and we head inside.

When we walk into our room, I’m shocked to see the rollbar of dresses with shoes and jewelry boxes shoved inside. I turn to Jaxx. “What in the world?”

He looks bashful and shrugs. “I figured you might need something to wear tonight.”

“When did you do this?” I ask. I’m shocked because I’m not sure anyone else besides Jaxx would ever think to do something like this for me. I know that on the rare occasions that Ronin has asked me to attend an event with him, I’m left to fend for myself. It gets frustrating and now looking back, I can’t help comparing Jaxx and Ronin.

Jaxx shrugs and stuffs his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “We had bathroom breaks at the park. I might have called in a few favors.”

I cross the room and wrap my arms around his waist. His blue eyes meet mine and I can see the uncertainty in them. He was worried I’d be upset by his kind gesture. “You didn’t have to do that.”

His hands run through the bottom strands of my hair. “I know, but I wanted to.”

“Thank you,” I tell him. He leans forward and captures my mouth. The soft, innocent kiss quickly heats up. I pull away and jog to the other side of the room. Jaxx gives me a perplexed look. “We can’t start that or you’ll be late.”

“That’s okay, they can start without me.” He wags his eyebrows in my direction.

I shake my head. “No, they can’t. You go and get ready while I try and decide what dress to wear tonight.”

Jaxx pouts. “I don’t get to help.”

“You’re persistent. I’ll give you that, but your idea of help will only make us late or no shows. Now, go get ready,” I tell him, as I turn him to face the bedroom.

“You’re no fun,” he teases, before sticking his tongue out at me.

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