Curve Couture: Book Three Read online

  Curve Couture

  Book Three

  By H. M. Irwing

  Chapter 1

  I couldn’t believe I did that.

  Water arched in a spray over the space between us. Glittering beneath the glare of the dresser lights. It splashed with perfect ease over Janice Williams equally perfect features. Watching them scrunch up in horror had to be the highlight of my day. Only damp Janice was just as alluring as dry Janice. If not more so. Her damp tendrils hung in loose curls about her attractive features. Her make-up, sadly, proved to be waterproof. And her priceless reaction of pure dismay was disappointingly short lived.

  “Claire!” She admonished.

  I stared at her in horror, bracing for her comeback, but all she did was to flick a long, manicured finger down her wet cheek before flicking off the access fluids. “So childish,” she said cuttingly before reaching for a tissue to dab at the excess moisture. “One would think I was the older sister,” Janice murmured mockingly. With a look calculated to irk, she flicked a brow up at me condescendingly. I gritted my teeth, trying to prevent myself from lurching at her and ripping her hair out. She was just too good at this.

  “Look, Janice, there is no point to your being here or for us to be discussing this. The deed is done, signed, and sealed. I doubt Ricky would let you off so easily. He seemed pretty determined to have you—”

  “He did?” Janice asked with a calculated look entering her eyes.

  “Yes, he did,” I said rather impatiently, my own gaze darkening back at me in a glare that Janice paid little heed to. I really needed to get home. Picking up the comb again, I began to run it through my dark hair, removing the knots and tangles and soothing the abused strands back into some version of its normal natural waves.

  I would need to make a hair appointment and soon. My limp strands needed treatment. I sighed heavily at my reflection. I was even beginning to think like a model. I glanced back at Janice’s and watched, in a hypnotic-trance-like state, as her graceful hands moved swiftly and surely about, repairing the damage done to her makeup. In no time at all, she was done.

  She stared at me in the mirror, and I at her. Our eyes met, but there was no more animosity in hers. I think her shrewd mind was already ticking away to make the best of her new situation. Knowing Janice, she would rise above. I almost felt sorry for unleashing her on Ricky… or more like, for leashing her to Ricky. But I was more than glad to have her off my hands. And hopefully, out from manipulating my life.

  There was no love lost between us. So, in the end, deep down, I really didn’t care—not anymore. I huffed out a relieved sigh as that realization struck me. My sigh drew Janice’s attention back at me. “I see you are happy to be rid of me. But I took care of you all these years. It was my efforts and my ambition that kept us alive, that fed you, that gave you the drive to become what you are today. It was me. If you’re anything at all, it’s all because of me. All me that you owe anything and everything to. Just you remember that.”

  With that last statement, she rose majestically and turned to strut gracefully out. I felt her words hit hard. For it was true. This was her ambition, not mine. I was living her ambition because I had none of my own. Mine had only been to be rid of Janice, and that desire too had stemmed from her.

  Just like that, I was deflated.

  Erin, my modeling, Ricky—everything had been because of my reactions to Janice. Did I really have nothing of my own?

  I stared hard at my profile and thought harder still. I saw the delicate length of my nose and the dainty slant of my brows. These were features I shared with Janice. But I shared many things with Janice—things that I was proud of and things I wasn’t. My faith, ‘til now, had been interlocked with hers. But I had broken that lock. I had become free. My destiny, hence forward, was my own to make. I did owe Janice a level of gratitude, but she owed me more. What I bore for her and from her could not be so easily measured. It was not easily described even, but I had contributed something to her success. I had given the only thing I had to give—myself. And I had a worth—one that was beyond measure. Least of all, using Janice’s mode of measurements.

  But that me was now gone. My actions going forward would be of my own making. My decisions, my life-style, everything. Light glimmered at the end of the tunnel. I was clearly approaching daylight. My journey through the darkness was surely at an end.

  I stood up and padded over to my duffle bag containing my usual clothing. Pulling out my change, I started to disrobe when a ruffle in the curtains alerted me to the presence of another. I turned to see who it was.

  “Erin!”

  He moved forward silently, a predator stalking its prey. His dark eyes flashing in his intensity. Without saying a word, he abruptly reached for me wrenching me into his arms. I wrapped my limbs about him instantly, clinging. This was one predator who was well loved by his prey. He could devour me anytime, anyplace.

  “God, I missed you,” he muttered, burrowing his face into the curve of my neck. I gasped and clung on tight. My eyes burned with unshed tears, feeling his love overwhelm me, filling in that dried out shrivel of a heart that Janice had left so carelessly behind.

  My hands sild into his silky dark curls, clenching chunk my fists into it. I clung on to Erin and thought Janice may have driven me to Erin, but it was I, the person that I was, whom he loved. Me, as I was, clueless and without ambition. Erin loved me for me. I may not have ever wanted to be a model, but I was one now. And I was appreciated for myself, not for being Janice’s sister. I may not have always been so, but hence forth, I was my own person. I hugged Erin tighter with my newfound determination.

  “I love you,” Erin murmured again huskily in my ear. He nuzzled me softly before placing moist kisses and nibbles along my jawline, inquiring softly as he did, “So, tell me, what have you been up to?”

  I had known this was coming. But still, I couldn’t stop myself from mumbling it out almost incoherently, ruffled as I was from his close proximity and fondling lips.

  “I kissed… a girl… and hated it,” I hissed out between panting breaths, not at all sorry I was misquoting the lyrics to that song. My heavy chest heaved mightily as my lungs, starved for air, struggled to draw in a necessary breath. Being this close to Erin was as death-inducingly painful as it was intoxicating. I could feel myself going blue, craving for my next unhitched breath almost as much as I craved Erin. Perhaps that was the problem—a clear error in my sense of priorities. But breathing just didn’t seem as important as Erin.

  Erin, Erin, Erin.

  “Don’t think I am letting you off the hook for snogging that girl.”

  “Don’t,” I panted out a little anxiously. “Don’t let me off the hook.” I shifted restlessly, already impossibly turned on. Erin bent obligingly to take my lips in a long, drawn-out kiss that was strangely drugging. I felt addicted for instantly more.

  “You want to tell me about it?” Erin asked when he finally released my ravaged lips. I gulped in much-needed air before releasing my breath out in a huff. What did he want me to talk about? My kissing some random girl or about Janice?

  “It was my unthinking reaction,” I murmured, opting for the strangely easier first. “I knew just how much depended on this run. To let her fall or even to save her from a fall would have marked the end of her career. I have been around the modeling circuit long enough to know that the bizarre is often more happily received than the obvious good deed. So, I kissed her,” I explained mutinously. I would not let him hold this over my head. Not now or ever.

  “Baby, that kiss was hot,” Erin muttered hoarsely, no doubt thinking over that kiss. “It did its thing and then some. That girl you so neatly saved will very likely be the next biggest thin
g to hit the catwalk. You more than saved her ass. You accelerated her lift to stardom. That was a boost; she should be kissing your feet for over the next few years or so,” Erin explained then grimaced over that possibility. An unhappy emotion I undoubtedly shared. “I knew you did it to save her fall … and her career, but I just want you to know; a good deed never goes unpunished. Still, I would much rather be the one doing the punishing. I could think of several things we could try…”

  “I don’t get it,” I said, deliberately ignoring the later part of what he said. “Why would I be punished? And by who?”

  Erin sighed before moving back to perch on the stool. He pulled me toward him and drew me to stand between his parted thighs, no doubt intending to nestle me in close. But I spread my legs and straddled him instead, drawing out his urgent gasp. Satisfied, I smirked up naughtily at him.

  “You’ve been handpicked to be a part of the latest fall creation team.”

  I fused my lips to his in excitement; then, I felt his own rise to meet my enthusiasm. I was, by now, not at all paying the slightest heed to his words. Not that he was uttering much in the way of words anymore, his mouth, lips, and tongue, busy as they were in indulging my own. I broke off to stare pointedly at his crotch, but he only grinned back unabashedly.

  “We got to take care of that,” I said seriously, trying hard to hide the wicked glint in my eyes.

  “That, we do,” he readily agreed before lifting his hips to rub against me. I could not help but shiver in reaction. I so wanted him.

  I moved to cram my lips back to his, but he called a halt instead.

  “Wait! I got you something,” he said with a cheeky grin that was so endearing. “After all, you did just land yourself a Donna Kelly contract.”

  “Donna Kelly!” I gasped. “Is that the fall creation I will be doing?”

  “Yes, I met up with her agent on the way in, and Patrick told me she has an eye on you. You’re going to be her inspiration for the fall design, which reminds me of my gift. The sooner you put this on, the better I’ll feel.”

  I stared at him quizzically, not quite understanding wha—

  “Oh!” I shrieked. I couldn’t help it.

  “You like?”

  “Yes!”

  “You will?”

  I nodded my head frantically, feeling ridiculously at loss for words. I blinked away the sudden blurriness to my vision and stared into his shining eyes, desperately wanting him to know just what I was feeling. I saw his own eyes shimmered more brightly than usual. I knew he felt as choked up with emotions as I did.

  Then, his lips were on mine, and our cheeks grew wet with mingled tears.

  “I will,” I managed to get out finally, in the end, after several more heated kisses.

  I glanced down to the single unpretentious solitaire that crowned the ring on my finger and beamed up a watery smile at him.

  “Great! Let’s fly down to Vegas. I have a suite booked—”

  “What! Now?” I gasped out in shock. Not only was Vegas half a world away, but it was also a good half a day in flight away. “And Vegas?”

  But Erin only shrugged indifferently.

  Erin was clearly too much of a globe trotter to not notice the impracticalities in that.

  “Hell, yes! Now! After that girl-on-girl display earlier on, I am not chancing leaving you uncommitted a moment longer.”

  I frowned heavily at him, not buying that explanation one bit.

  “What? You don’t believe me?” Erin raised an incredulous brow at me. I pursed my lips mutinously and stood my ground.

  “Well, believe this… I have never ever felt threatened… jealous over a girl before. But you bring that out in me. And I don’t like it. I don’t like this feeling. I want to be as sure as possible that you belong only to me.”

  I believed.

  Chapter 2

  I only just barely managed to get my clothes back on.

  Fighting of my own sexual urges and then Erin’s had been a bit too much—not after the hectic day I’d had. It was wee hours in the morning. Most of the models had already gone home. Those who stayed to party late were now returning to grab their belongings. I picked up my duffel and tossed it to Erin, who caught it without a change in pace. He was eager to get going, and as he put it, get the deed over and done with. Not the most romantic sentiment when it came to marriage, but then, this was Erin, and I would take what I could get.

  The buzz of activity that went with pack-up and clean-up was still busy about us as I finally emerged from my curtained-off dressing area. I caught sight of Rafael making his way over to start his pack-up session. He cast me a beaming smile as he pushed past us to get to his cosmetic paints and brushes. I felt elated to be on friendly terms with him. It had taken a lot to win his approval. In fact, I hadn’t even known I had it ‘til that beaming smile just now.

  I flashed my ring up at him as he went by, and with a startled yelp, he pivoted around on his heels to chase after us.

  “No!” he gasped out behind me. I glanced at Erin, who ignored us both. I could tell he was getting anxious about tying the knot. Anxious as in ‘let’s go get it done now’ instead of ‘let’s not get it done at all.’

  I could understand his eagerness. I wanted him to be officially mine as well. But there was one thing I really needed to do first. Call it a closure of some sort, but I really needed to seek Janice out and have that long-overdue heart to heart.

  “Let me see,” Rafael barked out before rudely grabbing my hand to study the solitaire gem on my finger.

  “Tasteful,” he declared after careful scrutiny.

  “It was the best I could do, having picked it up from the jewelry boutique at the hotel foyer I was staying at,” Erin muttered uninterestedly.

  “Cartier?” Rafael asked, unperturbed.

  “Of course.”

  I gasped out again.

  “So, when is the big day?” Rafael asked curiously.

  “Today! If I can get a move on out of here,” Erin muttered disgruntledly.

  “Today?” Rafael croaked out in shock. “You will elope? With no regards to your friends and family?” Rafael tutted disappointedly.

  I could see where he was heading with this, and luckily, so could Erin, for he dived in to mutter, “We really have to get going. We’ll be seeing you around, Rafael.”

  “You will need a witness, no? Who better than me? I would seriously love to see you mend your bad boy ways and finally settle down. I can tell you, Claire, it really warms my hearts that it is you who have tamed the great beast,” Rafael stated dramatically.

  I grinned at him and was about to respond when a shrill sound erupted around us.

  “Did I hear an elopement is underway?”

  I spun around to face Tracy, who came at me full speed, tittering on the edge of her heels. She drew to a full stop, inches before me, then grabbed at my hand to gape openly at my ring. She made some suitably impressed sounds before she uttered steely under her breath, “No way in hell you two are going to elope.”

  “What the hell? Stay out of this, Tracy.” Erin all but glowered at her. I stared at her, hurt that she would say such a thing. I thought she liked me… that we were friends.

  “And lose out on what might be my only opportunity ever to be a bridesmaid? Never!”

  I sighed in relief. “You can still be my bridesmaid. You could come along, too,” I said, smiling widely.

  I was rewarded with a disgruntled frown at that. From both Erin and Tracy.

  “Uh uh! You didn’t really think I would settle for just any sort of wedding, did you. I want the whole shenanigans. I want to arrange your hen’s night, your dress, the wedding day, the lunch after—everything.” Tracy glared at me.

  “I agree. When was the last time I attended a wedding? … I can’t recall. Everyone seems to elope these days. Or not wed at all. Nope! Tracy’s right. This has to be the real shindig—the real deal. The lot, and with extras, besides,” Rafael threw in his two bits.

/>   I couldn’t believe these two.

  I scowled heavily at Rafael, but he did not budge, and Tracy was no better.

  “Fuck you!” Erin bit out. My sentiments exactly.

  “You are not eloping!” exclaimed Rafael petulantly. Then, he crossed his arms over and gave us a death glare.

  “No way in Hell.” Tracy was a little more forceful in her protest. Things were just more fearsome coming from her.

  “I don’t see what this has to do with either of you,” I started to say, but was rudely cut off.

  “You don’t? Well, that is just selfish of you. I never expected that of you. Just one show, and you let it get to your head,” Tracy tsk tsked at me.

  And I had to be held back, only I wasn’t, “You!”

  “That’s right, fault her or me even. At least now we know where we stand in the scheme of things,” Rafael switched to play the wounded card.

  I sighed heavily. This roller coaster of emotional turmoil was taking a toll on the already weary me.

  I turned my tired eyes at Erin and, well, yawned.

  “You idiots! You see what you did to her. She’s now sleepy. Thanks a lot!” Erin burst out explosively. I blinked. And I think so did Rafael and Tracy.

  Then, I said the only thing I could say. Something Erin would never allow himself to say, “Okay, guys. Look, we’ll sleep on it.”

  Erin must have gotten a whiplash or at very least a creak in his neck when he turned his head that fast to look at me.

  “No!”

  “I’m sorry, baby. But I really am too tired to elope today. Can we at least do it tomorrow?” I asked plaintively.

  Erin didn’t say anything. He only turned heels and went off in a huff. I took off after him.

  “No eloping!” yelled Rafael after us. I turned around to flick him the bird then flew off after Erin.

  I hurried out after him. The footpaths outside were dead quiet at this time of the night, all the protestors having long gone home. I saw his solitary figure striding away angrily. The figure was unmistakable in the dark and the sexy stride, more so. That was when I saw it. I saw the attractions of anger. The emotion they kept harping, I don along with the clothes I was made to model. Erin looked so dangerously hot with his angry, manly strides. And this was only the view of his back. Shifting my duffel onto the other shoulder, I ran after him, calling out his name.