Free Curvaceous Heart by Terri Pray Page A

smiled.
    “Or men, and the fashion industry need to remember just why we need women with a little meat on their bones. You’ve no idea how badly I wanted to strip you down in the middle of my office and explore you. I thought you’d turn me down about dinner and now, sitting here, sharing dinner with you, I’ve kept wondering what you look like under that wonderful dress. I want a real woman, not a woman with the body of a boy whose bones are going to jab into me at precisely the wrong moment.”
    A soft giggle threatened to gain life and Sue swallowed hard, forcing it back into submission. “I hadn’t really looked at it that way before. I just thought men like that type of woman.”
    “Don’t get me wrong, some do. But they’re not for me.” He traced the tips of his fingers along the back of her hand, leaving shivering circular patterns across her flesh. “So I have to ask, would you consider more than just a single dinner date with me?”
    “You mean a second date?”
    “And a third, fourth, fifth, however many you’d be willing to enjoy with me”
    “And if I wanted more than just dinner with you? Say something a little more intimate? Perhaps involving chocolate?” God, where had that come from! She wasn’t like this normally.
    Alan’s lips parted softly, the tip of his tongue snaking out from between them. A merry light shone within his eyes as a devilish smile triggered a set of dimples in his cheeks.
    “I’m sorry, shit, I don’t know why I -- I didn’t mean to say that. Please ignore…”
    “Sue, nothing would please me more than to spend that time with you.” He reached out with his free hand and cupped her chin, lifting it up until she had no choice but to look him directly in the eyes. “I don’t want to push you into anything though. Yes, I want you, more than I should considering we only just met, but unfortunately my body doesn’t particularly care about time. However, my mind, my heart, they both want you to be happy and ready to make that step with me.”
    Was she dreaming?
    Men like this didn’t really exist. They just wanted sex, there and then and to hell with what a woman wanted. Her jaw tightened as she watched his face.
    “Did I say something wrong?”
    “No, it’s just that I’m not used to a man acting the way you do. I barely know what to think. First you tell me that I’m the body type you prefer, now when I offer you the chance to get laid you tell me you’re willing to wait until I’m certain it’s the right step for me? Do you know how rare that is?”
    “I’ve got a fair idea, yes.” Alan nodded and leaned back in the chair, bringing his hands to rest on the table. “I’ve been around enough men my age who focus on getting laid with as many women as they can. That blogger reminded me just how many men out there treat women as little more than playthings, but I’m not like that and never have been.”
    Sue took a long hard look back at Alan. The shape of his jaw, the way the muscles played beneath his shirt. Even the soft curl of black hair that now teased into the middle of his forehead.
    He really wanted her.
    No joke, no hidden agenda, no harsh words. He was just a man who looked at her with an undeniable heat in his gaze and a hunger in his smile.
    “And if I don’t want to wait?”
    “I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I didn’t let the lady set the pace, would I? And I was raised to be every inch the gentleman when it came to such matters.”
    And if I don’t want you to be a gentleman? If I want you to strip me off, kiss every part of my body, and then make me scream your name, what then?
    She sucked in her bottom lip. No. She couldn’t say that to him either. Even if she wanted to. But she had to say something to him; leaving him hanging wouldn’t do either of them any good and she needed him. No, wanted him. If she was going to be that honest about the situation it was a want, a sweet, delicious want, but not a need.
    He wasn’t the type of