“Oh, it’s Pryce,” Evan insisted, nodding and grinning, “don’t ask me how I know, but I just do. I feel it deep in here.” He patted his chest right over his heart. “And I have just the plan for getting you two back together again…”

  CHAPTER 11

  PRYCE

  The Fantasies Fulfilled Restaurant at the top of Rainbow Castle was mindboggling. Just when I thought I’d noticed every tiny detail, something new and breathtaking caught my eye. As an architect, I likely saw details no one else would notice. I probably sat in my booth for several minutes, just taking it in, not even realizing Evan was running late.

  It was slightly disappointing to be waiting for my buddy to show up and not a beautiful woman. That was why I’d come to Spicetopia—to hook up and get my ex out of my mind. Instead, I’d stumbled upon the first girl I ever had feelings for, and I hadn’t been able to stop thinking of her since.

  I had it bad for her.

  It was probably good I walked out. It was much too soon to get into another relationship, right? Could I even be in a relationship with someone who was used to dating couples?

  “Pryce?” a soft feminine voice asked, and my head jerked up, expecting to see a server or Spicetopia staff. But there in all her glory stood Penny, resplendent in a gold sequined halter-top gown that accentuated her curvy figure and buxom breasts.

  My heart leapt into my throat. “Penny, what are you doing here?”

  “Evan told me I should meet you here…” She glanced around the restaurant. “This place is epic. Do you mind if I sit down?”

  I was so stunned to see her, that she was real and not some figment of my imagination, I stumbled over my words but nodded vigorously so she would grasp my meaning. I swallowed down a big gulp of water, trying to cool the flames of heat shooting through my body at her mere presence.

  “I hope you’re not disappointed to see me,” she began, her perfectly manicured fingers gliding over the menu.

  “You’re a helluva lot prettier than Evan,” I joked.

  Her face lit up at that. “He’s a nice guy. I ran into him when he was looking for you at The Glory Hole—after you—"

  “After I left,” I finished. I reached out and laid my hand over hers. “As soon as I stormed out, I realized I was wrong. When my ex and I fought, we both had the tendency to get so mad, we walked away. One day, she walked away and never came back. I should have learned she only did it to hurt and control me. She was manipulating me and trying to force me to come crawling to her. Yet I did the same thing to you.”

  “Did you want me to come crawling to you?” Her eyelashes fluttered as she searched my face for answers.

  “I think I did…” I let out a deep sigh. “I felt betrayed, even though I had no right to.”

  “Betrayed how?” Her head tilted, her long tresses falling gently over her smooth, round shoulder.

  “Because that couple you’re seeing has had you—had the pleasure of your company—for who knows how long. And I’ve been missing out.”

  She smiled, her eyes twinkling in the candlelight flickering from the bowl of floating votives sitting between us. “I always wondered what might have happened if we’d—”

  “I don’t think we’ll ever know,” I argued. “But my question now: are you in love with them?”

  She sighed. “I was in love with the idea of being part of something, something safe, something loving, something forever. But I don’t think I am in love with them—not the way they need me to be.” Her turquoise eyes found mine and she drilled in deep. “I want that with someone, but it’s not them—”

  “But you’re polyamorous?” I was struggling to understand where that left us. “And bisexual?”

  She shrugged. “I’m bisexual—that doesn’t mean I can’t commit,” she explained. “And as for whether or not I can be monogamous—I don’t know, to be honest. Is that a deal breaker?”

  I had been thinking about that. I wanted a chance with her—if polyamorous was who she was, then I would have to accept that. “It’s not a deal breaker,” I stated. “So what does that mean for you and me?”

  “I don’t know, Pryce.” She sighed. “We just reconnected, and there’s so much we have to catch up on. I don’t even know anything about your life, your goals, your—”

  I laid my hand over the top of hers. “I’m not asking you to have all that figured out right this minute.”

  Her auburn brows furrowed. “You’re not?”

  I laughed, shaking my head. “Normally I like to have everything planned out—but see what that got me? My perfectly planned ten-year marriage just ended. Maybe it’s like Evan is always telling me, I need to take things day by day. See where they go.”

  She smiled, nodding. “I’m a kindergarten teacher—taking things day by day is right up my alley. So you’re not ready to—”

  “Commit?” I shook my head. “Not right this second…but ask me again tomorrow.” I lifted her hand to my lips and pressed a kiss to it. “You are so beautiful, after all—even more beautiful than you were when we were kids.”

  “Is that so?” She rolled her eyes, but a playful smirk appeared on her full, luscious lips.

  “That’s definitely so.” I nodded, enjoying the candlelight dancing in her eyes.

  She straightened her shoulders, her chin lifting. “So what do you want to do?”

  I leaned forward. “How many days are you here?”

  “Five more days,” she said, blinking.

  I took another sip of water. I’d have to extend my trip—I was really flying by the seat of my pants now. “I propose we spend the next five days figuring out the next steps…”

  She giggled, her lashes lowering and then rising again until her eyes met mine. “I think this restaurant is living up to its name.”

  After dinner, we strolled down Main Street as large crowds gathered for the nightly fireworks display in front of Rainbow Castle. I knew the evening show here was world-renowned, but I had some other fireworks in mind.

  “Where are we going?” Penny asked as she looped her arm through mine.

  “I have a feeling the beach will be deserted.” I glanced down at her walking in step beside me and gave her a wink.

  Her response was a grin. We took a stone path twinkling with tiny fairy lights and veered in the direction of Spicetopia’s famous Clothing Optional Beach. I was correct—not a soul in sight. Everyone was on Main Street waiting for the fireworks—or in the Dungeon or the casino.

  Moonlight painted silver streaks on the sand and the crests of the waves that rolled along the shore. I guided Penny to a soft, open patch just yards from the surf and pulled her into my arms. Our lips and tongues met like our bodies had known each other forever. And maybe they had. Maybe there were versions of Penny and Pryce who fell in love in some alternate reality that began twenty years ago, and now we were merging all versions into this one very real moment in time.

  And with that thought, fireworks erupted in the distance, and we both turned to see them bursting over the castle in gold, silver, green, purple and red. As her lips found mine again, and I pressed her tightly against my body, I had the distinct feeling we wouldn’t need five whole days to figure out our next steps.

  Five minutes was probably all it would take.

  Penny was destined to be mine that first time I saw her at Sweetopia twenty years ago. And if the way her body melted into mine was any indication, she knew it too.

  The End

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  HIS CURVY FOREVER

  JOANN BAKER & PATRICIA MASON

  BLURB

  HIS CURVY FOREVER

  COPYRIGHT 2023

  JOANN BAKER & PATRICIA MASON

  Hardin Reece was her best friend’s older brother—and Autumn had been in love with him for what seemed like forever. Theirs was a rocky relationship that held pain and regret. After one fateful encounter, Autumn had vowed never to see him again. That had worked well until her best friend needed help with her wedding. Autumn loved her best friend, but could she risk her heart?

  It had only taken one night of being an ass for Hardin Reece to regret his actions toward his sister’s best friend. But in his defense, he considered himself too old for the sweet girl. He’d also been too full of himself to realize what was staring straight at him—love. Unconditional love from a woman who had stolen his heart.

  Could a wedding give them the second chance they were both longing for?

  CHAPTER 1

  “Autumn in the house, K Bug! Time to get our party on… Oh, sorry, I thought you were Katy.” Autumn stopped short at the sight of the big man standing just inside the sliding glass doors that led out to the expansive backyard with its Olympic-sized pool. A pool around which several guests milled, drinks in hand. Muffled music and the muted conversation drifted through, and Autumn grimaced. This wasn’t a pool party. It was one of Hardin Reece’s business get-togethers. She was going to kill her friend.

  “My sister is seeing to our guests. I had no idea she’d invited you.”

  “In other words, you don’t want me here.”

  Autumn had long ago mastered the art of keeping her facial expressions from revealing the hurt Hardin could cause by his tactless words. He spoke to her as if she couldn’t comprehend that his tone was less than friendly or that his words revealed his contempt for her. She could, and she did. And it hurt.

  But she’d never give him the satisfaction of knowing how his disapproval affected her. Just like she’d never let him know she loved him. Had loved him since he’d driven Katy to college. Autumn had found a roommate and life lifelong. It had taken more than an instant for the unrequited love she’d felt for Hardin to break her heart, but it had

  Putting on her best-practiced smile, she winked, feeling a slight start of satisfaction at the tightening of his jaw. “Don’t worry, sir, I promise to say excuse me if I do something low class like burp or fart in front of your fancy friends.”

  “You don’t have to say anything to prove your class—or lack thereof, Autumn, but let me make myself perfectly clear in a way that even you will understand...”

  She tilted her chin, refusing to show how intimidating she found him as he took a step toward her, his voice lowered contemptuously.

  “These are very important business associates, and I will make your life miserable if you embarrass me in any way.” His eyes flicked over her, and Autumn willed herself not to tremble at the fierceness of his expression. “You don’t belong here. These people are professionals, people with class and decency. You’re…” He stopped, as if sensing the rest of his words would be a bridge too far.

  Autumn swallowed around the knot in her throat. Even after all this time, he could hurt her like no one else. His opinion of her had taken a drastic turn when he’d discovered that instead of using her teaching degree, she’d chosen to take a job at a local dive joint where she worked as a bartender and, at least twice a day, danced on the bar to the delight of the usually all-male patrons. It was all very ‘Coyote Ugly’.

  She had learned that the best way to handle Hardin’s tight assed-ness was to pretend to be exactly what he thought of her.

  Hurt and anger pulsed through her, and she ground her teeth to keep from telling him exactly what he could do with his high-brow attitude. Pulling from years of practice, she smiled her best ‘I don’t give a shit’ smile. “Well, cowboy, I don’t think all of your friends are going to hate me if I’m not exactly in their league.” Her smile widened and she winked. “And the female ones will only hate me because they’re not me.”

  Slowly pulling the loose-fitting cover from her body, she thrilled at the helpless way his eyes followed her every move. He may not like her chosen station, but like every other man, he damn well wouldn’t mind parking there for a while.

  His hiss of indrawn breath soothed her anger a little. The helpless way his eyes devoured her curves gave her the strength to maintain her brittle smile. She was built. Stacked. Her body made for sinning—or so she’d been told by any number of men who had tried to get her into their bed. Or their trucks. Or even the back room at the High Noon Bar where she worked. Her curves were abundant and drew eyes wherever she went. The tiny hot pink bikini she’d worn just for this occasion, knowing it would irk the hell out of him, showed off her body to magnificent advantage.

  She’d die before she’d ever let him know how exposed she felt. Not just in this moment but every night that she had to don the tight shorts and bikini top that compromised her “uniform” at work. In her own mind, she felt she could stand to lose a few pounds. She wasn’t ashamed of her body, but she damn well didn’t like putting herself on display like a prize pony at a fair.

  Fortunately, her body allowed her to earn more in a couple of months than she would all semester teaching. And she needed the money. Her mother’s medical bills never stopped. Cancer didn’t take a break.

  “If you think you can tease me with your body, Autumn, you are sorely mistaken. I don’t go for low brow trailer park. I’m more Fifth Avenue, honey.”

  Like Trisha Harwood of Harwood Design. The owner of the firm Hardin’s business used to stage the houses his construction company redesigned and restored. After his father’s stroke several years ago had led to almost losing the ranch, Hardin had completely revamped the cattle operation by going organic and raising not only beef cattle, but also branching out into organic milk and vegetables. The operation was now a multi-million-dollar business with no signs of slowing down. Once recovered sufficiently, his father and mother had retired to Florida and came home only on rare occasions, preferring the sunshine and ocean waves to the mountain ranges and long days in the saddle.

  After such success, a normal man would rest on his laurels, but not Hardin. He’d always been interested in working with his hands and had won several awards for his designs. With the same dogged determination and focus he’d put into the ranch’s success; he’d soon morphed the construction company he’d started as a small-town repair business into a multi-million-dollar television series. His Everyday Elegance had picked up viewers every year and Katy had even mentioned something about a spin-off series.

  She’d also mentioned that the relationship between Hardin and Trisha seemed to be getting serious. It wasn’t something Autumn encouraged Katy to talk about. It hurt more than any harsh words Hardin could throw at her. As long as Hardin was single, she could live on her fantasies.

  Her best friend, Katy, was living up to every expectation the multi-faceted rancher slash businessman had for his little sister. She’d finished law school last year and had immediately received a placement with one of the biggest firms in Harrington, a town about an hour away. She still lived at the big house, of course, because Hardin willed it so.

  At thirty-five, he wasn’t old, but he had a world of experience that made him seem years ahead of Katy and herself. He was ruthless in his business dealings and had a reputation as a shark in the boardroom. The only person who ever received any warmth at all from him was Katy.

  And Trisha.

  Autumn drew in a quiet, quick reviving breath. His barb had hit her right in the heart. It was hard to keep her smile in place, and even harder to dredge up the snort past the hurt in her chest. But she did it. She’d had a lot of practice over the last couple of years in learning not to show how much she hurt to anyone except Katy. And she’d sworn her to silence.

  “Oh, please, old man, as if. I’m not into geriatric geezers, so you can get your Victorian panties out of wad on that score.”

  A look she couldn’t decipher passed briefly across his handsome features before he drew himself up to his full, formidable height, looking down his patrician nose at her. “Leave my house. Now. And don’t come back.”

  Autumn swallowed. She’d gone too far, but so had he. “Tell Katy I’ll be at the bar later if she wants to join me.”

  “Katy has other…priorities. I don’t know if she’ll have the time.”

  Time for you, Autumn finished the sentence in her head.

  She forced a carefree grin. “You can order me to leave, Hardin. You can tell me not to come back, because you own this place. All these bricks, expensive doo-dads and things. But you’ll never keep Katy away from me. She’s my friend. She sees me as worthy, even if I don’t quite live up to your standards of a worthwhile human being. And you’ll let her see me, unless you want her to hate you as much as I do.”

  Without waiting for his reply, she turned on her heel and left, gaining only a little satisfaction from the knowledge that he watched her all the way to the door.

  Two years later…

  Autumn put a hand on her stomach and took a deep breath, trying to quell the nerves fluttering like butterflies there. From the back of the black SUV, her eyes scanned the familiar rolling pastures crisscrossed with white fences behind which milled several hundred head of prime USDA beef. Like the fences, the barns and sheds were meticulously maintained, their white paint gleaming in the afternoon sun.

  Nothing but the best for the Reece Family Farm.

  Hardin had changed the name from the Rocking R Ranch soon after his organic foods had skyrocketed in popularity, thinking the rebranding would impact the bottom line more favorably. As usual, he’d been right. But to Autumn, it would always be the Rocking R. The place where she’d been loved and accepted as part of the family—at least by Katy and her parents. Hardin had always treated her differently, mainly ignoring her when his parents had been in charge. After they’d retired to Florida, he’d no longer tried to hide his contempt for her. It had only worsened after she’d taken the job at the local bar.