Page 28 of Lush Curves

“Do you want to believe?”

“…Believe what?”

“Believe in the fairy tale.”

“The –what?” she faltered. “What fairy tale?”

He smiled at her, and it was an intense, dangerous smile; it had the heat and focus of a laser beam, and it sliced her in two, it burned through her. His smile was a daring offer to change her life, to throw caution to the wind and let her hair down, to justlive. This smile made her a dark bargain, it threw down a daunting challenge – and it was also a terrifying, tantalizing promise that if she believed in the fairy tale, then her whole world would change.

Change completely. Change forever.

“The fairy tale that you started with the wrong man,” Sam told her now. “You chose the wrong guy, princess. You didn’t wait for the one who’d make you happy for ever after.”

“Because he doesn’t exist,” she said, her voice raspy with regret. “Guys like that don’t exist. Not for me, anyway.”

“Wrong, princess.”

“Wr – wrong?”

“Wrong. Well, half-wrong.”

Annie stared at him, wordless. Was he actually saying what she thought might be saying?

No. No, impossible.No goddamnwaythat Doctor Sam Frickin’ Innis is my creeping creepy mist at dawn, or whatever the hell the fucking cookie said.

“Half?” she managed to ask. “How half? Why half? What half?”

“You’re right that guys like that don’t exist for you.”

“Oh.” Annie was surprised at how crushingly disappointed she was that he didn’t want her after all, mentally gave herself a serious slap across her stupid face. “Oh, well… I suppose they don’t.”

“You’re right thatguyslike that don’t exist for you,” Sam said slowly, enunciating clearly. “Guys, plural.”

“Uhhhh.” Annie felt her brow wrinkle in confusion. Uh… OK. Right.”

“Butoneguy like that exists,” Sam said. “Oneguy, singular.”

She opened her mouth to respond, couldn’t think of anything to say, slammed it shut again.

“You know who that guy is, princess?”

She shook her head in self-preservation, met his no-bullshit gaze and knew that it was time to drop the pretence, nodded her head.

“You do, huh?” Sam leaned forward, just a bit, and her whole body responded, helplessly. “And who is he?”

“He’s here.” The words rolled on off her tongue so easily, without fear or doubt, the words that echoed Sam’s own words from the hospital cafeteria. “He’s right here.” She paused, unable to believe the words that were about to come out of her mouth next, but needing to believe in them, after not having believed in anything for so damn long. “He’shere, and he’syou.”

“That’s right, princess.” Sam raised her trembling hand to his lips, dropped the softest, sweetest kiss of her life on her knuckles. “That isexactlygoddamn right.”

Chapter Five

“What do youmean, you didn’t sleep with him?” Talia almost shouted at Annie. “After he said allthat? Are you out of your ever-lovingmind? Have I taught younothing?”

“Shhhhh,” Annie hissed, looking around the diner in a panic. The breakfast rush was mostly over, thank Christ, but an alarming number of customers were staring over at them with far too much curiosity, among them a worrying number of regulars. “Shut up, I swear.”

“Not gonna happen,” Talia retorted. “Not until you tell me,precisely, why you didn’t jump into bed with the hot young doctor after he told you that he was totally into you.”

Annie sighed. “Well… I did want to, but…”

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