Curvy Conquest Read online

  “You asked me to help you unleash the wild child in you. Well, welcome to the jungle.”

  I’m too far gone to answer, caught between his delirious words and the torrent running through me at the idea of becoming the main act at a peep show. God, can I do this? I’m terrified. But I’m also buzzing, every single neuron firing, my blood pumping wildly in my veins as I get ready to allow the more feral side of me to frolic.

  Just as I’m about to speak, without warning, Max rams right inside me and I hold my breath. I’m so goddamn wet he doesn’t have to tease, stroke, or tantalize me. He just had to talk dirty in my ear to get me off.

  “Don’t you dare close your eyes. I want you to look down at the crowd. I want you to own this,” he commands, pumping me frantically. He’s so hard, so long, so perfect.

  I bite my lip as Max slides his hand around my hip and between my legs, teasing my clit. “I can’t,” I whisper. I can see the entire stadium from here and if the mega-projector lights start dancing and hit my naked body, tens of thousands of people will witness my Brazilian debauchery. If I close my eyes, I can’t meet their stares.

  “Sure you can,” he says, as if he’s suggested I simply lick my lips. His fingers sweep across my clit again and again and again. He’s mercilessly forcing me to submit. “Keep them open or we can stop right now.”

  Bastard. I throw him a dark, icy look over my shoulder and ignore his silent laugh.

  “Please,” I beg. My voice comes out shaky as I dread and welcome every brutal thrust.

  “Christ,” he gasps. His fingers dig into me and he swells inside me. Max shudders behind me, igniting the bad girl dormant in me. “Candy. Touch yourself.”

  “What?”

  “I want to see you stroke your clit until you dissolve all over my cock.” In true Max fashion, this isn’t a suggestion, it’s a command.

  I brace one forearm against the fogged window and reach between my legs with my right hand, eagerly rubbing my node. The exhilarating thrill of pleasuring myself knowing full well anyone could catch us right now serves as a potent aphrodisiac. Yes. I’m coming. I’ve been so swollen, so heavy with the weight of my orgasm pressing down on me since we’ve been standing here that I explode within seconds.

  “Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me,” I chant like a mantra.

  Ecstasy slams through me like a shot of cocaine. This must be what addiction feels like. Max’s thrusts grow frantic, unwavering and more demanding, and then he grips my hips tighter. He roars like a warrior as he pumps hard, riding out his abandonment as I struggle to steady myself against the slippery window. I rest on my forearms, shuddering beneath him, unable to believe I’ve allowed him to take me in such a primal and audacious way.

  “Max,” I let out, spent.

  When my legs stop trembling, he thrusts hard into me a few more times and then stills, stifling his groan with his mouth pressed to my neck.

  “Goddammit, Candy.”

  The VIP suite is completely silent, and I realize I have no sense of how loud we’ve been. Did the security guard hear us? The music is raging below us, but did the noise muffle the sounds of my carnal voracity? After all, Jorge is sitting a few feet away from this room.

  Max pulls out of me, releasing a grunt before whispering in my ear. “Fucking you from behind while holding on to your round hips and feeling the slap of your divine ass cheeks against my body is pure decadence. Your luscious curves make me come so hard I always fear I’ll pass out.” He kisses the back of my neck. “Mmmm. I want to take you again before we leave here. Outside this time.”

  I turn my head back so quickly I nearly give myself whiplash. “Huh?”

  He watches me with a twinkle in his eye. “Looks like you had an insane orgasm. You wanted wild and from your dazed glance I’d say I’ve over-delivered. Why stop at one?”

  “Yes. You did hold up your end of the bargain.” I’m still struggling to catch my breath.

  Lord. I’m falling so fast for this man. He possesses every part of me and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

  BOOK 4—CURVY CONQUEST

  Chapter Three

  As I stand in front of the window in my apartment sipping a cup of piping-hot coffee bright and early on this Monday morning, I can’t help but reminisce about my last unforgettable days in Rio. What a dreamy week.

  I got back to Manhattan on Friday morning, but since Max had a full afternoon of meetings and I dreaded the thought of going back to the office, I decided to work from home to catch up on my notes from Rio Moda and tackle a sea of emails from coworkers and readers. After another weekend at Max’s where he fucked me against every wall in his penthouse, I’m surprised I’m able to walk today. This man’s appetite is insatiable.

  My head is still spinning from Max’s demanding kinkiness in Brazil. After he took me in front of the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the Maracanã Stadium, we went back down to continue the festivities with the other partygoers. At some point, Max pressed his hungry cock against my ass and before I was even able to react, he was already dragging me by the hand outside of the stadium.

  He held true to his promise, like he always does. We traveled around Brazil’s temple to soccer, passing thousands of amorous couples, to a small alleyway leading to the side of the building. The nightfall was the perfect intimate backdrop to allow Max to fuck me outside against a wired fence without raising any suspicions. I still remember holding on to the fence for dear life with my hands above my head as he rammed into me like a tank en route to a military convoy. The thrill and exhalation of doing something so risqué, so kinky and so dangerous made me come so hard, he had to clamp his hand over my mouth to avoid bringing too much attention to us. He’s the most delicious lover I’ve ever had and I doubt I’d be able to resist any of his sexual demands.

  “Oh, God, Leo, I’m going to be late.” My white fluffy cat snaps me out of my reverie and I look at the time on my iPhone. I have an early-morning meeting with Max’s brother to go over their latest findings surrounding the death of my parents. “Okay, Leo, be good today. I know you’re pissed off at me because I’ve been leaving you with your uncle Devin, but Mommy has a really amazing boyfriend.”

  * * *

  At seven o’clock in the morning, I’m seated in a conference room with Gabe, my two appointed attorneys, Sheena Wagner and Francis Kraai, and two paralegals, Suzette Warren and Regina Baez.

  I reach across the mahogany wood table and grab one of the decadent morning pastries to calm my hunger. God, I need to put an end to this rumbling in my stomach. I’m just about to bite into a scrumptious-looking blueberry muffin when Gabriel turns his attention to me.

  “Candy, I hear you enjoyed yourself in Rio.”

  My mouth is gaping with the muffin still hanging in the air. Five pairs of eyes peer at me, waiting for an answer.

  “It would be impossible for me to describe how amazing the past week in Rio was. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to so far in my life.”

  “I warned you that our ancestors’ country on our mother’s side was majestic—and the best place for you to recharge your batteries.”

  “I’m definitely ready to take on anything you throw at me.”

  “Well, I’m happy you’re ready for anything, because we have quite a lot to share with you. We’ve made some amazing progress in some areas but we’ve also hit a few walls, but I promised you a debrief the minute you got back to New York and I always keep my promises. Since Francis is the one leading this case I’ll let him share with you what’s transpired.”

  “Welcome back, Candice.”

  “Thank you, Francis. As much as I adored Rio, it’s good to be back.”

  “Let’s start with the good news first. We’ve been in contact with the firm who took over Nathaniel Carpenter’s roster of clients. It’s none other than Baxter, Rufus, Lloyd and Associates LLP.”

  I shake my head. “I’ve never heard of them.”

  “They are fierce attorneys—some of the best in
New York—but it’s really all about money with them. A case like yours would require a lot of output of cash on their end and they’d most likely have to assign a full-time paralegal without any guarantees they’ll see a cent of profit when and if your case gets settled. Unless you walk into their offices with pockets lined with cash, it’s unlikely they’ll give you the time of day. We requested a transfer of your files over a week ago, but they took their sweet time and we only received the boxes yesterday morning at our office.”

  “Boxes?” I’m surprised. “I didn’t realize our case had so much paperwork attached to it.”

  “We received five boxes and two USB sticks with scanned documents. I’ve assigned both Suzette and Regina to your case to support Sheena and I, but you can understand we’ve not gotten very far. There’s just too much to take in.”

  “No, I understand. I’m grateful for everything you’re doing to help.”

  “Regina did stumble on something quite interesting.”

  “Oh?” My stomach is tied in a knot and I push the muffin away, unable to continue eating.

  “It seems Rock Axel Development, the real-estate development responsible for the accident, declared bankruptcy one year after your parents’ deaths.”

  “Crap.”

  “But Regina found some old documents on one of the USB sticks indicating they were part of a conglomerate.”

  “What does that mean?” I ask. All this legal mumbo-jumbo is way over my head.

  “A conglomerate is a combination of two or more corporations engaged in entirely different businesses that fall under one corporate group, usually involving a parent company and many subsidiaries.”

  “I’m sorry, Francis, but this sounds Greek to me.”

  “It means although they’re no longer in business, the company that owned them might still be operating.”

  “It’s good news, right?”

  “Candy, it’s excellent news.” Gabe jumps in the conversation to reassure me. “When Francis informed me of this twist, I was thrilled. We can keep swimming upward. Thank God the buck doesn’t stop at Rock Axel or else we’d be seriously screwed.”

  “Gabriel is right. The only problem is we’ll need to hire an expert who can figure out how this conglomerate was structured and dig as deep as humanly possible. We have some great people, it’s a question of getting in touch with them.”

  “My friend Lexi can dig out anything on any company.”

  My statement catches everyone in the room by surprise.

  “What does Lexi do for a living?”

  “Gabe, she’s a top broker on Wall Street. She takes care of analyzing IPOs. She has an MBA and a masters in finance. She eats numbers like others eat popcorn. She’s a brainiac when it comes to this sort of stuff. She knows my case well. Maybe she can help?”

  Both Francis and Gabe look at each other before returning their attention to me.

  “Candy, I’d rather if we used our own contacts, but I’d love to involve Lexi. If she has access to software that can dig deep into the history of companies, she might be an invaluable resource for us to expedite things.”

  “I can patch her in right now.”

  “Candice.” Francis clears his throat and readjusts his red tie. “It’s twenty past seven in the morning. She may be just getting up. I’d hate to disrupt her.”

  “I bet you Alexis has been crunching numbers since before you got in your office. She gets to work by five-thirty every morning and she always does a few hours of analysis before the market opens. The woman is a machine and she’s as sharp as a whip.”

  “If Alexis is awake, I say let’s patch her in.” For the first time since the beginning of the meeting Sheena speaks up and earns herself the attention of the entire room. “Someone out there is dropping not very subtle hints to Candice about the death of her parents. We don’t know who we’re dealing with and we haven’t got a clue yet as to who is behind Rock Axel. The faster we collect data, the faster we can react the next time this Annie Smith contacts Candice.”

  “Oh my God, you think she’s going to contact me again?” The idea of receiving another disturbing letter from a stranger is unsettling.

  “Yes, Candice, I do. It’s unlikely she’ll drop one hint and run away. This person knows a lot more than they’ve revealed in the first letter they sent you. Francis, Gabriel and I believe it’s a matter of when, not if, she gets in touch again.”

  “God. I can’t believe this nightmare is still haunting me.”

  “I’m sorry, Candice. I’m sure this must be brutal for you, but maybe this person is your lifeline in uncovering the truth.”

  I shake my head, afraid of opening this hellish Pandora’s box. One part of me wants to storm out of this boardroom and run and hide under my bed next to Leo DiCaprio, but another part of me wants to know exactly why my parents died.

  “If anyone can figure out who’s behind this conglomerate, it’s Lexi.”

  “Let’s not waste any time, then. Patch her in and Francis will explain exactly what we need from her. Sheena will still be in touch with our own experts, but the faster we move the faster we can resolve this.”

  God, I hope Gabriel is right.

  * * *

  Right after my meeting with Gabe, I hop in a cab and head to Max’s headquarters across town for the first time. I spend the morning cooped up in a boardroom with six eager members of his team for a much-anticipated debrief after the Rio Moda Week. I was already excited like a kid going to the fair, but after three hours of brainstorming over creative angles for future stories to catch the attention of Sassy magazine’s plus-size beauties, I’m totally pumped.

  Unfortunately, neither Deidra nor Max are part of this pow-wow. They are attending meetings with the other VPs to discuss expansion plans, given the amazing press coverage Max’s brands have received since the Miami party. My boyfriend promised he’ll do his best to carve out a few minutes with me and I do hope I’ll be able to steal a kiss or two before I go back to the office, but if I don’t, I know I’ll have him all to myself tonight.

  Right before we break for lunch, Deidra pokes her head in the meeting room and beckons me with her finger. I grab my handbag and rush to meet her.

  “How are you?” Deidra smiles down at me from what appears to be another pair of eight-inch heels. She’s elegantly clad as usual, but today she seems a little more buttoned up than usual in her dark navy pantsuit. The only rebellious touch is the bold pattern of her floral Christian Louboutin heels.

  “I’m good. It was an incredible meeting. I can’t wait to get started. I already have at least six or seven great articles floating in my head.”

  “That’s great to hear, Candy. I’m glad you seem to be getting along nicely with the rest of the team. We can’t wait to get the word out about our three collections for plus-size women.”

  “Are you coming for lunch with the rest of us?”

  “No. I’m not. I’m here to take you to Max. He wants to have lunch with you. He tried texting you, but your phone was off.”

  “Oh, yes. I didn’t bother checking my messages because I thought you were in an all-day meeting.”

  “No, we were only meeting this morning. Max and I are spending the rest of the day in a planning session together, but I’m flexible. He’s ordered lunch for the two of you and he wants to see you. Now.”

  “He does?”

  Deidra smiles and rolls her eyes. “Grab your stuff and I’ll take you to him.”

  “Give me a second.” I run back into the conference room and gather the rest of my things at the speed of light before running back to the door where Deidra is still waiting for me.

  “You have everything?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s go.”

  We get into the elevator and ride to Max’s office in silence. I’m too eager to see him to engage in any sort of conversation and I suspect Deidra might have picked up on that, unless she’s going over the thousands of things she has to do.

 
; When we arrive on the top floor of the building, I follow the tall and lean woman in front of me until she comes to a stop in front of an impressive door.

  “Here we go. This is his office and he’s expecting you.”

  “Okay. Where’s yours?” I’m a bit anxious and ask this silly question to buy myself some time. Although Deidra is one of the few people outside of my friends to know I’m involved with the billionaire CEO of an illustrious company, it still feels weird that she’s the one taking me to him.

  “Mine is right over there,” she says pointing to a door that’s diagonal to the one we’re standing in front of. “Go on in. Max is waiting for you and I have a conference call starting in five minutes.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Deidra.” I barely have time to finish my sentence before she’s already marching to her office. I turn around and face Max’s door. I take a breath before knocking. I’m so nervous because this is the first time I’ve met him at his office.

  “Come in.”

  I push open the door and Max greets me, perched on the corner of his desk. Fuck, he looks incredible. I clear my throat and step closer to him, completely bewitched by his dazzling smile.

  “Lock the door behind you. I want our time here to be private.”

  I obey without even questioning. I guess he has more than lunch on his mind. Suddenly the things I was carrying seem so heavy. I glance around me before deciding to drop them on a small table near the door.

  “How’s your day so far, sweetness?”

  “It was an amazing morning with your team,” I start, bringing my attention back to him. “We had a brainstorming session that will lead to a lot of incredible articles for both the website and the magazine. I’m sure our readers will eat up all of your collections.”

  Max tilts his head and strokes his jaw. Pushing off the desk, he bridges the gap between us. “Interesting choice of words.” He brushes my hair off my shoulders. The sensual gesture causes my stomach to knot up. “You know what I’d like to eat up right now?”