Secret Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 5) by Marysol James Page A

grandmother to raise, but she never really wanted me. The first chance she got, she had me audition and enrol for a ballet school in New York. It was residential, of course, and I was lucky enough to be accepted. So I moved away from Colorado when I was nine, started training professionally then.”
    “She sent you away?” Once more, Curtis was angry for her, but he tried to hide it. “She just dumped you at a boarding school?”
    “Yeah, that was definitely what happened, and I knew it even then. But the truth was, I loved the school. It was heaven for me.”
    “Because of the dancing?”
    “For sure, but not only.”
    Tessa stopped talking again as the waitress brought Curtis’ breakfast over. The woman shot her a curious look, but almost sprinted away when Curtis turned and levelled her with a ferocious glare. Tessa grinned at that familiar expression, then saw how it slid right off his face the second that he glanced back down at her again. Jesus, she never thought he’d be so emotionally open with her, and she felt the urge to cry again, this time from happiness.
    “Go on, Tessa. Tell me everything.”
    “OK. Well… I loved the routine. You know? After years and years of never having a clue what might happen next, I found the rigid structure and scheduling a relief. I knew what was going to happen and when, I knew what my teachers expected, both academically and in dance classes. I had rules and I had timetables, I had a set bedtime and a uniform. It was an incredibly stressful and competitive environment, obviously, but I thrived in it. I felt like I had control over my life for the first time ever. I loved it, Curtis.”
    “I can see that.”
    “The big problem came when I turned twelve.” Tessa picked at her fruit salad, ate a grape. “My body changed.”
    Curtis nodded. “Yeah.”
    “It was a problem that many girls had. We developed breasts and hips, we started to get our periods… that’s the time that lots of girls leave dance, or at least give up any hopes of a professional career. But I was determined to hold on to my shot. No way I was being sent away, no way I was going to live in Denver with a woman who had zero interest in me. New York was my home by then, and I was going to stay.”
    “What did you do?”
    “The only thing I could do. I controlled my weight to stay in the dance school. I starved off my breasts and ass and thighs, delayed my period for years, kept myself below a certain number on the scale even through my growth spurts.”
    “Shit.” Suddenly, Curtis saw it all so clearly. “Bad combination, huh? Your incredible need for control, and then an unhealthy relationship with food? One that ended up being rewarded by keeping your place?”
    “You know it. It wasn’t easy for me, since my natural frame is medium, not small, and I’m tall for a ballerina. I was told in no uncertain terms that the only thing for me to do was be thin and light – and as long as I did that, I’d be able to stay.” Her smile was shaky. “Between the need for control in my life, and the need to control every single bite of food I took, it was a recipe for disaster.” She paused. “No pun intended.”
    He gave a sharp laugh. “Noted.”
    “And that was it, I guess.” She ate some apple, and Curtis almost sighed in relief that she was eating. He picked up his own fork, started his breakfast too. “I held on like that until I was twenty-seven.”
    “Wait.” Horrified, he stared at her, his fork held aloft. “You – you starved yourself until what… three years ago?”
    “Yep. I’d met Kevin in New York, of course, and he adored me as a thin ballerina. He worked for one of the big investment banks, and we were this glamorous power-couple, you know? I mean, I never made it huge on the stage, but I worked steadily and was in demand. But then it all fell apart.”
    “What happened?”
    “Well, I fell and ripped my right knee to shreds.” Tessa glanced down at it. “I was told that