Morgan, Nicole - Sweet Vengeance [Sweet Awakenings 3] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Nicole Morgan

  Gathering all the photos together in a neat pile, she dug into her cereal with a fresh, new outlook on her day’s tasks. After finishing the crunchy concoction, she would get changed and head to the studio.

  An hour later, Chelsea was getting all of the proofs together and placing them in her portfolio. Once they were securely tucked inside and she slung her purse over her shoulder, she headed for the front door. With her key in hand, she opened the door and went outside. Making sure to securely lock the door, she jiggled the handle and gave it a shove.

  She got behind the wheel of her Dodge Charger and started her up. She grinned to herself at the sound of the engine humming, almost purring to her. She loved this car. She would live on the streets and go without food, but she would not ever get rid of her baby. Placing the gear in reverse, she eased out of her driveway.

  Chelsea was startled by the sound of a horn blaring. She slammed on her brakes and looked behind her just in time to see “Adam the asshole” fly past her. She turned her head and watched as he whipped his car in his driveway so fast she was surprised the tires didn’t fall off of the custom Shelby Mustang he was driving.

  That was it. He had officially pissed her off. Sure, he had been working hard at it for the past month. He had now achieved his goal and made her so thoroughly angry she was ready to claw his eyes out.

  Chelsea flew the gear back to the park position and threw open her car door. With a determination of unleashing pure fury on “the asshole,” she marched across the two lawns separating their houses and got to his front porch just in time to have the door slammed in her face.

  She ground her teeth together and began to reassess her position on murder, wondering if there were times it wasn’t completely unjustified. She made a fist and pounded on the door. She waited several moments and found her blood boiling. He had just gone inside. She knew he was there and knew he could hear her. She was about to pound again when the door suddenly flew open.

  “What do you want?” Adam didn’t ask her but demanded an answer.

  Why was she suddenly frozen? She knew he was a large man. Large in frame and size and…muscle mass, but being this close to him, she felt like a dwarf at her average height of five feet four inches.

  “I…um…” Damn it, speak, Chelsea!

  Adam’s annoyance was evident in everything about him. “I’m waiting.”

  Was it just her, or did he have an incredibly sexy voice? It was deep and masculine, and the way he…No! Stop it, she told herself. She was angry with “the asshole,” not attracted to him.

  “I came over here to ask you to stop driving like a lunatic as you have almost killed me twice this morning. Mind you that was just this morning. If I didn’t know better, I would swear someone had put a hit out on me, and you’ve been sent to do the job!” There, take that, she thought.

  Adam watched her, and studied her face as it became flushed while her lower lip trembled. He wanted to laugh. The little minx who stood before him, yelling at him, was scared. She was trying to give the appearance of being tough and in control, but she was actually afraid of him.

  “Why are you smiling? Do you think it’s funny to almost hit someone with your…your…ridiculously fast car?”

  This time, he did laugh. He couldn’t help it. “Ridiculously fast?” He doubled over in hysterics. “You’re a fine one to talk, lady. What do you call that Charger sitting over in your driveway?”

  He saw she was about to open her mouth to argue but must have thought better of it because she abruptly shut it. He was right, and she obviously knew it.

  “What’s wrong, honey? Cat suddenly got your tongue?” He rested his forearm on the door frame and leaned into her, placing him only inches from her face, her eyes, and her mouth.

  Her eyes widened at his close proximity. She took in a breath and seemed to almost swoon. He was never much of a cologne guy, but women in the past had always told him how good he smelled.

  Adam was enjoying tormenting her. He found it quite the boost he needed on such a crappy morning to know that he was stirring her emotions up so much she couldn’t speak.

  They both stood there, staring at one another, until Chelsea looked away. She made a cursory glance around the room before he touched her chin with his thumb and forefinger, forcing her gaze to return to his.

  “What was that you were saying? You wanted a ride in my car?” He whispered the words to her, his lips almost touching hers as he spoke.

  “I…um…” She tripped on her words.

  He smirked up one side of his mouth at her nervousness.

  “Well…I’m waiting. You want to take a ride in my car, sugar?” He used his thumb to brush across her cheek as he whispered the words to her even quieter than before.

  Her discomfort seemed to turn to annoyance when she responded by reaching up and slapping his hand away, pulling herself away from him. “I am not your sugar.” She quickly turned on her heel and started to walk down his front porch steps.

  “Hey, sugar?” Adam called to her in a mocking tone.

  Chelsea quickly spun around to face him. “What?” she snapped.

  Adam walked out the door and leaned over his porch railing down at her. “I was just wondering what you came over here for in the first place. Was it just to borrow a cup of sugar?”

  She just shook her head at him. “Just slow down, speed demon? I’d like to live to see my next birthday, okay?”

  Adam grinned at her, liking the way she was nervous but trying to remain assertive. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

  She glared at him. “No, thank you. I am quite sure that all I need from you is to just slow down and stop trying to run me over with your car every chance that you get.”

  He watched her for a moment as she did the same to him. “Okay, I’ll slow down.”

  “Thank you.”

  She turned to leave and was nearly across his portion of the lawn that connected their two properties when he stopped her.

  “Just so you know, though, I do like to go fast.”

  Chelsea turned her head and looked back at him. “Duly noted.”

  She then headed toward her car. Once behind the wheel, she reached over to close the door when her hand met with denim.

  She looked up at him as he was leaning down and surrounding her, invading her personal space. The look of surprise on her face looked incredibly sexy.

  “What? she asked in a curt tone.

  He chuckled when she blushed after realizing her hand was touching his inner thigh.

  “You sure have a problem with getting your thoughts out, don’t you?”

  “No, I don’t. What do you want?” Her tone was filled with her anger.

  He laughed at her spunkiness. “Nothing. I don’t want anything, at least not right now. Remember, though, I told you I liked to go fast.” With that being said, he moved away from her door and closed it.

  She allowed herself to look at him, if only for a moment before putting her car into reverse and slowly backing out of the driveway. She tried to ignore the knowledge that he was watching her the whole time as he stood in her driveway.

  Finally free of his engaging stare and rousing scent, she was able to breathe. In his presence, she had been almost frozen, unable to say or do what she wanted. How could someone who had driven her so incredibly insane for the past several weeks done so much damage to her control just by her being near him?

  Chapter 3

  Adam turned off the shower nozzle and reached out to grab a towel. Wrapping the towel around his waist and stepping out onto the cold, hard tiled floor, he let his mind sweep back to his neighbor. He wasn’t sure what had come over him when she had come over to scream at him. He just found himself enjoying teasing her.

  She was a pretty little thing. A tiny body, but yet a curvaceous figure. He felt a rush of arousal shoot to his cock as he remembered her snug jeans and how well they shaped her thighs and ass.

  He shook his head at where his thoughts were heading
. He didn’t need or want a woman in his life. Only a little over a year had passed since he lost Ally. There was no way he was ever going to let anyone get close to him again.

  He towel dried his hair and quickly wiped the rest of the moisture from his body. Throwing the towel on the bathroom floor, he walked in his bedroom. Reaching in his dresser drawer, he pulled out a pair of briefs and was startled to see image that stood before him in the mirror’s reflection.

  Adam stood there, mesmerized by the fact that he was completely hard and totally aroused. He knew it was because of her. Whoever she was. He didn’t even know her name, and yet after spending just a few moments with her, he had been trying to fight his lust for her ever since.

  Shit! He did not need this at all. Did he even have the right to want another woman again? No. No, that was a stupid question. He didn’t. It was his fault that Ally and their…

  “Fuck!” Adam screamed and threw his fist in the wall. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. No matter how much of a selfish prick it made him, he wanted to forget. He didn’t want the pain to be so prominent in his life.

  He walked toward his closet and opened the door. He stared at the picture taped to the back of the door. His eyes closed on the memory of what she last looked like. She hadn’t been beautiful and glowing like she was in the picture. Instead, his last vision of Ally had been of her staring back at him with lifeless eyes and blood dripping down the side of her face.

  He closed his eyes before the tears could come to the surface. He squeezed them tightly shut and placed his forehead against her photo. Why? Why did it still hurt so badly? Why did that asshole have to murder her?

  Minutes passed before he was able to slow his rapidly beating heart and compose himself enough to open his eyes.

  He took a steadying breath, inhaling and exhaling as calmly as he could. It was an exercise he had learned while in physical therapy for his shoulder. Every time he would become enraged over the memory of Ally’s death, his physical therapist had reminded him to breathe. It didn’t always work in the beginning, but eventually, he learned to find a way to use it as a relaxation tool.

  Reaching in his closet, he found a T-shirt and jeans to wear. As he pulled the cool denim over his legs, he was very aware of how the memory of Ally had taken away any signs of the arousal he had felt for his neighbor.

  For some reason, though, he couldn’t help but think of how incredibly sexy she looked. He also couldn’t seem to figure out how before today, he had never even noticed her. She claimed he’d almost killed her with his car, but for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what she was talking about.

  Maybe that was because when he got behind the wheel, all he thought of was driving fast. Going as fast as he could and forgetting his mistakes of the past.

  Adam started to button his jeans and found himself working his jaw in annoyance. Thinking about her was stirring his libido again, making it hard for him to button the snug denim.

  He cursed under his breath, chiding himself for allowing her to get to him. He could not, would not, want her. It was obvious she couldn’t stand him anyway, so…actually, the thought of how she reacted to him gave him a small amount of encouragement that he didn’t want but was actually relishing in.

  Ignoring the thoughts that were sweeping through his mind, he pulled the T-shirt over his head, reached for his wallet, and started toward the front door.

  Once outside, he unlocked his car and slid in behind the wheel. He started the engine and grinned in admiration as the sound of the custom engine spoke to him in a low, sexy drone, telling him to drive like a bat out of hell. With a grin and no consideration for consequences, he peeled out of his driveway and headed for the job site.

  Nearly a half an hour later, Adam pulled up to the construction site with a squeal as he slammed on his brakes. He got out of his car, hit the button, effectively securing it from anyone and everyone, and headed toward his two buddies. He couldn’t help but smile at the two of them shaking their heads at him.

  “Shit, man. You’re gonna kill someone in that one of these days,” Rex yelled out to him.

  Adam smiled innocently. “What? That thing is my baby. She wouldn’t hurt a soul.” He approached the two men, and they all did the round-robin of manly knuckle bumping.

  “Hey, Adam, what’s up, man?” Jack asked as he looked up from the blueprint he was studying.

  “Not much, man. How’s the little woman?” Adam knew he was an ass for asking and knew it pissed Jack off, but he had to admit he loved to get a rise out of his good buddy.

  Jack set the blueprint down on the makeshift table and placed the pencil behind his ear. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been over this with you before, but her name is Tamara. Tam–ar–a, got it? Or should I beat your ass again until it’s crystal clear?”

  Adam laughed. “Yeah, as if you could. You know I’m only giving you shit. So, how is she?”

  Jack eyed Rex in annoyance. “She’s fine. Thanks for asking. Now, since you’ve decided to grace us with your presence, maybe we can get down to work?”

  Rex smirked at the two men, who, for whatever reason, seemed to grate on each other’s nerves. Actually, Adam did most of the grating. Jack was the most easygoing out of all of them.

  “Yeah, let’s get down to business here because the inspector’s gonna be here in two days, so we need to make sure everything is ready and up to code. If we have to shut down again because of a stupid mistake, I am going to be pissed.” Rex emphasized the last sentence as he stared at Jack.

  “Look, I said I was sorry, didn’t I? You don’t know what it’s like. You just wait. Wait ’til Shelby’s pregnant. She’ll change. You won’t know what the hell to expect from one minute to the next,” Jack defended himself.

  Rex rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it all before. Whatever, God, man, it can’t be that bad.”

  “Oh, yeah. You try living with someone who can’t decide if she’s horny or hungry or wants to cry. I swear, just last night, she told me she wanted cake. Cake!”

  Rex just laughed. “Yeah, man, sounds brutal. She wanted cake. That must have sucked.”

  “No, you dickhead. We were having sex at the time.”

  Rex doubled over in hysterics. “Wait a minute, let me get this straight. You were having sex, and she was thinking about cake? Shit, man, you losing it or something?”

  “Very funny, asshole. At least I—” Jack was quickly interrupted by Adam.

  “You’re such an asshole!” Adam’s glare did nothing to compare to the anger that was on his face.

  Jack and Rex stared at him, knowing all too well what was wrong. “Adam, man, I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Forget it. What’s on the agenda today?” Adam demanded not asked as he grabbed the blue print from the plywood table in front of them.

  When no one answered him, he looked down at the areas of the large paper that Jack had circled. “I’ll take the upper level.” With that, he walked away.

  Moments of silence followed as Jack and Rex watched Adam stalk up the stairs to the top floor of the still-under-construction health club.

  “Fuck! Damn, I’m an asshole.” Jack cursed himself.

  “No, man. It’s him. You know it is. Until he can find a way to get over what happened, he’s not gonna be whole. It’s not your fault. We can’t walk on eggshells around him,” Rex, who had always been the voice of reason to Jack, pointed out.

  “I don’t know, man. When I think of what he lost, I don’t think I could go on.” Jack turned to face Rex. “Can you imagine? How could we possibly know what it’s like for him? He didn’t just lose Ally, he lost their child, too. How would you feel if you lost—?”

  “Don’t even say it!” Rex cut him off, refusing to hear the words. “I almost lost her once. No way in hell will that happen again.”

  “Yeah, I hear ya. Let’s get to work.” Jack was about to head toward the work crew gathering near the front of the building when he turned back tow
ard Rex. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”

  Rex shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s better than he used to be. He needs to get rid of that damn guilt, though. You know better than anyone how guilt can eat a person up inside.”

  Jack nodded. He did. He knew all too well how guilt could wreak havoc on a man’s soul. It was seven years ago when he and Rex had nearly died in Colombia.

  Two other SEALs had died on that fateful mission. Jenkins and Hollingsworth, two SEALs Jack and Rex had known and trained with for years, had died at the hands of enemy gunfire before Adam and his SEAL team had come in to meet them at the border of Venezuela for a rescue mission that seemed too little too late.

  That mission and the events that followed had scarred Jack somewhere deep inside, leaving him with no room for trust or love. At least not until Tamara came along, which he thanked God for every damn day.

  Chapter 4

  Chelsea walked out of her darkroom and closed the door. She was very pleased with the results of the retouches she made to Christina’s photos. The young girl shone and sparkled now with a radiance that every teenage girl should feel.

  She felt a real satisfaction knowing that she had done something good for someone else. Hopefully, these pictures would help lift the girl’s self-esteem, which Chelsea knew all too well was an important part of any woman’s life, regardless of her age.

  Confident that she would have enough time to get back before Christina and her parents showed up to go over their proofs, she decided to grab a sandwich at the deli across the street.

  Chelsea’s mouth watered at the delicious smells of lunchmeat mixed with freshly baked breads lingering in the air of the small mom-and-pop establishment. Today felt like a turkey and Swiss day to her, so she proceeded to the counter to place an order.

  Waiting in line, it only took her a moment to notice that the two women standing in front of her looked oddly familiar. She wanted to say something but realized how foolish she would seem. She had only moved to the area a month ago. She couldn’t possibly know anyone from around here. It was then that one of the women turned back and saw her.