Morgan, Nicole - Sweet Salvation [Sweet Awakenings 2] (Siren Publishing Allure)

by Nicole Morgan

  Shaking her head no, Shelby took a deep breath and attempted to compose herself. “I’m sorry, I know you get tired of hearing it, but it’s true.”

  Tamara quickly spoke, “Shelby, I have an idea. Let’s get you on the scale. Let’s do it a day and a half early. Come on, you look great. Maybe it’ll cheer you up.”

  Shelby looked at her and agreed, knowing that she couldn’t feel any worse so she might as well. Walking to the scale in the corner of Jack’s office, she took a deep breath and got on. She was stunned. Not only was she 121 pounds, four pounds less than her goal, but she had had ice cream earlier that day. This was what she had worked so hard for the last several months for. She had finally done it. Just for safe measure, she got off the scale and back on again, just to make sure it was correct. Sure enough, she had done it. She was all but jumping for joy when Rex walked in.

  “Shelby, are you okay? Jack said you were upset.” Rex stood in the doorway staring at them.

  “Come on, honey. Let’s leave these guys alone.” Jack escorted Tamara out of his office and closed the door.

  Shelby just stood there with a huge grin on her face. “Shelby, answer me,” Rex demanded. “What happened? You were fine earlier, and then Jack called and said you were crying, which I can tell that you were, so don’t bother denying it. But now you’re smiling. What’s going on?”

  Not able to control her excitement over her accomplishment, Shelby ran to Rex and jumped up in his arms with a hoot of triumph in her voice. Her legs were wrapped around Rex, and he grabbed on to her with the first part of her he was able to grasp.

  So they stood there, her hugging him and laughing with her legs wrapped around him and his hands cupping her bottom. Rex was hit with an instant arousal that he was in no way prepared to deal with. He had hugged Shelby before, many times. He had even held her, when she was upset or needed a shoulder to cry on, he would let her snuggle into him, but now, things were different. Things were changing for him.

  Holding her now, especially the way his hands fit so perfectly around her–damn it, Rex, snap out of it! She’s your friend for Christ’s sake! But he couldn’t help how damn good it felt with her legs wrapped around him like that.

  Trying his utmost to shake off the sudden wave of arousal, Rex pulled back and asked, “Shelby, what’s going on?”

  It was as if she suddenly just realized the position they were in. Shelby pulled back from the embrace. With his hands cupping her bottom, and his shaft growing larger and harder pressed up against her body she looked at him confused. He was beyond turned on? She started to pull farther away and slowly slid down his body and out of his grasp.

  He watched as she attempted to swallow a lump building in her throat. He saw the look in her eyes. She looked different. There was a glint in her eyes that he hadn’t seen before. Was she angry?

  The feel of Shelby sliding down his body, rubbing against his–No! He couldn’t think of Shelby like that. She was different and special. Not like the many women he had screwed over the years. It made him angry with himself for even thinking about how good she felt. And oh, did she feel good. Pressed up against his growing erection, and then sliding seductively down his body. God, what he wouldn’t have given to have kissed her right then and there. He would have laid her down on Jack’s desk and started to devour her inch by inch. Then he would have–crap, snap out of it, damn it!

  He had to get a hold of himself.

  They were both just staring at each other when she finally spoke. “Rex, I’m sorry. But I got so excited. I got on the scale early, and I did it! I lost the weight. Actually, I lost a little bit more, but who cares. I feel so great. And I even had that ice cream cone today.”

  Turning to look at herself in the mirror, she turned sideways and glanced at her body’s profile. “See, look, no more belly. I think, no, I know I look good.” She turned back to look at Rex. “You’re not saying anything. I look good, right?”

  He smiled. He always thought she looked beautiful, to hell with good. But he also knew that even before the rape she was always self-conscious of her looks, which only added to her insecurities. Just seeing the joy on her face made him so happy. “You already know what I’m going to say. You look terrific. But I’ve always thought so.”

  He came up behind her, kissing the top of her head and staring back at her reflection in the mirror. With the awkwardness of what happened only moments ago forgotten, he wrapped his arms around her waist and smiled. Resting his chin on top of her head, she smiled back at him.

  “So I guess this means I owe you a big dinner,” Shelby said.

  Rex grinned at her. “I know I said when you reached your goal we could go out and celebrate. But I will be taking you out to dinner, not the other way around. But before we do that, tell me what happened. Are you okay? Why were you crying?”

  Shelby sighed. “I honestly don’t know. Tam and I were talking while we were warming up on the treadmill, and I was just hit with a sudden wave of guilt all over again.”

  Turning her to face him, Rex put his hands on her shoulders and stared at her intently. “I thought you were getting over all of the guilt. You were doing so much better. What happened?”

  “I swear I don’t know. Tam and Jack are convinced it’s PMS.” She laughed.

  Rex rolled his eyes. “Great, fantastic. Now I can’t wait to take you to dinner. You know I love your moods whenever that time rolls around. Well, wherever we go for dinner tonight, you better not order steak because I’m not letting you anywhere near a knife.”

  They both laughed at that. When the laughter subsided, Rex gave her a little peck of a kiss. He pulled back, continuing to stare at her. “Shelby, you’re going to be okay. I believe that. Please tell me you believe me when I tell you that.”

  She smiled, looking back up at him. “Thank you, Rex. I love you. When you are with me, I do believe that. You have helped me so much.” With that, she kissed his cheek, gave it a pat, and headed out the door. Before she left, she turned back to him. “I’m going to go get a quick workout in. What time are you picking me up?”

  “Let’s do 7:30, okay?”

  “You got it. See you later then. Thanks, Rex. I mean it. I swear I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  Rex said nothing more, but just winked at her. He stood there for a few moments just thinking about what had happened a few minutes ago. These new feelings he was having for Shelby were wreaking havoc with his conscience as well as his restraint. Every time he was near her, it became harder and harder to stop himself from grabbing her and doing all of the things he had been dying to do for the past month. He had never used to think about her that way, and now, every time he touched her he wanted more.

  The way she felt against his body moments ago had his blood boiling and racing directly down to his throbbing and aching –. His thoughts were interrupted by Jack coming back into his office.

  “Hey, man, how are you doing?”

  Shaking the less than friendly and platonic thoughts from his mind, he shrugged and turned to Jack and smiled. “You know, same old, same old. How about you? You and Tamara still trying to make a litter?”

  Jack laughed but his friend curiously. “Are you all right? You look hot. Do you have a fever or something? Your face is flush and you look like you’ve been sweating. I got the AC cranked way up too.”

  “No, I don’t have a fever. What is Tamara turning you into? Are you becoming nurturing or something? Listen, I got to get going, see you later.” He started to walk out then stopped and turned back to Jack. “Thanks for calling me about Shelby.”

  Jack sat in his chair and leaned back, pondering what he just noticed. He had wondered for some time if there was anything going on between Shelby and Rex. But knowing that she was still trying to heal from the multiple times Brent raped her, he disregarded it completely. But now he wasn’t so sure. He couldn’t be certain, but he thought he knew very well why Rex looked that way. Maybe there really was more to his relationship wit
h Shelby than he had thought. Grinning from ear to ear, Jack relished in the memory of a couple of months ago when Colleen Bristow, a dear, sweet lady, made a prediction that at the time seemed laughable.

  Colleen and Cullen Bristow had become like surrogate parents to Jack and Tamara because her parents both died in a small plane crash when she was in college and Jack’s mother, a single parent, died of cancer years ago. They were quite an eccentric couple with still just a hint of their Irish accent. And they almost always seemed to talk of love and the importance of it in life. Jack never minded their sweet ways, but he had Tamara, so he knew just what it was like to feel that kind of love and bond with someone else. But Rex, on the other hand, he couldn’t stand the constant antagonizing by the couple.

  They made Rex crazy. He claimed to not be able to stand them. They argued constantly, always teasing Rex and reminding him that he would soon be in love. If you heard Rex talk about them, he would say they were old and meddlesome and their only true intention was to drive him insane. And from the looks of it, every time they were together, it was definitely working. But Jack knew his friend. He was a bona fide Casanova, and Jack knew that, deep down, Rex would never settle with just one woman. There was just no way, was there?

  Jack placed his hands behind his head and linked his fingers together as he rested his head in a reclined position. Colleen Bristow had told Jack that Rex wouldn’t just fall in love, but she predicted it would be with Shelby. Hmm, makes you wonder, Jack thought.

  Chapter Three

  Rex walked up the stairs to Shelby’s condo. He knocked on the door and stood waiting for her to open it. But he was in no way prepared for what he saw when she opened the door. Shelby stood in the doorway. Her silky, chocolate brown, wavy hair put up in a twist had ringlets dropping all around and framing her face. Her makeup, what little she wore of it, looked fresh and gave her face a warm glow, like the way you would look if you had spent the afternoon in the sun. And her dress was a deep, dark turquoise color that seemed to match her eyes perfectly. It had a low neckline with shoulders, but no sleeves, and bunched up to meet at the waist, then flared out to a flirtatious looking skirt that stopped just above her knees. She looked at him, spun herself around in a circle, and grinned.

  “Well, what do you think? I bought this over a month ago. This is the first time I’m wearing it.” She asked him while he just stood there, staring at her. “Rex, for God’s sake, say something, does it look bad? Should I go change?”

  Was she talking? He couldn’t be sure. He was suddenly mesmerized by the sight of her. He had always thought she was beautiful, but for the last couple of hours, he couldn’t get what he felt–when he was palming her soft round bottom, holding her up against him–out of his mind. Maybe he was just horny. It had been awhile since he had the company of a willing and able woman in his bed. Sure, that must be it. He just needed to have sex and he would be back to normal. And back to thinking of Shelby as a dear friend. Not some gorgeous woman that he couldn’t wait to lay beneath him and spread her thighs apart until –.

  “Hey, Rex. Snap out of it.” Shelby was waving her hands in front of him and frowning.

  Pull yourself together, Rex. What the hell is wrong with you? Snapping out of the trance he momentarily went into, he walked into the apartment and started to walk around her in a circle to get a complete view. Forcing himself to ignore how good he thought her ass looked, he began to whistle suggestively. “You are what they were thinking of when they thought of the word beautiful.”

  “Really? Thanks, Rex. You know what, though?”

  “What?”

  “I kind of feel beautiful?” Shelby giggled.

  And there it was, one of the reasons he liked her so much. She wasn’t vain like most of the women he was used to keeping company with. She always had a sort of innocence about her looks. She never had a true appreciation for her natural beauty. No matter how many times she was told otherwise.

  “Well, you are beautiful. Are you ready? I figured we’d try out that new chophouse downtown. I’m sure we won’t have any problem getting a table on a Tuesday night.”

  “That sounds great! I know I already had the cone earlier, but I’m not holding back tonight at all. I plan to have a delicious steak with a baked potato, loaded with everything, and a nice glass of wine. Absolutely nothing healthy tonight, I think I deserve it.”

  “That you do, Shelby. That you do.” Waiting for her to walk out so he could lock up for her, he was thinking how nice it was to see her so happy.

  The restaurant wasn’t crowded at all. They got a table in about five minutes overlooking the cityscape. Rex immediately ordered a Riesling wine, which he knew was her favorite. They ordered their dinners and agreed to share a shrimp cocktail while they waited for the steak that everyone in town claimed was to die for.

  The waiter came back with the shrimp cocktail and the wine. He poured a little into a glass for Rex to taste. After swirling the wine in his glass and taking a small sniff of the scent, he took a sip and let it sit in his mouth before swallowing it. Giving the waiter his nod of approval, their glasses were then filled.

  They had a casual conversation over the shrimp and laughed as they did every time they were together. He had to smile at her. She looked like her mouth was watering with the smell of the steak in the restaurant.

  “Is it as good as everyone says?” Shelby asked Rex.

  “How would I know? This is my first time here. They’ve only been open a month.”

  “Oh, I guess I just assumed. I know how you like to ‘entertain’ your dates before you–well, you know.” She suddenly was very embarrassed. Rex and she never usually talked about that sort of thing.

  “Well, therein lies the misunderstanding. I would actually have to have a date to bring them here.” He smiled.

  “What? The great Rex, the king of casual sex, has been without a date? Say it isn’t so,” Shelby teased.

  “No, it’s true. I haven’t been dating much in the past few months. It’s been slowly tapering off. As a matter of fact, I haven’t had a date in about five weeks now, I believe.”

  What? When she first met Rex, he had women beating each other down just to get to him. “Why? Is something wrong? It’s not as if you’ve let yourself go. I’m sure there are plenty of women dying to spend an evening with you.”

  Are you one of those women, he wondered. “With what time?” As soon as he said it, he realized how ridiculous it was. He was the one who had nothing but time. Trying to laugh it off, he said, “I’m usually with you.” His attempt to make light of the situation didn’t go as planned. He immediately saw the hurt in her eyes at his choice of words.

  “Shelby, I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. I love spending time with you. That’s the main reason I don’t go out with other women. I don’t have as good of a time with them. You are fun to be around. That’s what I meant.” He was an even bigger idiot than he thought possible.

  He saw her thinking, wondering if what he said was true. Many times, she had said she was too dependent on him. She assumed that the many nights he had been there for her he’d had to cancel dates to help her. He never corrected her on that, but somehow it bothered him that she assumed he was still dating. Surely, on the nights they weren’t together, he could have. Although, now that he thought about it, he realized that they were almost always together. Whether he came over to her place for dinner, or they went out–they never spent much time at his place–they saw each other just about every day. He hoped she wasn’t smothering her. He would hate it if his need to be around her caused a rift in their friendship.

  “You know, Rex, I don’t want you to think I need a babysitter. I love spending time with you, too. But you still need time for you.”

  He was afraid of this. Shelby had a tendency to beat herself up and blame all that was wrong in the world on her mistakes of the past. “Shelby, I meant what I said. I haven’t really had a desire to date anyone. If I do, I promise I’ll do something about
it, okay?” How about you? Would you consider going on a date with me? The words were on the tip of his tongue, just dying to roll out.

  She smiled at him. “Okay, besides, you should have more time on your hands now anyway.”

  Rex wasn’t sure how to take that. “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t you remember? My therapist told me that there were steps to my healing and moving on with my life? Remember? I know I told you. She made me put things in order of priority. After I reached my target weight and felt better about myself, she encouraged me to start dating.”

  She put up her hand to stop him before he could protest. He had already voiced in the past how much he disliked her going out with any of the men who sometimes would hit on her.

  “I know what you’re going to say. But I think she’s right. It’s not like I’ll be jumping into bed with anyone. It will, however, be good for me to learn to socialize with men other than you and Jack. I need to be able to feel comfortable around men. I can’t live my whole life in fear. Rex, please don’t look at me like that. Tell me you understand.”

  No! No way in hell. I do not understand at all. And there is no way in hell you’re going to start dating random guys who ask you out and only want to get in your pants. You’re going to start dating me and no one else.

  “Yeah, I understand.” What else was he supposed to say? “Oh, good, here comes our dinner.” He was more than thankful for the interruption.

  They ate their meal and shared small talk for the remainder of their dinner. Their seemed to be a tension in the air. Rex hadn’t seemed very happy when she brought up the idea of dating again. He knew he was being possessive of her, and that she probably wouldn’t or couldn’t understand that. The truth was he wasn’t sure if he would ever be ready for her to date. How could she think his social life was suffering because of her when his life had become her. All he wanted to do was make her happy.