Revenge & More

by Tanya Kelly

  Yeah right. If that were true why had she spent the last few days on edge…checking her phone every two seconds.

  She was confused he’d left without a word, considering he’d been insistent about wanting her and for more than just sex. Plus he said he’d be in town for about a week. His abrupt departure with no word had left her feeling misled which eventually turned to anger.

  I guess a couple romps in bed was what he meant by wanting more.

  It was definitely best that he was gone. She wasn’t supposed to be feeling anything where Damon was concerned except lust. Nothing more. Not confused, or sad, disappointed, and angry. She was frankly sick of the gauntlet of emotions running through her.

  The bartender approached her and Kim ordered a cold beer.

  “You can put that on my tab,” a deep voice said next to her.

  Kim swiveled around, her eyes widening as they landed on Damon, the object of her dark thoughts. He wore a white ball cap and his midnight black hair curled out from under it. Her gaze traveled down the fitted blue golf shirt that defined his chiseled chest which was tucked neatly into his gray slacks. Her mouth went dry as she stared.

  Sweet Jesus, he was hot in golf attire.

  “W–what are you doing here?” she stammered.

  His lips quirked in an amused smile. “Golfing,” he replied, grabbing the seat next to her. Kim tried not to notice the way his biceps bulged in his golf shift.

  “I thought you went back home.”

  “I did.” He motioned for the bartender and ordered a beer for himself. “I had some things to take care of but I’m back. Unfinished business here as well.”

  His eyes bore into hers. “Without sounding conceited, I certainly hope you don’t consider me unfinished business. Because I can tell you, it’s finished.”

  Damon leaned in and tucked a loose piece of hair that had escaped her hat behind her ear. “Not by a long shot,” he whispered.

  Goose bumps broke out on her skin and she licked her suddenly very dry lips.

  “There you are.”

  Kim broke the awkward stare with Damon and looked up as Tyler approach them.

  “Kim, I’m so sorry about the mix-up but thankfully Mr. Black, I mean, Damon will accompany you guys,” he said, looking frazzled.

  “What?”

  “Tyler has a scheduling conflict so I offered to be your fourth today,” Damon replied.

  “I don’t know how I did it, but I seemed to have overbooked myself. But you’ll have fun golfing with Damon. Sorry, Kim, but I gotta run.”

  Oh she definitely had fun with Damon…just not golfing.

  As Tyler left them, Kim fixed a narrowed gaze on Damon. “You really don’t have to be stuck with us. We’ll be fine on our own.”

  “No, I insist,” he replied, before trailing a finger down the bare part of her leg. His smile was victorious and it irked Kim.

  “For some reason, I feel Tyler’s scheduling conflict isn’t an accident.”

  He leaned forward, his smile widening. “I don’t leave anything up to chance or accidents.”

  Damn, the man was smug when he got what he wanted.

  However, before she could argue further, Damon stood and looked toward the entrance. “Here come your friends now.”

  Kim looked over his shoulder and saw Reilly and Lacey approaching them. Reilly looked excited but Lacey had a look of concern on her face as she saw Damon.

  Kim stood as well and plastered a smile on her face.

  “Hey kiddo,” Reilly said and wrapped her in a hug. He then turned to Damon and smiled.

  Kim somehow remembered her manners and introduced them. The two men shook hands and smiled but she could see them assessing one another. Especially Reilly. Lacey’s fiancé was one of a kind and Kim adored him. The three of them had grown quite close. Reilly looked out for Kim like a big brother and she could see him scrutinizing Damon.

  Reilly had kept his arm around her as he shook Damon’s hand and they exchanged pleasantries. When Damon turned to say hello to Lacey, Reilly took his fiancée’s hand while still casually holding Kim.

  Damon held back the smile as Reilly’s body language spoke volumes. He was warning him, silently, that he cared for these two women. He recognized the protectiveness of his hold on both Lacey and Kim. He knew because Kim inspired the same emotion in him.

  Which was probably why he was so conflicted, considering his actions were meant to eventually cause her pain. It was exactly what he planned. His gut twisted as unwelcome thoughts crowded his mind. Lately he’d been questioning himself, wondering if he should give up his anger. His need for revenge.

  Damon quickly banished those thoughts and concentrated on the here and now. He had to stop thinking with his dick. Things would come to an end between them. It was inevitable.

  He would have his work cut out for him today getting Kim’s friends to like him—and trust him. Success sometimes meant having to perform less than desirable tasks.

  “Um, Tyler unfortunately can’t make it so Damon will be joining us,” Kim said with very little enthusiasm in her voice which both Reilly and Lacey seemed to pick up on. He could feel their wariness.

  “That is if you don’t mind,” he added, smiling pleasantly.

  “Of course not,” Reilly replied. “It will give us a chance to get to know an old friend of Kim’s.”

  Damon didn’t want to like these people. When he’d asked Tyler to schedule the game with Kim, Lacey, and Reilly and then conveniently overbook himself so Damon could slip in, he had a goal in mind. He needed to get closer to Kim, and spending time with her and her friends would help. But it would only complicate things if he liked them. But he was finding it impossible not to feel a grudging respect for Reilly and his safeguarding of these two women. He wasn’t intimated by Damon either the way most men were.

  “Can I get you both a drink before we start?” Damon asked.

  Reilly and Lacey both requested a beer and Damon moved to the bar to grab their drinks but not before he overheard Lacey whisper.

  “What is he doing here?”

  He didn’t hear Kim’s answer as he ordered the drinks. He wondered how much she’d told her friends about him and their past. It must have been something, from the waves of concerns he felt emanating from Lacey. As he turned to look at them, Kim was shaking her head and Lacey still had that worried look on her face.

  Tyler had been pretty surprised as well when Damon had made his request. The young man was probably burning with curiosity but he gladly obliged, no questions asked. After all, Damon was his boss.

  He returned with their beers and the four of them headed out toward the golf carts. Reilly indicated he would ride with Damon and the two women got into the other cart. Damon made small talk as they drove to the first hole and Reilly was polite but Damon could still feel his scrutiny.

  Reilly teed up first and send the ball flying in a long, straight shot down the fairway. The man looked like he was a naturally athletic. They were both similar in height and stature so Damon guessed Reilly worked out as well.

  “Good shot,” he said. “You golf often?”

  “No,” Reilly replied. “Only a handful of times.”

  “Then I guess you’re a natural.”

  Damon knew quite a bit about Lacey and Reilly from his investigation. Since Kim spent so much time with them, the investigator had acquired some basic information on her best friends. He knew Reilly was from Ireland and owned a custom furniture business. Lacey was Kim’s best friend from college and had recently moved to Beechfield, and they’d opened the swimwear and lingerie store together.

  Damon took his shot next and was pleased to see it go farther than Reilly’s. Men were competitive by nature and he spent quite a bit of time on the golf course. He’d have been disappointed to be outshot by someone who barely golfed.

  They moved their carts up a bit for the women to golf from the ladies tee off spots. Lacey went first and looked around nervously.

  “T
ry not to laugh,” she told them. “It’s only the second time I’ve ever golfed.”

  She swung her club and missed the ball entirely. Kim and Reilly chuckled.

  “Keep your eye on the ball,” Reilly encouraged her. This time Lacey hit the ball and while it didn’t go very far, it was a nice straight shot down the fairway.

  “Woo hoo,” Lacey cried, looking proud as a peacock when she hit the ball. Kim laughed and gave her a high five and Damon couldn’t help but smile as Lacey ran over to Reilly and threw her arms around him.

  “I hit the ball,” she cried, laughing, and Reilly kissed her tenderly. Damon looked away, feeling like he was spying on a private moment.

  Kim bent over to place her ball on the tee and he admired her round ass. He didn’t know how she pulled it off but she managed to look both cute and sexy as hell in her pink shorts and white golf shirt which stretched nicely across her breasts. He watched as she took position and swung the club, his gaze landing on the strip of bare skin at her abdomen as her shirt rose.

  Lust spread through his body and he was suddenly anxious for this game to be over so he could take her back to his place. This time he would take her from behind, his hands digging into the globes of her ass. He would…

  “Great shot, Kim,” Lacey and Reilly cheered interrupting his thoughts.

  Damon blinked and focused on Kim’s face as she smiled from ear to ear. Their eyes locked and she raised her eyebrows challengingly.

  Shit! Golf. They were golfing and he hadn’t even noticed where her ball went. Down boy, he told his dick.

  “That was a great shot,” Damon said as Kim walked over to him. “Nice form.” His eyes raked her body from head to toe. He wasn’t talking about her golf swing although it was perfect as well.

  “Was it?” Kim whispered when she was close to him. “I don’t think you have any idea where my ball is. Too busy staring at my ass.”

  Damon threw back his head and laughed. “Caught me, but in my defense, your ass is distracting as hell,” he replied with a wink before turning away.

  “My turn,” he heard her say as he walked away. Damon smiled, feeling her eyes on his him as he made his way back to the golf cart. They drove the cart closer to Reilly’s ball while the girls went over to Lacey’s ball which hadn’t gone very far. They sat and waited in the cart as Kim helped Lacey select a club and take her shot.

  “So Lacey tells me you and Kim knew each other from her home town years ago,” Reilly said.

  Damon took a sip of his beer before responding, wondering how much Reilly knew. “Yeah. I spend a summer in Willow Lake working with my uncle and met Kim.”

  “And you haven’t seen each other since? Or did you keep in touch over the years?” Reilly leaned forward, watching Damon intently. He got the feeling that Kim’s friends knew little about him or that summer they spent together. Damon could sense Reilly’s curiosity and recognized when someone was fishing for information.

  “We tried. But you know how people grow apart when their lives take them in different directions,” he responded vaguely with part truth. Kim never had any intention of staying in touch.

  She had said she’d loved him…many times and they’d made plans to get out of Willow Lake and start a life together. But Damon had wanted to go first, find work, get established, and then send for her. He’d asked her to wait and she had said she’d wait forever if she had to.

  But as soon as he’d left town, he’d been forgotten or a better offer had come. Damon had written her letter after letter and never once heard back. Months later, when he settled into a cozy one bedroom apartment and managed a couple days off from work, he planned a trip to Willow Lake to talk to her in person and hopefully bring her back with him to Toronto.

  He’d called his uncle to let him know he was coming and Tom informed him of Kim’s engagement to Robert, the man Kim’s parents wanted all along.

  She’d obviously never loved him and had just been having fun that summer. Defying her parents and playing with the town bad boy.

  “Lacey also tells me you own this golf course, the resort, and most of the community surrounding it. Are you on business here then or taking some time off?” Reilly asked, interrupting his dark stroll down memory lane.

  Damon hesitated before answering. He liked Reilly and wanted to be honest or at least as honest as he could be in the circumstances. “Both, actually. I came on business but then I ran into Kim. So I decided to stay and enjoy some time off.”

  Reilly nodded before taking a sip of his own beer and Damon continued. “Things were complicated between us years ago. I had strong feelings for Kim then and, well, a lot of those have resurfaced seeing her again.”

  Damon was surprised at his own words and the truth in them. Being around Kim was bringing up lots of old emotions he’d rather stay buried.

  “How does Kim feel?” Reilly asked, still watching him closely.

  “I’m not sure,” Damon replied. His eyes sought her out as they made their way over to them. “I think she has reservations. We both do so we’re taking it slow.”

  Reilly looked over at the woman as well and his face softened in a smile. “I had to fight pretty hard to make Lacey mine and well, Kim, she’s fiercely independent and stubborn as hell. She doesn’t let many get close. But behind that aloofness is a caring person who would do anything for those she loves. If you care about her as much I think you do, based on the way you look at her, she’s worth the fight.”

  “I have no doubt,” Damon replied. “This is one fight I intend to win,” he finished just as the girls reached them, laughing, their cheeks flushed from the sun.

  * * * *

  “Thank God. I see the club house. I shouldn’t have had that last beer because I have to go again,” Lacey said, crossing her legs tightly.

  Kim laughed at her friend’s discomfort. “You probably shouldn’t drink at all on a golf course because having to pee every second to third hole is unacceptable. You have the smallest bladder ever.”

  “Ya, ya, just step on it,” Lacey replied. When they reached the club house, Lacey practically jumped out of the golf cart. Kim cracked up again as her friend ran awkwardly inside as she followed behind.

  The guys were grabbing some waters and snacks before they continued the last nine. When Kim walked into the bathroom, she could hear Lacey’s sigh of relief.

  “That feels so much better,” her friend said in the stall, causing Kim to snicker. She looked in the mirror, smiling from ear to ear. Her skin was glowing with a touch of sun despite her sunscreen protection and she couldn’t wipe the smile from her face. She was having a great time golfing with her friends and Damon. The afternoon had started off with trepidation on everyone’s part.

  But it wasn’t long before Damon had charmed them all and they’d started to relax and enjoy the day. Damon and Reilly were drinking beers, smoking cigars, and poking fun at the girls like old pals that went way back. Seeing them together and the four of them having such a good time caused Kim a pang of longing.

  Was this what it would be like if she settled down?

  As soon as the idea popped into her head she scoffed at herself in the mirror.

  Yeah, right. More like cold, distant strangers who put up with one another like her parents. Settling down equated to life-ending.

  Except it wasn’t that way for Reilly and Lacey. They were happy—sickeningly happy, and this wasn’t the first time she found herself envious of them.

  She tried to picture her and Damon in a relationship. Laughing, spending time together, dinners, vacations, and sex. Lots of hot, wild sex. Heat sparked in her body immediately and not for the first time today either.

  He was so damn sexy. Every time she watched him swing a club, his biceps straining against his shirt, dirty thoughts entered her mind and it was like a voltage of electricity straight to her nipples and pussy. She had no doubt how this day would end and the anticipation was killing her.

  Maybe they’d start with a shower together
and she’d wash every part of his body, starting with his thick hard—

  “Did you not hear me?”

  Lacey’s voice disrupted her delicious thoughts and Kim realized she was gripping the sink and staring unseeingly in the mirror.

  “Oh, sorry, what was that?” She hadn’t even realized Lacey had been speaking to her.

  “What the hell were you thinking about?” Lacey put soap in her hands and began washing them. “Never mind, I think I know,” she continued before Kim answered.

  Kim only smiled and moved to the stall. When she came back out, Lacey was leaning against the wall, smiling smugly.

  “What?”

  “You got it bad for him.”

  Kim washed her hands and dried them. “I do,” she replied simply.

  Lacey stood with her hands on her hips. “I knew it. You two seem good together and from the little I know of him today, he seems like a good guy.”

  Kim shook her head and balled up the paper towel and then dunked it in the waste basket. “You got it wrong.”

  Lacey’s brows drew together in confusion.

  “I do have it bad for him—sexually. I want the man. Under me, on top of me, in me…every conceivable way possible. But that’s it. Don’t read into this, Lace, ’cause it’s not going to happen.”

  “Why not?”

  “One, it’s not what I want. One man for the rest of my life.” Kim stuck out her tongue and pulled a face of disgust. “Second, even if I could commit to someone, it wouldn’t be Damon Black.”

  “What’s wrong with Damon?”

  “Nothing and everything,” Kim replied, crossing her arms over her chest. “We have a bit of a complicated past and let’s just say I know Damon is a lot like me and doesn’t tend to stick around long. And before you ask, I’ll tell you about it another time.”

  Lacey narrowed her eyes and Kim knew that expression. She could see the wheels turning in her friends head.

  “If you say so, but I disagree. Especially seeing the way he looks at you. It doesn’t look to me like a man only looking for a roll in the sack.”

  “You’re just seeing things because you want everyone to be all lovey-dovey like you and Reilly,” Kim replied, shaking her head. “Come on, let’s get back out there before they send a search party and stop reading into things.”