It All Started With A Payback

Four: Bitter Past behind the Sweet Revenge

"Just a sec!" Tori hollered to whoever was knocking on the door. She wiped her hands dry on the hand towel. She hurriedly opened the door only to slam it shut on the face of the man who stood there.

She leaned against the door and took deep breaths. She failed to calm her nerves. It was way too soon to see him again. Alexa! I am going to wring your pretty little neck.

She gave her cousin an abridged history of her past with Louie, conveniently leaving out the most recent past of course.

She wondered which part of the story her cousin misunderstood. She thought she made it pretty clear to her that she didn't care whether Louie vanished off the face of the earth or if by luck he got kidnapped by some terrorist.

Yeah, that was how much she detested him. Or that was what she told herself when she first saw him again after many years.

She took a deep shakey breath. She opened the door again....of course he was still standing there. Looking and smelling fresh....not really helping her gather her wits.

"Hi," he said simply as though she didn't just slam the door on his face. A slow sexy smile that always managed to make a thousand butterflies magically appear in her stomach formed on his lips.

She reluctantly opened the door wider letting him in. He handed her a box of cake and a paper cup. It probably contained cappuccino from their coffee shop.

That cappuccino....she inwardly groaned. It was that coffee's fault. She liked it so much that when she was setting up her studio in the spare room at 5 AM in the morning she had the inexplicable compulsion to check if the coffee shop was open already or perhaps it was open 24 hours. In hindsight she realized it was a ridiculous thought....it was just a small coffee shop and one that was obviously attached to the carwash beside it.

Who, in his right mind would run a carwash at such ridiculous operating hours? No....the taunting voice in her head said....she was just making excuses...she just wanted to see the arrogant but irresistible man again.

After thanking him for the treats he brought she led him to the long nesting table that doubled as a dining table. They both silently pulled out the black wooden stool under the table. She untied...tried to untie the ribbon on the box of cake.

Her traitorous shaking fingers wouldn't let her. Her cheeks overheated from the blood that came rushing up to her face. The soft, smooth red satin ribbon on her fingers brought fragments of the heated moments she shared with him.

"Will you trust a stranger?" She whispered sensuously as his lips languorously made its descent from the delicate flesh behind her ear down the entire length of her neck. His warm breath and five o' clock shadow made the tiny hairs on her nape stand in rapt attention.

She took his muffled moan as a yes. Knowing that he didn't have a clue who she was gave her so much courage to do the things she wouldn't have dared to do. The bastard thought he had her wrapped around his little finger....but she couldn't deny the effect he had on her...maybe he was starting to make her lose her mind again.

When he found her mouth once again in a heated kiss and their tongues mated she almost forgot why she was leading him on.

It was time for payback.

She faced him and bit his lower lip playfully. "Let's see how much you trust me." She said as she pulled off the scarf from her head.

He unwittingly let him tie it around his head, covering his eyes. He swallowed audibly and the way the muscles on his chest tightened and relaxed she knew she was getting him really excited. She slid her palms up and down his chest.