Sins of the Past (3 page)

She sat in her pool until it was too dark to see and her fingers had shriveled up before her stomach growled, forcing her to get out and hunt down dinner. Lorna dried off and went inside. She was determined to stay relaxed on what little she had left of her off day, so once she stripped off her wet swimming suit she didn’t bother searching for clothes to wear. Wrapping a dry towel around her, she headed to the kitchen and decided on quick sandwiches rather than worry about cooking. Just as she gathered everything she needed and sat it on the counter, her doorbell rang. Grumbling, Lorna headed to the door.

“Who is it? It better not be the fuckers who messed up my car because I’m in the mood to kill someone today.”

Jacob just about swallowed his tongue to keep from laughing as he heard his neighbor shouting from somewhere inside her house. He didn’t know if she meant for whoever was at the door to hear her or not, but he had a feeling his feisty neighbor didn’t care either way. He could hear her stomping as she neared the door and wondered if his decision to knock was a good idea. He had battled with himself all day on whether or not to come over and introduce himself. Jacob knew it was just an excuse to meet her, but he couldn’t get her out of his head. Finally, when he couldn’t take it anymore, he gathered his crutches and hopped himself across the street.

He just hoped she didn’t think his profuse sweating and lack of breath was weird. The crutches he was forced to use were, in his opinion, someone’s sick idea of torture. Jacob had no idea armpits could even get sore until he had to use the things. Now, the pain in his pits fought a constant battle with his knee to see which could hurt the most. At the moment, he couldn’t say which was winning.

“Can I help you?”

The icy greeting snapped Jacob out of his thoughts. The way his neighbor was frowning at him led him to believe it hadn’t been the first time she had asked the question. His intentions of making a good first impression were going up in flames and he hadn’t even gotten a word out yet.

“Umm… Hi, I’m Ja—” He thrust his hand out in front of him as he began to introduce himself. Unfortunately, the introduction was cut short when he felt himself becoming off balance as his crutch that he had foolishly let go of slipped out from under his arm and fell to the ground. It seemed like the world decided to make him the butt of one huge joke when he leaned forward to pick it up at the exact same moment his neighbor did. Not only did he hear the sickening crunch, but he felt it as his forehead collided with her nose on the way down.

“Owww! Fuck, fuck, fuck. Oh shit! That hurt!” His new neighbor wailed as she hopped up and down holding her nose.

Jacob saw the blood trickling through her fingers and running down her arms. He had every intention of helping her and apologizing profusely, but he stood rooted to the porch frozen at the sight before him. His brain and body seemed to shut down leaving only his eyes working perfectly fine. The towel his neighbor had been wearing didn’t make it past the first couple of jumps before hitting the floor. The woman was completely bare and Jacob was mesmerized at the site of all of her curves and her breasts bouncing up and down. The view of them bare was way better than the glimpse he had gotten earlier through her wet shirt.
I’m going to hell.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Did you come over here just to assault me or did you actually want something?”

Her nasally, pissed-off tone did nothing to calm the erection that was currently causing his jeans to tighten. Either she hadn’t yet realized her towel had fallen off or she was too pissed off to care at the moment.

“I…uh…” Jacob swallowed, trying to get a little moisture back into his dry mouth. He was a trained killer for Christ’s sake, but at the moment he felt like a bumbling teenager all over again. He raised his hand to help her, but stopped midair not knowing if she would welcome his touch. Making a decision, he leaned down and picked up his crutch and her towel at the same time. Once he had his crutch safely back under his arm, Jacob stepped into the house and held up the towel for his neighbor to take. He saw the expression in her face change the instant she realized what he was holding, but instead of doing the obvious and snatching the towel away from him to cover up, the little spitfire held the towel up to her nose. With one last glare at him, she turned and headed down her hall, leaving him standing in her doorway.

The view of her rounded bottom swaying as she casually walked away had Jacob groaning. He had no doubt that view would star in his fantasies for a while to come. His cock jumped at the thought and Jacob had to reach down and adjust his pants for fear that he would have a permanent zipper imprint on his cock if his erection grew any more. There was just something about his neighbor that turned him on. He didn’t even know her name, but he definitely wanted to get to know her.

Feeling awkward just standing in her doorway, Jacob eased the front door closed and made his way over to her sofa. He didn’t know if he was welcomed in her home after what he had just done to her, but he decided to take a chance. He had a feeling his neighbor’s prickly attitude scared most people off, but after the things he had seen and done, there wasn’t much that scared him. Besides, he smiled to himself, he liked a challenge. It made the win that much sweeter in the end.

Jacob sighed in relief when he finally eased down, taking his weight off his leg. He rubbed his knee, softly moaning at how good the heat of his hand felt through the bandages. He was in pain and his meds were at his house. The distance seemed like miles instead of feet when he thought of the return trip he would have to make home. In hindsight, Jacob knew he probably should have never left his house, but he couldn’t sit there and stare at his walls another second. He missed his team. He missed the action the assignments brought, but most of all, he missed his best friend Cole.

His neighbor’s curses and stomps came down the hallway long before she did and Jacob had to hold back a laugh. When she finally came back, she headed straight for the kitchen still mumbling under her breath. She had dressed in a tiny pair of shorts and tank top which did nothing to hide her curves. His mouth watered at the thought of stripping them off of her and tracing all of those curves with his tongue.

“Stupid men. That gigantic fucker better be happy he didn’t break my nose. Too bad.” His neighbor sighed as she forcefully rubbed mayo on her bread, accidentally poking a hole in it. “The big ox was cute, but why do the big ones always have to be so dumb?”

“I’m far from dumb, honey,” Jacob yelled from his seat on the couch.

“What the hell?” his neighbor screamed sending the butter knife she was just using flying toward his head.

Jacob ducked just in time to keep from being hit and laughed.

“Why are you still here in my house? I thought you went home. Or did you want to assault me some more?” His neighbor glared at him with her hands on her hips.

The move tightened the shirt she was wearing across her breasts and Jacob grimaced and gritted his teeth as he fought the urge to adjust his aching cock in front of her. He had a feeling that wouldn’t go over well with his little neighbor. She was already steaming mad and he had no plans of adding more fuel to the fire.

He focused on her red swollen nose. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. I’m sorry about your nose.” Jacob nodded to his crutches sitting beside him. “I’m still trying to get used to them, unfortunately. If it makes you feel any better, you aren’t the first casualty to them.”

That last comment caused the corner of her mouth to twitch into a hint of a smile and Jacob almost sighed in relief. She was no longer looking at him like she wanted to kill him and that was just fine with him. Jacob would never admit it out loud, but his tiny neighbor kind of scared him. She was like a stick of dynamite waiting to go off.

Jacob cleared his throat when it became obvious that his neighbor was still waiting on him to speak. “Anyway, I’m glad it’s not broken.”

With a curt nod, his neighbor turned and headed back into the kitchen. She went back to making her sandwich, leaving Jacob at a loss of what to do. He had no idea if he had just been dismissed or if his company was even wanted. The thought of going back to his house to stare at the bare walls or mindlessly at the TV kept him glued to her couch. Watching his neighbor mutter to herself as she tortured her sandwich into submission was much more interesting than anything he would find on TV.

* * * *

What the hell is wrong with me? The man nearly breaks my nose and I can barely stop myself from giggling and blushing like a twelve-year-old girl who just met a member of my favorite boy band. Next, I’ll be stalking his trash for memorabilia for my scrap book.
Lorna snorted at the thought. She resisted the urge to look over at him and sigh. From what she saw of the man when he had been across the street, he was gorgeous, but up close, the man was devastatingly handsome.

At the moment, Lorna could tell he was in pain from whatever injury he had and he wasn’t at his best. She had a feeling that when he was at one hundred percent though, the man would be surrounded with an aura of arrogance and danger. “Slap a tux on him and I have my very own James Bond sitting on my living room sofa,” Lorna mumbled under her breath.

On autopilot, she finished her sandwiches, grabbed two beers out of the fridge, and tucked a bag of chips under her arm. It wasn’t until she got to the living room and set her dinner on the coffee table that she realized she had made enough for her neighbor as well without even thinking. She frowned, more confused than angry at her actions. Lorna never did anything without consciously weighing the pros and cons before making her move. Now, here she was making dinner for a man whose name she didn’t even know. If she had to admit it to herself, she was actually looking forward to dinner with a guy who hopefully knew nothing of her reputation yet and hopefully didn’t expect anything from her.

“Is there something wrong?”

Lorna was snapped out of her thoughts by her neighbor’s question. “No, nothing’s wrong. Why would you ask that?”

“You looked like you were contemplating you next move to take over the world or something.”

Lorna laughed. “You don’t even know my name, yet you already know me so well. World domination can wait though. Even evil villains have to eat and I guess I can share my dinner with you since you’re already here.”

“You’re still willing to share with me even though I almost ruined your plans with my smooth moves?”

“How do you know dinner doesn’t come at a price?”
Oh my God! Am I flirting?
There was something about her neighbor that sucked her right in. For the first time since her Uncle John had died, Lorna actually cared what someone thought of her and it was a man that she knew nothing about. She had to admit, though, she was enjoying his sense of humor.

“Something tells me it is a price I’m willing to pay. I’m Jacob, by the way.”

Lorna couldn’t tell if it was her imagination or if his voice had actually dropped an octave or two when he made his last statement. Either way, his deep, husky voice sent shivers down her spine and directly to her lower half. She took a sip of her beer to add some moisture back to her dry mouth. “I’m Lorna,” she responded, ignoring his comment altogether. No need to prove the town rumors true before she even got to know him.

They both dug into their sandwiches in comfortable silence and Lorna watched Jacob out of the corner of her eye. Whatever injury the man had, he was still recovering from and she could tell it had taken a toll on him. His face was pale, as if his color was washed out. His lips were pinched and white around the edges when he wasn’t chewing, letting her know he was in pain at the moment. The way he nibbled at the food told her he had probably lost quite a few pounds since he had been injured. That was saying something because Jacob was still huge. Lorna couldn’t imagine how big he would be when he was healthy. Still, the thought of him in pain and not eating right went straight to her heart.

“You know how I got injured.” Lorna pointed to her throbbing nose that she had no doubt was swelling at the moment, then to his leg. “What happened to you?” She didn’t think Jacob would answer at first because he was quiet for so long, but he finally sighed and spoke.

“I was shot in the knee on my last mission. I had to have it completely replaced.”

Yep. My very own James Bond.
Lorna liked the fact that his answer was straightforward and to the point. He didn’t try to sugarcoat it as if she couldn’t handle the truth. She had a feeling he didn’t want to talk about it, so she didn’t ask any more questions. He proved her feelings true when he quickly changed the subject.

“So, that’s a pretty sweet car you have out there.”

Lorna smiled with pride and decided she liked her neighbor even more. “I think you and I are going to get along just fine, Jacob.”

“Hey, J.”

“What’s up, Cole? How are things?” Jacob settled back against the headboard of his bed and sighed. He had headed straight to his bed when he got back from Lorna’s. He was in pain and all he wanted to do was take some pain meds and sink into oblivion, but he had to talk to his friend first.

“Well, while you’ve been having a nice, relaxing vacation, some of us have been working. I almost got my ass shot off today,” Cole joked. “Seriously though, I’m glad you called. I have some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first?”