He’d had a way of standing which reminded her of a swashbuckling ship’s captain; feet spread apart, arms crossed, face to the sky and even now the same held true. Right below the surface of the controlled façade he was projecting she knew lay the essence of something daring and enthralling within him. He was very much a bold and fearless warrior at heart. Deep in thought before the wide cased window, he was silhouetted against the dazzling rays of that days’ sun with more shadow now than light, emphasizing the sizzling presence she couldn’t ignore; the latent sensuality and a primal sense of superiority he exuded without trying.
With his arms crossed she couldn’t help but admire the casual attire he’d chosen. The sexy western style shirt in the brightest of bright whites, perfect for the cowboy pirate in her mind, stretched tight across his massive shoulders and down muscled arms to sleeves which had been turned back revealing tanned forearms sprinkled with soft hair.
Was she wrong to notice that the shirt was neatly tucked into a pair of dark jeans which molded his body; showing her the physique of a grown man? He had a flat stomach and long powerful legs along with what the girls would call a very cute butt accentuating that pirate stance of his.
It didn’t take much to open the floodgates of memory even further recalling intimate details her mind seemed helpless to block. Remembering how this giant of a man looked without a stitch of clothing on; his impossibly broad shoulders and naturally muscled arms framed a torso sculpted to perfection with a line of dusty brown hair running down his chest like an arrow pointing lower beyond his navel to slim hips and powerful thighs.
Unbidden and unwanted came the startling memory of how his sex was crouched in another smattering of dusty colored body hair which enflamed the primitive drumbeat of awareness overtaking her now. Wanton memories of running her hands over his body and the way he would growl when her delicate touch had explored his maleness caused a sudden eruption of heat to pool between her legs, rocketing a deep blush up from the core of her being until it all but burst into flames on her face.
These memories were her enemy; thoughts and responses to a time long ago when she’d thought they were two parts of the same whole. Suddenly she wanted to cry and not from the pain of her injuries but from her helpless response to an avalanche of sensual memories that were rocking her being and blowing away years of iron clad control over her emotions.
She should look away; focus on herself and block her female response to his absorbing presence but try as she might nothing could force her thoughts back from the abyss of an intense desire to drink him in and drown in the powerful response his presence was wringing from her frayed emotions.
His profile revealed little except that the sandy blonde, sun bleached shaggy hair she remembered was now immaculately cut and styled in a burnished darker blonde color with what she suspected from this distance were strands of grey at his temples. This man was an adult and a powerful one at that if his take command behavior since the moment he had announced to a shocked and speechless Jules and Ned that he was taking care of the situation was any indication.
Swallowing back a shaken sigh forced from her soul at the realization that though she tried to block her feelings she was helpless and sinking fast, Shannon’s mind wandered over the moments that made up this extraordinary day and instantly felt a creeping nervousness like butterflies before an important event invading every fiber of her being. Her awareness of him was shockingly unexpected and oh so delicious at the same time.
A quick internal scan revealed much more than the bumps, cuts, scrapes and sprains which led to this bizarre situation. What was looming even more importantly was the spontaneous response which she could not control that seemed to be reaching out to him as though her body and soul recognized his as a missing part. A longing, deep and intense, overtook her and made more tears swim in her eyes. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be and for long moments she simply absorbed a tidal wave of memories both good and also tragically painful. The tears she was trying to keep private were going to break free and there was nothing she could do about it.
That little sigh she’d tried to control had found its way past the shroud of deep, thoughtful memories that had frozen him in space for lord knows how long and snapped him back to instant, focused awareness on where he was and who else was in the room.
With unerring accuracy his head instantly turned toward the delicate sigh still captured in the air, only instead of finding her eyes looking back at him he was met by a hollow gaze, apparently un-phased by the swirling confusion and turmoil in which he found himself.
All those years of wondering what she may or may not feel about him had been answered when she bolted in anger and gotten hurt. That she had tried to run from him was all he needed to know. Recognizing that his very presence sparked so vehement and reckless a response from her froze his heart and sank like a stone in the pit of his stomach.
Everything in him wanted to instantly protect her. For a single heartbeat he had been so overwhelmed with joy at finding himself in the gift of her presence that he had almost picked her up, thrown her over his shoulder and run away to the first secluded caveman retreat he could find and simply thrown himself at her feet in homage. She was his goddess, his best beloved, the missing part of his sleeping soul and as undeserving as he was, the universe had somehow given him a second chance to make things right; to fix the madness he had created eight years ago.
And then she recoiled in horror, wrenching herself from his grasp as though his touch had made her dirty. The strangled No! she had screamed in his shocked face reverberated through his brain on a continuous loop of background noise that he was pretty sure was going to haunt him forever.
And now here she was, in an expensive private clinic, nursing a serious contusion to her ankle, a nasty wound on her shoulder and an ugly bump on her forehead, all because of him. Good job, Nick.
Like he hadn’t done enough to her already he winced as her blank gaze continued to remind him of what a complete ass he had been and still was. To make him feel like an even bigger prick, there were clearly tears falling like raindrops down her cheeks. Shit. Those tears had the effect of Novocain on his reactions. He just froze.
When the tears that sprang to her eyes overflowed down her cheeks, Shannon jumped back into the moment and inhaled sharply in an attempt to reign in the primal longing his sudden appearance in her life had revealed. With a slight shaking of her head she refocused her attention only to find the object of her longing staring deeply at her as though he was attempting to read her mind.
The room was bursting at the seams with swirling energy; hers, his, bouncing off the other, circling, stopping, careening off the very walls in a heady communion of lost souls impeded by the frailties of human nature, each both longing and yet afraid, each reluctant to take whatever the next step would be.
Their future lay in frozen suspension all around them while the past stirred the pot. In those halted moments, his devastating power and natural authority stalled in the face of her potent allure. He was helpless. Enchanted. All the money, power and influence which pervaded his life meant absolutely nothing in this moment. He was, simply put, at his most vulnerable. Exposed and emotionally naked. Always having been rather fearless, he was instead completely terrified. He who had negotiated toe to toe with world leaders and powerful tycoons; wielded influence and power beyond what most people could even imagine, was reduced to a panicked mere mortal of a man with no more power or control over this situation than a human could control the waves of the ocean. She was turning him inside out and upside down without so much as looking in his direction.
The silence was deafening or maybe the noise she was hearing was actually that of the hammering of her thoughts in her head. Not knowing what to do next but realizing from the grim tight lipped expression she was getting from him it was going to be up to her to break the silence, Shannon shifted slightly trying to rearrange her position. That slight movement brought pain to every part of her bo
dy causing her to come up short with a barely suppressed groan of discomfort.
“Nick, what are you doing here?” Shannon asked in a tight husky little voice which spoke volumes about the fragile state she was in.
Moving closer but cautiously staying an unthreatening step or two away from overpowering her with his presence Nick answered in short order, “I’m here for Dom’s birthday. He’s my nephew.”
The curious expression in her eyes had him following that detail up in quick response with, “Jules is my little sister,” and then with a slight shrug of self-deprecating humor he added, “And she just happens to have seduced and married my best friend so between Ned, Dom and Jules, my goose is cooked!”
Said tinged with lighthearted humor, Nick instinctively tried to lighten the situation aware in his very bones that her outward show of calm hid a vulnerability which caused him wisely to soften his approach.
The half-smile he attempted with his words showed a brief flash of the sexy dimples that had made her knees go weak as a silly twenty year old, reminding Shannon again that she was in over her foolish head.
“What about you Shannon? Why are you here? I gather from something Ned said that you planned Dom’s birthday event?”
To say a million lights went off in her fuzzy, headache shrouded brain was an understatement. The blazing, brilliant spotlight which was suddenly shining in her mind brought with it some answers to be sure, but also deposited a hundred more questions on her mind’s doorstep.
Good god, he was Jules’ brother and Dom’s uncle. Stunned into silence by this disclosure Shannon went to reposition herself as if sitting up straighter was going to make her brain work better. Bad move was her next thought as once again agony shot up her leg causing fireworks of tension and pain to slice through her head. Her anguished moan, part pain, part frustration, part surrender echoed off the walls of the exam room slicing into Nick’s self-control. Hearing her discomfort was almost more than he could bear.
Frustrated that he couldn’t do more and feeling decidedly helpless, Nick growled, “No, don’t move.” with more force than necessary causing her to flinch at the gravity of his delivery. Wincing mentally although no expression whatsoever flickered across his controlled expression; he moved suddenly and was across the room at her bedside before she could blink.
How the hell did he do that, she wondered? He had a way of dominating the space around him in such a way that made her feel small and vulnerable.
In the next instant he gently but determinedly nudged her shoulders back against the pillows while rearranging the exam sheet more comfortably around her. Wherever they connected, wherever skin met skin or if his touch brushed against her clothing, Shannon experienced warmth. Knowing she was aware of him on a deeply physical level, caused her senses to scramble even more.
The gentle concern she saw in his actions lodged a huge lump in her throat. Of course, having him mere inches from her meant she was aware of him on a sensory overload level too – his cologne, sharp scented with a beguiling spiced undertone mingling with his own unique maleness brought her breath up short.
Taking this response as another indication of pain or discomfort Nick leaned forward to catch her eyes with a look of concern before quietly imploring her again to be still.
“Shannon, lie still please. Wiggling around is only going to make you more uncomfortable.” this last said while his hands had moved from her shoulders to the tops of her legs in a motion meant to convey calm and stillness but which brought the opposite effect on her raw emotions.
His use of the word wiggle got an immediate reaction from her as she tried to wrap some dignity around this situation. Realizing that this was the second time he’d mentioned her wiggling Shannon quickly found her voice.
“I told you before that I do not wiggle!” she snapped out a bit more harshly than intended but no matter that she wryly thought. He may be rattling her cage a bit by appearing out of thin air smack dab in the center of her existence in a major way, but no way was she going to let him minimize her as if she were an errant child. Wiggle indeed, she inwardly fumed.
His response was a raised eyebrow with just the hint of amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth most probably she admitted because she had indeed been wiggling as he put it. She wanted to roll her eyes at her own foolishness but drew back instead because there was nothing amusing about this.
Shannon was struggling to keep her unease under control. She sincerely hoped that none of the inner turmoil churning inside was showing on her face as she turned what she hoped was a blank stare and a bland expression in his direction. Inside however she was filling with an overwhelming feeling bordering on panic. In fact right then she thought that if anxiety were a water balloon it would’ve launched itself out of her by now and slammed against the wall behind them dripping liquid towards the floor. Her next thought was why a water balloon? Why not a balloon filled with paint; at least that way the dripping down the wall would be some intense color like purple; anything to take her mind off her increasing nervousness.
Nicholas Burke, the man who had made her feel limitless and alive and pathetic and of no consequence was suddenly and without any warning whatsoever involved in her life without invitation. Well, that wasn’t entirely true Shannon mused while still snapping defensive glances his way.
She had crumbled in his arms when he carried her to his SUV for the drive to the clinic. Between the pain and the shock of seeing him, she had momentarily lost her emotional equilibrium. Thinking back to how she had silently allowed him to cradle her injured leg in his huge hands and the way she had melted against him when he scooped her up, as though she weighed nothing, made her both want to cringe and do it all again.
Never again! screamed a memory in her head bringing her instantly back to reality. Uh uh, nope. Not gonna' lose it here girl, she chastised herself. Nicholas Temple Barrett was a different person than the Nick Temple she had loved so desperately. Snap out of it, she firmly chided.
Nick watched the play of thoughts and emotions play out across her face as though he had some exclusive access to her most secret thoughts. She had always been so easy for him to read and still was he realized with grim satisfaction. It was as if he was completely tuned in to her on an organic level that time, distance and a great deal of hurt had not killed. The pretty little pout she threw at him when he told her she was wiggling had almost sent him to his knees. Good lord but she was absolutely adorable sitting there all puffed up and trying to act like she wasn’t as hysterically off-kilter inside as he was.
Fascinated, he made note of the wild see-sawing emotions that danced across her expression and guessed rightly, he was sure, that she was struggling with her response to seeing him again and the undercurrent of the terrible way he had treated her the last time they’d spoken. Those two extremes were certainly tying him up in knots too but for far different reasons.
He knew that his churlish actions had been done in her best interest as if the crueler he was the better to ensure a complete break so she could go on with her life; unencumbered by lingering hopes. Only he would know that in doing so, he was dooming himself to a future devoid of emotion for Nick’s path of duty and destiny had been laid out long before their time together. A period he stole from the past as a lock against the future.
That she was trying to fight off a primal awareness of him was also mightily apparent to Nick. The restless motions of her beautifully expressive hands as they clutched and then smoothed the sheet covering her spoke volumes about the struggle she was having. Whereas he could read her emotions he was plagued by unease because though her response to his presence was palpable he couldn’t actually decipher whether she wanted to smack him or hug him. He hoped it was the later but didn’t discount that in her mind he probably deserved the smack.
Of course sitting this close he had also picked up on the steady but visible pulse in her neck which was telling its own story. She kept tugging at her bottom lip with quick little bites; a
reflexive motion signaling a mixture of distress and excitement he pulled from his memory.
He wanted nothing more than to lean forward and pass his tongue over the tell-tale pulse in her neck at that spot along her jaw and neck; near her ear which he knew tasted like sin and felt like warm silk against his tongue.
When her hand quickly lifted to that spot as if she had picked up on his desire, he jolted back and fixed her with a look that was probably best left locked away but one which he found he could not control no matter how he tried.
Shannon couldn’t believe she was trembling, this was ridiculous, but the way he had been staring at her was causing her already muddled brain to hit overdrive. She could almost feel his lips on her neck and had lifted her hand to ward off the sensual attack but instead had lightly caressed the sensitized skin she found there.
The two continued this silent eye battle for several long moments before the door to Shannon’s room suddenly opened and in walked the doctor who had been assigned to her care.
CHAPTER SIX
“Hello Ms. Reynolds. My name is Dr. Adam Tyler. Let’s have a look here and see what’s going on” said the white coated Doctor with the tag which had not only his name on it but a bunch of letters afterwards indicating he was a specialist in many fields.
Looking over at Nick, Dr. Tyler said, “If you don’t mind waiting outside until the examination is over that would be great.”
Nick instantly replied, “No way. I’m staying right here.”
Dr. Tyler raised an eyebrow, looking to his patient for direction. Shannon’s reflex was to reach out and grab Nick’s hand much to both their surprise while looking towards Dr. Tyler saying, "No, no; it’s okay. I want him to stay.”
Looking at the two of them with their clasped hands Dr. Tyler made a quick assessment of what was before him and surmised a bond between the two so he just smiled and said “Whatever works; you’re the patient” and proceeded to go about his business.
The Billionaire's Second Chance Page 6
