Nick didn’t like this Young Turk very much at all, probably because he had a laid back California attitude that gave him a science geek meets surfer dude way about him which was like fingernails on a chalkboard for the powerful, no-nonsense tycoon.
The light pen Doctor Tyler was waving around like a scepter rankled him too. Of course what was really pissing Nick off was the simple fact that this obviously talented medical guy was getting more response from Shannon in a few short moments than he had gotten from her this past hour and he found himself wondering where all the curmudgeon senior doctors were today. The last thing his off balance disposition needed was some hip, handsome, witty doctor being the hero of the moment.
Of course it didn’t take but a minute or two for Nick to return to his senses. He had to give the man credit. He did an efficient and thorough examination in very short order. Shannon was getting the care that she needed and that’s all that really mattered to Nick.
After assessing the still swelling ankle, the bump on her head, the gash, scraped hands and as Nick came to find out a pretty bruised knee, he told them that the gash would be needing some bandages; the knee and the hands would be fine; the ankle, well that was going to require an x-ray and probably a temporary brace.
When Nick mentioned the bump on her head Dr. Tyler informed them that the bump was fairly superficial; it looked worse than it actually was and would probably be completely gone by morning, although there would be a nice bruise at her hairline. He was concerned though by Shannon’s obvious discomfort and the presence of the headache.
“Are you prone to headaches Shannon?” the doctor asked. Before Shannon could react Nick chimed in with a decisive, "Yes she is.” drawing a side glance from Shannon.
Nick remembered all too well the migraines that she occasionally suffered from and how the only way to deal with them was by limiting physical activity, staying quiet and calm, and sometimes resting in the darkness. Bright lights in particular seem to make the pain worse.
Surprised that Nick would remember that about her Shannon stuttered answering the doctor, "I do… yes, I do have migraines from time to time, just not recently. I did notice a persistent headache earlier this morning. Finding myself on my butt on the ground didn’t make it any better. It is pounding pretty hard right now though, Doctor.” Shannon said while closing her eyes and raising a hand to shield her face from the bright lights in the examination room.
“Okay, well let’s do this,” said Dr. Tyler. “I’ll have the nurse come in and take care of that gash; put some antibiotic ointment on your hands and knee and we’ll put a little icepack on your foot to get things started. Then let me arrange for an x-ray of your ankle. Since I can see you are in clear discomfort we’ll give you something to take the edge off that headache. The bump is superficial and you don’t have a concussion so there won’t be any danger. It will however make you little loopy he said while he waving fingers in the air making a loopy motion in an obvious attempt to break the tension and get a smile from her. It worked. She smiled. Nick churned.
With that, Dr. Surfer Dude patted Shannon on the shoulder, assured her that she was going to be fine and then left in search of the nurse, giving directions the whole way as he walked out the door.
Needing something to do and not being able to just stand idly by while someone else took care of his woman ….. wait a minute. Did he just think that? Yes, yes he did. Nick sprang into action and went to the array of light switches by the door of the exam room. Testing all of them, he ended up clicking off two which still left the whole space illuminated but got rid of the high intense glare right over Shannon’s head.
“Maybe a little less light would help.” he said quietly as he moved closer to where she lay on the white sheeted bed looking pale as death and in an awful lot of pain.
Before even so much as another minute went by a very well-organized and matter-of-fact nurse bustled into their room pushing a cart of first aid supplies and immediately set about tending to the bruised knee, the scraped hands and of course the gash on her shoulder. The gash required Shannon to unbutton her blouse, her adorable cowgirl blouse, and slip one arm out as she protectively clutched the rest of the shirt to her front in defensive modesty.
Wishing to give her a little sense of privacy and also not wanting to get caught out staring at what he could suddenly see of her voluptuous breasts barely held in by a white lace bra, Nick placed himself at the head of the examining bed and watched while the nurse very, very carefully cleaned what ended up being a superficial gash on her shoulder which luckily did not require sutures.
The nurse, assuming he must be a boyfriend or husband, was talking to him in very matter-of-fact terms describing in specific detail how to manage the wound since there was no way she would be able to do it herself as it was on her shoulder and in a place she wouldn’t have been able to reach.
Shannon wanted to be angry that he was suddenly completely involved in even the smallest details of her care until she remembered that it was she who had reached for him when the Doctor questioned who he was.
Somehow he managed to cut right through all the red tape of caution which surrounded her life these last eight years. If her head didn’t hurt so much she’d certainly want to give that thought a bit more breathing room but right now all she cared about was where the loopy medication was that she’d been promised.
Less than a minute later a pair of orderlies appeared in the doorway with a wheelchair to take Shannon to the x-ray room. Having already discovered there was no way Shannon could sit in a wheelchair because it caused her too much pain, Nick stepped in and spoke quietly to the medical staff to ascertain if there was another way to get her down to the x-ray room.
In a heartbeat a special orthopedic wheelchair materialized and the two orderlies had her out of bed and into that wheelchair completely pain free, down to the x-ray department for a series of scans and then back in her private exam room in the blink of an eye.
Somewhere in that process they must have given her something for the pain because she did appear somewhat more relaxed upon her return. Not necessarily loopy but certainly less cross than she had been. In fact she may even have smiled at him when she came back into the room but it all happened so quick Nick couldn’t be sure.
In short order Dr. Surfer Dude reappeared to let her know what the x-ray showed. The good news was the ankle wasn’t broken; the bad news was it was quite deeply bruised. His instructions were pretty straightforward; stay off of it completely for forty-eight hours, as in don’t even put it down. She was instructed not to do anything for herself; and if she did that he could almost guarantee that within a couple of days she would be able to walk without assistance. Oh yeah, that and she was going to need crutches and someone to wait on her hand and foot for the next 48 hours.
When Shannon heard this she all but panicked. Who would take care of her? Her own family was thousands of miles away. Rory worked for her and was in no way responsible for her personally and she couldn’t ask for her help because Rory would need to take care of the business. So who else was there? What the hell was she going to do?
Mister I’m here to take charge of everything stepped forward right at that moment and let them both understand in no uncertain terms that he would be handling this entire situation. Whatever was needed to assist Shannon, he would provide. He would make sure that she was off her feet for the prescribed amount of time. He would make sure that she followed doctor’s orders. He would make sure that everything was fine. Oh great.
It certainly hadn’t taken long after that for him to arrange for Shannon’s release from the clinic and for transport to her bungalow in one of the canyons above Malibu.
Shannon was having her ankle wrapped and braced for comfort and stability while he was pinning down the specific details of having crutches and a ridiculously vast assortment of home medical supplies for every possible need delivered to her home. Somewhere in the midst of all that he had the thought that here he was all bu
t taking over her life and until the woman at the front desk had noted Shannon’s address from her intake information, he hadn’t a clue where she lived. It was a surreal feeling to be overwhelmed in an instant; consumed by her nearness, feeling oddly connected, deeply connected while at the same time having absolutely zero knowledge of who she was today. Connect and disconnect, new territory to navigate for him.
By the time his vehicle was brought to the clinic door and Nick had returned to her room to help move her to the car, she was in full, loopy, I am woman hear me roar mode; jumping all over him and insisting she didn’t need his help the moment his face appeared in the doorway.
“I know how to take care of myself Nick Temple!” she growled. “I do not want you to put yourself out for me.” she declared with more snark than she actually felt while inwardly cringing at her reflexive use of his shortened name. It galled her that he thought he knew what was best for her. She’d never been very good at being bitchy and she was all but certain whatever they’d given her for the pain was making any bite she hoped to convey with her words to come off more like soft pillows.
Nick assessed in an instant what was going on and tried not to smile. The medication she’d been given was making her decidedly goofy and she was obviously trying to keep him at arm’s length, a realization which brought another wave of guilt washing over Nick as he considered that she’d actually rather be in pain and helpless than to lower her defenses and just let him help. While his heart sank a bit, he decided to put on his I’m the boss face and tried to reason with the injured, over-wrought female glaring at him who was flying high at the moment.
“Shannon, I know perfectly well that you can indeed take care of yourself. I remember an occasion when some tribal elders butted heads with you over schooling arrangements for the girls and from the way they ended up doing your bidding, I and everyone else, was relatively certain that Shannon Reynolds was a force to be reckoned with and one smart lady who could take care of herself!”
He watched with some satisfaction as the memory he had thrown down leapt to life in her mind, connecting them in this awkward moment to a shared experience from the past.
Feeling that he had most if not all of her attention now he continued on, “You’re hurt and it’s my fault. I’ve got this. You just concentrate on following medical advice.” he insisted while declaring that she was in no condition to take care of herself.
Even in her fuzzy around the edges condition, Shannon realized this was the second time he had used the phrase that she was hurt and it was his fault. The thought that he was martyring himself because she was injured and this accident was some sort of metaphor for what he’d done to her the last time they’d talked ate at her and brought waves of confusion to the air around them.
On the one hand Shannon wanted nothing more than to get away from him for her own good. His presence was stirring up the past and confusing her grasp on the present circumstances. Adding to that was the understanding that the last thing she wanted was any attention from him based on a guilty conscience from the past. He’d declared her unworthy of his attention eight years ago and she highly doubted that though dressed as she was like a children’s book character and completely helpless, his previous belief was any less valid.
Lost and confounded in emotional thoughts, Shannon eyes him warily as Nick closed in on her like a laser guided missile. With a tender sweetness in his delivery he tried to comfort her by losing the I’m the boss face, saying, “Shannon, I know you’d like nothing better than to curl up in your own bed, in your own surroundings and heal, but if you don’t shut that pretty little mouth of yours and just let me handle the details I’ll drag your unwilling butt to my hotel suite and be done with it. I am not letting you out of my sight while you can’t take care of yourself so get over it.” he said with an increasingly irritated growl; something she remembered about him from so long ago that signified his frustration whenever something impeded his alpha male drive.
“Oh, and by the way, you are still adorable when you pout so not letting you have your own way, well…” he said with a slight grin that allowed those bone-melting dimples of his to make a brief appearance and thereby unsettling her already shredded composure. That she had called him Nick Temple and not his full given name at the start of this little tirade probably told him a lot about where her mind and emotions were.
Although embroiled in a present tense situation, the past hung heavily in the air like the thick smoke of a night time bonfire, every breath a pungent reminder of things from long ago which cannot simply be blown away by force of will alone.
They needed some fresh air. They needed a chance to breathe again. He needed to give that opportunity to her, time to take some deep breaths. Clear the air and hopefully, god willing, take advantage of this unbelievable second chance the universe had placed squarely in front of them. Hell, they hadn’t accidently bumped in to each other; they’d collided, literally, and the fall-out of that metaphorical crash indicated more than just a benevolent universe pointing the way. No, they’d been hurled at each for a reason. Only a fool would have missed the significance and the promise which that fact revealed.
First he had to get her safely home and settled and then he needed to think through a plan to win her back because now that she had crossed his path, he was never letting her go again. He wasn’t going to be a fool twice. She was the only woman for him and if not her then there’d be nobody. She made him feel alive and since that particular sentiment had been seriously lacking in his life from the moment he had sent her away, there was absolutely no way he was walking away from that or letting her go without trying everything in his power to fix the mess he had wrought. Of that much he was certain.
With that settled firmly in his mind he got her moved comfortably from the private exam room and buckled her into the luxurious SUV, making sure her well-being was assured before taking the driver’s seat and getting them underway.
Shannon sat there, rolling over and over in her head what Nick has said about being adorable when she pouted. It took some time for the light to flash on above her fuzzy head once she realized what he said.
Had he been flirting with her she wondered? Why would he flirt with her she questioned because after all hadn’t he been the one to declare that she’d been of no consequence in his life? Flirting in that light seemed a bit like overkill.
Thankful that her headache had backed off considerably, she was certain that she had a firm enough grasp on what was happening to know that he was indeed flirting with that comment, the thought bringing a rush of heated pleasure climbing up from her toes to the top of her head. Even though she needed to appear immune to him she was disconcerted once again to realize that her heart, which had been in hibernation for a long, long time, seemed to be sputtering back to life with his reappearance in her normally calm and controlled world.
The boy she knew was now a serious adult, a grown man in every way those words applied. Reluctant to look at his face for fear he’d be watching her, she cast a downward gaze on anything other than the pull of his presence as the car made its way into the canyons around Los Angeles.
Trying unsuccessfully to focus on the fact that she’d be home soon, she found herself instead staring mutely at his one hand where it rested against his thigh when they stopped for long moments at a stop light. Two things entered her mind as she took in every detail of how that hand looked resting against the dark jeans.
The first; that she’d never quite noticed before how huge his hands were. Of course the man was six foot four inches and looked like he’d been hewn from stone. Okay, maybe not stone, that was too ordinary a description for someone who exuded a powerful sexuality from his every pore. A much more apt description she decided was precious marble. Something hand rubbed to a gorgeous glow the image of which brought a small soft smile of female appreciation to her expression before returning to the original thought that everything about him was huge, and not just his hands.
His m
anner was huge and naturally filled whatever space he occupied. The way he held himself, the way people seemed to immediately snap to attention and do his bidding with absolute acquiescence; it was all huge in her mind.
And two, that never before had she ever felt as female as she did sitting there engulfed by his physical size and powerful presence. Good lord, she inwardly groaned, I’m in way over my head. She should be building walls against this man’s reappearance and intrusion into her life not entertaining an ever increasing erotic tableau of desires over which in her present state she apparently had no control.
There was something about the way that she tried so hard to keep from looking at him that made Nick feel guilt-ridden as hell. She didn’t trust him, didn’t like that he was here with her, didn’t want to talk to him at all and in fact apparently didn’t even want to acknowledge that they were on the same planet by even so much as looking at him. Yet, the telltale pulse that he could see so clearly on her exposed neck was telling him a different story. That she was not immune to him was plain to see. That she was trying desperately to build a wall around herself was also very plain to see.
Returning his attention to the moving traffic, Nick realized he had a lot of work ahead and set his thoughts awhirl in what actions he should take next.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The late afternoon shadows filtering through the trees made the drive into the canyon above Los Angeles where Shannon’s home was located exceptionally beautiful. Nick liked that she was living away from the congestion of the city, especially after all the thoughts he’d recently had about spending way too much time in urban sprawl; he was glad she was up in the canyons where life felt more natural and connected with the environment.
He was completely charmed by what he saw when, after following the navigation system’s directions, he pulled his large SUV into a driveway tucked behind a stand of trees which opened up to reveal an amazing, fully restored craftsman style house tucked away in the Hollywood Hills.
The Billionaire's Second Chance Page 7
