He didn’t do romance. Oh, he was well taken care of where his carnal needs were concerned and he chose his partners with a careful eye to practicality, but his emotions were never engaged. The dominant male in him strode through life with an arrogant self-assurance especially where the opposite sex was concerned. He wanted what he wanted and all without the complication of emotion. After Shannon, that just wasn’t ever going to happen.
And yet here, now, with her sitting right in front of him, those amazing turquoise eyes of hers shooting off sparks of resentment mixed with something else he couldn’t quite pin down and those sweet lips pouting so prettily over his macho-handed takeover of her life, he wanted nothing more than to lean forward and let his tongue swipe across her seductive mouth before closing his lips over hers.
When her tongue snaked out to moisten her bottom lip, he almost lost it. For a second, the need gripping him to gather this wounded heavenly creature in his arms and protect her forever nearly drove him mad. Then he remembered that he had to settle down and see where this was going. She so obviously mistrusted him, and who could blame her? He’d earned her caution and resistance.
Even with the amazing connection between them unexpectedly sputtering back to life, he could still see the pain from their past hovering over them like a dark cloud. Hell, life had handed him a second chance. One he did not deserve, he grimly countered, but one that he intended to grab and make the most of with all the might and power at his disposal.
His mind set, Nick relaxed. If he could run a giant global business and have more money than any human being could ever possibly need, surely winning back the affection of this beautiful temptress before him would be a no-brainer.
CHAPTER SIX
Shannon didn’t like what had become of her neat and tidy life. She’d worked hard to have everything in it’s place, no loose ends to sneak up and surprise her, no emotional entanglements. Easy, simple, uncomplicated. That’s how she liked it, and yet she had to admit that the tied-up and buttoned-down way she lived was also her armor against ever having to feel as she had after Nick cast her aside.
She wasn’t in complete denial, she sniffed to herself. The quick intake of air accompanied by a slight squirm of discomfiture earned his attention. The hot, insistent scrutiny he turned on her hit the mark, because it revealed what was really bothering her.
No square corners and easy answers, but a messy hodgepodge of emotion, all of which were overwhelming individually and nearly catastrophic when combined. She did everything she could not to respond to his gaze. Refusing to surrender to his eyes was a serendipitous response, but stalling for time while she tried frantically to get some control over her emotions was all she was capable of at the moment. That the power and ferocity of his perusal shook her so profoundly, coupled with knowing that he could probably see right through to her very soul, was making her unhinged.
As if on cue to break the tension that had descended upon them, Shannon’s cell phone rang. Automatically reaching for her bag to retrieve the phone, she looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Jules calling.
“I should take this,” she murmured, letting her eyes fall away from his lest he see even further into her thoughts. Everything was moving too fast, and time being what it was, she was starting to experience ever-increasing twinges of pain, letting her know that the initial dose of pain medication she’d been given was beginning to wear off. She just wanted to take this call and then maybe have a bit to eat and hopefully fall into bed once the next round of meds took over.
An easy solution found her suggesting he browse through the delivery menus she kept in a kitchen drawer and order something easy and light for them to have as dinner. This way she could ensure a little privacy so she could talk to her friend. After all, it wasn’t like she could get up and excuse herself from the room. Now that she understood that Jules and Nick were siblings, she felt it necessary to explain this crazy set of circumstances to Jules herself without Nick being involved.
When Nick wandered off in search of the menus, Shannon took the call. “Hi, Jules,” she answered with a great deal more calm than she felt.
A while later, the call concluded and dinner on the way, Shannon had time to ponder what she’d just learned after talking to her friend.
Jules’s reaction when she launched into an almost incomprehensible explanation that she and her brother in fact knew each other was met with total silence so she could tell right away that something was amiss. Shannon hadn’t let Jules get a word in edgewise, but even so, nothing she said seemed to come as a huge surprise to Nick’s sister. What came next, however, once Shannon let Jules jump into the conversation, did.
A tearful Jules, apologizing over and over for Shannon’s unfortunate injuries, informed her that she had put two and two together when she’d spied Shannon’s tattoo. Recalling the occasion that had taken place only recently, Shannon did remember how quiet and reflective Jules had been after hearing her tale of the folklore connection to the tattoo’s symbol.
Jules spoke of her adoration for her older brother and how she had seen the very same marking on his hip years ago. When she realized the tattoos matched, well, the romantic notion of helping star-crossed lovers was too much for Jules to resist. As the call ended, Jules told her friend that Ned was furious with her for meddling and didn’t understand why she hadn’t just given Shannon and Nick the information about the other and then let them figure out what would be best for them both.
That Ned was being so unyielding and refusing to see the romantic foolishness at the heart of Jules’s matchmaking made Shannon feel terrible. Wondering if as Nick’s oldest friend he might know some of his true feelings bothered her more than she was comfortable with. Once again, doubts and insecurities flooded her awareness, for the scars left in the wake of long-ago hurts still burbled to the surface, causing Shannon to doubt her place in Nick’s life. What if Ned knew about his friend’s year-long affair and agreed that the girl had no place in the life of a Barrett? Is that why he was peeved at his wife, because he knew that Nick would not welcome her appearance back in his life?
A little voice in her heart begged her to not judge, to not let fear erase the enormous chance to alter the future that their unexpected encounter afforded.
Now that Shannon knew the tortured-hero brother Jules clearly adored was one and the same with the man who had broken her heart, she didn’t know quite what to say. What form of serendipity or kismet had brought them back together after all these years? It was all so unbelievable and yet was actually happening.
Shannon thought back over the many references to her brother and her family that Jules had shared with Shannon over the course of their friendship. She remembered Jules saying that her son had been named for her brother, and since the boy’s name was Domenic, Shannon hadn’t picked up on the ‘Nick’ connection, assuming her brother’s name was also Domenic.
Other revelations shifted through Shannon’s memory as she recalled Jules lamenting the tremendous personal sacrifice her brother had made on behalf of her and her mother, how this god-like older brother seemed to stride the globe like some all-powerful leading man in a movie about duty, family, the stranglehold that old money exerts, and the awesome power it corrupts with.
So the serious, brooding big brother was one and the same with the man who had for eight long years been silently buried in the shadows of her heart. Oh my god.
* * *
Nick took advantage of Shannon being preoccupied on the phone to do just what she had asked, order something for them to eat from a local establishment only minutes from her home. After making that call, he spent the next few minutes checking to see if the arrangements he had put in place earlier for the delivery of medical supplies was going as planned. He wanted everything on the doorstep before noon tomorrow so he could focus on her physical needs while they took baby steps in maybe finding a brighter path for the future.
Looking at the time, he made a mental note that food was indeed
a necessity and soon because before too much longer he would be giving Shannon a double dose, per doctor’s orders, of the mild painkillers prescribed so she could get a good night’s sleep uninterrupted by discomfort.
He also took the opportunity to quickly call Ned to ask if he would arrange to have his belongings packed from the hotel where he’d been staying and brought to him since he wasn’t leaving Shannon’s side anytime soon.
That phone call had come with quite a few revelations as Ned shared a fascinating tale with Nick about his wife’s confession—the tattoo sighting and her sisterly attempt at matchmaking. Nick could tell his brother-in-law was less than thrilled with Jules’s meddling, so he quickly and efficiently set Ned’s mind at ease by stating quite simply and most emphatically that he owed his sister a huge debt of intense gratitude for being a meddling romantic and why. By the end of the call, Nick had all but laid out his grand plan to Ned for winning back Shannon’s affections and was openly declaring that he’d loved her for years and would only love this one woman for all the days of his life. If he couldn’t have her, he wanted no one else in her place.
For two men who had been friends for years and now brothers-in-law for life, this uncharacteristic reveal of emotion and feelings was profoundly uncommon, to say the least. Nick had no doubt when Ned got off that phone that he understood full well that the gob-smacked, head-over-heels-in-love feeling that Jules and Ned shared was exactly how he and Shannon had been once upon a time. Nick had made it perfectly clear that he would gladly give up all that he had and all that he’d become if it meant the feisty spitfire with the tumbled blonde locks and vivid turquoise eyes would let even a scintilla of that initial emotion back into her life.
Not too much longer after that, dinner arrived. Shannon was flagging fast and ate slowly from the tray table he’d set up next to the sofa. Nick watched over her like a hawk and noted the circles forming beneath her eyes, made all the more evident by her flawlessly pale complexion.
When she was finished, Shannon loosed a deep sigh and sagged back against the sofa cushions.
Quietly removing the remnants of their meal, Nick set about tidying things up, keeping an eye on her and carefully laying out in his own overworked mind how best to navigate the minefield of negative emotions they were surrounded by.
“I need to use the bathroom,” she declared in a fragile, overwhelmed voice that only served to magnify the vulnerable state she was in. Nick realized this was going to present a challenge since the bathroom walker wouldn’t be here until tomorrow and he was pretty damn sure she wasn’t going to let him hover over her while she took care of her needs.
Shannon, too, seemed to realize the conundrum and quickly informed him that the small guest bath behind the kitchen had a sturdy knee wall that she could use for balance without him having to do any more than simply get her in position.
Relieved that there was a simple solution, it took Nick only moments to once again scoop her up in his massive arms and stride confidently in the direction of the small bathroom. She was right about the space, and after standing her up carefully on her one good foot, he took a second to reach out and give the nearby towel bar a study yank. If she was going to rely on it for support, he wanted to be sure she’d be safe. Relieved that she could handle things from there, he backed out of the small space after she assured him that no, she would not put her foot down, and yes, she would call him the second she was ready to leave the room.
Although her headache had vanished earlier as the result of the shot she’d received, the tension and anxiety of the day’s events were tap dancing on her brain, making the slowly building discomfort from her injuries get the better of her.
As the door of the bathroom shut, Shannon caught sight of her reflection in the oval mirror that hung above a very modern basin bowl and frowned at what she saw. With one bandaged hand gripping the towel bar and the other using the high knee wall surround for balance, she looked like a cowgirl after an encounter with some outlaws. Her hair was all over the place, and her clothes were wrinkled and mussed. Eyes a bit too bright stared out at her above cheeks that bore the blushing imprint of the situation she found herself in. No lady wanted to be helpless in the bathroom, and as embarrassing as the situation was, she wryly acknowledged, she’d be screwed without his help right now. She may not like his take-charge, I’m the man way of doing things, but she was damn glad in this moment she had that option. Better to be childishly annoyed while accepting his help than be completely alone at a time when letting someone else take care of her was the best thing if she wanted to recover quickly.
Shannon tried to wrap her mind around everything that had transpired in the last few hours. When she’d awoken this morning, the day had promised to be just like any other. That was how she’d preferred it. Nothing unusual or out-of-the ordinary. A busy Saturday, working an event. All business, all the time. The usual.
Hell, she liked things to be that way. It suited Shannon to immerse herself in her work, for after all, what she did supplied a certain degree of emotional satisfaction. She liked pleasing her handpicked clients, liked the feeling that what she did had meaning, whether in the pursuit of charity donations or the simple smile of a child whose birthday she’d made super special.
That was enough for her to live on, or so she told herself these many years. Never again would she risk her true feelings. For longer than she felt comfortable admitting, this slightly jaded and all-consuming need to protect herself from further hurt by simply shutting off the feeling side of her nature had served her well.
She was an island unto herself. No foolish romantic fantasies, only carefully chosen and infinitely superficial friendships and lots and lots of solitude had been her norm. Except for Jules, Shannon hadn’t allowed a meaningful friendship into her life since that moment when Nick had sliced and diced her naïve heart.
Shannon wasn’t immune to her inner life, far from it. She was, though, very careful not to indulge in flights of fancy or foolish dreams, and if this meant she didn’t date, then that was fine. Besides, she wasn’t the kind of girl who could simply chase after her own needs and pleasures without her emotions being involved. Oh, she’d watched her share of Sex and the City and found something to admire in those quirky, fascinating women and the story they told, but she could never be as free and adventurous no matter what the situation.
The very notion of being physically intimate with someone actually frightened her. What she had experienced with Nick had been so intense and so powerful that she couldn’t conceive of ever laying herself bare like that for any other man as long as she lived. It was too raw and too intimate.
Try as she might to deny a sudden flash of vivid memories, she couldn’t banish from her mind’s eye the way they had twined around each other in naked communion. Flesh to flesh, joined so closely they were practically in each other’s skin, whispering words of adoration and desires spoken the way lovers do when lost in the sensual heat of the moment.
No, there was absolutely no chance of Shannon ever going there again. When the rose-colored glasses of first love had been yanked from her and she’d been forced to understand that, while she had been falling in love, her so-called prince charming had simply been getting laid, Shannon knew then and there she would never allow herself to be put in that position ever, ever again. Trust was off the table from that day forward.
He’d reappeared the moment Shannon had indicated she was finished and carried her solemnly to the bedroom where she hoped to have some privacy at last. Quickly swallowing the pills Nick had thrust her way, she shut him out completely after that. Reassuring him that she was fully capable of getting undressed and into bed, he had reluctantly retreated while the air around them still swirled with emotion.
Finally snuggling deep into the soft cocoon of blankets and pillows in her massive sleigh bed, Shannon sighed deeply in exhaustion and frustration, feeling drowsy but unsettled. Returning to the train of thought from earlier, she fell into a whirlpool of se
lf-doubt followed by crippling confusion as her mind sought answers. In her heart of hearts she just could not understand how he could have been so detached, as he claimed, and she not known it. He hadn’t seemed detached or unaffected by their brief, intense relationship.
Hell, it had been him as the slightly older and definitely more mature alpha male who had taken one look into her eyes and simply marked her as his own. He charmed her with his impeccable manners, seduced her with his intellect and humor before sealing the deal with a devastating journey of the senses into a realm of sensuality made all the more intense by her innocence.
He hadn’t acted like that with anyone but her even though she had seen first-hand the admiring glances and sometimes bold suggestions thrown his way by nearly every female in his general vicinity. She’d seen it happen in small tribal settings, at team meetings, in public, at social gatherings, you name it. He was the type of man who exuded a lethal erotic vibe made all the more sexy with his rakish, pirate charm and those adorable dimples hidden in several days stubble under a head of long sun-washed hair.
But in all those settings and on all those occasions he’d never had eyes or a speck of interest in anyone but her. Yes, he’d devoured her in every way a lover could, but he’d also lain shuddering in her arms in the aftermath of their loving. He slept possessively wrapped around her, and his eyes never failed to twinkle with leonine intensity when she was nearby.
Those were not the signs of a man who was just interested in sex. How could he say those things to her? At the core of every argument and memory, Shannon always returned to that. How could he?
She wanted to cry, but she had no tears left for a man who had selfishly trashed her adoration, the aftermath of that act leading to a series of events that would forever shut down her heart and suck her soul of its passion. Hot tears eventually found their way from the corners of her eyes, dripping in silent acknowledgment of the truth she could never completely hide from.
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