by Trish Wylie
A heavy silence hung in the air between them while Connor’s eyes studied the strand of hair against her flushed cheek. Then, just when Shannon honestly believed she would have to push yet again, his mouth curled into what looked like a half-smile, half-grimace, before he announced, ‘All right, then, you want another confession, then I’ll give you one. To a certain extent, you were right. When you said I was taking Devenish apart piece by piece you were pretty close to the mark. Property by property, I’m going to dump out all the original old buildings that Frank McMahon built his damn company on.
I’m going to remove every hint of him from what’s left and make money as I do it. Every pet project he had, every building that held sentimental value to him. I’ll pull them down and build on them if I have to. So there’s no way you’re going to stop me from selling that place, Shannon. You need to just accept that and let it go.’
Shannon watched, wide eyed, as he lifted a hand from the top of the open door to brush the strand of hair off her cheek again, his gaze following his fingers as, this time, he tucked it neatly behind her ear.
So simple a movement, and yet there was a tenderness that hadn’t been there before. A warmth in his eyes that reminded her of the Connor she had known before. And Shannon’s heart twisted agonizingly inside her chest.
While his deep voice remained deathly calm as he continued carefully speaking each word with a slow, icy deliberation. ‘That ugly building you care so much about is just a little part of it. No one will stop me or change my mind. Not even you, Shannon.’
Splayed fingertips resting on the sensitive skin below her ear, and on the line of her jaw, he slowly studied her face. ‘But I can help you, if you’ll let me. I’m an extremely rich man now. You just tell me where it is you want to move to and I’ll make it happen. Then maybe we can get past this and deal with this thing that’s still here between us. Because what happened in your apartment is just the beginning and you know that as well as I do.’
Shannon shook her head, the movement brushing his fingers a little deeper into her hair.
‘This isn’t you.’
A low grumble of laughter sounded. ‘Oh, this is me, all right. Just a newer version than you’re used to.’
‘It’s not the version of you I used to care about.’
He used his thumb to tilt her chin up. ‘The version of me that you’re so determined you regretted sleeping with seven years ago—is that the one you mean?’
Despite her best efforts, she felt her lower lip tremble and was forced to take a moment to bite down on it to hide the telltale sign from him. His words reminded her of the reason she had regretted it happening so much. But it was too late, and his eyes narrowed as he slipped his hand from her face, withdrawing his arm to his side.
‘I guarantee you won’t regret it this time. Because this time there won’t be any games played. We’re two adults who just happen to be extremely sexually attracted to each other. And there’s only one logical conclusion to that.’
‘Connor—’
‘No.’ He shook his head, his face an impassive mask. ‘I’m not going to get into another argument with you, we’re done for now.’
When she opened her mouth to protest he leaned in and silenced her with another firm, lingering kiss—taking his time with it so that she was left in no doubt that he meant what he said. Because even if he hadn’t just made everything as plain as day to her with his words, the fact that her pulse jumped erratically, her breath caught, and her body immediately heated up again confirmed it.
There could only be the one logical conclusion.
His face mere inches from hers, he looked down into her eyes, his voice edged with calm determination.
‘I have to go to a planners meeting. But I’ll be back. And I’ll keep coming back. You just need to get used to that. ’Cos we’re not done.’
There was somewhat of a pattern forming when it came to seeing Connor when she least expected it. So, she wasn’t overly surprised when he appeared during her reading of an outlandish fairy story to the small group of fascinated children two days later.
Though she was surprised—and possibly a tad on the miffed side—that it had taken him so long to return this time. So she frowned at him when he stopped smiling from the doorway and sat down cross-legged at the back of the room.
How was a girl supposed to do fairy and monster voices while he was sitting there?
‘So you’re stalking me now—is that the plan?’
It was a logical question as the last of the Yummy Mummies arrived to collect their offspring. ‘’Cos I should maybe warn you that there are laws against that kind of thing these days.’
‘Actually, I’m not just here to see you. Even if the different voices you did were too good to have missed.’ He nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. ‘I think I liked angry Mrs Bear the best.’
Shannon scowled at him. ‘Why are you here, then?’
‘Because I said I’d take some time to see what actually happens here on a day-to-day basis.’
‘And when exactly did you say that?’
Leaning past her to lift a beanbag, he smirked at her profile. ‘When you left me to the wolves that day.’
Tossing the two large cushions she had lifted onto the pile forming in one corner of the room, she took the time to wait for Connor to do the same with his beanbag, damping down the now familiar bounce of her pulse at the sight of him by concentrating on the topic of conversation.
‘They talked you into spending time here, away from your busy, busy schedule? How did they manage that?’
It wasn’t as if he’d spared time from his schedule to make good on the ‘promises’ he’d made to her the other day, when he’d left her standing in the street, more sexually frustrated than she’d ever been in her entire life. And with an ache in her chest that was refusing to go away. Even now that he was back.
‘They were very persuasive. Particularly the little one—Brieda, was it? She had a walking stick?’
‘Well, seeing as she was fully prepared to hit you with that very walking stick not twenty minutes before you got here, I’d say you got off lightly.’ She watched with suspicion as he continued walking back and forth with her, ignoring the fact that she should be grateful it took less than half the time to clean up the room it normally did. The words
‘Thank you’ would have to be dragged from her lifeless body. ‘What did you do to win her over, exactly?’
Connor’s eyes gleamed across at her. ‘I can be very persuasive myself, when I put my mind to it.’
As well she knew.
But hang on. ‘You let them think that you spending some time seeing what we do here might change your mind? Wasn’t that just a teeny-weeny bit of a lie?’
‘I didn’t say I’d change my mind, I said I’d see what you do here.’ He raised his arm, throwing the last of the cushions into the corner as if he were making a basketball shot into a net. ‘And the opportunity to watch some Yummy Mummy Yoga seemed too good an opportunity to miss.’
‘And yet you ended up listening to a fairy story with a bunch of under fives instead.’ She shook her head, avoiding looking at him while she looked round the room for something else to tidy away. ‘The best-laid plans. But they do say karma will eventually come and get you one way or another. So whatever comes your way today will serve you right for getting their hopes up. You really have no idea what this place means to them.’
‘Well, maybe I’ll find out while I’m here.’
Shannon made a small snort of derision. ‘No, you won’t. You’re on a mission. You’re the man in black.’ She nodded at his T-shirt, which was black, as it happened. ‘And they’re the little people you intend stomping over to get what you want. You’re the baddie.’
He quirked an eyebrow at her, the silent laughter back in his eyes. ‘How many of those stories have you read today?’
She rolled her eyes.
And Connor went silent while she made a meal out of puttin
g away the last few dress-up clothes and pictures that would normally have been ignored until the next session. Still watching her, though, she could feel it, as if he were touching her. The way it always felt when he looked at her.
Shannon really hated that.
What she needed to do was find some common ground, or something they could talk about without it turning into another argument—in front of an audience. At least that way she would stand a bat’s chance of getting through the day with him nearby, right?
Because if he said he was spending a day then he’d spend a day. He was too stubborn not to. Plus he got the added bonus of irritating her along the way, watching her to see if she’d accepted the fact that they were going to end up sleeping together again—which she pretty much had. It was inevitable if he kept coming back as he did.
Shannon might have known how pigheaded she could be herself, but she also knew herself well enough to know that the way things were going she would cave in to the temptation. And she’d even told herself that she could handle that. They were both adults now. They were both attracted to each other. It wasn’t as if they lived in the eighteenth century. So why shouldn’t she have sex with him if she wanted to?
It wasn’t as if she would make the same mistake she had last time. And maybe, just maybe, it was what she needed to do to put the demons to rest…
When he spoke again, it was almost as if he read her mind. ‘It’ll do us good to spend some time with a crowd around us anyway—we’re less likely to argue. And it might help if you spend some time around me, in company, without touching or kissing, so you get a chance to remember why it was you used to like me.’
The words raised a wry smile, even if it was a reflection of the sarcasm in her voice. ‘Oh, really, and just how are we going to manage the not-arguing part? Are you gonna promise to keep your mouth shut all day? ’Cos every time either of us tries speaking it ends up in an argument of some kind, doesn’t it?’
‘Or doing something else we can’t do in front of a crowd.’ He chuckled when she glared at him. ‘Maybe we just need to try and remember the time when we were friends. Pretend to be the way we used to be.’
The soft rumble of his voice in the quiet room was temptingly persuasive. But could trying to be the way they had been before really be any less dangerous than the way they were with each other in the here and now?
Shannon doubted it.
But Connor once again seemed innately able to understand the root cause of her hesitation, even if, once again, he worded it badly. ‘What’s wrong—you too chicken to try? Or is it that you don’t trust yourself to keep your hands off me for that long? ’Cos we could just go up to your apartment for the day and pick up where we left off if you like.
You’ll not hear any complaints from me. I’ve done nothing but think about the possibilities of that kitchen counter for two days now.’
Spinning on her heel, she glared at him across the room. ‘Do you ever actually think before you open your mouth any more? Or are you just determined to torture me every chance you get?’
He smiled a very slow smile. ‘You’ve been thinking about the possibilities too, huh?’
Her eyes narrowed in warning.
So he dropped his chin, forcing the smile off his face with some considerable effort before his brow furrowed as he looked at her from beneath thick dark lashes. ‘I’m making an effort here. Doesn’t that get me any Brownie points with you?’
‘Oh, it takes more than that to make up for you being such an ass since you walked through those front doors.’
‘You weren’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat either. Sniping at each other is a two-way thing.’
With a defiant tilt of her chin, she picked up and hugged the large story book tight against her breasts. ‘I didn’t invite you here.’
‘And when I came to Galway this time I didn’t expect you to be here. That kind of makes us even, don’t you think?’
So they stood there in the silent room for a long while, both of them staring across at the other, until Shannon honestly thought she would have been able to hear that proverbial pin drop.
Eventually she sighed in defeat. ‘I give up.’
To her surprise he didn’t pounce on her with another arrogant comment in answer.
Instead a warm smile lit up his face, transforming him into a hypnotically charming image of the young man he used to be as he walked towards her.
‘Don’t ever give up, Shannon. I like the fact that you’re no quitter.’ He leaned in and pressed his warm mouth to her soft lips. It was a gentle kiss, an almost tender kiss, and it left her wanting so much more.
Because she didn’t want gentle and tender from him. She wanted the anger and the arrogance and the sexual frustration. They were the things she could deal with.
‘I thought you said no kissing?’
He grinned. ‘I said not in front of a crowd.’
She shook her head in frustration.
While his grin was reined back into a smaller smile. ‘In order to get through today we’re both going to have to make a concerted effort to be nice to each other. I can do it if you can.’
She stared up at him with a look of disbelief. ‘And you can still remember how to be nice?’
Still smiling, he quirked his dark brows in challenge.
So Shannon took a moment to calm herself and grumbled out, ‘All right, so maybe that didn’t exactly help with the making an effort to be nice.’
‘Not so much.’
A forefinger waggled in his direction. ‘Patronizing me won’t help either.’
‘Well, maybe being defensive about every single thing I say might stop you from interpreting honesty as me patronizing you. I was agreeing with you. If I bug you when I disagree with you and still manage to bug you when I agree with you, then that doesn’t leave us much to work with, does it?’
Hell. He was right, wasn’t he? It was just that hating him and wanting him and the conflict of the two emotions were so much safer for her. If she started to like him again…
Frowning at the thought, she watched with cautious eyes as he reached for her face, his smile still in place as he cupped her cheek. And every part of her instinctively wanted to either turn tail and run or to stand and fight. It was a basic animal instinct, she supposed.
When confronted by something considered to be predatory, or just plain old dangerous to one’s well-being.
At least Barry White had stopped singing in her head. Though that was probably because she’d started to listen to what he was saying.
Clearing her throat, she looked Connor straight in the eye. ‘If any single one of those people out there asks me directly if I think you’ll change your mind about this place, I won’t lie. You need to know that. They’re relying on me to find a solution to this. You’re the enemy. I shouldn’t even be fraternizing with you as far as they’re concerned. And I’m not entirely sure I disagree with them on that one.’
And then she went silent.
Connor studied her face for a while. ‘You’re still trying to weigh up whether or not it’s worth the effort being nice to me, aren’t you? It better not be because you’re toying with the idea somewhere inside that head of yours that you’ll manage to change my mind by being nice?’
Damn it! How could he know that? It was something that had only just crossed her mind!
Though, realistically, it would be a much more difficult plan to follow through on…
‘Much as I love this place, and the people in it, there’s a limit to just how “nice” I’d be to get you to change your mind. If that’s what you’re asking me.’
The low rumble of deep male laughter caught her completely off guard. So that she was once again temporarily mesmerized, this time by the sound as it echoed around the high ceilinged room.
Before he answered in a husky tone, ‘If I was the kind of man that felt he had to blackmail a woman into being “nice” to him, I might take that offer a little further…’
/> Shannon’s mouth opened in outrage.
But Connor held a hand up, palm towards her, before she could rise to the bait. ‘But I’m not. Nothing you do would change my mind.’
‘Well, then, there’s not much point in—’
He leaned his head down towards her face. ‘But—I thought about it some and it seemed understanding this place was the right thing to do—and not just because the place means so much to you. It obviously means something to the wolves as well.’
‘It might have made more sense to understand before you made your decision in the first place.’
‘Maybe.’
Really? Shannon’s eyes widened in surprise. Wow. He’d just backed down an inch there, hadn’t he?
She swallowed before asking, forcing down another sarcastic reply, ‘What is it you really want Connor?’
He smiled again.
While she quirked an arched brow in question.
Which gained her a smile that made it all the way up into his eyes, ‘I take it you’re not looking at me to give you the obvious answer to that?’
She quirked her eyebrow again.
And he chuckled. ‘That’s what I thought. All right, then, maybe the idea of a day off appealed to me too—two birds and one stone and all that.’
Shannon suddenly thought about what his life must be like in the here and now. It was funny it had never occurred to her before. Any time he had ‘popped by’ it had been a fleeting visit between meetings, he’d always been dressed in a suit, apart from that one night in the bar, when he’d been drinking alone and more than likely seeking ‘company’.
And he’d broken all contact with his family, maybe even his friends as well…
Didn’t he ever get lonely while he was on his ‘mission’? Not that she doubted for a second he’d ever be short of female company—she’d seen firsthand the way women had reacted to him in the bar that night…
But had he gotten so obsessed with what he was doing that he hadn’t taken the time to remember what it was like to be around people, real people, who laughed and talked and forgot their troubles for a while?
And suddenly the idea of him spending time in the building, surrounded by the eclectic family she loved, didn’t seem so bad an idea. If he had anything resembling a heart left, then surely he would soften to them as the day went on? And then Shannon could maybe butter him up a little bit more later on…