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 that 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 that molded to 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.
The startling memory of how his sex was crouched in another smattering of dusty colored body hair came unbidden and unwanted, enflaming the primitive drumbeat of awareness already overtaking her . 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 blond, sun -bleached shaggy hair she remembered was now immaculately cut and styled in a burnished darker blond 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 Shannon realized that though she tried to block her feelings she was helpless and sinking fast. Her mind wandered over the moments that made up this extraordinary day and 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 that led to this bizarre situation. What was looming even more importantly was the spontaneous response that 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.
* * *
Shannon let out a little sigh, snapping Nick back to instant, focused awareness of 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.
Was she wrong to notice that the shirt was neatly tucked into a pair of dark jeans that molded to 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.
The startling memory of how his sex was crouched in another smattering of dusty colored body hair came unbidden and unwanted, enflaming the primitive drumbeat of awareness already overtaking her . 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 blond, sun -bleached shaggy hair she remembered was now immaculately cut and styled in a burnished darker blond 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 Shannon realized that though she tried to block her feelings she was helpless and sinking fast. Her mind wandered over the moments that made up this extraordinary day and 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 that led to this bizarre situation. What was looming even more importantly was the spontaneous response that 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.
* * *
Shannon let out a little sigh, snapping Nick back to instant, focused awareness of 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.
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