Shannon appeared to be as lost in her own thoughts as he was by the swirling confusion and turmoil he was feeling.
All those years of wondering what she may or may not feel about him had been answered when she had bolted from him 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 as it sank like a stone to 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, tossed her over his shoulder, and run away to the first secluded caveman retreat he could find to simply throw 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 had 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.
Nick felt like the room was bursting at the seems with their swirling energies—hers, his, bouncing off the other, circling, stopping, careening off the walls in a heady communication of lost souls impeded by the frailties of human nature . He felt both longing and fear, 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 that 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 he was hearing was actually the hammering of his thoughts in his head. Not knowing what to do next, Nick just stared with a tight-lipped expression, unable to break the silence as Shannon shifted slightly and rearranged her position. He could tell that even that slight movement brought pain to every part of her body, causing her to come up short with a barely suppressed groan of discomfort
“Nick, what are you doing here?” Shannon finally asked in a tight, husky little voice that 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
All those years of wondering what she may or may not feel about him had been answered when she had bolted from him 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 as it sank like a stone to 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, tossed her over his shoulder, and run away to the first secluded caveman retreat he could find to simply throw 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 had 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.
Nick felt like the room was bursting at the seems with their swirling energies—hers, his, bouncing off the other, circling, stopping, careening off the walls in a heady communication of lost souls impeded by the frailties of human nature . He felt both longing and fear, 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 that 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 he was hearing was actually the hammering of his thoughts in his head. Not knowing what to do next, Nick just stared with a tight-lipped expression, unable to break the silence as Shannon shifted slightly and rearranged her position. He could tell that even that slight movement brought pain to every part of her body, causing her to come up short with a barely suppressed groan of discomfort
“Nick, what are you doing here?” Shannon finally asked in a tight, husky little voice that 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
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