Taking Passion by Storm (7 page)

“
I’m in awe you did that. Most women don’t.”

“
I know. I was in shock, but at the same time the
rational part of my brain told me what I needed to do. I called Brenda from the
phone in the classroom, and she called the police. She told me to stay there. I
was afraid he’d come back, but he never did. It felt like a long time until I
heard others in the building, but in reality it was probably less than five
minutes.”

“
You’re a very brave woman.”

She
hadn’t felt brave in calling Brenda immediately afterward. It had been the
logical thing to do. The one thing she could focus on at the time instead of
letting the panic take over and render her incapable of doing anything. She’d
clung to the only sure thing in her life at the time. Everything else had
slipped away as if it had never been real. If she had let that continue, she
never would have gotten up off that classroom floor, and they all would have
found her there the next morning.

“
Most rapes are never reported,” she said. “I wasn’t
going to be part of that statistic. The cops came, along with Brenda and an
ambulance. They took me to the hospital, and within days I heard from the DA
that the DNA from the skin under my nails and the blood on my bra matched DNA
from multiple rapes around the country. Then they tracked down other victims,
and it snowballed from there. He finally pled guilty because they convinced him
that if he stood trial for one rape, he’d be convicted for all of them. He’d
left behind physical evidence on every single one.”

“
Not too bright.”

“
He never raped anyone twice. He’d simply move on to
another town, a new identity, and a new victim. He’d been doing this since
before everyone moved underground, and the DA told me he likely thought he’d
never get caught because he’d gotten away with it so many times before.”

“
And for all that he only got twenty-five years?”

She
shook head. “It was the deal he made. He had to
allocute
to the rapes, and they wouldn’t offer him any less prison time.”

“
So when you’re forty-eight, he gets out.”

“
Yes, but he’ll be sixty-eight.”

“
That’s still young enough to start up again.”

He
said it under his breath, but she hugged herself just the same. That wasn’t
something she allowed herself to think about.

“
Why did you stay at your job? That couldn’t have been
easy.”

“
Because I love what I do and I wasn’t going to let him
take that from me. Brenda told the staff what had happened, but it never made
the news. I asked for my name to be kept out of the media. I didn’t want my
father hearing about it because I knew he’d leave the Storm Troopers and track
down the man. I never wanted him to go through that, or to have to leave the
job he loved.”

“
Do you regret that now? Not telling him?”

“
No, but when we find him, I’m going to tell him. It’s
the right thing to do, isn’t it?”

“
Only because he loves you so much and would want to
help you in any way he could.”

“
I know. I realize that now. Addison, I’ve hidden from
this for so long. Thank you. Thank you for listening.” The words were
inadequate. She couldn’t describe what she felt. It was as if she’d been
carrying around a large boulder all her life and suddenly it was gone.

“
I wish there was more I could do.”

She
shook her head. “I wish you knew what this felt like. You did more than you
will ever realize.”

“
I’m here to listen anytime, Nadine. If that’s all I
can do, I will keep doing it until you feel safe in your own skin again.”

She
swiped at the tears trickling down her cheek.
Safe in my own skin
. That was how she felt. That was exactly what
she was experiencing. He’d nailed it, just like that. Who was this man?

He
couldn’t possibly understand the violation she’d experienced, not really, but
yet he did understand the fear, the anger, and the way it had left a stain on
her soul. He understood all that, and he was still here, looking at her like
that.

She
swallowed hard as she stared into the depths of those chocolate brown eyes.
He’d told her he’d always had a thing for her. That was a certainty despite
what she’d just told him. He was her chance at a normal life. A life where she
had intimacy with a man that didn’t leave her bleeding, in pain, and afraid.
Four years was a long time to push down normal needs. Too long.

The
perfect man to change all that for her was sitting right in front of her. He
always had been. Nadine knew that now, as sure as she knew they would find her
father out there. All she had to do was take a chance on Addison. This was in
her hands and no one else’s. He would wait for her to say or do something
because she also recognized that he was a gentleman. He’d proven that ten times
over in the last hour alone.

She
took a deep breath. “There is one thing you can do for me.”

He
wiped her tears gently. “Name it. Anything.”

Don’t chicken out.
“That kiss you started before
lunch, the one Lee interrupted? You can finish it.”

Chapter
Seven

Addison
thought at first he’d imagined her words, but knew from the look on her
face—part fear, part desperation—that he’d heard her correctly. The trust she’d
shown him today blew him away. He didn’t deserve it, but he was grateful for
it.

Before
he lost his nerve or she changed her mind, he bent his head and pressed his
lips to hers. They were as soft and yielding as he’d always pictured, and her
sigh as he deepened the kiss sent his hormones spiraling to the damn moon. The
anger he’d felt listening to her story abated somewhat, but he still held onto
a part of it. He wanted to. He would avenge her somehow. It mattered not that
the bastard was in prison. She deserved closure on this, and prison was too
good. It was too easy for what that asshole had done.

When
her arms came up and circled his shoulders, he nearly shoved his tongue into
her mouth. Her touch was so tentative yet eager at the same time, and the
effect was intoxicating. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her body and
pulled her closer, the emotion welling up inside for all that man had taken
from her.

She’d
never known what a truly fulfilling, beautiful thing an intimate relationship
with a man could be. From what she’d told him, he doubted she’d ever had sex
that hadn’t either hurt her or frightened her. Addison wanted to change all
that for her. He wanted to show her what it could be like. He wanted to give
everything back to her that she had been denied. He wanted to erase those
horrible memories and replace them with lustful, exciting ones.

She
shocked the hell out of him by parting her lips, so he didn’t hesitate this
time. He slid his tongue inside, not able to stop his long moan as her tongue
found his. Addison moved his hands up and down her back, trying not to act like
a dog in heat, but it was damn difficult. He needed to let her to set the pace.
The last thing in the world he wanted was to scare her.

She
broke the kiss first, but it wasn’t fear he glimpsed in her big blue eyes. He
cupped her face. “Are you all right?”“Yes. More than all right. You’re an
incredible kisser.”

“
So are you.”

“
I want more.”

“
Oh God. So do I, but I don’t only want sex from you,
Nadine. I want to date you. I want to
court
you, if you’ll forgive the use of such an old-fashioned word.”

She
smiled. “I’ll not only forgive it, I’ll thank you for using it. I’m overwhelmed
by you, Addison, but in a good way.”

“
I feel the same about you. I should have acted on my
feelings years ago.”

She
shook her head. “What’s done is done. We’re here now.”

He
brushed a finger along her face. “Exactly. The past can’t hurt us. Either of
us.”

“
I know. This is crazy. I shouldn’t be afraid of sex.”

Addison
was dying inside. His dick was so hard it was actually painful. He’d never
encountered a situation like this, but he wanted to help her. Sure, his
motivation might appear selfish on the surface, but it was so much more than
that. Every fantasy he’d had about her came crashing down now, all mixed up
with the horrible secret she’d just entrusted to him. He wanted to change this
beautiful girl’s life. He wanted to be the one to save her from the past.

“
I don’t think you are afraid of it. I think you are
afraid of the memories of the rape. Real sex, sex with a man you care about and
who cares about you, isn’t like that.”

“
I know that intellectually, but how do I block out the
memories?”

“
Are they in your head now?”

“
Not as much as they were before.”

He
let go of her face and tried to harness the remaining brain cells that still
had blood in them. “When I trained with the Storm Troopers before coming up
here the first time, Merrill taught me visualization techniques to help with
the fear. I don’t know if they’re similar to what you’ve been taught, but I’d
be happy to share them with you.”

“
You trained with the Storm Troopers? I didn’t realize
that.”

He
smiled. “Yes. All my procurement team members did. I didn’t want anyone up here
who wasn’t physically or psychologically prepared, including myself.”

“
I misjudged you, Addison. You need to know that.”

“
What do you mean?” He believed he knew what she meant,
but it was important to give her a chance to say it.

“
I thought of you as nothing but another billionaire
womanizer, just like all your friends are.”

“
We get that all the time, and no I’m not offended.
None of us are. When we were younger, we spent a lot of time acting like horny
teens. We know that. Now we’re older and I hope wiser. Most of us are, anyway.
Ace is married. Emmett, Dominic, Kane, and Damien are all engaged. We’re not
like our younger selves any longer.”

“
Well, I still owe you an apology.”

“
No, you don’t. I was that man, but I’m not anymore.”
He took her hands, and wasn’t surprised to find them a bit cool. He couldn’t
imagine the emotions racing through her mind right now. “You mentioned you used
visualization techniques, so I take it you’re familiar with them?”

“
Yes. I don’t use them as consistently as I should,
though.”

“
It takes conscious effort, like anything. They helped
me with my initial fear. So did verbalizing it, like you’ve just done in
telling me the details of your rape. By owning what happened to you, you’re
able to take better control of it.”

“
You have to be right about that. I want to live my
life, not cower in fear.”

“
You’re here, Nadine. On the surface. That’s a huge
step. Don’t you realize that?”

As
understanding dawned in her eyes, he resisted the urge to pump his fist in the
air. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.”

He
placed a hand on each shoulder. “Tell me what else I can do to help you.”

She
smiled, and his heart skipped a beat. “You mean besides that lovely kiss?”

“
Yes, besides that. Or, in addition to it, is more what
I meant.”

She
stared into his eyes for so long that time stopped. He was afraid to do so much
as blink for fear this would disappear, or someone would knock on the damn door
or barge inside, and break the spell. He was actually surprised no one had done
that by now.

Finally,
he watched resolution fill her face. Whatever was going through her mind, he
knew she’d just reached a momentous decision. She took a deep breath, and
Addison braced himself for whatever she was about to say.

****

Nadine
didn’t think about his reaction. She knew he wouldn’t turn her down. “I want
you to make love to me, Addison. I might not be able to handle it, or I might
not be able to do everything you usually do, but I want to try. Can you do
that? Can you give me a chance, knowing I might not be able to get through all
of it?”

The
look on his face nearly stopped her heart. Tender, yet so full of lust she
wanted to cry. This was what she’d waited for. Right here and now. He cupped
her face again, and she drew strength from his warmth.

“
Oh, Nadine. Of course I will. I’d be honored to give
you that chance, and as many chances as you want, but I meant it when I said
that’s not all I want from you. It can wait until we’ve found your father and
are back underground.”

She
shook her head. “No. I don’t want to wait. We might not find him. Not alive,
anyway. We might not make it back underground. We could all die up here. I
don’t want my last memories of having sex to be what that man did to me four
years ago. I don’t want to die like that.”

He
brushed a finger along her lips again, and she moaned softly at his touch. “Are
you sure?”

“
Very.”

He
kissed her again, and this time she parted her lips right away. She didn’t
realize at first that the soft moans she heard were coming from her. Her pussy
was wet, and her entire body tingled. Nadine wanted to cry again because she
hadn’t even realized she could become that aroused anymore. He’d done this for
her. This incredibly gorgeous, patient man who had been attracted to her for
years. She’d never known the true depths of his desire for her, but she did
now, and that’s all that mattered.

The
past would not ruin this for her. She would not allow that to happen. She would
embrace everything Addison gave her, and she’d replace the fear and anger with
new memories instead. He wouldn’t hurt her. She knew that as sure as she knew
her own name.

He
released her mouth quickly as she heard the door open. Didn’t they lock? She
certainly hoped so. Merrill stood there with a neutral expression on his face,
for which she was very grateful. “George is here already. Thought you’d like to
know.”

“
Really?” Addison stood, and her gaze shot straight to
his crotch. She averted it quickly but not before she noticed his erection.
Would Merrill see it? “Wow. He made great time. We’ll be right out.”

“
Okay, boss.” Just before Merrill turned to leave, she
caught his grin spread, and her face burned with embarrassment again.

She
stood. “I’m sorry.”

He
pulled her into his arms. “Why? We haven’t done anything wrong.”

“
Don’t these damn doors lock?”

Addison
laughed, maybe a bit too loudly. Was that from nervousness or another reason?
“Yes. Have no fear. We won’t be disturbed later.”

“
I hate to bring up something to clinical, but you
should know I was tested for STDs afterward, and then again six months later,
even though he used a condom.” She hadn’t wanted to ask him earlier about his
own status, but knew she would have to eventually if this was going to happen,
so she hoped he’d take the hint.

“
And?”

“
Oh, I’m all right. I have none.”

“
That’s good. I don’t either. I’ve always been very
careful.”

There
was nothing standing in her way now. She stared into his eyes. “Is this really
going to happen?”

His
expression grew serious. “I sure hope so, but you’re free to change your mind.
I won’t be upset.”

“
I haven’t changed it, but you might.”

He
gave her a look of incredulity. “Why on earth would I do that?”

“
I don’t know. You might decide this is more work than
you care to deal with.”

He
brushed her hair with one hand. “You’re not work. You’re a human being, and a
woman I’ve wanted for a long time. No matter what it takes, or how long it
takes, we will get you through this. We will get you past your fears. I will
make love to you, Nadine, and you won’t be afraid or hurt. I promise you that.”

His
words reverberated in her brain as she listened to them both breathing softly.
She almost forgot that George and the others were waiting for them. “Thank
you,” she whispered. Nadine wanted desperately to believe him.

She
had to believe in something. Four years was a long time to hide in fear and
anger. If she’d never come along on this trip, would they have reached this
point eventually? Doubtful, considering he’d never acted on his feelings until
now, and she’d never imagined something like this happening to her. This trip
might turn out to be life-changing in more ways than one.