The Billionaire's Second Chance (24 page)

The meal they’d shared had brought them to a middle road; one that, while still bumpy at times, had given them a chance to calm the intense emotional fall-out from the past. She was being receptive to him finally and had stopped trying to nail his butt to the wall with daggers of anger and mistrust each time she looked at him.

Glancing around the gleaming stainless steel, marble and highly polished wood of the immaculately cleaned kitchen, Nick lowered the lighting and bolstered himself for the night ahead. He’d thoroughly enjoyed regaling her with tales of his recent Asian trip and found tremendous satisfaction in the way her remarkable eyes, instead of damning his every word, had gazed at him with admiration and delight when he
blathered
on about plans to green every single division of Barrett’s massive global holdings and what doing that would mean for his vision of how businesses of the future should be run. She looked at him
while he spoke as she had in
his dreams and once, a long time ago, in reality.

He wanted more than her smiling eyes though and the insistent tightening in the area of his pants zipper each time she looked his way or allowed the simplest of touches was bringing that fact home with regularity. She was fighting it though
,
he had to admit
,
and for good reason. A patient man he was not
,
having become used to his every thought and order being met without question. 

No amount of bravado or supreme self-confidence could negate his past actions
resigning Nick to a slower path;
one where she found her footing and called the shots with whatever she was comfortable with while he took mental cold showers and held himself back from seducing her into compliance.

He’d made that mistake once -
deciding for her - and he wasn’t fool enough to go at things like that again. Besides, he wanted her back in his life the way she’d been before all the lies and distance, when they’d worked together as partners and life had seemed full of possibilities. Bullying her into acknowledging that she could barely keep her hands to herself was not the way to go. This situation called for some judicious restraint on his part; something his raging libido d
id not want to hear he grimaced
.

Turning to the open doors leading to the patio he sought her out like a moth to the flame
,
something
he winced
over
in acknowledgment
.  W
ithout her in his life turning him and everything else upside down and inside out he didn’t know how he’d live if she spurned his attempts at forgiveness and reconciliation. Grabbing a bowl filled with gourmet chocolate meringue cookies he’d found in the grocery delivery, Nick took a deep breath as he set a course and stepped into the fading light of the day
making
his way to the swinging loveseat where his heart’s desire sat.

The scrapes on her palms seemed so much better today Shannon mused. The rough, red abrasions were healing quickly and now that every movement of her hands didn’t bring discomfort, it was a lot easier to keep her unruly curls under control.  She’d unbound the tight braided plait from earlier as she sat relaxed and swinging on the love seat.

Shannon enjoyed the feel of her hair tumbling around her shoulders and down her back. It seemed so decadent somehow. But all that hair, lovely as it
was
,
had a tendency to get in the way. Sweeping th
e
long tresses back from her jaw line she quickly wrapped a hair-band around the wavy pony tail and smoothed some errant wispy curls behind her ears.  She knew the casual hairstyle made her look like a girly teenager but at least she didn’t resemble the bedraggled helpless patient she’d felt like for the past days. 

When Nick sauntered from the kitchen carrying something in his hands, Shannon was shocked by an unexpected longing to find favor in his eyes and hoped that her casual dress and haphazard grooming wasn’t a turn off.

Where had that thought come from
she thought while quietly lamenting the lack of a proper manicure or presence of carefully applied make-up. Damn and double damn but as he got closer and closer all she could focus on as she watched him approach was how sexy he looked in those well-worn jeans and the provocative way they clung to and framed what the kids these days referred to as his junk.

Exhaling a breath of contempt for the foolish phrase she wondered how anyone could view this man’s body and dismiss his
enthralling
virility as junk. He was …
.
well, he was making her mouth water so she did what any red-blooded f
emale with a pulse would do;
silently enjoyed the way he moved and the manner in which he carried his impressive physique.

Oh boy, with each brick that came crashing down in the wall she had built around her heart, Shannon fell deeper and deeper into the throbbing awareness she experienced each time he came into view. Her last thought as he pulled up to a halt right in front of her was how interesting it was that the prominent bulge he carried in his pants was pretty much right in her face when he was standing and she was sitting. Without thinking her tongue swept out and from her mouth where she stroked some much needed moisture before tugging on those lips with her teeth.

Whatever clever words Nick had planned to say were swept away by the sight of her tongue and lips which he couldn’t help but notice were conveniently at the same level as the hard-on which had been distracting him all day. He was holding a bowl of something but in that moment he couldn’t tell you what and though he tried to keep things light and casual he knew his eyes were blazing with undisguised sexual
hunger
. For a tiny second he considered grabbing her up from the love seat and crushing her into his aroused body while he tasted those delectable lips; plundering her mouth with a kiss that would leave no doubt how he hoped the night would end.

Whoa, slow down there he remembered at the last second and clearing his throat offered forth the bowl of cookies with a decidedly raspy
,
“Dessert?” Nick’s head shook fractionally as he castigated himself for sounding so tongue-tied. Smooth, real smooth he thought.

Realizing she’d been all but licking her lips with erotic fantasies as he stood right in front of her Shannon tried to recover with an answer which she hoped would sound casual but which, when it came out of her mouth, sounded like a come-on.

“Oooh, whatcha’ got there?
” s
he sighed as she tried peering into the bowl only to realize that by doing so she looked like she was doing an on-site inspection of his groin. Snatching her head back she quickly lifted her gaze to his face in embarrassment and was stopped dead in her tracks by his expression.

He looked like someone, that cowboy pirate again,
fighting a
ferocious battle in his head
which was
clearly etched on his face. His eyes, blazing when he at first approached, had turned slumberous and slightly hooded giving him the look of a fierce predator sizing up a delectable morsel offered for his dining pleasure. He wanted to eat her alive and no amount of trying to clean up that thought erased the image of him using that sexy mouth of his on every inch of her body.

The same ferocious battle sprang to life in Shannon’s mind as she struggled to maintain her composure when all she really wanted to do was fling the bowl in his hands aside and reach for the snap of his jeans. She’d show him what she wanted for dessert she fantasized as a moaning, groaning montage of highly erotic visions invaded her thoughts. Regardless of what he was offering, her appetite for something much more intimate and exciting throbbed to life, deep in her core.

Not missing the slight trembling in his hand as he placed the wooden bowl on the table by her side, she
complied
when he shooshed her over far enough on the love seat for him to sit next to her.  She liked the way the heat of his body invaded her senses wherever they touched. Her eyes met his and waited.

Nick sat down because if he didn’t he was going to do something stupid.  The hungry way her eyes had moved over his body as he stood before her was causing all the blood normally circulating in his brain to dash southward at an alarming rate. If this kept up he’d be losing brain cells faster than the snap of his fingers since the only part of him which felt vibrantly alive at the moment was his
hardened
manhood. Get. A. Grip
. 

Oh shit
and just like that he remembered what it felt like when Shannon’s feminine hands gripped his hardness and how watching her stroke his length had been burned in his memory to torture him during long years of loneliness.  Think Nick, he castigated himself. Don’t just react.

Swallowing hard he tried for light-hearted, “That little market down the canyon sent along some of what th
ey said was a favorite treat.”
Gesturing to the bowl he diverted her attention for a heart-beat
,
“Meringue chocolate cookies.”

He leaned across her then and plucked one of the airy mounds from the bowl and popped it in his mouth.  “Mmmm, these are good!” he exclaimed before reaching again and grabbing a few more.

“Hey, hey, hey!” she laughed,
playfully swatting
at his retreating hand. “Those are a guilty pleasure mister! Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to get in the way of a lady and her chocolate?! You’d better watch yourself, sir!”

The obvious delight and laughter which instantly transformed her face brought waves of undiluted joy to Nick’s entire being. Her smile was his guilty pleasure and he’d be more than happy to steal her treats till the cows came home if it meant she’d keep teasing him that way and laughing with abandon.

Deciding to push the limits just a tad Nick fixed her with raised brows and said
,
“I consider it my duty to feed all your guilty pleasures Shannon
. S
ince you’re the injured one, what say you just relax and let me feed you, one at a time?”

The way his mouth quirked with laughter at the obviously naughty taunt over-rode whatever caution bells may have sounded in her brain.  Throwing common sense to the wayside Shannon just giggled and said
,
“Feed me then
.
” before leaning toward him and opening her mouth.

Holy Mother of God
was Nick’s last coherent thought as he watched in helpless fascination while he met her challenge with one of his own; placing one of the tiny chocolate morsels ju
st on the tip of her tongue,
letting his hand linger at her lips while they stared each other down.

Closing her mouth around the cookie, Shannon let her tongue barely touch his fingers before looking away and acting out her obvious enjoyment of the treat. “I love how they just melt on your tongue
.
” she sighed a second before she returned her eyes to his and smiled one of those Mona Lisa smiles
that dro
ve a man nuts.

Popping yet another chocolate delight into his rapidly drying mouth, Nick laughed at Shannon’s coquettish response and before either one of them knew what was happening he leaned in and softly kissed her.

“Now that’s what I call delicious
.
” he breathed into her blushing face as he slowly pulled back to survey her reaction.  The blush of course told him a lot as did her quickly brightening eyes and the way she drew in oxygen. “You up for seconds?” he asked as he waited to see what happened next.

Should she consider playing coy and continuing their game of teasing flirtation? Not for a second Shannon decided when instinct and desire took over and she slowly smiled into his eyes and said
,
“Yes, please”.

That was all it took for Nick to pull her toward him on the gently swaying love seat and to slowly, slowly, slowly lower his head until breaths mingled and lips almost touched.  He wasn’t sure why he hesitated but was glad he had when Shannon closed the distance, scant as it was, so their lips could finish what their mischievous words had started.

She tasted like heaven. T
he soft sigh she released as their mouths joined in a kiss which went way beyond a simple peck was more sweet and satisfying than any edible treat he could imagine.  This is something they exceled at. Slow, sensual, deep kisses; the kind that stole your breath and made you wish for time to stand still.

Shannon fell into that kiss with a satisfaction so deep she
shivered in
response to the emotions which were washing all over her.  She remembered long, drawn out kissing with him which could go on an entire night. His lips were soft and perfect, covering hers one second and then nibbling at the contours of her mouth the next.

Sighing some more
,
Shannon relaxed against him
letting
the intensifying heat building between them grow by leaps and bounds.
When his tongue began seeking entry into the moist recesses of her trembling mouth, she reached up and placed her hand at the back of his head telling him with her touch how much more she wanted.