The Billionaire's Second Chance (33 page)

He’d selected an interesting muted brocade fabric with hand stitched soft leather accents
that
she found charming. A little ‘old school’
,
which actually suited her
,
and also
just this side of being quirky,
the unexpected
gift
had moved her more than it should.  That he’d taken such care in the choosing and the way he watched for her response warmed her enormously.

Nick hesitated in breathless anticipation. Would she eschew the gift because of the obvious cost involved? Had he moved too far, too fast? God, indecision and trepidation were wholly unfamiliar feelings for him
,
Nick thought wryly as he stood there starving for oxygen
, holding
his breath waiting for a reaction. She was killing him.

For long seconds she stared at the luggage with the strangest expression;
a cross
between astonishment and something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on. She was still killing him only this time … slowly.

When she put out one of those delightfully feminine hands with the perfect pale pink and white manicure
,
and ran her fingers along the soft leather of the nearest bag
,
Nick all but fell over in relief. Anyti
me she put those fingers to use
something positive was happening. Her
feelings operated
like an empathic channel and she
often
used her sense of touch to heighten her awareness
.

To his enormous and satisfied delight she graced him with a luminous smile that reached straight into his chest and surrounded his heart.

“Mmmm, Mr. Barrett
.
” she purred in perfect imitation of a genteel southern lady. Clearly feeling mischievous and delighted at the same time
she kept on with
,
“Are you trying to turn my head sir, with fancy gifts and romantic shenanigans?”   This said in a cute southern drawl which in his mind’s eye all but brought his 6’ 4” frame to its knees.

“I don’t know
.
” Nick husked. “Is it working?” h
e asked with a flirtatious wink.
If she wanted to play, he was more than game. This was what he remembered, what he yearned for. He and Shannon, together. Laughing together. Working together. Exploring together. Loving together. His heart rejoiced at another baby step taken.

“I’ll take these into your bedroom and open them up so you’ll have an easy time packing
.
” he
announced
, keeping things light but not overworking what had been a spontaneous moment lest she turn uncomfortable with her response.

“If you want me to stay and help
…..
” he added giving her a moment to decide whether she needed assistance
. W
hen he saw no immediate need to step in he continued on adding an unexpected playful twist of his own. “I’d be happy to go through your lingerie and chose what you’ll need
.
” he joked innocently a second before playfully nudging her shoulder with his and chuckling out another bald statement. “I remember that pink used to be your favorite color. Is it still I wonder?”

He is the devil Shannon thought. Struggling to find a suitable comeback comment she ended up standing mutely while his twinkling leonine eyes smiled into hers. She was wearing pink undies this very moment as it really was her signature color when it came to intimate attire. It may be a cliché but she liked how feminine it made her feel. She’d be damned though if she let him know that. He was hard to resist when he was being charming and Shannon had long since concluded that she was anything but resistant or indifferent to those charms.

Before she could take back control of the conversation
,
he had started moving the luggage set to her bedroom leaving Shannon to thrust her shoulders back and shake herself mentally in an attempt to be a little less of a simpering, giggly twit.

Oh dear, who was she trying to convince
? E
specially since right at this moment she had a perfect view of Nick’s absolutely perfect posterior encased in a pair of well-worn and totally molded to his form jeans. The
types
of jeans
that
left little to t
he im
agination and
which mad
e her hands itch to touch. Simpering, giggly twit indeed. The lascivious groan tap dancing in her consciousness was fighting
for air. Oh boy, she was doomed.

As he hauled the bags to the massive sleigh bed which dominated her bedroom she got an even further reminder of
the fully grown man he’d become. H
er attention was
riveted
by the sight of his impressive biceps and strong thighs as he hoisted each bag onto the high bed. The bed they’d both slept in last night, together.

Limping slowly across the room to stand at the foot of the bed, Shannon looked at him across the expanse of mattress which separated them. Since their rapprochement and especially after Jules and Ned’s timely visit, she stopped fighting the aching, vulnerable awareness that his presence in her life evoked with her every breath. She wouldn’t survive if he walked away from her again and now that the other ghosts of heartbreak past had been retired or banished one by one, this was the only lingering impediment which she still couldn’t breach.

He
said
she needed to have faith. Faith in herself and faith in him. That was a tall order and not entirely due to trepidation about his motivations. Shannon worried endlessly about her own part in all of this. She didn’t know if she had faith in herself to be the woman she felt he deserved. She was afraid deep, deep in her secret heart of hearts that perhaps he’d been right the first time and maybe she didn’t have a place in his world. She still couldn’t bring herself to tell him the entirety of what happened to her after their emotional break-up even though he had asked her several times in several different ways.

She’d kept her responses bland with minimal description, a fact she knew which was not lost on him. She was afraid to tell him now.  At first she hasn’t told him what she’d been through because she thought he was a bastard and didn’t need to know. As time went on she avoided the subject altogether since she could not find a way to say
,
‘
Oh, by the way. We lost a baby and I hate you.
’
  That particular childish scenario had b
ecome
a
familiar
one
having been acted out in her mind
every day for a year. It did not however
have any place in the present situation.

S
he was trapped in a cloud of tortured indecision because part of that secret heart of hearts honesty was the added fear that once he knew what they’d lost
,
and how it had nearly destroyed her
,
he’d feel obligated somehow.  She didn’t want his pity or his obligation. The trut
h of what she wanted was starting
to see the light of day. She wanted him to love her again, which he said he did, and she wanted to feel confident enough to lo
ve him back the way he deserved.

He came around the bed to where she stood so quickly and silently that Shannon jumped when she realized how close he was. She could feel his heat reaching out to her, drawing her in. “I can’t wait to show you my home
,
sweetheart
.
” he breathed against her skin as he stepped in for a quick kiss. “Seeing yours the way I have this past week has been a delight. If I haven’t said it enough already I love the way you’ve redone the house. Your use of soft fabrics and the subtle undertones of color throughout the rooms
is
very pleasing indeed. Just like the lovely lady who lives here”

She all but beamed at his praise and enjoyed the swift kiss before she watched him back out of her room. At the last moment
,
before he disappeared through the door
,
he fixed her with a scorching look that held her frozen and made her cheeks flush when he growled in a very sexy voice
,
“Pack something pink for me
,
little one
.
” and then he was gone.

An hour before dawn the next morning,
she was ready to leave for the airport
with
nerves
that
were well and truly frazzled. There’d been so much cautious flirting and
touching
flying between them that the non-stop
buzz
of her emotions took a toll.
As if sleeping cuddled up next to his side weren’t enough to deal with, t
he idea of being seated next to him during a long plane flight was both exciting to anticipate and exhausting to contemplate.

CHAPTER
TWENTY

The announcement that they would be taking Barrett
’s
private plane back east had thrown her for a loop.  When he took charge of making their arrangements to fly to New York City she assumed they’d be
going
first class but hadn’t expected the company jet. 
Honestly, hadn’t known such an option existed.

Her
nervous
excitement about being seated next to him for a transcontinental flight blossomed into an erotic tableau of possibilities available to them on a private jet. Good heavens, when had she become so s
exually rampant in her thinking? S
quirming impatiently in her seat
as they drove through the dark and quiet streets,
Shannon grimaced in acknowledgement that the reason for her thinking was mere inches away from her and his sedu
ctive scent wafting through her
senses was starting a chain reaction of needs and wants that she could not tamp down.

Shannon
tried
mentally cursing
as a way to distract from
where her mind was wandering; p
erhaps fooling herself that such a tactic would blunt the carnality of her response. But she gave up after only a few seconds because she never
had mastered the fine art of swearing; t
rying to pull it off now, even just in her mind, was making her uncomfortable. 

Okay, time to change to a different tack.  Perhaps humming quietly would provide the distract
ion she so desperately needed. 
Before resorting to the pathetic tactic her mind stuttered to a halt.
Oh god
, she grimaced, I shouldn’t look but I can’t help it.  His leg was so close to
hers;
close enough to actually sense the force field
of
his
lethal, male
aura
.
Lifting her eyes just a scant inch or so her gaze encountered one of
Nick’s
hands lying absently against his thigh.

There was something about his hands
which had always
fascinated her.  She remembered the work torn palms and calloused fingers of the grad student she’d known.  He’d been very hands on back then both with his labors during the day and of course with her whenever they could be together during long nights of intense touching and endless
embraces
.  His caress was the only aphrodisiac she needed.

The
tho
ught sent off a mini-explosion in
her tummy causing
Shannon
to shimmy slightly while she tried to block out
memories
of
long, slow,
tactile explorations of each other’s skin
that seemed to go on for days.
She d
esperately tried to deny the building pulse beat of longing which these thoughts had ignited between her thighs.

The hands she surveyed today were those of a grown-up. 
He was all man now, his entire demeanor and the way he carried himself; how he went about being who he
was
, screamed wi
th testosterone and virility. 
Truth be told; i
t scared the daylights out of her.

She wondered what those hands would feel like on an exploration of her body.  Would he remember the way she liked to be touched?  Would he use his hands on her breasts, his fingers
kneading her sensitive skin,
feathering soft rings of sensation around her enflamed nipples?

On that thought Shannon felt an immediate flush of guilty pleasure from her toes to the top of her head and pretty much wished she could scream from confusion or die of embarrassment.  At this point, either would fit the
situation she found herself in.
Gulping back a wayward sigh lest he realize where her thoughts had been
,
she decided to close her eyes for a few moments to clear her head.