The Billionaire's Second Chance (26 page)

Luckily she was now able to get around some on her own, although awkwardly, as she fumbled along clumsily through her morning ablutions.  “I need to find my
Zen
.” she said out loud to no one except the fuzzy brained blonde staring grumpily back at her from the vanity mirror.

Mind set on what she needed
,
five minutes later Shannon was making her way slowly on crutches
,
which made her feel gawky and unsteady
,
to the terrace where she planned to start her day as she normally did with some early morning yoga followed by some nice hot tea.

Dressed in soft and stretchy yoga pants which outlined her figure perfectly and
a
sleeveless ladies t-shirt with
an
Om symbol, she started her morning stretches using the garden bench to modify the familiar postures in deference to her injury. Almost instantly she started to feel calmer and less scattered.

Shannon had been doing yoga since her early teens and considered this quiet, focused ritual as necessary to her overall well-being. On any normal day life was hectic and non-stop; personal yoga practice forced her to concentrate on physical and emotional balance. Considering the imbalance in both those areas of her life from the events of the last few days, Shannon truly needed to take steps to find some sort of steadiness to what was going on.

Luckily her foot felt a million times better today and though she used the ben
ch to keep from putting it down,
she was glad to know that the injury was improving. Only her eagerness to heal fully and completely in as short a time as possible kept her from trying to put any weight on it. The doctor had said two full days of no pressure to the foot so the swelling and bruising could run their course.

E
ven with the modifications she was deep into her practice and so totally focused on what she was doing that she didn’t notice at first when Nick stepped on to the patio from the kitchen.

He’d been standing at the sink admiring the gorgeous
bougainvillea
flowers surrounding the terrace while he waited for his coffee to brew when she had appeared from the bathroom doors making her way slowly to a low wooden bench that ran along a corner of the enclosed patio. She had a colorful, plush looking towel slung around her neck which she placed on the seat before laying the crutches down and leaning the knee of her injured foot against the bench for stability.

It was quite early to be up, nothing unusual for Nick since he’d always been an early riser
. H
is first thought when she appeared was that here again was yet another way that they were totally compatible. Nick made the most of his early mornings, preferring to putter aimlessly while enjoying several cups of whatever coffee he could get his hands on; sometimes indulging in the quiet concentration needed for the NY Times Crossword puzzle.

Mornings to him were little pods of untouched calm not yet sucked into the dynamics of a
busy
day
;
still
softly infused with dreamy remnants of the night just passed. This morning had started off with a raging case of morning wood when he’d awaken after an all-too vibrant dream of him and the soft beauty out on the patio sweating and grunting through a wildly erotic coupling that left him unfulfilled and frustrated the minute his eyes opened.

He’d dragged his still aroused body to the kitchen dressed only in a pair of grey sweatpants which had seen better days. Hanging low on his hips the loose pants showed a lot of abdomen and he’d shaken his head in bemusement when he’d pulled them on over his nakedness because apparently the only thing holding them up today was the jutting erection that the soft sweats did little to hide.

When Shannon began cautiously limbering up, Nick’s already precarious state was further strained by the sight of her bending and flexing that incredibly voluptuous body of hers in ways that caused his brain to vapor lock.

Reaching arms high overhead and then gently arching her back
,
Shannon’s seductively beautiful breasts were brought into sharp re
lief against her flimsy t-shirt.
Nick’s lips tingle
d
with the desire to wrap them around the plump globes and suck her sensitive pink tinged nipples into his ravenous mouth.

The coffee maker finished brewing his coffee but Nick wasn’t aware of anything except the enticing visual he was devouring with a dangerously heated gaze while his breathing deepened and his heart began thumping in his chest.

As if it couldn’t get any worse, when she bent over and flexed her back up and down like a cat, he started counting backwards from one hundred to distract from the intensifying desire to have her under him arching and writhing just like that as he surged inside her and pumped them both to a thunderous orgasm.

He wasn’t kidding last night when he told her she’d be the death of him. He was only a man after all and in the face of such provocative beauty how could he hope to survive and retain his sanity?

Impulses, raw and primal invaded his conscious mind. He wanted to drown in her scent made sweeter and more alluring with arousal
. T
he primitive man he was losing the battle to
control
needed to claim this woman as his own.

W
ith his turgid manhood leading the
way as if being drawn to the lure of her heated femininity, Nick abandoned the coffee machine and prowled his way on to the terrace like a beast circling and stalking its prey. He stood in rapt fascination as she continued her graceful, feminine movements allowing his senses to take in the full
effect
of her presence.

Shannon was deep in concentration, naturally flowing from one pose to the next; letting her mind empty of all thoughts. It felt good to use her body after several days of enforced inactivity. She could feel energy invading her senses, washing over her frazzled nerves until that energy morphed into something seductive and primitive. She didn’t need to open her eyes
to know he was watching her;
the shift she was experiencing in awareness was due to his being there.

Instead of stopping Shannon continued on although the poses she initiated were suddenly pulsating with an edge of
enticement that her female
self
half-
hoped would invade his senses and steal his breath. She wanted him to want her; she needed him to understand what he’d turned his back on. Not out of a sense of revenge or for pay-back purposes but because she needed him to see her as a fully formed woman and not some teenage version from yesterday who let him sweep her away in a torrent of young love.

When she bent forward to stretch her back, placing her palms carefully on the towel covered bench, Shannon let her backside writhe to and fro as she settled into a comfortable posture. Unless she missed her call, no red blooded male in his right mind could ignore the blatant carnality of such an impudent wiggle
. H
er intuition proved correct when he swiftly appeared at her side from the morning shadows and appreciatively stroked her bobbing backside in their skin tight stretch pants.

Instead of being shocked or jerking upright in alarm, Shannon enjoyed the feeling of his big hands touching and caressing her bottom and found that she was involuntarily thrusting back towards his heat.

“Now that’s what I call an early morning wake-up call.” Nick groaned into the morning silence causing Shannon’s senses to go int
o instant overdrive. God damnit! He
sound
ed
so sexy and turned on that Shannon had to struggle to stay on her feet.

No need for pretense
since
he knew exactly what she’d been saying to him with her body, Shannon came upright and in a hoarse and sexy rumble turned toward him saying simply
,
“I’m glad you heard me.”

When she leaned into him he grabbed her derrière in his strong hands and hauled her forcefully against his half naked form so she could feel his arousal and judge for herself how well he’d heard her. With an erection of impressive size and hardness pressed against her quivering belly he had no doubt his little one was getting exactly the message he wanted to send.

Always the gentleman Shannon thought
when
he grunted out a hasty
,
“Good Morning
.
” before plunging them both into the kind of open mouth kiss that
left
them struggling for air and shaking in the other’s embrace.

Shannon had w
rapped her arms around his neck, holding
on for dear life as he probed
deep with his voracious tongue;
only stopping the oral plundering to kiss and lick her lips, neck and ears. 

When they backed off to suck in
some
much needed oxygen she whispered back through kiss swollen lips a decidedly breath
,
“Good Morning to you too” which made Nick’s heart soar. This was going to be a very good day.

Releasing her bottom with one final
,
reluctant-to-let-go squeeze, Nick stayed pressed up against her as Shannon fought to dampen the carnal after-effects of their intimate good morning salutation.

Even though she knew she should unwind her arms from around his neck and take a step back, she stayed plastered against him enjoying the feel of his rock hard body and the way his impressively jutting staff nestled against her lower belly causing a flood of hot, wet arousal to pool in her pulsing core.

“Do I smell coffee?” she eventually questioned as she let her kiss ravaged lips sweep along his jawline with her tongue leaving a trail of wet, suckling kisses in its wake.

“Mmmmm.” was all he replied as he angled his head to give her total access to his neck, reveling in the touch of her tongue and lips.

             
Just then a small bird appeared and perched weightlessly in a cluster of deep red blooms, twittering at them as though bestowing a message of great importance.

They both paused at the exact same moment and watched, sheltered in each other’s tight embrace
,
as the little bird sang a sweet melodic song. When at last she finished, the tiny bird cocked her head first one way and then the next as if considering the image the two of them made locked together in perfect
harmony
.

When the bird lifted and fluttered in space for a long moment still watching them and then took off toward the brightening sky, neither Nick nor Shannon had lost the symbolism of the moment. Nick slid his hand down to the rounded cheek on her bottom where the tiny tattoo which had fueled their reunion was placed,
while
Shannon did the same in return
,
let
ting
her small hand sweep across his perfect butt where his own bird tattoo was.

The passions which had exploded seconds earlier calmed instantly at the sight of that perfectly timed reminder of what had started all of this. Reaching down to grab her hand, Nick entwined his fingers with hers and then raised their joined hands to his lips for a gentle kiss of remembrance which flooded Shannon’s heart with happiness.

“C’mon you, that’s enough of the standing.” he muttered and with that the crutches which lay right next to where they stood were completely forgotten as Nick hoisted her into his arms and made for the patio table and chairs nearby.

After settling her comfortably Nick hurried inside to make the coffee he had forgotten and to brew his lady love’s favorite pot of tea. The
day
, as far as he was concerned, had started off most auspiciously and he all but whistled a happy tune as he set about the kitchen tasks at hand.

Their morning had unfolded slowly and casually. Coffee, tea and cranberry scones from her favorite market after which they’d moved to the living room and sat side-by-side watching a morning program, debating the news, laughing at the latest in absurd celebrity gossip and genuinely enjoying each other’s company.

When Shannon added tidbits of first-hand information to some of the celebrity gossip, Nick laughed along with her at the antics she’d dealt with in her Hollywood
based business
.  The way she looked at life was refreshing
ly
open
. N
ick found her unique ability to sense things others couldn’t to be completely en
chanting
.

He asked about her work
. S
he
seemed eager to tell
him all about Belle Events and how doing something which she thought would make others happy had brought her so much joy and fulfillment. Tagging
herself
as a hopeless romantic, Shannon let her emotions fly
explaining along the way
that being able to put all
of
her senses to work in such a creative environment gave her tremendous satisfaction.

Shannon opened up to him without hesitation, sharing mishaps and dramas from various events which made them both laugh. She also told him about her special enjoyment of the many charity events she’d helped create and how deeply meaningful that area of her work was. Nick was moved by Shannon’s compassion and sense of moral duty as she told him about the work she and his sister Jules had done for an inner city organization which helped abused and neglected children. Her heart was enormous and Nick felt a sense of pride and
admiration for
the woman she had become.