The Billionaire's Second Chance (36 page)

Nadia efficiently set about detai
ling what was available;
asked solicitously if there was anything else she could get them
before
engaging
in a brief
back and forth
with
Nick about flight details and accommodations for the Reyes
’ and
the
flight crew.
Nick expressed his thanks before dismissing the woman with an assurance that he would call if they needed anything at all.

Before exiting, Nadia had the good sense to address Shannon directly with a respectful inquiry into her comfort after having noticed the way she was getting about with a slight limp. Her deferential manner toward the woman at his side gave Nick intense satisfaction both at his employee’s perfect assessment of what was so obviously going on and Shannon’s always lady-like interactions. She was a perfect fit for him; they complimented each other so well
that
Nick was hell bent on showing her just how well they fit.
Intimately.

They spent the next hour sitting compatibly at the small beautifully set table
enjoying
the selection
of
simple fruits, scrumptious cheeses and artisanal baked goods set out for them. When Nick inquired if Shannon preferred a heartier meal, perhaps something hot, she responded rather breathlessly that
she
was fine
but not
all that interested in food right then.
Quirking an eyebrow, his senses went on high alert.

Blushing furiously she
fumbled
over the implications present in her words while Nick watched in amused satisfaction. Yeah, he wasn’t all that hungry for food either.  Hungry, yes. 
For food,
not so much
.

What t
he hell was the matter with her Shannon fumed inwardly?
  Good lord but she sounded like a blithering idiot
awkwardly trying
to explain away the double entendre meaning of her words. As lovely as the tempting dishes were which had been prepared for them and as pleasant as the inane perfectly polite conversation between them was as they bantered about absolutely nothing,
she was fantasizing about the way
his long, beautifully sculpted, very manly hands
had disappeared
under her dress
earlier. Having
said she wasn’t feeling hungry for food
,
Shannon
panicked
; desperately praying
she hadn’t continued that thought out loud
adding
that she was indeed hungry. For his touch.

It didn’t help her composure that Nick sat
so still
, staring at her as a galling pink blush crept up her neck spread
ing
rapidly across her face. He might not be saying anything but the smoldering look on his face spoke of things which left Shannon trembling in her seat. She’d asked him not to rush her and right now she wished he’d forget she
had
ever said anything so ridiculous.

His eyes were fixed on her mouth when she snaked out her tongue and swept some much moisture along her
parched
lips. He zeroed in on that movement with an intensity that rocked her world
.
Shannon knew they were fast approaching the moment when they would be done with polite conversations and solicitous touches. He was holding himself back
,
as he had promised he would
,
whil
e she found her way in this odd,
surreal situation.

Ah, what the hell
, she thought as any
remaining
tethers which were even remotely keeping her response
s
to him at bay unraveled under the drenching effects of the sexual fall-out that had them both securely in its voracious grip.

Nick was struggling for
control especially
after watching in slow motion wonder w
hen her tongue had wet her lips, instantly reminding him
of other things that tongue had done. Erotic things. Things which had made his nerve endings stand at full alert.

A full color movie of
her
tongue licking him from top to bottom replayed in his mind. She had this intense way of absorbing everything through her senses
so
the impressions she wrought and experienced from the strokes of her tongue had moved both of them to shuddering awareness of the other. He loved watching her taste his body and the obvious pleasure she took in doing so had turned up the flame even higher.

She knew it was up to her to make the first move if she wanted any more from him than focused politeness and iron clad control. 
She’d seen all she needed to see. Shannon loved him enough to forgive the past; loved him enough to trust his vision for their future. With each brick that had come down and with each re-woven thread
,
the connection they
shared
,
that thing which calls lost souls together, had
reawakened
and strengthened. The time for doubts and drama had passed.                    

She was overcome for
a few
seconds as reality hit her
when she
completely embraced a decision that would have life-long consequences. Her emotions skyrocketed making Shannon want
him
to be
out of control and undone
too
. S
he wanted him
feeling
even a tiny measure of the flames engulfing her at this moment
. J
udging by the increasing boldness in those smoldering eyes she had only to reach out
and
he would be hers all over again. Could she? Should she? Again she thought,
‘A
h, what the hell.
’

“Kiss me
.
” she said. That was all. Just,
kiss me
. With those two words Nicholas Barrett knew a rede
mption and forgiveness so deep and
profound
that
it
shook
him
to his core.  With e
motions clogging his throat he simply stood up and
came around the small table so he could scoop
her up from the chair where s
he
sat.

G
athering her to him so she felt the enti
re length of him along her body, h
e slowly lowered his head towards her for a kiss she knew would change everything.
The second before his lips touched hers she saw deeply into his eyes, into his very soul
,
and was
stunned
to see the pr
esence of tears gathering there.
Everything about him
spoke to
how deeply moved he was
and
how
precious this moment
was to him. J
ust like that, she was undone.

He kissed her, s
lowly and reverently at first,
a
llowing the sensory overload of their fused mouths to gather momentum. Wallowing in the intoxicating passion which burst forth the second they melted against each other
,
Nick poured his heart and soul into that kiss. He wanted her to know that for him this was like nothing else he’d ever experienced in his lifetime. Kissing her was like being reborn. Where before he’d been isolated, alone and barely concealing the bitterness he felt over the loss of this beautiful, extraordinary woman from his life, at this moment he was soaring free at last. He thought of the
matching
tattoos which had started all this and
of
the fable
d
twin souls flying free at their reunion. The tears he had felt gathering when she had quietly asked him to kiss her kicked in to high gear with that connective memory.

Shannon clung to Nick’s shoulders as he held her firmly against him while he plundered her mout
h. Soft and gentle at first, their
kiss told a story with undercurrents of hope and desire
directing
the outcome. Before too long the
ir kissing
exploded into something too big for either of them to handle as he groaned his need with each swip
e of his tongue along hers
. S
pearing
he
r
fingers into his hair
Shannon
h
eld
him where she wanted him as her own mouth voraciously
responded
to
the
masculine plundering of her senses.

Standing there in the middle of the dimly lit room, she was writhing against his rock hard body as he devoured her response with his mouth and hands. He held
on
so tightly that at one point he realized he was bending her over the arm caught around her waist with such ardor that she had no choice but to simply let him have his way with her. He felt very much like the swashbuckling pirate she
had
jokingly
said he reminded her of.
Nick surrendered to the primal beat picking up tempo in his body
,
ravish
ing
the heavenly creature in his arms with a surprising lack of finesse.  He wanted her, deeply, madly,
and completely
.

Shannon fell into his kisses with complete abandon, kneading her fingers against his scalp as she moaned in response to the greedy
oral
duel each was engaged in. Rolling her tongue around his and sucking it deep into her mouth, she knew an aching emptiness at her core which only he could fill.
As her body responded
to his touch with a rampant sensuality that overtook her senses, Shannon pressed herself against him marveling at the potent sexual drumbeat that his possession started inside her.

How long they stayed like that, wrapped up in each other, kissing, stroking, moaning she didn’t know for the sensation of being in his arms
,
and not holding back at all
,
was so compelling
that she lost
all sense of time or awareness of anything outside the two of them.

Eventually the sultry kissing became
bolder and hotter
as Nick left worshipful kisses across her face before licking her ear and neck causing Shannon to sink her teeth into Nick’s shoulder in response. By the time he put his hungry lips to that spot on her neck that he knew would drive her wild
,
she had surrendered to him so totally that all she could do was whimper and writhe in his arms
when
he suckled the sensitive skin where neck met shoulder.

“Shannon…?” Nick rasped.  She knew what he was asking so she answered him with a deep whisper that began in her heart and en
ded on her lips. “Yes Nick. Yes,
please
.
”
There was nothing else to
say.

Hearing the words he longed for, Nick peeled her body off of his with a low feral growl
. S
winging her into his capable arms
, he
kissed her passionately some more
while carrying her through
to his private suite.

A large bed took up one side of the cabin with two arm chairs and a small
built-in
dresser on the other side. Marching right up to the side of the mattress, Nick let go of Shannon’s lips long enough
for
her
to
slide with delicious slowness down the front of him in a sensual descent that almost knocked the strength out of her legs when they hit the floor. She stood trembling before him, feeling engulfed by his size and nearness and dwarfed by the intensity of h
er
response.

Trying to gain some control over her careening emotion
s lest she embarrass herself totally,
Shannon glanced around the bedroom suite, taking in
the big bed dressed in muted shades of cream and beige with a soft cashmere throw arranged along the footboard. It was hard not to notice the obvious comforts which made up the well-appointed cabin, something she was sure
would be
a necessity for anyone who traveled as much as Nick apparently did.
The next thing that struck her was how stark and empty the space actually was. While sumptuous and comforting the room was devoid of personal touches. The Barrett logo might be on everything she surveyed but it was not attached to him it seemed. In that moment of awareness she surmised that
while
he
was
a
man who had everything in a material sense he was also a man who had been living his life in a paint-by-number way
. He’d been g
oing through the motions for all to see
,
but
was
essentially empty and lonely inside.
A little like this room and a little like she herself had been for far too long.