****
After that kiss, it was no surprise to Shane that he found it impossible to get any sleep. Even after the night fell silent, and everything else in the house no longer moved, he still lay awake, bare chested and in nothing but his silk boxers as he stared up at the ceiling in the dim room.
The guests were long gone. He thought of Bridget’s parting barb as he’d helped her into her coat. “Your mom would be so glad to know you’re coming out of your shell. I’ll tell her how much fun we all had tonight, in spite of everything,” she’d said, sending Angela one cutting glance before smiling and kissing Shane’s cheek, then leaving with Melissa.
The whole evening had gone better than expected. It hadn’t shown but he’d been dreading having to sit at table with people again, even though most were his own friends. He’d missed that; missed the banter and the warmth from enjoying good food and wine with people most of whom you cared about.
But the high point was Angela, and what her presence did to the atmosphere. How she shone with her smile, her laugh and her voice. It made anything she said sound deep and musical. He’d loved watching her eat, or listening to her hold a conversation. He’d wanted to snap the stem of his glass in his fingers when he’d caught Drew and Harvey ogling her. No doubt she looked on fire in that red dress. He knew she’d caught him looking her way with more than a bit of masculine hunger in his eyes.
When the guests were gone and the house was empty except for the staff clearing up, they’d walked back into the main area and he’d asked her if she’d like to have some more wine, and talk. But she’d gracefully declined.
“It’s been a long day,” she’d said with an apologetic smile. “And tomorrow promises to be just as busy. A girl like me needs her beauty sleep you know.”
Her infectious grin had drawn a smile to his lips. There was a time that smiling felt alien to him and even now there’d been a slight twitch as his unused muscles had stretched in an answering smile. “It’ll be many, many years before a woman with your looks has to worry about that,” he’d murmured. As she’d paused on the first step above him, he’d looked up with barely concealed heat at her. Thinking how well his hands would span her waist; or fit over her hips…or even how easily her breasts would fill his palms.
He didn’t know what she saw in his eyes because she laughed nervously. “Thank you, but I still think I’ll hit the sheets early tonight. Dinner was lovely, by the way.”
“Thanks but it wouldn’t have gone so well without you. I appreciate you agreeing to do this. Having you here makes it much…easier.”
She’d held his gaze for a long, telling moment, and he’d thought she’d say something else.
Instead, she’d nodded briefly and then made to go up the stairs to her room. But his hand shot out to cup her elbow. He liked that she didn’t recoil at his touch like the first time, and her eyes weren’t impatient or wary when she turned to face him again.
“Yes?” she asked softly; he’d have liked to think, expectantly.
He hadn’t known what to say. So he’d let his touch speak for him. His fingers had found their way up her bare arm, skimming her smooth skin. She’d shivered slightly. “I need to go, Shane,” she’d finally said, maybe with a hint of reluctance.
His name on her lips had impacted like a branding iron on his senses. He wanted her to say it again, to scream it when he took her deep, deeper than any man ever had before.
She didn’t pull away from his grip. He looked up into the dark pools of her eyes and something in the depths made his fingers tighten on her flesh.
“Shane, this isn’t…”
His thumb stroked over the smooth curve of her arm, his eyes hooded as he looked down where his hand closed round her flesh. “I can make you want me,” he challenged huskily.
She snatched in a long, shaky breath. “Maybe,” she’d replied with coolness. “I know all about your reputation, Shane. A smooth-talking ladies’ man. I don’t think a few scars are going to change your leopard spots. But sex isn’t on the agenda, I made that clear. I didn’t sign up for that and come to think of it, nothing’s been signed as yet. Please don’t make me change my mind.”
Her tone was low and calm; but he could see the fear in her eyes. Did she think that he’d turn into some sex-mad monster and force his needs on her? With great reluctance and a tired sigh, he let her go. “That won’t be necessary, Angela. We’ll speak tomorrow.”
“Goodnight,” she said deeply, the relief palpable in her tone. He watched her ascend the stairs and the arch of her ass in that dress and from that angle called to the beast in him. His throat constricted as he strangled off a groan.
This woman had him wishing for things he’d never thought to wish for after so long. A soft, warm body with enough curves to tempt a monk. Glowing dark eyes filled with passion and awe, lips full with want, begging for his kiss. She made him crave all that and more.
Later, as he’d stripped right before the longest cold shower he’d ever taken in his life, Shane stared at his reflection in the mirrors lining the walls of his bathroom. He used to avoid looking at them which was strange since it had been his idea to fill his personal bathroom with mirrors. But tonight, he looked at himself and cursed the day of the car crash. His last conscious memory from that day was frantically fighting like hell to free himself from the burning, tangled mess of his car.
His next memory was waking up in the hospital weeks later in terrible pain, his life altered forever. He could have easily died from the severity of the burns, only the expertise of the Burn Center saved him.
Now he grew his thick black hair longer to conceal most of the damage to his forehead and face, and the burn scars on his chest and torso could easily be covered in clothes, except for his right hand which had scars etched right up to his forearm. Could he blame Angela for being like many other women and preferring to stay well away from a man who looked like a monster?
Turning angrily away from the mirrors he’d shut himself under the chilly spray for as long as he could stand it. He wouldn’t think of her…or dwell on the fact that she was right under his roof, and that all he had to do was walk across the hall, unlock her door and…
No, he wouldn’t even consider it. He wasn’t the old Shane who was cocky and so damned sure of his welcome in a woman’s bed. Angela would most likely scream the house down if he dared venture into bed next to her, or worse club him over the head with the nearest blunt object she could lay a hand to.
Again…no. He’d have to content himself with the memory of the taste of her lips, the texture and lushness of it. His cock was in its now ever-present state of granite hardness whenever Angela came to mind. Now he had that damned kiss to keep him rolling around in bed with the worst case of insomnia and blue balls he’d ever had.
For the first time in a long time, he didn’t dream about the accident. Instead, his dreams were filled with Angela, and how her simple kiss had brought his frozen heart back to life.