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“You didn’t.”
“Right. I didn’t. So, let’s leave the psycho-analysis to the professionals.” Cole downed the rest of her milk, and then, almost as if he couldn’t get what she’d said out of his head, he murmured, “Shit, I’d hate for either of them to get hurt.”
“Are you worried about Shannon or Crash?”
“Both.”
“Maybe he needs someone to shake him up a little,” she said with a sly grin.
“Fuck.”
“What? Am I wrong?”
“Shut up, and kiss me, woman.”
*****
Shannon lie staring up at the skylights high up in the ceiling. She could see a sliver of the moon through one of them. Her eyes fell to the posts of the enormous antique bed she was lying in. It was a beautiful bed. King size and super comfortable. She could hear the sound of an occasional car driving past, but other than that it was quiet. Crash was sleeping. She could hear his slumbered breathing.
Rolling to her side, she inhaled and breathed in his scent, still lingering on his pillow. The same earthy, manly scent she’d breathed in when she fell against him in the elevator. She thought about all the things that led her to be here, lying in his bed. The bed of a biker she barely knew. She’d given up her car, her phone, her belongings, her friends, even her family, all to hide out from Nicklaus William Ralston III.
He was nothing like what Cole and Crash thought him to be. They didn’t have a clue who they were dealing with, and she was determined to make sure they didn’t find out. Not if she could help it. They thought he was some young guy, the rich son of someone in her social circle, maybe even someone she’d met in college. When in actuality he was a major business mogul, an associate of her father’s. A man far wealthier than her father and much more powerful. Why he’d set his sights on her, she couldn’t be sure. She’d only met him once, briefly at her father’s office before he began his relentless pursuit of her. He’d taken one look at her and became infatuated, determined to make her his at whatever the cost.
She remembered that day. She’d shown up at her father’s office to hopefully talk him into going to lunch with her. She’d planned to wile her way into getting him to let her use the beach house for the summer. Instead, she’d breezed past his secretary and walked in on a meeting between the two men.
On first sight, she’d actually been attracted to Nicklaus. Very attracted. He was good looking, in a blonde, British sort of way. He wore the best suits money could buy, and he wore them well. He was a commanding figure.
She remembered the first time his green eyes met hers. She’d actually been struck dumb. She just stood there, staring back at him as if there was no one else in the room. She’d forgotten about why she’d come to see her father, she’d forgotten he was even in the room.
And then Nicklaus had smiled that sexy smile of his and risen to his feet and poured on the charm. He’d taken her hand and kissed it, actually bowing over it as he introduced himself. And then somehow she’d ended up lunching with him and not her father, forgetting completely about the beach house and why she’d ever want to leave town in the first place when Nicklaus was right here.
At first, he’d seemed to be everything she’d ever wanted. He was handsome, well-dressed, well-mannered, well-educated, well-traveled and wealthy. And it was all rolled-up with a British accent. She was all the things he was looking for, he’d told her. She was beautiful, poised, classy, and smart. She had an appreciation for fine arts and could hold her own with his friends and associates. He’d wined and dined her. To top it all off, he seemed crazy about her. Unfortunately, Shannon would soon discover that crazy was the definitive word.
As their relationship progressed, the kid-gloves came off. He began to subtly criticize her in public in a very passive-aggressive sort of way. He played a psychological game with her, and he played it well, soon coming to make her doubt herself and her every decision, whether it was what she was wearing or what she ordered for dinner. Then he began to try to take control of making those decisions for her. He would select her dress. He would order for her. He would decide what days she could see her friends and what in his words ‘was best for her’. Shannon had come to see just how manipulative he could be. For Nicklaus, she came to understand it was all about control. He demanded it, in all things.
When she tried to break it off with him, she soon realized the lengths to which he was willing to go to get what he wanted. And he made it clear, what he wanted was her.
She’d tried to talk to her father about it, to get his help in trying to extract Nicklaus from her life, a life to which he’d tried to become more and more ingrained every day. Her father had been no help, rather he’d told her she was being silly and to stop her nonsense and that she shouldn’t let the best man she’d ever find get away. Nicklaus had certainly won over her father. And then there’d come the night where she’d found out just how entwined they’d become.
She’d overheard a meeting between her father and Nicklaus. Standing outside the door, she’d heard the whole thing…
“Shannon’s part of the deal.”
“What?”
“Shannon is part of the deal. I want her, and I get what I want. Make it happen.”
“Nicklaus, I can’t make my daughter fall in love with you.”
“I’m not particularly concerned if your lovely daughter loves me. It would be helpful, but it isn’t a requirement. Frankly, if she suddenly professed her love for me, I would find that highly suspicious.”
“So, what do you expect me to do, sing your praises?”
“Eliminate her options. Cut off her funds. Remove her protection. In short, take away my roadblocks.”
“Nicklaus, she’s my daughter, I-”
“Put your mind at ease, Thomas. I shall be very good to her. She will be treated like nothing less than the little princess she is.”
