PARANORMAL ROMANCE: Shapeshifter Romance: The Vampire's Stolen Bride (BBW Fantasy Alpha Male Romance Books) (New Adult Vampire Fun Mature Young Adult Billionaire Steamy Love and Romance Novella) (15 page)

Chapter 3

The night had flown by faster than Nathan had hoped for but in three hours, he was sure of one thing: Shannon’s mother had been hell bent on shutting him out of her life. It was like she was punishing her for his father’s mistakes. But in one night, he had managed to undo every damage his stepmother had done over the years.

It was a little after seven when he woke up. The two had fallen asleep snuggled up on the couch in front of the TV and he was trying as hard as he could to pull away from her without waking her up. When he finally managed to pull away, he looked at her for a long minute, a smile on his lips. Everything he had felt for her as a teenager was still alive in him. He knew that reconnecting with her would not play well with Keisha, the model he had been hooking up with, but he was going to cross that bridge when he came to it.

He was still looking at her when her eyelids fluttered open.

“Good morning,” she said in a groggy voice.

“Morning. Did I wake you?” he asked as he looked down at her and she pulled herself up and shook her head. “Give me a minute to freshen up and I’ll make us breakfast.”

Shannon forced out a laugh as she pulled herself up to a sitting position.

“You cook?” she asked in a cynical voice.

“What is that tone supposed to mean?” he asked and she shrugged.

“Nothing, Nate. Nothing at all,” she said in a soft voice.

“There is a guest room down the hall. Why don’t you go in there and freshen up?” he asked. “Or did you still want to catch up on some sleep?”

She shook her head no and got up from the couch.

“I’ll be right back,” she said before walking off. He could not help but look at her curvy body as she walked down the hall. Sure, she was a little different than she was when they were still ‘family’ but in his eyes, Shannon had always been the most beautiful woman he knew. Maybe that was why no relationship had ever worked out for him, because he had always been trying to replace Shannon. He wanted to follow her to the bathroom. He wanted to hold her as he had always dreamed of doing but he knew he had to have boundaries. After all, he didn’t want to lose her so soon after getting her back.

By the time she walked back to the kitchen, he had just served two plates of scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. He poured two glasses of orange juice before she helped him carry the food to the living room. As they ate, they caught up on the few happy moments they had while still living together in New Jersey and what their parents had been up to. Nathan felt guilt overwhelm him when she said that her mother had passed away when she was twenty-one.

“Hit and run,” she said as she took a sip of his juice. “Drunk driver.”

“Did the police make an arrest?” Nathan asked as she put her plate on the table.

“They did, eventually.” She shrugged. “But I really don’t want to talk about that right now.”

“Of course,” Nathan said, feeling uncomfortable. “I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“How about you? Let’s talk about how you went from being the hot-tempered man I knew as my brother to…all these,” she said as she looked around the room. “Apparently you are a real life Christian Grey.”

Nathan smiled.

“Whips and chains don’t excite me that much,” he said.

“I meant the billionaire aspect of Christian Grey, Nate. Keep your pants on.” She took another sip of her juice. “And by the way, I am really concerned you know the details of that book.”

“Come on Shan. The whole world knows what Christian Grey is all about,” he said smiling.

“Yeah, I guess they do,” she said and then stretched pout to put her glass on the table. “So, how did you go from being the simple guy from New Jersey to one of the richest men in this country anyway? I’m super curious.”

“I don’t know…one day I was looking for something to make me a quick buck and I thought that it would have been a great idea to find someone who was looking for a person like me. And just like that, I had a chat with a friend of mine and that was that,” he explained.

“Seriously? That was it?” she asked as she looked at him.

“That was it. That was how we launched the gofer app, FAM.” He took a long deep breath. “Everything else just sort of picked up from there.”

“Wow,” she said under her breath. “I never pictured you for the software development kind of guy.”

“I know but I have some pretty great ideas,” he said with a smile.

“Clearly.” He nodded.

“Clearly,” he echoed.

He looked into her brown eyes for a long second before he moved closer to her.

“You know I never wanted to leave you, right?” he asked in a soft voice and she shook her head.

“Honestly, I have no idea why you left.”

“My father forced me out,” he said in a soft voice.

“Why?” Shannon asked.

“That time he made you fall down the stairs…” he started before she shook her head.

“I slipped and fell, Nate,” she said.

“You were younger then so maybe you don’t remember, Shannon. I was there and I am telling you that he pushed you.” The tone in his voice said it all. Just recounting the day was making him angry. “You suffered a concussion, Shan and you were in a week long coma. When you came back home, it had been a few days and my dad had lost some money at the tracks…nothing new. And you were in the kitchen on a Friday night having some ice cream at the table. Your arm was still in a sling and you were enjoying your ice cream so much…you never heard him ask for a beer. So, when you didn’t respond, he roughed you up and threatened to break your other arm…” he took a long deep breath. “I wouldn’t have it. So I punched him.”

“What?” Shannon asked, her eyes wide.

“And I didn’t stop. I punched him again and again and kicked him when he was on the floor…he called his cop friends and I spent the night behind bars that night.”

Shannon’s lips were slightly parted as she looked at him.

“And the cops told me that I was an adult in the eyes of the law and that if I was ever seen in that house, they would make sure that I spent the rest of my life behind bars.” He forced out a laugh. “I had to leave but I promised that I would come back for you…and I did…but Lauren had moved and taken you with her and no one knew where you were.” He took her hand in his. There was a tear threatening to roll down her cheek.

“I didn’t know…I thought you…” her words were failing her as he gently squeezed her hand.

“I cannot tell you how happy I am to have you here with me,” he said in a soft voice. He touched the side of her face and she bit her lower lip. There was a long silence before he leaned in and without even knowing what was going on, she did the same and her lips brushed against his. She closed her eyes and kissed him softly as she gently pushed her tongue into his mouth. When he pulled away, she was breathing hard.

“I’m sorry,” he said in a soft voice. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

“No, it’s my fault…I guess I just have to…” she shifted her weight on the couch and then stood up. “Maybe I should just leave.”

“No, you don’t have to,” Nathan said, shaking his head. He reached out and held her hand in his.

“Nate please,” she said in a soft voice as she pulled her hand away from his. He stood up and looked into her eyes. “I have to go.”

He pulled her close to him and gently stroked her chin.

“No you don’t,” he whispered before he lowered his head and brushed her lips with his. The kiss was deeper than the first. His tongue was searching his and his hand was slowly travelling down her body to cup her well-rounded ass. She gasped into his mouth as he slowly backed her up against the window that overlooked the city. She bit her lower lip as he slowly raised her arms and pinned them above her head against the window. She closed her eyes and moaned softly as he kissed her chin and then her neck slowly working his way down to her generous cleavage. She let out a soft moan when he used his free hand to slowly unbutton her top. He pulled away briefly and looked at her breasts in her black satin bra. He wanted nothing more than to strip her naked, to marvel in the glory of her naked body. He kissed her lips again before he began kissing her shoulder.

“I want you so much, Shannon,” he said in a soft voice. “I want you right here, right now.”

He traced his lips back to her own and kissed her again before their moment of passion was interrupted by the chime of the opening elevator doors.

“Nate…what the hell?” they heard a loud female voice that Nathan knew a little too well. He pulled away from Shannon and turned around and sure enough, Keisha was standing in front of the elevator looking at them.

****

“How could I have been so stupid?”
Shannon thought as she walked into her apartment. Of course Nathan had someone in his life. After all, he was Nathan Willoughby. He was not just any man. He was a wealthy good-looking man. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and she quickly brushed it off. She walked to the kitchen and opened it before she pulled out a bottle of water.

“Hey. What time did you come in?” she heard Mika’s voice behind her making her turn around startled.

“Damn it, Mika!” Shannon said as she dropped the bottle.

“Sorry, I let myself in,” Mika said as she began walking towards her friend. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“I’m sorry I snapped…I’m just not…” Shannon sighed. “I’m not having a very good morning.”

Mika smiled.

“Didn’t sleep much?” she asked.

“Actually, no but it is not because of what you think,” Shannon said. She bent down and picked up her water bottle before she looked up at Mika. “Did we have a breakfast date that I forgot about or something?” she asked and Mika shook her head.

“No, I was just worried about you since you were not answering any of my calls or texts.”

Shannon felt her pockets and then rummaged through her purse.

“Shit, I must have left my phone at Nate’s,” she mumbled under her breath. “I’m sorry…I don’t have my phone here.”

“I won’t even ask,” Mika said as Shannon walked towards her. “But I will ask if the reason you are so upset is about Nathan Willoughby.”

Shannon sighed and sat down on the couch.

“How do you even know about Nathan Willoughby?” she asked.

“The booth you didn’t want to serve…I asked around and found out that Nathan Willoughby was there plus you did leave with him. Don’t think I didn’t notice,” Mika said. “So I guess the big question here is why the hell you have never told me that you and Nathan Willoughby were…” her voice trailed off when Shannon shot her a dirty look.

“It’s not what you think, Mika and honestly, I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” Shannon said. She took a long sip of her water and then sighed. “I’m sorry, Mika. It’s just…”

“You are not having a very good morning,” Mika said, cutting her short. “You are my best friend Shan. And I don’t know when we began keeping secrets from each other.”

Shannon took another long sip of her water before she looked at Mika. She knew her friend was right. She had always been an open book to Mika and for her to keep anything from her, especially something this big, it just didn’t seem fair.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” she started as Mika sat down next to her.

“Just stop apologizing and tell me what the hell is going on, Shan.”

Shannon put her water down and exhaled loudly.

“Remember when I told you about my stepbrother?” Mika nodded. “Well, Nathan Willoughby is…was my stepbrother.” 

Shannon watched as Mika’s eyes grew wide.

“Shut the fuck up,” she said excitedly and Shannon shrugged. “Seriously?”

“Yeah and I hadn’t seen him for ages. Seeing him last night…I was not ready for it.”

“So, you are related to Nathan Willoughby,” Mika said in a soft voice. “But why did you leave with him? You told me that you would never forgive him for leaving you in that house with his father.”

“Well, he didn’t leave of his own free will. It was more of being forced out,” Shannon said. “It’s a long story.”

“Clearly. I mean you did detest him for the longest time and now after a few hours you are literally dancing around with his name in your mouth,” Mika said and Shannon smiled.

“Poetic much?”

Mika shrugged.

“So, what else happened?” she asked.

Shannon felt her cheeks flush.

“What makes you think something else happened?” she asked.

“For starters, the fact that you are blushing right now,” Mika pointed out and Shannon turned away. “What? Did he hold you against that big muscular body? Did he kiss you maybe?”

Shannon shrugged and tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

“Oh my God…you always do that when you blush,” Mika said excitedly. “You did kiss him, didn’t you?” she asked and Shannon stood up.

“I need to lie down.”

“But things just got more interesting,” Mika complained. “You can’t leave me hanging like this.”

“We can gossip at work like all the other people,” Shannon said as she walked to her bedroom.

“Not fair!” she heard Mika call out as she closed the door. She leaned against the closed door and closed her eyes.