Free Love Redone by Peyton Reeser

sister .” And then with a slight shrug of self-deprecating humor, he added, “And she just happens to have seduced and married my best friend, so between Ned, Dom, and Jules, my goose is cooked!” 
    Said tinged with lighthearted humor, Nick instinctively tried to lighten the situation , aware in his very bones that her outward show of calm hid a vulnerability that caused him wisely to soften his approach.
    * * *
    The half-smile he attempted with his words showed a brief flash of the sexy dimples that had made her knees go weak as a silly twenty-year-old, reminding Shannon again that she was in over her foolish head.
    “What about you , Shannon? Why are you here?  I gather from something Ned said that you planned Dom’s birthday event?”
    To say a million lights went off in her fuzzy, headache -shrouded brain was an understatement.  The blazing, brilliant spotlight that was suddenly shining in her mind brought with it some answers to be sure, but also deposited a hundred more questions on her mind’s doorstep.
    Good god, he was Jules’ s brother and Dom’s uncle.  Stunned into silence by this disclosure, Shannon went to reposition herself, as if sitting up straighter was going to make her brain work better.  Bad move was her next thought as once again agony shot up her leg, causing fireworks of tension and pain to slice through her head.  Her anguished moan—part pain, part frustration, part surrender—echoed off the walls of the exam room.
    “No, don’t move,” Nick said with a frustrated growl, causing Shannon to flinch at the gravity of his delivery. He moved suddenly and was across the room at her bedside before she could blink
    How the hell did he do that? she wondered.  He had a way of dominating the space around him in such a way that made her feel small and vulnerable.
    In the next instant , he gently but determinedly nudged her shoulders back against the pillows while rearranging the exam sheet more comfortably around her.  Wherever they connected, wherever skin met skin, or if his touch brushed against her clothing, Shannon experienced warmth. Knowing she was aware of him on a deeply physical level caused her senses to scramble even more.
    The gentle concern she saw in his actions lodged a huge lump in her throat.  Of course, having him mere inches from her meant she was aware of him on a sensory -overload level, too. His cologne, sharp scented with a beguiling spiced undertone mingling with his own unique maleness, brought her breath up short. 
    Seeming to take her response as another indication of pain or discomfort, Nick leaned forward to catch her eyes with a look of concern before quietly imploring her again to be still.
    “Shannon, lie still please. Wiggling around is only going to make you more uncomfortable.” His hands had moved from her shoulders to the tops of her legs in a motion surely meant to convey calm and stillness, but which brought the opposite effect on her raw emotions.
    His use of the word wiggle got an immediate reaction from her as she tried to wrap some dignity around this situation. Realizing that this was the second time he’d mentioned her wiggling , Shannon quickly found her voice.
    “I told you before that I do not wiggle!” she snapped out a bit more harshly than intended, but no matter that, she wryly thought.  He may be rattling her cage a bit by appearing out of thin air smack dab in the center of her existence in a major way, but she was not going to let him minimize her as if she were an errant child.  Wiggle indeed, she inwardly fumed.
    His response was a raised eyebrow with just the hint of amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth , most probably, she admitted, because she had indeed been wiggling as he put it. She wanted to roll her eyes at her own foolishness but drew back instead because there was nothing amusing about this. 
    Shannon was struggling to keep her unease under control. She sincerely hoped that none of the inner turmoil