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CHAPTER 15.2
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LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 15.3
“Thank you. He was a cop.” The words made her heart ache, but she spoke them anyway, as a tribute to her father. “He was pulled from the rubble that first day, but he was already dead.”It was quiet for a moment while they all ate a few more bites and let the ghost of Shannon’s father drift away.“What are you writing about the other people you’re including in your book?” Beverly asked.“Whatever they tell me about themselves. How they have or haven’t changed since 9/11. What that day and their part in it has cost them. Their families.”“Maybe you should show Nick what you’ve written so far. Maybe it would convince him you’ll be careful with his story, treat him with respect.”Shannon thought for a moment, thought hard. She normally didn’t allow anyone to see her work until it was as clean and polished as she could make it. No eyes on her rough drafts but her own. But she had three chapters she could let him look at that were polished. “Sure,” she said. “Will you read some of my manus
LOVE IN TEXAS CHAPTER 15.4
Oh, how she wanted a crowbar so she could pry those balled up emotions out of him.Through their talk and her musings, Nick had kept visual tabs on that one fireman, the one by the fire truck. Every so often, the man looked back.“Who is that?” she asked. “Who is who?“Would you stop that? You know exactly who I mean. You’ve been watching that one fireman since we got here like you expect him to burst into flames. Who is he?”“I’ve never met him.”“Oh, come on. In a town this size?”“No, really. I guess he’s the new fire chief they hired a couple of weeks ago.”“Hired? I thought all the firefighters here were volunteers.”“All but the chief. Somebody got smart about thirty years ago during the oil boom and established several different trust funds with city money. One of the funds was for the fire department. They can pay for a fire chief with experience, thanks to that fund. Everyone else is a volunteer.”“Why didn’t they hire you? You’ve certainly got the experience, and there are n
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 16
Away from the light of the fire, it was full dark, broken only by the occasional streetlight or car. Over head, a million stars blanketed the sky.“Look,” Shannon said, tilting her head back. “I’ve never seen so many stars before.”“I’m almost used to them by now,” Nick said, his arm still around her shoulders. “No big city lights out here.”“It’s so…breathtaking. I’m a writer. I should be able to think of a better word. Awe inspiring. When I look up I feel insignificant and small. Yet, at the same time, I feel…powerful.”As he watched Shannon, felt her body move beside him, Nick felt the rest of his blood rush straight for his groin. Where most of it had been since she’d first touched him at the bonfire.He supposed he ought to act like the big he-man, indifferent, aloof. The truth was, he felt too damn good to act any way other than what he felt like—an over-sexed teenager. How undignified. Been there. Done that. Thanking his lucky stars he was feeling it again.“What are you think
LOVE IN TEXAS CHAPTER 16.1
Then he took one nipple into his mouth and suckled, and Shannon’s back arched off the bed. A cry of sheer pleasure escaped her throat and shot straight to his loins.He’d had in mind to go slowly, make it last. Next time. Maybe.He fumbled for his wallet, but when he pulled out the condom, she took it from him. “Let me,” she said breathlessly.Nick nearly groaned. He didn’t know if he could take it, but he gritted his teeth and let her push him over onto his back.Shannon moved his hands so they rested beside his head, then tore open the packet and straddled his thighs. Looking down and seeing him totally at her mercy gave her a rush of power that was heady in its intensity. Odd that she would feel it so much. She usually didn’t feel a lack of power. But then, she didn’t usually have a naked man beneath her, hers to do with as shewould.Slowly, one fraction of an inch at a time, she rolled the condom down onto his erection.“You’re about to kill me,” he said through clenched teeth. S
LOVE IN TEXAS CHAPTER 16.2
Then he took one nipple into his mouth and suckled, and Shannon’s back arched off the bed. A cry of sheer pleasure escaped her throat and shot straight to his loins.He’d had in mind to go slowly, make it last. Next time. Maybe.He fumbled for his wallet, but when he pulled out the condom, she took it from him. “Let me,” she said breathlessly.Nick nearly groaned. He didn’t know if he could take it, but he gritted his teeth and let her push him over onto his back.Shannon moved his hands so they rested beside his head, then tore open the packet and straddled his thighs. Looking down and seeing him totally at her mercy gave her a rush of power that was heady in its intensity. Odd that she would feel it so much. She usually didn’t feel a lack of power. But then, she didn’t usually have a naked man beneath her, hers to do with as shewould.Slowly, one fraction of an inch at a time, she rolled the condom down onto his erection.“You’re about to kill me,” he said through clenched teeth. S
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 16.3
Did that mean she was trying to impress Nick?Of course she was, she admitted, working a dab of styling gel into her shoulder-length hair. She wanted him to like her work so he would let her interview him, so he would want to be included in the project and have a chapter about himself.Frankly, she just flat out wanted him to like her. Nothing wrong with that, was there?Then there was the other. The sharp physical attraction.Call it what it is, Shannon—red-hot sex.She couldn’t deny their attraction, but what made her nervous was that she greatly feared she had overestimated her ability to keep business and pleasure separate. They weren’t separate when the man was the same for both. She wanted to interview Nick, and she wanted sex with him. Ifsomewhere in the back of her mind she wanted more than that—if she wanted to be close to him and let their togetherness chase away herloneliness—well, that was her problem, not his. If she wanted more timewith him—weeks, months—it wasn’t goi
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 17
Friday was both Spirit Day and Homecoming Day at Tribute High. The halls and classrooms were a blur of red and white. Teachers and students alike were revved up for the football game later that evening. The footballteam was cocky; the cheerleaders giggled whenever they saw one another; and anyone who made it from one end of the hall to the other without getting a pom-pom in the face was one lucky individual. Nick had been“accidentally” assaulted twice so far, and there was more than an hour left before classes let out.Nick tried to remember if he’d ever been as excited over anything as these kids were. Two occasions came to mind: Christmas morning as a kid, and his first day with the Fire Department of New York.That old association with FDNY had reached out and tapped him on the shoulder when he’d been walking home from Shannon’s in the wee hours of the morning. It happened every year the night of the bonfire. Somehow,without planning it, Nick always ended up walking past the rem
LOVE IN TEXAS Chapter 17.1
She smiled, and it spoke of sadness and perhaps empathy. She placed a hand on his arm. “You really have been stung by the media, haven’t you?” She gave his arm a warm squeeze. “The tape is just for me, to use as a backup for my notes and my memory. If it makes you uncomfortable, Iwon’t use it.” She picked up the recorder and made as if to put it away.Nick stopped her. “No, go ahead. Just do this the way you usually do.”She gave a small bark of laughter. “It was too late for that several days ago. However, we’ll start with basics. I’m going to ask you all sorts of things that might not end up in the book. But they’re things I need to know to get a better picture of who you are, where you were in your life on 9/11, how that affected you and brought you to where you are today. I have your vitals, date of birth, immediate family members, your education. I’d like to start with you telling me why you wanted to become a fireman, and whenand where you first knew that was what you wanted.
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