CeCe nudged her and Shannon realized the head coach was staring at her expectantly. “Oh!” She stepped forward with a perfunctory smile. “I’m your sports trainer, Shannon Garrity. I will be the one bandaging your cuts and breaks as well as making recommendations on game day whether you sit or continue to play in the event of an injury. Here’s to a great, injury-free season.” Then, she backed out and walked hurriedly to her office, determined to finish up her papers and go to the hotel where Nolan said he was staying.
But CeCe was hot on her trail. Shannon swallowed a private groan. It was hard to look at her intern knowing Nolan had been intimate with her but she tried to remain professional. “Is there anything you need, CeCe?” she asked, shuffling her papers into a stack.
“I could do those for you,” she offered with an engaging smile. “I don’t mind.”
Shannon held a brief smile before answering with mild chagrin, “I’m afraid, I have to be the one to do this, but thank you. Besides, I’ve leaned on you pretty hard in the pre-season. I don’t usually put that much responsibility on the interns.”
“I can handle it,” CeCe said. “And I have less on my plate than you do.”
Shannon nodded in distraction, wishing she could hand off the tedious paperwork but knew she shouldn’t. “Yes, and I appreciate that but I’m the only one who can sign off on the insurance paperwork for the team.”
“Okay,” CeCe said, but she continued to linger. Shannon glanced up with a subtle frown as CeCe trailed her finger lightly across the desk before stopping before the placard with Shannon’s name on it. “Just trying to help.”
“And I appreciate it,” Shannon said, puzzled by CeCe’s odd behavior. “Why don’t you go on home? I don’t need you for the rest of the day. Besides, I’m taking off as soon as I get this done.”
“What about the cut players’ final release papers?” she asked.
Shannon waved off CeCe’s question, answering, “Oh, don’t worry about those. I can do them tomorrow.”
“Yeah, but didn’t the coach say he wanted those done today?”
“Coach always wants the outgoing players stuff done as of yesterday. He doesn’t like the lingering energy to foul up his season. He’s superstitious that way but there’s no reason why I can’t file the papers first-thing tomorrow.”
“Okay,” CeCe said, but there was something in her eyes that made Shannon feel distinctly uncomfortable. Shannon had never believed CeCe to be a threat in anyway but at the moment, she almost felt the urge to check for a knife in her back. CeCe returned Shannon’s forced smile and left the office.
That was weird.
Shannon nearly rethought her decision to leave early. But she knew she had to talk to Nolan before they ended up in court, sniping at each other over hurt and bruised feelings. You’re overreacting. CeCe is not out for your job. She’s a kid for crying out loud. Shannon emitted a shaky laugh and blamed her paranoia on her nerves.
An hour later she’d picked up Aubrey from daycare and she was headed to Nolan’s hotel.
-11-
The first thing Nolan realized was his head was splitting; the second was the sound of Shannon’s voice penetrating the drunken fog. He tried to lift his head from the carpet but it seemed permanently stuck there, as if glued.
“Oh, my God, Nolan! You’re bleeding!” she exclaimed, rolling him to his back. “Oh, my goodness gracious, you must’ve hit your head on the corner of the dresser when you fell. I’m going to call 911.”
“I’m fine,” he tried to tell her but his lips weren’t cooperating and the words came out an indistinct mumble. “No hospital,” he slurred but she ignored him and began talking to the front desk to call an ambulance. He’d never live this down, he thought with regret. Dillon and Vince would tease him mercilessly until he died an old, frail man. He’d have to make Shannon see that all he needed was a few minutes to collect himself but even as he struggled to open his eyes, he was overwhelmed by the need to shut his eyes and drift.
He drifted further away from the sound of Shannon’s voice and the pain in his head lessened. Was he on a cloud? It did seem as though he were floating. He laughed soundlessly at the idea of floating, sitting cross-legged and riding as if on a current of air through the sky. No, that wasn’t right. He didn’t want to float on clouds. He wanted Shannon and Aubrey. He frowned and willed himself to wake up but he remained in the nothingness of wherever he was. Faces from the past faded in and out of his vision and he didn’t know if he was hallucinating or if he were dead.
God, he hoped he wasn’t dead. He wasn’t ready to die. He needed to be there for Aubrey — to make sure no guy like him ever comes within two feet of her when she’s old enough to date — and he needed to be there for Shannon because without her in his life, he had nothing.
“Shannon,” he tried calling out but his lips were rubbery and uncooperative. “Shannon…”
He pulled her face from his memory and held it in his mind’s eye, determined to keep her close. And each time he started to drift further, he thought of Shannon as his life-line. His life was with her. He knew it without hesitation or reluctance. Too bad, he’d been too stupid to say it before now.
Instead of drinking himself incoherent, he should’ve camped out on her doorstep and begged for her forgiveness instead of stomping off like a petulant child and pouting.
So many bad choices in his life. He wanted to make amends — to make a difference in his life so he could live a different life. He wanted many more daughters and sons to fill his house with the sound of laughter and happiness and he wanted to help Shannon attain any goal she had — even if it meant moving to Canada so she could chase her dream. He’d live anywhere or do anything to see her succeed because her happiness was his only currency.
But none of that would matter if he couldn’t wake the fuck up!
“Come back to me,” Shannon whispered as she held Nolan’s hand, still not quite able to believe any of this had happened. He looked so still in the hospital bed, his handsome face almost boyish as he recovered from a terrible head injury. The doctor had said it was a miracle he was alive. Two inches to the left and he would’ve hit his temple and it would’ve been lights out but even so, Nolan’s injury had been severe enough to cause his brain to swell. It’d been touch-and-go for a while but the swelling had finally receded. Now, it was up to Nolan. “I love you,” she murmured, kissing his hand as she clutched it in hers. “I should’ve told you before but my pride was in the way. I was so hurt that you’d…”she swallowed, closing her eyes. “Please come back to me. We have unfinished business. Aubrey needs her daddy.”
And then, as if by the power of a prayer that only her heart could whisper, Nolan’s eyelids slowly fluttered open and she held her breath, tears springing to her eyes. “Nolan?”
“Sh-shan-non,” he said on a moan and she nearly broke down and sobbed in relief.
“Yes, I’m here,” she assured him, raining kisses on his hand. “I’ve never left your side.”
“Shannon?”
“Yes? Do you want the doctor?”
“My head hurts and my mouth feels as if I’ve been sucking on a dirty shoe.”
She laughed through her tears. “Well, I should say so, you’ve been unconscious from a head injury. You fell and hit your head at the hotel. You’re lucky to be alive. Your brothers and your sister in law are here. They went out to get something to eat but they’ll be back soon.” She lifted a water cup to his lips and he drank deeply. “Hold on, I’ll get the doctor.”
“Not yet. I have to say something that’s meant for your ears only.”
“You need to rest,” she protested but his grip on her hand tightened and she stilled.
He grinned slowly, looking unconscionably adorable, as he said in a husky voice, “I’m lucky because you’re here with me. I don’t need anything else but my woman and my daughter. I love you, Shannon.”
His admission stole the breath from her lungs. She licked her lips, unable to believe
what she’d just heard but as he held her gaze she knew he spoke the truth. “I love you, too,” she murmured happily, bending down to place a tender kiss on his lips. “I love you more than I ever realized I could love another person aside from my child.”
“I should’ve been spending more time figuring out how to be a man worthy of your love, instead of trying to buy your affection,” he said. His earnest tone nearly cracking her heart in two as he said, “I’ll spend the rest of our lives making it up to you. I promise.”
Shannon’s answering smile was warmed by the love spilling over in her heart as she whispered in his ear, “That’s a deal, Buchanan,” she paused to add in a teasing manner, “Now hurry up and get well. We have three years worth of sex to catch up on and I’m impatient to get started.”
He grinned weakly but soon enough his eyelids fluttered closed again and he was asleep. Shannon watched him sleep, knowing with a certainty that she was looking into the face of her future. Maybe that’s why she’d been so eager to leave him that morning after their first night. One night and her soul had known, he was the one.
Two years later, fate had returned her to him.
And she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
She wanted a life with Nolan Buchanan, starting right now.
-Epilogue-
“One bonk on the head and you’re nearly six feet under. I never knew you were such a pussy,” Dillon joked, eliciting a muffled laugh from his wife, Penny as they sat around the table at the family home on a weekend visit. Nolan had made the choice to telecommute for Shannon’s sake so she could finish the season with the Juggernaut. It’d been an easy decision for Nolan. He wanted to be wherever his two favorite people were. Nolan accepted the good-natured ribbing because he knew there was no choice. If the situation were reversed for either of his brothers, he would be as merciless.
But none of that mattered. He was alive and he was planning a wedding. Strange but true. He was going to marry Shannon Garrity.
“Do you think I should hyphenate?” Shannon asked, nibbling on her lip in a way that made him want to suck that delectable lip right into his mouth. “I mean, Shannon Buchanan, it’s kind of rhyme-y. Sort of like Julia Gulia, from The Wedding Singer.”
Penny laughed again and nodded. “Oh, my goodness! You’re right! That’s funny.”
Nolan looked to Shannon and a frown dipped his brows. “You’re carrying my name, woman,” he said to her. “I don’t care how it sounds.”
Shannon graced him with a stubborn look. “I think Shannon Garrity-Buchanan has a very nice ring to it,” she said with a sniff.