Into the Storm (Signal Bend #3)(95)

Instinctively.

And she never came harder than when he was behind her. With Show, she liked letting go.

He pulled out gently and lay at her side, his chest heaving so hard he was moving the bed. She rolled to face him, her own breath returning in hard gasps.

He brushed her hair from her face. “Damn, woman.”

She smiled. She felt sated and happy. He resettled himself, sitting up against the headboard, and pulled her to snuggle on his chest. They rested quietly like that until their breathing returned to normal.

Tracing her fingers over his hard belly, feeling content and sleepy, Shannon murmured, “It was a good day. I like your girls.”

He kissed the top of her head. Then he asked, his voice very low, “Hon, do you want more kids?”

Her lazy, dreamward thoughts crashed to a halt. They’d never talked about this. It was a thing people were supposed to talk about before they got married, but with their histories, Shannon had just assumed the answer. They were getting married in a couple of weeks. Unless this conversation she hadn’t been expecting went very badly. She sat up and faced him.

“No. I’m almost forty, Show. I missed my chance.”

“That’s not true. Not if you don’t want it to be.”

“I do, though. I don’t want to start this late. I never had the right life, and now it’s too late. For me, it’s too late.” She swallowed and asked the really scary question. “Do you want more?”

He shook his head. “I would have said no.”

Oh, God. She flinched at that, hearing doom coming, and he reached out and took her hand. “I’m okay with no, hon. I understand. I’m almost fifty. I’ve just been thinking about it lately, and it would have been nice to have a child with someone I loved like I love you. So if you want, I’d be okay with yes, too.”

What he was saying eased her fear and broke her heart at the same time. There was no way they’d have found each other if they’d lived different lives, but still the specter of missed chances felt like a pall over the moment. If she’d met Show when she was in her twenties. Hell, if she’d been with Show in high school. If he had been her baby’s father. Would her choices have been different? Could they have had a happy life together all those years, a family? It was silly to even wonder, but she did, and her eyes went blurry with tears.

He saw, and pulled her back to his chest. “Hey, now. I didn’t mean to scare you. I am happier than I’ve ever been, just as we are.”

She wrapped her arms tightly around him and cried.

He held her close, stroking her hair. “Shannon. Hon, I mean it. I only need you.” The concern in his voice had weight.

Fighting to gain control of herself, she nodded. When she could speak, she said, “I believe you. I’m just sad I didn’t know you before. When it wasn’t too late. You’re The One, Show. I wish I’d found you when we could have had all of it.”

He didn’t answer. He simply held her in his strong, steady arms.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE



Bart walked around the table, dropping file folders in front of each member of the Horde. Show picked up the folder in front of him and opened it. The face stared back at him—familiar, but Show couldn’t quite place it. He thumbed past the first eight-by-ten photograph and saw that there were several more with different faces.

Back at his own seat, Bart opened his folder. “These are the actors cast in the movie, working title is just ‘Signal Bend’.” He lifted the photograph from the top of his folder—the same one at the top of Show’s, and apparently all the others. “Tanner Stafford, playing Isaac.”

Surprised, Show looked down at the face again. The photo was black and white, but it looked like the coloring might be right. He didn’t look big enough to play Isaac, though. Or rough enough. Show looked over at Isaac, who met his eyes and shrugged. They didn’t have say over casting.

Bart lifted the next photo—a very pretty, delicate young blonde. “Riley Chase, playing Lilli.” Now Show was shocked. This girl was too young, too fragile to be their Lilli. Again, he looked at Isaac, who was shaking his head.

Everybody at the table was reacting to the idea of the dainty blonde playing the Italian, ex-military, thirty-five-year-old Lilli. Isaac dropped the photo onto his pile. “Yeah, she’s pissed. Nothing we can do about it. Move on.”

Bart said, “Lilli’s the biggest female role. They wanted a name in the part. Somebody who’d pull audiences in.”

Show had no idea who the girl was. “She’s a name?”

Bart was incredulous. “You don’t know who Riley Chase is? The star of—never mind. She’s famous.

Trust me. And seriously smokin’ hot.” He set the photo of the blonde aside and held up the third photo.

Show already knew that had to be him. That one, he thought, they got close enough. Another face he recognized but couldn’t quite place. Somebody who ended up in secondary action roles, he thought. World-weary. Battle-scarred. About summed him up. Bart confirmed it: “Douglas Warness, Showdown.”

He continued through the list. Show noticed that there was writing on the backs of the photographs; looked like resumes. A few of the faces were familiar, but nobody he was all that interested in. He wasn’t all that interested in any of the movie shit, now that they’d approved a script.