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.Colin shrugged."Just confirm that everything went okay, so that I don't have to worry about Nikki worrying about Arden."Shaun couldn't prevent the grin."Everything went okay.""Geez, Shaun.I don't need to know that kind of stuff.""I didn't say anything.""It was the look." Colin shook his head."Man, I never thought I would see the day that you fell again.""Fell?""In love.""I'm not—" The denial had risen immediately to his lips, but he couldn't speak the words.And he wondered if maybe his brother wasn't right.He remembered how he'd felt when Arden had walked out Sunday night.He'd never minded living alone in the four-bedroom house—he liked the space, the solitude.But after spending the weekend with Arden, the house had seemed emptier than usual.He'd felt alone.Incomplete."Maybe I am in love," he admitted at last.Colin raised his glass, drank."It happens to the best of us," he said.Then, "What does Arden have to say about it?"Shaun didn't have to think about the question."She'd panic.""She doesn't know?""No.""You plan on telling her anytime soon?""I think I need some time to get used to it myself." Then he'd figure out some way to ease her into it.To help her realize that she loved him, too.Colin shrugged."It's your life."It was, Shaun realized.And nothing in his life mattered to him more than Arden.He continued to ponder the situation long after Colin had gone.He hadn't been joking when he'd said Arden would probably panic if she knew how he felt.The realization had almost sent him into a tailspin.He'd only ever been in love once before, with Jenna.But what he'd felt for his former fiancée was different from what he felt for Arden.He'd been a lot younger when he'd known Jenna, easily dazzled by her effervescent personality.No one would ever describe Arden as effervescent.She was, however, as committed to her career as Jenna had been.And that worried him.Was he destined to fall in love with women who subjugated their personal lives to professional obligations?Arden had made it clear that her clients were her priority.But with Jenna, it had all been part of a master plan to get ahead—to become the rich and successful attorney.Arden's motivation went deeper.Her law practice wasn't just a business to her, she cared about her clients.She fought for them, not because she was being paid to do so, but because they needed her.And because she needed to know that she could make a difference.She'd already made a difference in his life.She was the strongest woman he'd ever known, almost fiercely independent.He'd thought he wanted a woman who needed him.A wife who would be content to stay at home and have his meals on the table at the end of the day.Okay, so maybe it was chauvinistic and old-fashioned, and he knew now that it wasn't what he was looking for.He wanted a partner in every sense of the word.And he knew that Arden could be that partner.Now all he had to do was convince her of the fact.* * *Less than half an hour after Nikki had gone, Arden pulled open her door to find Shaun on the other side.Her heart jolted, did that long, slow somersault in her chest.She couldn't believe his mere presence still had this effect on her."How do you always manage to get into the building without using the intercom?" she asked.Shaun grinned."Mrs.Dempsey.She likes me."Arden shook her head despairingly, but she couldn't deny the truth of his statement."Can I come in?" he asked.Arden stepped back, and he stepped into her apartment.Before she'd even closed the door, he had her in his arms, his mouth on hers.His kiss was long and lingering."I've been thinking about you all day," he admitted.It worried her that his words so clearly mirrored her own feelings.She'd been convinced that she could enter into a consensual sexual relationship with Shaun with her eyes wide open, that nothing would happen that she didn't want to happen.But somehow her emotions had spiraled wildly out of control.It hadn't scared her so much on the weekend because she'd convinced herself that it was the romantic atmosphere of the hotel.But this was the real world, and still, he made her feel things she'd never thought she would feel.He made her want things she knew she could never have.Making love with Shaun was unlike anything she'd ever experienced.Not just because of the mind-blowing orgasms, although those were worth the price of a ticket themselves.But it was so much more than the physical
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