A Dancer's Sin (editing){Completed}

Page 23

Raven's POV

I was too late. At Shannon's hotel the front desk said he had checked out two hours prior to my arrival, and they had no idea when his flight was leaving. So Talia and I rushed to airport only to be dismayed when his flight already took off.

I was destined to spend my life alone. Never truly knowing what it felt like to be loved. I stared blankly at the dashboard as Talia drove me back to her place.

"You're more than welcome to stay with me." Talia wiped a tear from my face.

I physically couldn't move. My entire body was numb drained of energy, and my world soon evanesced into blackness.

Daisy's POV

I had never been on a plane before and it was quite exciting, and I had never felt so pampered. The first class attendants were nice and offered complementary massages, manicures, and meals.

I smiled but graciously declined. "Shannon? Shannon," I shook his arm slightly to get his attention. He was so focused on staring out the window that he couldn't hear me.

Finally he looked at me. I could see the exhaustion in his face. There were large dark circles under his eyes and face was drained of color. "Do you want anything?" I ask gently taking his hand in mine.

He smiled softly. "No I'm fine." He traced the back of wrist with his thumb and went back to looking out the window.

No doubt he was thinking of Raven again. It hurt me to see him this way, and I wanted to do anything I could to ease his pain. I devised a plan that once we landed I'd have him show me fun places and we would spend the day together doing something to keep his mind busy, but it didn't work.

Once we go to his house he said he was tired and wanted to rest, but insisted that I'd go and have fun. Instead I ended up sitting in his artistically furnished white house and waiting for him to wake up.

It grew late so I decided to cook dinner for both of us. I chose to make simple spaghetti and garlic bread. Just as I finished up I heard Shannon's footsteps coming down the hall into the kitchen.

"It smells wonderful in here," he said giving me a sweet smile.

I shrugged and finished setting up the table.

"How was town?" He asked tasting some stray sauce on his plate.

"I didn't go."

"I'm so sorry. I-"

"Shannon, it's ok. You were tired. I understand." I pushed my hair behind my ears and gave him a genuine smile before taking the bread out of the oven. I sat it on top of the stove. I didn't notice Shannon move until I felt his body lean into mine. I jumped at his touch and hit the blazing hot pan with my arm sending it to the floor and as I jumped from the burn I bumped into Shannon causing him to drop the crystal glass that he was getting from the cabinet.

"I'm so sorry!" I went to pick up the pan again and burned my fingers forgetting it was still hot. "Shit," I said under my breath. "I'm so sorry, Shannon. I promise I'm not usually this clumsy. I just-"

"It's ok. You don't have to worry about it."

"But your glass..."

"I have nine others just like it. They aren't that important. Let's go get that arm taken care of."

"I'll be fine. Let me help you get this cleaned up first." I began to pick up the glass when he grabbed my hands gently to stop me.

"Daisy, it's ok." He lifted my face to look at him.

We hadn't been this close since the auction, and my heart was threatening to jump out of my chest as I stared into his gorgeous hazel eyes.

He pulled me to my feet and guided me to the table. He sat me down and went into a small closet and returned with a large first aid kit. He then walked over to the sink and pulled out a dish towel and soaked it lukewarm water and applied it to my burn. I winced a little from the pain but it soon began to soothe my arm.

"Hold that there," he said as he began to dig through the kit and removed some aloe. He put a little bit on a Q-Tip and then placed it over my injured area.

The moment he was done he looked up at me, and I took my chance. I pressed my lips lightly to his.