Taking Passion by Storm Read Free Page A

she might never see her father again. All mixed up with those
emotions was Addison’s handsome face, that stubble on his chin, and her
overwhelming longing to be held in a man’s arms, and be kissed, and for those
experiences to erase her memories from that horrible afternoon four years
earlier.
    A pipe dream. That’s all it was. It would never
happen, and certainly not with Addison Carlyle.
     

Chapter
Two
     
    Addison
stood outside Nadine’s apartment building, staring up at her windows on the
fourth floor, debating whether to go back up there. What the hell had he done
to upset her so much? He knew it was more than her father missing. He’d seen
her tiny flinch when he wiped her tears away, and felt the change in the air
immediately afterward, like a wall had gone up. But why? Was it him, or
something else?
    Dixon’s
daughter was fourteen years his junior, but a woman’s age had never stopped him
from pursuing her. The fact that she was Dixon’s daughter had stopped him once,
a long time ago. What had stopped him for the past few years was the same
behavior he’d glimpsed just now. It was almost as if she were afraid of him,
but why would she be?
    Addison
shook his head. How crass would it be to make a play for her when her father
was missing, and when he was going to be on the surface for who knew how long?
That, and his overblown ego. She’s just
not into you! That was more than likely the real reason she’d always kept
him at such a distance. When he’d been younger and more of an ass than he was
now, that possibility would never have entered his mind, but it did now.
    This
was insanity, and he needed to get a grip. She upset about her father. He was
probably dead, and she wasn’t stupid. She knew that. He was letting his conceit
get the better of him.
    He’d
watched Nadine grow up, and had been with Dixon when everyone had moved
underground almost seven years ago. Dixon had been so worried about her, and
had stayed underground for a few months while the Storm Troopers got organized.
He checked on Nadine every day to make sure she was settled in and liked her
job.
    She
still worked in the office at NorthWest high school.
Addison kept tabs on her, but not nearly as much as he would like to. She was
so damn pretty, with her short blonde hair and those big blue eyes. She had her
father’s eyes, and that’s part of what kept Addison at a distance. He respected
and even feared the man too much to piss him off.
    If
Dixon knew how many times Addison had fantasized about his daughter for years,
he’d kick his ass into the next century. If he could look into Addison’s mind
and see the things he’d pictured doing with Nadine, he’d kill him first and then kick his ass into oblivion, just
for fun.
    So
instead, Addison filled his lonely life with relationships that never quite
satisfied him or brought him what he craved these days. It had been fun when he
was younger, and before the world changed forever and he had to move
underground with everyone else.
    He’d
been a giant shit and had used women for his own pleasure, but he no longer did
that. Hell, he would have likely done the same thing to Nadine if she’d gone
out with him. Now, he was glad she never had. He would have hated something
like that to be part of their shared past.
    These
days, he wanted what his friends had. Four of the twelve were engaged, and Ace
was married. Emmett and Liane were getting married in two months. Ten years
ago, if anyone had told Addison they’d be at this point in their lives, he’d
never have believed it.
    Time
changes a man. None of them were getting any younger, and the carefree days of
disposable relationships and never allowing themselves to be tied down were now
more of a hindrance than an amusement. His closest friend Grayson Jensen, who
lived a few blocks away and owned Jenson Software and Web Development, didn’t
even know how truly lonely Addison was. It wasn’t something Addison felt
comfortable