Always My Girl (The Shaughnessy Brothers) (10 page)

While he continued to study her face, he finally let the guilt wash over him. He’d heard Jake ask her out and it had pissed him the hell off. He knew Jake was a player, but when Anna had turned him down, he’d thought that was the end of it. Quinn had been so wrapped up in—
hell, just call it what it is
—jealousy that he hadn’t really thought about all the reasons why Anna shouldn’t go out with Jake.

Because she’s mine.

Yeah, that was becoming more and more apparent, but for the life of him, he didn’t know what to do about it. And now, because of his own stupid pride and childish behavior, Anna could have been seriously hurt.

It wasn’t something he was likely to forget anytime soon—or be able to forgive himself for.

Carefully, he slid out from under her head. Standing, he walked into her bedroom and pulled the comforter and sheet back and then looked around and chuckled. The room was a bit of a mess, but then again, he knew Anna wasn’t the prissy type who obsessed about everything needing to be in its place. If anything, it comforted him to see her room in slight disarray.

He walked around and really looked at the space. The light-colored furniture and the pastel-blue walls gave the room a beachy vibe he knew Anna tended to favor. On her shelves were books and knickknacks and pictures. He chuckled at how many different types of frames she had—another quirk of hers. But as he took a minute to look at the actual pictures, he noticed one thing—he was in most of them.

Pictures from her childhood, holidays, parties, and just…life. And he was there for all of them. They were laughing and smiling, and in some of them, Quinn could actually remember what it was they were joking about. A soft chuckle slipped out as he found a picture from Anna’s sixteenth birthday. Her parents had gotten her a car. It was a used Mustang, and they had parked it in the driveway with a big red bow on it. In the picture, she was smiling so brightly, and he was standing right beside her.

Quinn ran a finger over the picture. It was her special day, and she had begged him to be in the picture with her. She did that a lot. Hell, he didn’t think his own father had as many pictures of him as the Hannigans did.

He put the picture back down on the shelf and moved over toward the lone framed picture on her nightstand. For some reason, his heart began to race as he reached for it. It was a fancy silver-and-crystal frame. In it was a picture taken about a year ago of the two of them. It wasn’t a special occasion; it was just a family day at the beach. They were sitting side by side in the sand, and he remembered Darcy coming over and snapping the picture. Anna’s head was on his shoulder and they were smiling and looking so happy and relaxed and… He swallowed a lump in his throat. Being with Anna was normally the only time he felt happy and relaxed.

At least until recently.

Or maybe some time after this picture was taken.

Could he have known even then that things were changing? Was he subconsciously already noticing Anna wasn’t just his pal but a woman?

Carefully, he put the picture back down and sighed. Tonight wasn’t the night to figure it all out. Too much had happened, and his mind was spinning with it all. It was late, and he needed to help Anna get to bed and then go home himself. He was suddenly very tired—exhausted, really—and knew it would be better for both of them if he just gave her a little space.

Once back in the living room, he stood over her and studied her for a minute. She was out cold. They were going to have to talk. Really talk. Soon. They’d been friends for too long to just…stop. He needed Anna in his life—couldn’t imagine a life without her in it. Eventually he’d wear her down and get her to tell him how he’d screwed up and then they could move on. He was just impatient, and wished she’d tell him now.

“Problem for another day,” he whispered. “Anna? Anna, come on. You need to go to bed.”

“Too tired,” she murmured as she shifted on the couch.

Quinn sighed and reached down to gently scoop her up into his arms. He straightened and stiffened when Anna snuggled closer and seemed to hum her approval. He took a step but instantly stopped when he felt her breath on his neck. And then her tongue. And then her lips.
What the…?

“What are you doing?” she whispered sleepily.

“Taking you to bed,” he said gruffly.

“Mmm…finally,” she purred.

This was Anna.
Anna
, for crying out loud! He chanted to himself to just keep walking, and almost made it to the bed when once again her breath was replaced by her lips. Quinn froze as Anna slowly kissed and licked her way up the column of his throat and then nipped at the line of his jaw. He jerked back and looked down at her face as he continued to hold her in his arms. Her eyes were closed, but there was a very sexy smile on her face. “Anna,” he whispered.

In a flash, her hands raked up into his hair and pulled his face closer to hers, and then Quinn was lost. He closed the distance between them and tentatively touched his lips to hers.

And then all rational thought left him.

Her lips were softer than he’d ever let himself imagine, and when she purred into his mouth and opened for him, he felt a sense of completion he’d never felt before. Slowly, he lowered Anna to the bed as her arms wound around him, holding him close. Quinn stretched out on top of her and smiled at Anna’s whispered yes.

It was instantaneous, the surge of arousal and excitement he felt. He kissed her, as ravenous as a starving man at a feast, as her legs came up and lazily wrapped around his waist. He wanted to touch her, taste her everywhere, while at the same time he was questioning his own actions and sanity.

This was Anna. His best friend.

And clearly she didn’t know what she was doing.

Cursing, he forced himself to move away from her and rose from the bed. She moaned her disapproval and whispered his name again before her head rested to the side and she sighed.

“Don’t go,” she said softly, but her words sort of trailed off, and then she rolled over and didn’t say another word.

Shit.
She was dreaming.

And he felt like a complete jerk for giving in to the temptation. He knew she was tired—clearly more tired than he’d realized—and he should have just put her down and left.

If she didn’t hate him before, she’d certainly hate him now. Forcing himself to look away, he slowly backed out of her room and shut the door before making a hasty retreat from her house.

Cursing himself and his lack of control the entire time.

The next morning, Anna felt marginally better. Not great, but better. Other than being angry at Jake and what he had tried to do, she was embarrassed that she was so stupid and had so many witnesses to her rotten luck. After a cup of strong coffee, she reached for her phone and called Zoe.

“How are you feeling? Any better?”

“You mean other than like a giant idiot?” Anna asked, sitting on her sofa and putting her feet up on the coffee table.

“You’re not an idiot, Anna. God, when I think about what could have happened to you, I’m so glad you had the good sense to get away from the table and call me!”

“I don’t know how much of it was good sense. I never should have gone on the stupid date to begin with. I should have listened to you in the first place.”

“Look, no one knew Jake was going to be such a freak.”

“Quinn knew.”

Zoe sighed. “Yeah, but…I don’t know. I don’t think he really expected something like that to happen. When he heard me on the phone with you, he really freaked out. I thought he was going to kill Jake.”

“Right.”

“No, I’m serious, Anna. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Quinn so angry. The whole time we were driving over there and Aidan was trying to keep up, even he was saying how out of character it was for Quinn. We were seriously worried things were going to get a whole lot worse.”

“Well, I do appreciate the fact that you all came down there to help me. I wasn’t at the time—mainly because I was so out of it—but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how blessed I am to have such good friends. So…thank you.”

“You never have to thank me. I’m just glad we were able to get there and help you.”

“I guess it’s a good thing Jake didn’t press charges against Quinn.”

Zoe snorted with disbelief. “Are you kidding? If he had tried to do it, the cops would have arrested him too for slipping something into your drink.”

“We don’t know that for sure—”

“Anna, stop!” Zoe cried. “Stop defending people! Stop always making excuses for them! Bobby’s going down to talk to the bartender—”

“
What?
How does Bobby know what happened?”

Zoe hesitated. “Well, you know…small town and all.”

“Zoe…”

“All right, all right. Aidan called him. But don’t be mad! He was seriously just looking out for you!”

“Great, now on top of everything else, I’ll—”

As if on cue, her front door opened and her brother walked in.

“And here he is,” Anna said. “I have to go. I’ll call you later.”

“Don’t be mad at him, Anna. He’s just doing his job.”

Anna wasn’t so sure, but she didn’t mention it. Once she hung up the phone, she faced her brother. “What brings you here today, Officer Hannigan?”

Bobby was dressed in his full police uniform and had a murderous look on his face. “I had to find out from Aidan Shaughnessy that some guy slipped you a roofie? Are you kidding me, Anna? Why the hell didn’t you call me?”

“I did!” she cried, jumping to her feet. “You were the first person I called, but it went right to voice mail!”

“So call the station! They would have found me!”

“Bobby, I barely knew my own name at the time. After I couldn’t get through to you, it was pure luck I managed to hit Zoe’s number!”

He began to pace. “I’m going to the tavern as soon as it opens and looking at security footage and talking to the staff. I want you to press charges against this guy.”

Without a word, Anna walked to the kitchen and poured Bobby a cup of coffee. He followed her and sat down at the breakfast nook. When she put the mug down in front of him, he looked up at her sadly. “Are you all right? I mean…do you feel okay?”

She shrugged. “I don’t feel great. I forced myself to get sick to get it out of me, but…I’m more embarrassed than anything.”

“Damn it, Anna, I can’t believe something like this happened. Nothing like that has ever happened around here.”

“Well, Jake isn’t from around here.”

Bobby frowned. “No, he’s not. Leave it to Quinn to bring that sort of element into our lives.”

“Oh, for the love of it… Please don’t make this about Quinn.”

“But it is!” Bobby yelled. “It was
his
friend who did this to you, and from what Aidan told me, the guy has a history of doing this! What the hell was Quinn thinking, letting you go out with a guy like that?”

“It wasn’t his call to make!”

“Bullshit! Quinn Shaughnessy has had something to say about the guys you date for years! All of a sudden he chooses to keep his big mouth shut? When I get my hands on him—”

“That’s enough!” she shouted, and Bobby instantly stilled. Anna never raised her voice to him, but she had hit her limit. “I am so sick and tired of this! If you are here as an officer or my brother, your rage should be on one person and one person only—Jake Tanner!”

Bobby stared at her with disbelief that quickly turned to shame. “You’re right. I’m sorry, Anna. I just…I hate that I wasn’t there for you.”

“You can’t be there all the time,” she said softly, resting her elbows on the counter and facing him. “What happened last night was really scary, and like I was just telling Zoe on the phone, I feel incredibly blessed I have such good friends who were able to come and help me.”

“Including Quinn,” Bobby muttered and then flinched when Anna slapped him upside the head. “Ow! What’d you do that for?”

“Because you’re still being an idiot!”

He took a drink of his coffee and waited a minute before speaking again. “Okay, I’m going to stop being your brother for now and be here in official police capacity.”

“Bobby?”

He looked up at her.

Anna’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. “Don’t ever stop being my brother.” And then she walked around the counter and let him hold her while she cried.

* * *

Quinn couldn’t focus on anything.

Standing in the shop that housed Jake Tanner’s two classic cars, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. He’d beaten the crap out of Jake last night. There was no way the two were going to work together, and as much as he was fine with never seeing the smarmy bastard again, he kind of hated the idea of losing the cars.

Which pretty much made him an equally smarmy bastard.

The door to the shop opened, and his main shop manager, Troy, stepped in. “Hey, Quinn. Jake Tanner’s here to see you.”

Son of a—

Quinn couldn’t believe the guy was stupid enough to come around, but since he himself had just been thinking about the situation with the cars, it wasn’t really surprising Jake was too. “Show him in, but I want you to stay close by, okay?”

Troy didn’t question it; he simply nodded and walked out.

When Jake walked in, Quinn felt a real sense of satisfaction at the amount of bruising on the guy’s face. Even though Jake was wearing sunglasses, Quinn could see enough of the bruising to know he’d done some damage.

“You’ve got a hell of a nerve coming here,” Quinn said, standing with his feet planted firmly and his arms crossed.

“We need to make arrangements for the cars,” Jake said, his speech a little slow—no doubt thanks to his split lip.

“You could have had someone call.”

Jake shrugged and then winced. “Look, you can tell me to go to hell, and after last night I wouldn’t blame you, but…” He stopped and sighed. “I’d still like you to do the work on the cars.”

Quinn was shocked. It was the last thing he’d expected to hear. His eyes narrowed. “Why? Why would you even trust me to work on them? Who’s to say I won’t mess them up on purpose?”

“You wouldn’t do that. You’re an arrogant pain in the ass and have a colossal ego. There’s no way you’d damage your reputation by messing with cars of this magnitude.”

Damn it, he was right.

“You’ve got a gift for this sort of thing, man. Like I said, you can throw me out of here and tell me to go to hell, but last night—”

Quinn moved before Jake could blink and had him by the throat, his back slammed against the wall. “You’re just lucky you didn’t get the chance to put a hand on her or you wouldn’t be breathing right now.” The hand on Jake’s throat tightened just for good measure.

Jake squirmed and managed to shake Quinn off. He was gasping for air as he held up a hand to ward Quinn off. “Just…hear me out.”

“I don’t think so. You need to leave,” Quinn said through clenched teeth.

“Think about it. It’s all I’m asking. You won’t have to deal with me personally. I’ll have my manager take care of everything. I’ve already got several publications interested in doing stories on the cars. You’d be getting all kinds of free publicity for you and the business.”

Bile rose in Quinn’s throat. Was this bastard seriously trying to negotiate a business deal after what he’d done?

“You’re out of your mind, Tanner. You picked the wrong girl to mess with. Anna is—”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. I don’t know why.” He paused and cleared his throat before straightening. “Call it ego. It pissed me off how she kept turning me down. Now that I know about you and her…”

Quinn could only stare. “Be very careful what you say because I’m not afraid to finish what I started last night.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

Quinn and Jake both turned to find Bobby Hannigan and another police officer standing in the doorway. For once, Quinn was genuinely relieved to see Bobby. Taking a step back, he simply motioned for the officers to come in and do their job.

Once Jake had been read his rights and was being led out, Bobby turned to Quinn, his expression fierce. “The only reason I’m not pounding on you the way you pounded on Tanner is because I promised Anna I wouldn’t.”

Quinn nodded.

Bobby nodded once and started to turn away but stopped and faced Quinn again. “Thank you. For being there for her when I couldn’t be.”

“I’d die before I let anything happen to her,” Quinn said solemnly.

Another nod and then Bobby strode out of the garage.

* * *

Two days later, Anna stared at her reflection in the mirror for a solid ten minutes before she finally decided it was the best she could do. This whole dressing-up thing was really starting to get old. While she knew it went with the job and the whole life-change thing, she couldn’t help but let her gaze linger longingly on her old jeans and sneakers.

Checking herself from every angle, she knew she looked professional. The muted-mint-green sundress was simple, with wide shoulder straps, a gentle curve-hugging bodice, and skirt cut to the knee. Paired with a little white cardigan and a casual strand of pearls, she felt ready to go.

Her client today was an important one—Dan Michaels, an old high school classmate who had done very well for himself and now was looking for a beachfront home. When he had specifically asked for Anna, she had been excited to see him. When she found out how much he was looking to spend on a property, she was damn near ecstatic.

Real estate was challenging, and there were things Anna really wanted to accomplish with her life. She had dreams and goals, and her commissions weren’t making them happen just yet. But if she could find Dan the perfect property, the commission would help her a lot. Student loans would start to get paid off and she might even be able to get a decent car.

Plastering a smile on her face, she checked her reflection one last time before grabbing her purse and heading out the door. The high wedges she was wearing were already annoying her, and she stopped and looked back at her house and wondered if she should grab a pair of flats just in case.

“No,” she told herself as she unlocked her car door. “You’re an adult. Act like one. Dress like one.” Once inside, she started the car and kicked on the air conditioning and thought about how she wished her mom had warned her of how uncomfortable adults had to be in the real world.

Fifteen minutes later, she pulled up in front of the house she prayed would impress Dan. Beachfront, three-car garage, four stories. It had six bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a theater room, a game room, an elevator, plus an outdoor entertaining area that included a multilevel deck, a heated pool, outdoor kitchen as well as an outdoor shower. Hell, if it was missing anything, she’d be completely surprised.

Grabbing her purse, she got out of the car and went into the house. It was currently vacant but fully furnished. Walking through the main floor, Anna fluffed pillows and opened the sliding doors that led out to one of the decks before making sure everything looked dust free. By the time Dan pulled up, she was almost out of breath from going up and down the stairs.

“Anna Hannigan,” he said with a smile when she opened the door. “You look amazing.” Reaching for her hands, he squeezed them and leaned in to place a kiss on her cheek. “How are you doing?”

For a minute, Anna was speechless. Dan Michaels had been cute in high school. He was out-and-out gorgeous now. She had to stop and swallow before she could speak. “I’m good,” she said and then cleared her throat. “I’m good. How about you?”

She motioned for him to come inside and managed to get one of her hands free of his. Dan held on to the other. Amazingly enough, she didn’t mind.

“I’m doing well,” he said. He was six feet tall with dark brown hair and eyes. With an easy grin that showcased his dimples, she couldn’t help but smile back. Stepping into the main living area, he let out a low whistle of approval. “Wow. When you said you knew of the perfect place, you weren’t kidding.”

This time when he moved, he did release Anna’s hand. She read off the list of all the house had to offer as she followed behind him. “With a little over six thousand square feet, you won’t have any privacy issues when you have your family here with you.”

He chuckled. “That’s definitely a good thing. I know my brother and sister and their families are going to want to come and visit for extended weekend trips. I love my family, but with all their kids, it’s nice to know I can hide out if I want to.”

So he isn’t married
, she thought to herself.
Interesting
.

They slowly toured the entire house from top to bottom, talking the entire time not only about the property, but also about high school and mutual acquaintances and just getting caught up on each other’s lives. All in all, Anna found him to be incredibly charming. And if it hadn’t been for her unfortunate incident with Jake, she would probably have been angling for a chance to go out with Dan for a drink.