Always My Girl (The Shaughnessy Brothers) (25 page)

Hmm…not off to a solid start.

Racking her brain, she tried to think of more pros. “I can cook as much as I like—pro! I’ll never have to be the low man on the totem pole—pro!” She giggled, feeling a little bit giddy. “I’ll be spending every day surrounded by friends! Pro!” She laughed again. “This is kind of fun! I could redecorate a little bit with Zoe’s help and then—”

POP!

Anna let out a small scream as the car immediately began to swerve. She tried to regain control but wasn’t sure what exactly had happened. She hit the brakes and carefully pulled over to the side of the road. Cursing under her breath, she shut off the car and took a few seconds to let her heart rate slow back down.

“Holy crap.” Climbing from the car, she walked around it and found she had blown a tire. “Well, this just sucks.” Stamping her foot, she popped open the trunk and was grateful she had taken the course that taught her how to change a tire.

The only problem? It was pitch-black outside and she was on a side road with nothing around, and she was majorly freaked out. Jumping back into the car, she slammed the door, locked it, reached for her cell phone, and immediately called Bobby. She hated to do it at such a late hour, but it was an emergency.

“Hey, you’ve reached Bobby. I can’t take your call right now—”

“Dammit!” she yelled and disconnected the call. She thought about calling her dad, but she knew he’d never even hear the phone at this hour. With no other choice, she dialed Zoe’s number and prayed their friendship could withstand a middle-of-the-night tire change.

“H’lo.”

“Hey, Zoe, it’s me,” Anna said softly.

“Anna? You okay?”

“Yeah…kind of. I blew a tire and I’m over on Elm and it’s pitch-black, and I was wondering if you could send Aidan to help me.”

No response.

“Zoe? Zoe, you there?” she asked a little louder.

“What? Oh, shoot… Sorry, Anna. I sort of dozed for a minute.”

“Crap, I’m sorry. I know it’s late but I don’t know what else to do. I think I can change the tire myself, but it’s so dark out and it’s freaking me out.”

“Okay, okay…o…kay…”

Anna heard a very distinct snore and then the connection was lost. “Well…shit!” Unwilling to give up just yet, she tried her parents and got no answer and even went so far as to call the pub, but Steve was already gone and she knew he’d had enough to drink that she wouldn’t feel good about having him driving around any more than he had to tonight.

She wanted to cry. How was it possible that she knew so many people and there wasn’t anyone to help her? The clock on her phone now read three forty-five and all she wanted was to be home in bed.

Her last resort was to call AAA. She waited through all the recorded messages, and when she finally got a live person on the line, she told them her issue, her location, and her member ID number and was finally feeling optimistic.

“We’ll have a tow truck to you in three hours,” the operator said.

“What! How is that even possible?”

“There was a multicar accident on Route 74 and all the local trucks responded to it. There’s a chance one can get to you sooner, but I can’t guarantee it.”

Anna groaned. Her first thought was how she hoped no one was injured. And while she desperately needed help right now, her only problem was a flat tire. A multicar accident usually meant much more extensive damage. There was no way she could begrudge them for getting the help they needed. The reality was that she could change the tire. She just didn’t want to.

“Ma’am? Are you still there?”

“I am.”

“Someone will call you when they are thirty minutes out. Will that be all right?”

“You know what? It’s okay, just cancel the request.”

“Ma’am, are you sure?”

“Yeah. I’m sure. I’ll…I’ll just find another option. But thank you.”

“Okay. Have a good night!”

Anna wanted to reach through the phone and slap the operator upside the head. “Have a good night”? For real? This was a nightmare and she had clearly exhausted all of her options.

With a huff, she climbed from the car again with her phone in her hand for light and began to search in the trunk for everything she’d need to change the tire. On a good day—as in full daylight—it took her almost thirty minutes to change a tire. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind she was going to double that.

Ninety minutes later, she was done.

She was exhausted, sweaty, and filthy, and was practically seeing double from lack of sleep. Slamming the trunk closed, Anna stumbled to the driver’s side door and pulled—and almost fell back on her ass. On her second attempt, she managed to get it open and then just stood there as if trying to remember what she was doing.

Off in the distance, the sun wasn’t even close to being up but she did see a light. “This is it,” she sighed wearily. “This is how it ends. I’m seeing the light. Changing a tire killed me.” She yawned and rested her head on the roof of the car. “I hope they don’t put that on my headstone.”

Somewhere nearby, she heard a car door slam and her head shot up as she looked around. Was she in the car? Did she close the door?

“Anna? What the…?”

Quinn?
Now she knew she was dreaming.

Or dead.

Quinn didn’t talk to her anymore and that was just fine with her. She looked over her shoulder and saw him sprinting toward her just as her knees gave out and everything went black.

* * *

Quinn drove with one eye on the road, the other on Anna. She had taken twenty years off his life when he watched her eyes roll back in her head and she started to fall to the ground. All night, he had cursed how he couldn’t sleep but now he was thankful for it. It was why he was driving around at this hour—he was going to the shop because he couldn’t stay in bed staring at the ceiling any longer.

He wished he knew what had happened to her but she was out cold. Pulling up in his driveway—his house was closer than hers—he quickly jumped out and ran around to the passenger side and picked her up. Once he had her inside, he strode through to his bedroom and placed her down on the bed.

“Anna? Anna, baby? Come on, wake up for me, sweetheart.” He stroked her cheek and looked for any signs of injury. Other than being dirty—like she’d been working on a car—she appeared unhurt.

Running from the room, Quinn went to the kitchen and poured her some water and then was immediately back at her side. “Anna, please, honey. Open those eyes. Let me see those beautiful brown eyes. Please.”

She didn’t stir. Not sure of what else to do, he was about to call 9-1-1 when she moved. He whispered her name and watched as she tried to open her eyes and focus on him. He said her name again.

“Dream Quinn…you need to stop talking,” she mumbled and rolled over.

Dream Quinn?
“Wait…Anna…what happened? Why were you on the side of the road?”

She sighed loudly and rolled over. “Jeez, even in my dreams you can’t just be quiet and let me have my way, can you?”

She was so adorable and obviously not really awake and yet Quinn couldn’t stop looking at her, talking to her in hopes of figuring out what had happened. “Baby, I need to make sure you’re all right. Are you hurt?”

A loud yawn was her only response.

Quinn repeated the question.

“Just my heart,” she said as her eyes started to close. “You broke my heart.”

“I know,” he said quietly, and leaned in and placed a kiss on her temple and then watched in mild amusement as she kicked her shoes off. She was dressed in a pair of jeans and a plain blue T-shirt and looked every inch the girl he’d always known.

“Sleep,” she slurred. “Flat tire. Too hard to change…even with the classes, but I did it.” Another yawn. “I don’t need you anymore, dream Quinn.”

And with that one statement, he felt his own heart break again. Unable to help himself, he ran his fingers through her hair and caressed her cheek. She hummed for a minute—just like she always had in her sleep when he’d touched her. With a sigh, he rested his forehead against hers and whispered her name.

“But I miss you,” she whispered and then her head lolled to the side and she let out a soft snore.

It wasn’t much.

Hell, it was barely audible.

But those few words gave Quinn more hope than he’d had in a very long time. Standing up, he covered her with a blanket, turned out the light, and left the room so she could sleep. Out in the living room, he got things in motion to get her car towed to the shop and to have all the tires checked.

Once that was done, he made a few other calls—and woke a bunch of people up—to let them know he wasn’t coming in to the shop today, he’d be in touch, and he wasn’t to be disturbed unless it was an absolute emergency.

He put the phone down and looked toward his bedroom door. Anna was here and he wasn’t going to let her leave until they finally talked things out. He’d given her the space she asked for, and ever since that kiss two weeks ago, he’d barely been able to think straight.

He loved her.

That wasn’t going away, and it wasn’t going to change.

And after hearing her small admission that she missed him, Quinn was hopeful that maybe Anna still loved him too. Somehow, they had to make things work out. Yeah, he had a little explaining to do—like why he’d been out on a date—but she’d been out on one too! After seeing her at the café with that guy—who he now knew was Dan Michaels—Quinn had gone a little crazy.

The date had been a mistake. He’d known it as soon as he’d agreed to it. Sandy was someone he’d gone out with a time or two a long time ago, and when he’d run into her that same afternoon and she’d invited him to go for drinks, he’d said yes mainly out of desperation. It had killed him to think of Anna with someone else, but he knew if she was moving on, he had no choice but to move on as well.

But after he had kissed Anna in the ladies’ room, Quinn knew he couldn’t do it. He’d gone back out to the bar and faked an emergency at the shop and left. Sandy hadn’t seemed overly upset and he hadn’t heard from her since.

It wasn’t until a week later that Aidan fessed up and told him how Anna really wasn’t dating Dan and it had been a business meeting. Quinn wanted to kick himself. She had essentially told him the same thing in the bathroom, but he’d been too riled up to listen. Seeing Dan with his arm around her and sitting so close to her in the pub had pretty much pushed every one of his buttons.

And now look where he was.

A quivering mass who was afraid to go into his own bedroom. Anna had obviously had a rough night, and the last thing he wanted to do was upset her even more.

Unfortunately, for the first time in months, he genuinely felt ready to go to sleep. He looked over at his couch and grimaced. It was too small and it wasn’t comfortable. He kicked off his shoes and poured himself a glass of juice. He finished it in two great big gulps and then looked toward the bedroom again. He wanted to sleep, and he wanted to hold Anna while he did it.

“Of course you do, you selfish bastard,” he cursed himself. “Glad to see you’re only thinking of yourself, as usual.”

Yeah, he pretty much despised himself right now.

Walking around the house, he locked up and turned off the few lights he’d turned on. It was a little after six in the morning, and he had a feeling Anna was going to sleep until at least noon. He had a second bedroom and Quinn had resigned himself to sleeping in there when he heard Anna call his name. It was soft at first, then a little louder.

Cautiously, he opened the bedroom door and stepped inside. “You okay?” he whispered.

“What…? How did I get here?”

Quinn sat down on the edge of the bed, not trusting himself to get too close to her. “I just happened to be heading in to the shop early and I found you parked on the side of the road. What happened?”

Slowly, Anna sat up and ran a hand through her hair and Quinn could tell she was still disoriented. “What time is it?”

“It’s a little after six.”

“We had Bobby’s going away party at the pub last night. I stayed afterward, to talk with Steve.” She yawned. “I didn’t leave until after three. I blew a tire. I tried calling everyone and no one answered.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” he asked softly.

She gave him a wry look. “I know how to change a tire. It was just a little more…challenging when it was pitch-black out.”

“So you changed the tire?”

She nodded and yawned. “It took me over an hour. By the time I was done, I was near delirious. I guess that’s when you found me.”

“I’m glad I did.” He was almost shaking with the thought of what would have happened if he hadn’t come along at that point. “I’m glad you didn’t try to drive home.”

“Speaking of…I really do need to get home. I’m exhausted and…and…and I shouldn’t be here.”

“Anna, it’s really early and you’re exhausted, and to be honest, so am I. I was just going to the guest room to grab a couple hours of sleep.”

“But you just said you had been heading to the shop,” she reminded him.

He nodded. “I was, but you scared the hell out of me and I haven’t been sleeping well, and suddenly I feel like I might actually be able to sleep.”

“Oh.”

He looked at her, studying her face in the dimly lit room. She was so beautiful. How had he looked at her face for so many years and not realized that?

Anna made no attempt to lie back down.

Quinn made no attempt to get up and leave the room.

He saw her swallow hard and then lick her lips. He wanted to do that for her—lick her lips and then every inch of her. But it was too soon to hope he’d ever be allowed to do that again. He willed her to say something, anything—preferably to ask him to stay—but she just continued to watch him warily.

Resigned, he stood. “Get some sleep. I’ll take you to get your car later. Don’t be mad but I had it towed to the shop. You know, just so it wouldn’t be sitting there on the road. You need to be safe.”

Silently, she nodded.

So did he. “Okay then.” Quinn turned to leave the room when Anna whispered his name. He stopped and looked over at her. “Are you okay? Do you need something? I put a glass of water on the nightstand for you.”