Always My Girl (The Shaughnessy Brothers)

by Samantha Chase

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 f
ind 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.

  Not yet. She wasn’t ready to trust anyone just quite yet.

  When they found themselves back on the main floor and looking out at the ocean, Anna looked down at her watch. Two hours! They had been walking around and talking for two hours already! Not that she had anything to do, but she just couldn’t believe how fast the time had flown by.

  “So…what do you think, Dan?” she finally asked. “Is this one a contender, or do you want to look at a few more properties?”

  He took a deep breath and smiled. “I love the smell of the ocean, don’t you?”

  Anna smiled. “Absolutely. I can’t imagine living anywhere else but near the coast. I would miss it too much.”

  He nodded. “I moved away when I left for college and stayed away all this time. Now that my life has calmed down a bit, I know what I want. If I’m going to invest in a home, I want it to be here. We never lived right on the beach, but I always dreamed of it.” He looked at her with a lopsided grin. “And now I can do it.”

  “You’re very lucky.”

  They stared at one another for a minute before Dan looked back at the ocean. “This one is definitely a contender, but I’d like to look at maybe a few more properties just to be sure. Do you have anything else available?”

  Pulling her tablet out of her purse, Anna pulled up one of the other listings she had considered. “This one here is similar in square footage but has a few more updates. I can see if we can look at it now, if you have the time? It’s only about a mile up the road.”

  “That sounds great,” he said and stepped away while Anna made the call. When she was done and told him they were welcome to go and see the house, he added, “I’ll follow in my car. I have a dinner appointment in town I’ll need to get to.”

  “If you’d prefer to go another day…?”

  He shook his head. “No, today is fine. I’d really like to see it, but I probably won’t linger as long as we did here, if that’s okay.”

  It was said with a smile, but Anna made a mental note to stick to business and ease up on the personal chitchat. “Not a problem. I just need to close everything up here.” She wrote down the address on the back of her business card and handed it to him. “Why don’t you head down there and at least get a look at the outside? I’ll be five minutes behind you.”

  “Sounds good, Anna. Thanks for understanding.”

  She watched him walk out the door and sighed. Here was a perfectly nice man, and if she were a normal woman, she’d be attracted to him and flirting with him. But between Quinn and the Jake incident, the idea of dating wasn’t appealing at the moment.

  Walking around and double-checking all the doors and windows, she quickly scooped up her purse and made her way out the front door.

  In a perfect world, she would make this sale, get her finances in order, and find the man of her dreams.

  Instead, she walked down the front steps, climbed into her old Honda, and faced the reality of having to put her dreams on hold for a little while longer.

  * * *

  It was another two hours before she watched Dan drive away. After another lengthy house tour, he told her he loved both houses but needed to think about it. Of course she understood—it was a pretty massive purchase.

  Still…it would have been nice if he had wanted to sign a contract today.

  With the house locked up, Anna climbed back into her car and headed toward home. It was dinnertime, and she was hungry but didn’t feel like cooking. Takeout was looking more and more appealing. Maybe some Chinese food, or maybe she’d stop at the pub and grab a burger, or—

  The check engine light came on.

  Again.

  “Dammit,” she muttered. Quinn had been after her about it for a long time, and Anna had a feeling she couldn’t ignore it much longer. The drive through town to her house would take her right by the new shop, and if she just didn’t let herself worry about getting a lecture about car maintenance or about the incident with Jake, she could actually stop in and ask Quinn to look at her car without feeling like an idiot.

  Or maybe she could wait another day.

  As if on cue, the car started to sputter a bit, and Anna knew she had pushed her luck as far as she could. The car definitely needed to be looked at.

  Another sputter.

  There went her hopes of getting takeout.

  At this point, she’d be lucky to make it to the shop without having to push the damn car.

  Anna turned the corner and pulled into the parking lot of Shaughnessy Automotive and Restoration. The parking lot was empty, and Anna worried that it was after hours. Quinn’s car was there, however,
so there was no avoiding him. Taking a deep breath, she climbed from the car and went in search of him.

  It didn’t take long—he walked out of the open garage bay as she was approaching. “Hey,” he said and Anna thought his tone was a bit…cautious.

  “Hi,” she said, forcing a smile.

  He looked her over and frowned. “What are you so dressed up for?”

  Anna looked down at herself and then back at him. “Dressed up? Quinn, you’ve seen me in this dress about a dozen times before. I had a house to show.”

  He grunted and shrugged. “You never wore it with high heels before.”

  Rolling her eyes, she got to the purpose of her visit. “The, um…the engine light came on again. And it’s sputtering.”

  Quinn’s eyes never left hers. “And isn’t it a little late in the day for a showing?”

  “For crying out loud, can you please look at the car? I really think it’s bad this time. I’m afraid to drive it home!” she said with exasperation.

  “I thought you knew all about car maintenance now,” he said with a hint of sarcasm. “Isn’t that what you said the other day?”

  Doing her best to remain calm, she met his gaze. “I can change a tire, replace an air filter, change a spark plug, and even replace my windshield wipers. Whatever’s going on this time is way beyond that. Can you please just not be a jerk for five minutes and cut me some slack?”

  Without a word, Quinn walked over to the car and popped the hood. Anna couldn’t help but stand back and admire his physique from behind. Faded blue jeans hugged him, and his gray T-shirt—even though it was stained—just accented how muscular he was. And then there was the cap. Today it was one of his old baseball caps worn backward. Somehow he managed to even make it look sexy. The man seemed to only get better with age. A small sigh escaped before she forced herself to walk over to the car.

  “Jeez, Anna. I told you this piece of junk was gonna crap out on you. I mean, until I get it on the lift, I can’t say for certain, but knowing its history, it could be about a half a dozen different things. You need a new car.”

  Her spine stiffened. She hated that superior tone he used. “Oh, really? Gee, Quinn, I didn’t know that,” she retorted. “Tell you what, let me go and rub my magic lamp and see if my genie will grant me a new car.”