Always My Girl (The Shaughnessy Brothers) (5 page)

“Slack?
Slack?
What about me? Maybe if he had talked to me—or Aidan or Hugh or…anyone—things wouldn’t have been so weird earlier! We had to try and maneuver everyone around, and now I’m sleeping on the damn couch without a room of my own! Everyone else here has a bed to sleep in but me!”

“But you… Wait. I’m confused. If your dad and Martha aren’t sharing a room, why are you sleeping on the couch?”

“He pulled me aside earlier and wanted to talk to me about how I reacted when he and Martha arrived,” he said with a huff. “I’m pretty sure it would have ended with a birds-and-bees talk and I just couldn’t handle it. Plus, he snores.” He shook his head slowly. “And now I’m stuck in the living room, with no privacy, sleeping on a couch.”

“I thought the couch pulled out into a sofa bed.”

“Yeah, it does. And the mattress is about two inches thick and painful as hell to sleep on!”

It was on the tip of her tongue to offer to switch places with him—it was the sort of thing she normally did—but she quickly opted not to. So she shrugged. “It’s only for the weekend. Maybe you should just sleep on the floor. You know, grab a sleeping bag and camp out sort of thing.”

“What am I? Twelve?”

“Sometimes.”

“Ha-ha,” he deadpanned and then sighed loudly. “Seriously, Anna, the whole thing is just… I don’t know. It feels weird.”

And right then and there, the old sympathy was back. Unable to help herself, she reached out and put a hand on his shoulder and gave a small, reassuring squeeze. “Of course it does. And you’re not wrong for the way you feel. It was always going to feel weird, Quinn. No matter when Ian started dating again, you and your siblings were always going to feel strange about it. It’s been a long time. You’ve only ever seen your father with your mom. But he’s finally getting out and socializing and having a life again. Don’t make him feel bad about it.”

Quinn was silent for several minutes. “I know you’re right,” he said quietly. “I just don’t know how I’m supposed to act. I’m just… I feel…” He turned and looked at her. “Restless.”

Boy oh boy, did she know that feeling well. It was exactly how she’d felt just thirty minutes earlier. A slight breeze blew and she shivered. Quinn moved closer and put his arm around her, and everything inside of Anna melted. If only he were hugging her as a lover rather than a friend. But that wasn’t going to change and she had to accept it. Maybe she even needed a reminder of it. So she did the one thing that would certainly do the trick.

“Come on,” she said, pulling away and rising to her feet. “I think I saw that
The Fast and the Furious
is on. We can watch it together if you want.”

Quinn jumped to his feet. He towered over Anna by a good six to eight inches and he gave her a lopsided grin. “You’d stay up and watch a racing movie with me?”

God, what his grin did to her insides. Her stomach was doing little flips and her pulse kicked up. She willed them both to calm down. “I’m not tired,” she said. “And if I get tired, I’ll go to bed.”

“Yeah, but…you don’t really like the whole franchise. You say it all the time,” he reminded her.

“I’m figuring it will put me to sleep.”

Quinn laughed out loud and pulled her into his arms and gave her a quick hug. “Oh, the sacrifices you’re willing to make for a friend,” he teased.

Anna held in the sigh that longed to get out. If only he knew the sacrifices she was genuinely making on a daily basis where he was concerned. “And don’t you forget it,” she said and moved out of his embrace. Stepping around him, she straightened her nightshirt and made sure it was covering her completely before she made her way back toward the house.

“Jesus, Anna…”

She stopped and turned around and noticed Quinn hadn’t moved. “What? What’s the matter?”

He swallowed hard, his expression unreadable in the dim light.

Anna waited a full minute, and when Quinn didn’t answer, she turned and walked into the house, suddenly unsure if staying up and watching a movie with him was really the smartest thing to do.

* * *

It normally took a lot to throw Quinn, but today he had hit his limit. As much as he wanted to keep blaming it on his father and Martha, the fact was that Anna and her curves were wreaking far more havoc on him than anything else.

Just thinking about it made him feel like a colossal jerk. If he’d caught other guys ogling her, he would have kicked their asses. But if he was being honest, he had ogled her a time or two himself. Great, now he was going to have to kick his own ass.

“Quinn? You coming?” Anna called from the doorway.

Shit.
With the light from the house shining behind her, he could practically see through the white T-shirt she was wearing. Was she trying to kill him? She probably would if she knew he was checking her out.

It didn’t matter what Riley had said earlier. She couldn’t think of him as anything more. And really, he couldn’t think of her as more either.

Or could he?

Anna called his name again and snapped him out of his wayward thoughts, and Quinn knew he’d have to keep his eyes above her shoulders if he was going to survive watching a movie with her. Like a man walking to his execution, he made his way into the house, locking the sliding doors behind him and shutting off the outside lights.

“Oh no,” Anna muttered from the living room.

“What’s up?”

“This has got to be the smallest television in the house, and you were right about the bed.”

He almost swallowed his own tongue. “Bed?” he croaked.

“Well, yeah. You’ve got it opened up, so I just figured we were going to sit on it to watch TV, but it really is uncomfortable.” She stopped and chewed on her full bottom lip for a minute. “Maybe I can find an extra blanket or two to pad it with.” And before he could stop her and say maybe they should just skip the movie, she was on the move and out of sight.

“Damn it,” he mumbled. He had completely forgotten about the open bed. It was one thing to sit on the couch and watch a movie; it was another to be on the bed. Looking around, Quinn made a snap decision and quickly folded up the bed and put the sofa back together.

“Hey,” Anna said, confusion written all over her face, an extra blanket in her hands as she looked at the now-closed sofa. “Why’d you close it up? I just went to get stuff to make it more comfortable.”

Heat crept up his cheeks. “Oh, um…well, I don’t think there’s enough extra blankets to make this thing even remotely comfortable. At least this way we can sit with the cushions and have real padding.”

“Oh. Okay.” She looked at the sofa and then at the blanket in her hands. “I’ll just leave this out here for you to use later, I guess.”

“Yeah. Thanks.” Damn. When were things ever this awkward? Oh, that’s right. A lot. Especially lately.

They’d missed the first thirty minutes of the movie but it didn’t matter; they’d seen it several times already. Quinn did his best to focus on the film, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Anna slowly slouching down. Her legs—those gloriously bare, silky looking legs—were curled on the couch, her feet almost touching his thighs. He had to fight the urge to reach out and touch her.

“You don’t have to stay up, Anna,” he said softly.

With her head resting on the armrest, she kept her eyes on the TV. “It’s okay. I’m good.”

But Quinn knew her. Anna liked to have her head on a pillow. She was a bit fanatical about feeling comfortable, really. Reaching over to the chair beside him, he grabbed a throw pillow and put it on his lap before reaching for her hand.

“What? What’s the matter?” she asked, raising her head.

“Come on. I know you’re not comfortable.” With a little tug, he had her sitting up. Why he didn’t just give her the pillow, he couldn’t say for certain. It would have been easier—on him at least—if she kept her distance, but right now it was the last thing he wanted.

“It’s not a big deal,” she protested and then yawned. “I can just—”

He didn’t let her finish. He tugged again until she was leaning against him. “Just, you know, get comfortable. We’re missing the movie,” he added lamely.

Anna’s look was hesitant, but she finally shifted and lay down—stretching out beside him with her head on the pillow in his lap. One hand rested on his knee. It felt…right, Quinn thought. Forcing himself to go back to watching the movie, it wasn’t until sometime later that he realized Anna was asleep and he was gently playing with her hair.

“I’m totally losing it,” he muttered but didn’t pull his hand away. The movie was almost over, and once it ended, he’d wake her up. But for now he was going to enjoy how soft her hair was. She was growing it longer—something she hadn’t done in a long time. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it, but for right now he liked it.

Fifteen minutes later, the movie was over. It was after two in the morning, and he finally felt like he could sleep. His hand drifted from Anna’s hair to her shoulder. It felt small under his palm. He gave her a gentle shake. “Anna?” he whispered.

“Mmm,” she hummed.

“The movie’s over,” he said softly. “Come on. You need to go up to bed.”

She snuggled up closer, her hand on his knee gently squeezing. “Too comfortable.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle. It never occurred to him how by making her comfortable, he wouldn’t be able to wake her up. Shifting slightly, he maneuvered himself until he could stand up. Anna didn’t stir. The first order of business was to stretch. He had been sitting for so long he felt a little stiff and achy. Gazing down at Anna, Quinn forced himself to really look at her.

Her dark blond hair was getting longer and he realized now he preferred it short. The sun had given her skin a golden glow today, and she had a band of freckles across her nose. He knew her face as well as his own. He couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t been there with him, for him. Just the thought of her not being his friend caused a tightening in his chest he’d never felt. He’d never had to consider it before.

She was the one constant in his life. Sure, he had his brothers and Darcy, but it was different with Anna. They had simply clicked as kids, and she was the only person he felt truly comfortable around. She didn’t judge him—at least not that he was aware of. If she did, she kept it to herself.

Unlike his siblings.

In all honesty, she was his safe spot. His home.

And it killed him how even looking at her now had him thinking about sex rather than getting the comfort he normally did.

“Okay, that’s enough,” he mumbled and leaned forward to gently shake Anna again. She still didn’t stir, so Quinn cursed and then reached for her to pick her up.

Bad idea,
he immediately thought. Now he could feel the silky skin of her legs, and as the T-shirt rode up her body, he saw her plain white cotton panties. And damn if they didn’t look sexy as hell too. Images of Anna in her bikini immediately came to mind, and Quinn knew he was going to have to practically sprint to the bedroom and drop her on her bed and run if he was going to survive.

And that’s pretty much what he did. Walking quickly up the stairs to Anna’s bedroom, he simply deposited her on the bed and pulled the blankets over her before he walked from the room, quietly closing the door behind him.

And then breathed a sigh of relief.

It was going to be a long weekend.

* * *

Anna woke up slowly and for a moment forgot where she was or how she’d gotten there. The last thing she remembered was Quinn getting a pillow for her and then tugging her down beside him. They’d never done that before—the whole closeness on the couch thing. So many changes in the last twenty-four hours. It made her head hurt and made her want to pull the blankets over her head and go back to sleep.

The knock on her door was the only thing stopping her.

“Are you awake?” Zoe asked, peeking her head in the doorway.

“Barely.”

Stepping inside, Zoe closed the door behind her and sat down on the corner of the bed. “Well, you need to work on it because we have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it in.”

Anna looked at the clock and then back at Zoe. “You realize it’s only seven a.m., right?”

Zoe nodded. “Exactly. We should have been up an hour ago. We have the hair and makeup girls coming soon.” Then she paused and grinned broadly. “It’s my wedding day! Can you believe it?”

Forcing herself to sit up, Anna couldn’t help but smile back. “I can totally believe it. What I can’t believe is how bad you are at math.”

Zoe frowned at her.

“The girls aren’t coming until eleven. That’s four hours from now. We have plenty of time. What you need is to relax.”

“Oh, I’m relaxed. Completely and utterly relaxed,” she said, still grinning.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. You had sex this morning and you’re all glowy. Good for you,” Anna said as she slumped back against her pillows. “There’s no need to brag about it and make the rest of us jealous.”

“Rest of you?”

“Okay, fine. Me. No need to make
me
jealous. There. Happy?”

“You’re awful grumpy this morning. Didn’t you sleep well?”

Anna wanted to argue that she had slept fine—and it was probably because she had fallen asleep against Quinn—but she decided to keep quiet. “It’s seven in the morning, Zoe. No one’s cheery at this hour.”

“I am.”

“Yeah, well, it’s because you’re getting married today. You should be cheery.”

And then Zoe’s smile fell a little.

“What? What’s the matter?” Sitting back up, she reached up and placed a hand on Zoe’s arm.

“I just… I wish…”

“Your mom was here,” Anna finished for her, and Zoe nodded. “I know, sweetie. And I’m sorry. You know we’re all here and we’re all your family, but I know it’s not quite the same.”

“I know I’m so lucky,” Zoe began, “and so blessed to have gained such a big family between you and the Shaughnessys, but I can’t help but feel a little outnumbered here today.”

“You know she’s watching over you and smiling down on you today, right?”

Zoe nodded again. “I think she would have loved everyone. I know she would have loved Aidan.”