Jordan's Return (22 page)

Read on for a sneak peek of

Always My Girl

Book #3 in The Shaughnessy Brothers series!

For more Samantha Chase, visit:

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Twenty-four years ago…

Faster. I need to go faster.
The words were a simple chant in six-year-old Quinn Shaughnessy's mind. Whether it was running, swimming, or riding his bike, nothing felt good unless it was done really fast.

“Quinn Darragh Shaughnessy! You slow that bike down right this minute!” Lillian Shaughnessy watched with a hand over her heart as her young son raced down the block in front of their house. Why couldn't the boy simply do anything at a normal pace?

A minute later, Quinn skidded to a halt in front of his mother. He saw the look on her face and had the good sense to look ashamed. “Sorry, Mom,” he said quietly.

“What have I told you about riding so fast?” she prodded gently.

Quinn sighed. He hated when she made him repeat the rules to her. “It's not safe and you won't stand for it.”

“And?”

He looked up at her, his blue eyes wide and on the verge of filling with tears. This wasn't a new discussion, and he knew he had been warned that if she caught him riding recklessly again, he'd lose his biking privileges. “But…it wasn't that fast, Mom. Honest.”

Looking down at him, she smiled sadly. “You know the rules, Quinn. You were told to slow it down and you didn't. Now go and put your bike away.”

She was about to say more, he noticed, but her focus was on something behind him. Turning around, he saw some people walking toward them from the house next door. They had just moved in and he guessed they were coming over to say hello.

“Hi!” the woman of the family said as she approached Lillian with her hand held out. “I'm Mary Hannigan.” They shook hands and then Mary turned to introduce her children. “This is my son, Bobby, and my daughter, Anna.”

“It's a pleasure to meet you,” Lillian said and then introduced herself. “This is my son Quinn.”

“Is he your only one?” Mary asked.

“Oh, heavens no. I have a ten-year-old son, Aidan, and an eight-year-old, Hugh. Quinn here is six, and then I have four-year-old twin boys—Riley and Owen.”

“My! That's quite impressive!” Mary said. “Bobby is eight and Anna is six.” She smiled at Quinn. “She's the same age as you!”

Quinn had no idea what the lady was smiling about. What difference did it make that some girl was his age? He looked over at Anna and saw she was staring at him with as much disinterest as he was showing her. Whatever. There was no way he was going to play with a girl anyway. Maybe Bobby would want to play.

“Why don't you come inside?” Lillian asked. “I'll introduce Bobby to the older boys. The twins are napping, but they're going to be up soon and I need to get back inside.” She started to take a step away before turning back to her young son. “Why don't you put your bike away, Quinn, and show Anna the jungle gym? I bet she'd like to see it.”

And with that, he was stuck alone with Anna. She wasn't really dressed like a girly-girl. Her blond hair was in pigtails and she wore a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Most girls he knew wore dresses and bows in their hair. What was wrong with her? Without a word, he pushed his bike along the driveway and walked toward the house.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

He sighed loudly. “Didn't you hear my mom? I have to put my bike away.”

“Oh,” she said. “Where's the jungle gym?”

“In the backyard, dummy. Where else?” Girls were dumb. No boy would ever ask such a stupid question.

“Why can't we ride our bikes? My bike is over in our garage. I saw you riding yours up and down the street. You were going really fast.”

Quinn stopped in his tracks. “That's why I can't ride my bike. My mom got mad because she says I was riding too fast. But I wasn't.”

“Yes you were,” Anna corrected. “Really, really fast.”

Yeah, girls were dumb. “Look, do you want to see the jungle gym or not?” he snapped.

“I guess.” She quietly followed him up the driveway and watched as he put the bike away in the garage and then as he dragged his feet on the way out. “Are you sad 'cause you can't ride your bike anymore?”

“Well…yeah,” he said sarcastically. “What's the point in riding a bike if you can't go fast? Now I'm in trouble and I can't ride my bike and my mom will probably stay mad and not let me have any of the cookies she baked today. That's gonna be my punishment.”

“What kind of cookies?” Anna asked, her head tilting slightly as she studied him.

“Oatmeal raisin. They're my favorite.”

“Oh. We made chocolate chip cookies today. We were going to bring some over but my mom said she wanted to bake a cake for you guys instead.”

Quinn's head popped up. “Chocolate chip is my second favorite cookie.”

A small smile played across Anna's lips. She looked around as if making sure they were alone before stepping in close and whispering, “We could sneak over to my house and you can have some. You know, since you're going to be punished and not get to have any from your mom.”

Maybe girls weren't so dumb. “Really? Won't your mom get mad you went home without her?”

Anna shook her head. “It's only right next door, and we'll be superfast. She won't even know I'm gone. If you want, we can even grab some juice boxes. Then we'll eat out on the jungle gym, okay?”

“But…” Why was he arguing this? Free cookies! “Won't she notice some cookies are missing?”

“Nah, she made, like, a hundred of them. We'll just take a couple each.”

For a moment, Quinn wasn't so sure it was a good idea. His mom was already mad at him for racing his bike up and down the street. She'd probably be even madder if she caught him sneaking a snack when he wasn't supposed to.

“C'mon,” Anna said excitedly. “I'll race you!”

And in that moment, Quinn Shaughnessy decided girls weren't dumb at all. Especially Anna Hannigan.

One look at the massive beach house had Quinn Shaughnessy shaking his head. Why this wedding couldn't just be a normal event—at a hotel—he couldn't understand. It would be easier. It would be more practical.

And it would mean there was a bar on the premises for him to go to and get away from his family for a little while and maybe pick up an attractive woman.

Not that he didn't love his family—he did. But three days with everyone back under one roof was a little more togetherness than he was in the mood for. No matter what the occasion.

Ever since moving out of the family home at eighteen and going to college, Quinn had never looked back. There were the occasional trips home for school breaks, when he was forced to go home and share a room with one of his brothers, but for the most part, he found excuses to stay other places. He enjoyed his space, his freedom, and he'd never felt the need to make excuses about it.

Being one of six kids in a four-bedroom house growing up had been less than a dream. When he went to college—even though he shared a room there with one other guy—living in the dorm felt different. No one was looking over his shoulder or trying to get him into trouble or trying to tell him what to do.

It was like nirvana.

After graduation, he'd lived on his own while on the race-car circuit. When his career came to an end—sooner than he'd anticipated—Quinn still managed to land on his feet. And with a place of his own…rather than having to move back home.

The large house loomed in front of him.

Aidan and Zoe were getting married this weekend, and because Zoe didn't have any family left and Aidan was a private kind of guy, they'd opted for a small, intimate wedding. On the beach. With only the family and a few friends in attendance.

All under one roof.

He cursed under his breath and sighed. It was only one weekend. It was the chant he kept repeating in his brain as he climbed from the car and stretched. Why they had to choose a beach four hours from home when they lived at the beach in North Carolina was beyond him. And to make it worse, they'd chosen a location that wasn't all that far from Hugh's Hilton Head Island resort! They could all have their own rooms at a luxury resort right now, having drinks served to them by the pool instead of…this.

“Clearly, being in love makes you an idiot,” he muttered and opened the trunk to grab his luggage.

“You've been here less than five minutes and you're already calling people idiots?” a voice said from behind him. Turning, he saw his brother—the groom—walking toward him with a big, sappy grin on his face.

Quinn straightened. “Not people, just you,” he teased.

“Aww…you say the sweetest things,” Aidan teased right back before grabbing Quinn in a bear hug. “Glad you made it.”

“Like I had a choice.”

Aidan sighed good-naturedly. “This makes Zoe happy. So I'm happy.”

“You could have picked a place closer to home. Or Hugh's place.”

Aidan shook his head. “The resort was beautiful and everything would have been taken care of, but Zoe and I aren't like that. We wanted a place where—”

“You can be in control?” Quinn interjected with a laugh.

Aidan couldn't help but laugh with him. “Something like that. Either way, the house is great—six bedrooms—and we snagged the place next door for the rest of the guests.”

“How many people are coming? I thought it was just us.”

“No, we couldn't do that. We do have friends we wanted to have here, you know. Some of them had to travel a lot farther than you, so we wanted to have them close by and give them a place to stay.”

“Makes sense. So who's on the guest list? Any single friends of Zoe's?” he asked with a lecherous eyebrow waggle.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” Aidan chided. “Three of her friends from Arizona are flying in for the weekend. They'll get one of the bedrooms next door. Then Aunt Rose and Uncle Ryan will have one, Uncle John and Aunt JoAnn will have one, the Hannigans will be over there, and Bobby snagged the last bedroom. It's a kiddie space and we've all gotten a good laugh at that one. Can't wait for him to get here and see his reaction.”

“Man, that's going to be good,” Quinn laughed. “So everyone else is over here? In this house?”

“Yup. It will be like old times.”

Quinn groaned. “Oh…good.”

“What? What's wrong with that?”

“I'm sure it's not a big deal for you—you get to share a room with Zoe. But I'm going to have to share a room with Riley and Owen. It's like I'm twelve again.”

“Actually, you're sharing a room with Dad.”

His eyes went wide. “Why?”

“Riley's people didn't want him traveling alone—he's made the news lately with his plans to take an extended break from singing and the press is hounding him. They're sending a bodyguard with him.”

“So the bodyguard gets my space in the room?”

Aidan nodded. “So you'll be spooning with Dad.”

Quinn groaned even louder. “Oh man, come on! Why me?”

“Because you've always bitched about sharing a room with the twins. Your entire life! So I figured you and Dad would be a better fit. It's only for a couple of nights. You can handle it.”

“Dad snores.”

“Trust me, bro, so do you. It's like a match made in heaven.”

Turning, Quinn picked up his suitcase and slammed the trunk shut. “Screw you. This sucks. Please tell me there's at least some beer in the fridge.”

Aidan nodded. “Go around back. Zoe's out by the pool, and she'll give you the grand tour and show you your room—and where the beer is.”

“Where are you going?”

“I'm picking up Riley, Owen, and the bodyguard from the airport. They're landing at one of the smaller ones to try and avoid some of the drama and bypass the press.”

“Well, just give me a few and I'll go with you.”

Aidan shook his head. “It's going to be tight in my car as it is and I have no idea what kind of luggage any of them are bringing. You hang out here and get settled in. Hugh and Aubrey should be arriving in about an hour, and Dad and Darcy shouldn't be too far behind.”

“Fine,” Quinn grumbled. “I'll stay and be the welcoming committee. Thanks.”

“It's that sparkling personality of yours that helped me make the decision.” He gave Quinn a friendly pat on the back. “Keep on smiling, sunshine.”

Quinn cursed a little more colorfully this time and gave his brother the one-finger salute before turning and heading for the house.

“If this whole situation didn't suck before, it certainly does now.” He made his way toward the gate at the side of the house. Aidan said he'd find Zoe back there. Maybe he could convince her to give him a sofa to sleep on rather than sharing a room with his dad.

That held little to no appeal.

Okay, fine, he'd share the room with his father and smile when he was supposed to and be nice to people. It was only three days and there were going to be three single, out-of-town girls here for him to entertain.

Maybe it wasn't going to be such a bad weekend after all.

* * *

“This is how life was meant to be lived.”

“You got that right.”

“Why don't we live this way?”

“Because we're poor and have to work.”

“Oh yeah. I temporarily forgot about that. Thanks for the reality check.” Anna Hannigan stretched out on her belly on the chaise lounge by the pool and sighed with happiness. Her best friend was getting married, she had the weekend off, and the sun was shining. Life didn't get much better than this.

“It's what I do,” Zoe said from her chaise beside her. “Although, all this sun is going to give me a very freckly look soon.”

Anna raised her head and looked at her friend. “You've got on a hat with a brim as wide as a UFO, and we've coated you with enough SPF one million to keep you safe. And, might I add, you're practically in the shade thanks to that giant umbrella.”

Zoe sighed. “You have no idea what it's like to be a fair-skinned redhead. I just want to look perfect for tomorrow.”

“Zoe, you could be freckly, blotchy, and have no makeup on, and you'd still be stunning.”

“Ha! Clearly you have not seen that look on me before. Trust me. It's not pretty. And honestly, neither has Aidan. I'm saving it until after the wedding, when it's too late for him to turn tail and run.”

“Good plan.” They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes. “I love this.”

“The beach?”

“The peace. It's so quiet and relaxing. I just feel all of the tension of the workweek rolling away.”

“I thought things would be a little less intense for you since quitting the pub. Real estate isn't quite the same frantic pace.”

“No, but it's a different kind of tension. It's all on me now, you know? Before, I collected a paycheck whether the pub was busy or dead. Now, I have to earn a commission and that means getting sales. I'm still settling in to the whole thing.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling. Working essentially for yourself is never easy. But you had saved up enough to carry you through all this in the beginning, right? We went over your budget.”

“I know and I appreciate you helping me with it.” She paused and then looked at Zoe. “Can you keep a secret?”

Zoe nodded.

“Part of me really misses the pub. Maybe…maybe I made a mistake.”

“Why would you say that? You just got started. It could just be nerves.”

Anna shook her head. “No, it's more than that. You see…I didn't really make the career change for the right reasons.”

“Uh-oh…”

“Yeah,” Anna sighed. “I…I wasn't getting anywhere. I was meeting the same people and doing the same thing day in and day out. I want what you and Aidan have—to be in a relationship, to be in love, to know that the rest of my life is just getting started and there's a future to it that includes a husband and kids and a happily ever after.”

Zoe was quiet for a moment. “Why didn't you tell me any of this before? And you think leaving the pub and going into real estate is going to help you achieve that dream?”

“I don't know.” Anna shrugged. “But at least I'm getting out and meeting new people. Everyone who came into the pub has pretty much known me my entire life. I was never going to find my future husband there.”

“Maybe you already know him and you just haven't realized it yet.”

Anna made a face. “Please. I think I would know by now. It's the same old crowd in there, and they all still look at me like I'm the tomboy they knew in high school. They come in and talk sports with me and want to relive a little of their glory days. It's kind of sad.”

“Quinn doesn't do that.”

“Yeah, well…maybe not to all of it. Quinn likes to talk about himself, mostly. But at the end of the day, he still sees me as Anna, the girl he grew up with and played baseball with and who kicks his ass at basketball. I'm one of the guys to him.”

“Maybe because it's all you let him see.”

Anna put her head back down and sighed. “There isn't much more to see. This is who I am.”

Zoe started to say something but cut herself off. “I'm going to get something to drink. You want something?”

“Some water would be great.”

Standing, Zoe took her oversized hat off and placed it on the back of Anna's head. “Watch this for me, will you?”

Anna laughed. “Sure. Whatever.” She wasn't sure why Zoe tossed the hat on her, but it didn't matter—she was too relaxed. Wiggling slightly, she got more comfortable and sighed. This was good.

“Hey, you made it,” Zoe said quietly to Quinn as she approached him. “I didn't expect you here so early. I figured we'd have to send out the search party to get you.”

“Yeah, well…I decided to skip work today and head down here and see if you needed help with anything.” He looked past Zoe's shoulder and spotted someone lying on one of the chaises.

Zoe followed his gaze. “Well, why don't you come inside? I was just about to grab a couple of bottles of water and then I can show you your room.”

Quinn shrugged. “Sure, yeah. Um…is that one of your friends from Arizona? Aidan didn't mention anyone being here yet.” He took a couple of steps past Zoe, a grin slowly appearing on his face as he appreciated the curvy, half-naked woman on the chaise. She was wearing a tiny blue bikini and was all tanned limbs.

“Uh…Quinn?” Zoe began.

“You go and grab the drinks. I'll go and introduce myself.” He continued to walk.

Rather than do as he suggested, Zoe followed slowly behind him, anxious to watch what was about to unfold.

Quinn sat down on the chaise Zoe had vacated and cleared his throat. “Hey,” he said smoothly. “I'm Quinn, Aidan's brother. Zoe's going inside to grab some drinks and I thought I'd come over and—”

Anna turned over, the large, floppy hat falling behind her.

Quinn quickly stood and stumbled and fell backward over Zoe's chaise. “Holy shit!
Anna?
” He slowly came to his feet. “What the hell?”

She shaded her eyes and gave him a sour look before looking over at Zoe. When Zoe started to come forward, Anna held up a hand to stop her. “I got this.” Once her friend was gone, she returned her focus to Quinn. “Is there a problem?”

Quinn helplessly looked around and grabbed the towel from Zoe's chaise and threw it at Anna. “For crying out loud, what are you doing?”

“Um…sunbathing? Lying out? Getting a tan? Really, take your pick.”

He straightened the chaise and sat down, but his eyes stayed focused on the ground. “Well, maybe you've had enough sun for today and should…you know…put some clothes on.”

A small laugh escaped before she could help it. It would seem she had finally managed to get Quinn Shaughnessy to notice she was a girl. Well…a woman. Great. It only took her being practically naked for it to happen.