Worth It (7 page)

“Yes, I do, Donnie. Although, I’m afraid I’m out of the loop for the most part.”

“Anna, you only live two towns over, twenty minutes away. You can’t tell me the gossip doesn’t cross over.”

“It might, but I don’t pay attention. I’m too busy working and trying to do well in school.”

“What’s your GPA now?”

“I think it’s around three point six now, but it was three point eight. I hope I do better this year to bring it back up.”

Living with Sam was obviously a colossal mistake, and the stress fucked me up enough to affect my grades.

“I do need to head to work though. I just wanted to get the oil changed since you’ve been hounding me about it. It’s also been making a clunking sound in the front end. I was hoping you could take a peek.”

“You work too much for a young woman. You need to get out and live a little.” He smiles. “Yes, of course, I’ll take a look for you.”

I roll my eyes and ignore his comment. “Wonderful. Thanks so much. It was great talking to you again.”

“I always enjoy talking to you as well. Can I give you a ride over?”

“No, don’t worry about it. Work is only a block away. I figured you could bring me my keys when you come in for your Friday usual?”

He smiles brightly. “Of course, Anna. That sounds perfect.”

“All right, Donnie, I’ll see you in a few hours,” I reply, turning for the door.

His voice stops me before I reach it, and I turn back at him expectantly.

“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I’m bringing someone in for you to meet tonight.” His eyes sparkle.

A grin stretches wide across my face. “Sounds great. I’ll see you in a bit.” I chuckle as I head out to work.

His friends always crack me up. One friend was this crazy guy he had met and driven cross-country with, one guy was a fellow Vietnam vet, one guy he had gone sky diving with, and so on, but the one thing they have in common is they are all funny. A little crazy, but they’re always funny. I’m sure whoever he intends to introduce me to tonight will be…memorable.

“Look, I’m sorry. I’m just not interested in taking you out again,” I say into my cell phone as I steer my truck into my uncle’s shop parking lot.

“Well, if Friday doesn’t work for you, I could probably do Saturday.”

I swear to Christ this woman doesn’t understand English. “I don’t want to see you again
at all
. I’m not trying to be a dick, but we went out once, and it just didn’t work for me.”

There’s silence on the other end of the phone before she says, “Wait—are you trying to say you don’t want to see me again?”

I put the truck in park and shut off the ignition. “Yes.”

“You’re such an asshole,” she says. Then, she hangs up on me.

I roll my eyes.
Right, I’m the asshole.
I shrug, glad to be done with that shit.

I don’t understand why this is so damn hard. All I want to do is get out of the dating scene. It should be simple. I’m twenty-five with a good job, and I thought now was a good time to move on to the next step. I just want to settle down, have a woman in my bed at the end of the day, but I’m about to say,
Fuck this shit
. I swear to Christ, there hasn’t been one girl who even comes close. Most are either full of themselves, or like the chick I just finished talking to, they’re airheads. A few have been nice enough, but there just wasn’t any connection. I can’t say exactly what I’m looking for, but whatever it is, I ain’t finding it.

Sighing in frustration, I jump out and slam the door shut. Eyes down, I start to trudge toward the shop. When I glance up, I stop.
Who the hell is she?
I can’t see her face because it’s blocked by her long brown hair. She’s tiny, and even under her leather coat, I can see that her boobs are nuclear.

She’s a few yards away, but when she glances around before walking down the street, my dick jerks.

Fuck, she’s beautiful.

I narrow in on her ass as she moves away before she finally leaves my sight to enter the pizza shop a block away. I kinda want to go into the shop and see if I can find out who she is, but I shake my head to clear the thought.

Right, that wouldn’t be creepy or anything.

I feel like a fucking weirdo right now, but she’s so fucking hot. This town is small, so it’s strange that I don’t know who she is. I bet my uncle will know, so I shake off the stalker vibe and stride into his shop.

“Hey, Jed,” Donnie calls out when I enter.

“Who was the girl that just left?”

He grins. “You saw little Anna leave, did you?”

“Anna?”

“Yeah, little Anna down at the pizza shop,” he says.

“She works there?” Why haven’t I seen her there before?”

He smirks. “Actually, since I knew you were coming in, I was going to have you come down there with me tonight, so I could introduce the two of you.”

“Introduce us?”

“Yeah. You said you wanted out of the dating scene, and she’s a real sweetheart, so I thought I could introduce the two of you.” He shrugs.

My uncle is the shit, so his seal of approval makes me even more curious. “Okay, let’s go.” Turning for the door, I hear him start laughing. When I turn back around, I ask, “What?”

When he finally calms down enough to speak, he says, “Jed, relax, she’s working all night. I need to give her car an oil change and check it out. Then, I’m going over afterward to give her back her keys and grab dinner for your aunt and me. You can come with me. I’ll have Joe change your oil while John does Anna’s, all right?”

I’m a simple man—cue Lynyrd Skynyrd music. Have a problem? I look for a solution. Something is broken? I fix it. See a hot girl? Close the deal.

But I guess I’m jumping the gun, so I nod and say, “All right.”

He smirks. “Come on, boy. Let’s go take a look at those cars.”

“It’s going to need new wheel bearings, Don,” John tells my uncle from beside Anna’s dismantled tire wheel. “We’re going to need to keep it another day.”

By the look on my uncle’s face, he’s not happy. “She’s going to need that car to get around, but I can let her borrow my car to get home tonight and to come back to work in the morning.” He turns to me and asks, “Jed, can you drop me off at home after we stop by Village Pizza?”

“Yeah, sure, no problem,” I say.

I take note of the fact that she works a lot. I wouldn’t say I’m a regular, but I’ve been to Village Pizza enough times, so I still can’t believe I’ve never seen her there before.

“All right, let’s head over and deliver the news,” my uncle mutters.

I grin.
Nice
.
Flash this chick a smile, introduce myself, and I’ll have her number pocketed before I leave.
“Good. Let’s go.”

He smirks and rolls his eyes, but he says nothing as we make our way out the door.

Fuck, it’s cold.
I tuck my hands into my coat pockets. “So, tell me more about Anna.”

“Well,” he begins, “she can be pretty shy, and it took her a while to open up and give me more than simple answers. She’s sweet and very driven. She works a lot, and she’ll graduate in the spring.”

I nod. “How do you know her?”

He sighs as we approach the door, but he stops just outside of it. “She moved to Shirley from Groton with her boyfriend and started working here.” He gestures toward the door with his thumb, and then he laughs, looking as though he’s remembering something funny. “She’s also a horrible driver, so she’s at the shop a lot, too.”

“Why are you introducing me to her if she already has a boyfriend?” I snap, startling us both with the heat behind my words. I don’t even know this chick, but I’m already territorial.
What the fuck is my problem?

His eyes widen. “They broke up five or six months ago.”

I relax, but the shift in my mood confuses the fuck out of me. “Oh,” is all I can respond with.

He just raises an eyebrow before he pushes through the door.

As we enter, my eyes find her immediately. I take advantage of the opportunity to get a good look at her. She has the wall phone tucked between her shoulder and her ear, but her fingers are typing furiously against her cell phone, presumably sending a text. I take special note of the smooth curve of her throat, and fantasies form that include her neck and my kisses. She pockets her cell and hangs up the receiver before the pen in her hand flies across the order pad. She tears off the order slip and hangs it up.

She catches our movement toward the counter, and when she sees Uncle Donnie, she spreads her plump pink lips, revealing her smile.

Jesus fucking Christ!

The way her smile lights up her already beautiful face is
awesome
. Her legs are long even though she’s short, her hips are curvy, and her waist is small. Finally, my eyes land on the things that first caught my attention—her tits. As an unabashed boob guy, I’m pumped because hers are rounded perfection. Her straight leg jeans and fitted blue T-shirt are not meant to turn heads, but my mouth waters.

“Hey, Donnie. How are you?”

“Wonderful, Anna. This is my nephew, Jed, the guy I wanted to introduce you to,” he says, gesturing toward me.

When her big blues shift in my direction, I grin when her jaw drops slightly, and her eyes widen.

I know that look.
I’m definitely getting her number before the night is over.

“Nice to meet you, Anna.” I thrust out my hand to introduce myself.

She doesn’t do or say anything, and my smile starts to fade.

Was I wrong?

She snaps out of it and smiles back as she clasps her tiny palm with mine. “Nice to meet you, too, Jed.”

I let go of her hand and tuck mine into my pocket. This is the part where the flirting starts. I’ll smile that smile that gets the ladies every time. She’ll smile back coyly and bat her eyelashes. Then, I’ll ask for her number, so I can take her out.

But when I flash the smile, the rest doesn’t happen.
Huh. That’s a first.

She actually looks a little uncomfortable when she says, “Um…uh, the usual, Donnie?”

I look at my uncle, who looks just as confused as I feel.

“Sure, Anna, that would be great, but I needed to tell you that your wheel bearings must be replaced, and your car won’t be ready until tomorrow. I know you need to get to and from work tonight and tomorrow, so you can just borrow my car, okay?”

Her eyes widen in surprise, but then her face softens. I smile, watching the emotions move across her face. It’s cute.

“Are you sure? I might be able to…” She trails off, and then she bites her bottom lip.

It makes my dick twitch.
Shit, down boy.

“Anna, really, it’s no problem. I’ll stop by tomorrow when you’re at work and bring by your keys, so we can switch cars.”

She continues to worry her bottom lip, and my fingers twitch with the urge to pry the plumpness from her teeth, so I can replace it with my tongue.

What the hell is wrong with me? I don’t even know her.

“All right, if you’re sure you don’t mind,” she says.

Donnie smiles and says, “I’m sure, sweetheart.”

Her sexy lips curl up. “Okay.” Turning to me, she asks nervously, “Can I get you anything?”

You.
“Sure, I’ll have a large steak and cheese.”

She smiles, but it’s strained. My lips tip down when she walks away without another word.

What the hell am I doing wrong?

“She doesn’t seem interested,” I whisper to Donnie when she’s out of earshot.

“I told you she was shy. I think you made her nervous with your staring.”

I grimace.

“What? You were,” he says.

My frown deepens, but he’s probably right. I did stare her, but it’s not like I had a chance to say anything.

He pats my shoulder. “Relax. She didn’t seem to think you were bad to look at either.”

I give him a half smile and relax a little.
Maybe we’re doing the cat-and-mouse thing? Maybe she wants the chase?
I smile inwardly.
I can do that.

Donnie’s ancient brick cell rings, interrupting my thoughts. He looks at the display, smiles, and then answers the call. “Hi, Rosey.”