“Maybe so, but they didn’t get those children from under a rock.”
Anna still hesitated. It was more than professional concern. In the end however, she caved, needing someone as a sounding board. She could hardly confide to her mother since Lillian would be thrilled and would probably start voicing hopes for a wedding and grandchildren. “I wish I could tell you that I’m having a hot summer fling with Quinn Lancaster.”
“You’re not?”
“Well, actually.”
“I knew it.” Rachel slapped the steering wheel before she turned the car toward Naples. Anna studied her, please to see color had come back onto her friend’s cheeks. “I knew the two of you had the hots for each other. So tell me everything, especially if he’s every bit as good as I’ve fantasized.”
Anna felt her lips curved. “What if I told you he’s better?”
“You go girl.”
“That’s just it, he’ll be the one leaving.”
Rachel was silent a long moment before she softly said, “So, this is more than a hot summer fling for you.”
Tears suddenly pooled in Anna’s eyes. “My whole life I suffered whenever I was the one who moved away, the one who was always the new kid at school. I could just never seem to get the hang of easing into the new place. So, when this thing with Quinn surprised me, I thought, okay, this time I’ll be the one who stays behind. Only, I seriously underestimated how difficult that’s going to be, being alone and wondering about all the what-ifs.”
“It’s that whole grass-is-greener concept again.”
Remembering Rachel’s words from the last-day-of-school party, Anna eyed her friend. “Is everything okay with you? First you have me on this mysterious trip, and then I hear those two sisters talking about Charlie running for office. What’s going on?”
“Like I said, there’s been no formal announcement. But, yes, Charlie’s decided to run for office.” Rachel smiled as she turned toward a parking lot. A hospital parking lot, Anna realized, and felt a tremor of alarm. “But those two sisters don’t know everything as it turns out.” She parked in a spot, cut the engine and turned to Anna. “Charlie’s waiting to make the official announcement until I’m a little further along.”
“Further . . . oh.” Warmth flooded Anna. “Oh, Rachel, you’re pregnant.”
“I am.” Rachel laughed and patted her belly.
Anna undid her seat belt and reached for her friend’s hand. “You’re okay? There’s nothing wrong?” She squeezed. “That’s not why we’re here is it?”
“I’m fine. Just a little morning sickness.” She gestured to the canned drink. “I’m practically living on carbonation and saltines, but it’s a small price to pay.” Despite the pale features and tears glistening in her eyes, Rachel’s smile bloomed bright and happy.
“I thought.” Anna wasn’t sure how to continue. She’d never been in the position of knowing someone long and well enough to share intimate, personal details.
“Charlie and I have been trying for years to have a baby,” Rachel said, obviously understanding where Anna had been headed. “When it kept not happening, we were each guilty of pulling away so we didn’t say something we might regret, something that we truly didn’t mean, but would say out of frustration.”
“So, he’s happy?”
“We’re both thrilled. Charlie wanted to change his plans and not run for office, but I told him he had to. How could I ask him to give up something he’s wanted his whole life when I’d just been given what I’ve wanted?”
Anna shifted in her seat, uncomfortable with how closely her friend’s comment tracked along the same line as her thoughts about Quinn.
“If everything’s as good as you say, why are we here?” She gestured toward the hospital.
“Because I understand more than ever when things don’t seem to be going your way, you should never give up.”
Anna’s brows furrowed. “I don’t understand what that has to do with us being here.”
“There are kids here that are long-term patients. Of course, they’re dependent on the medical staff, but they need teachers also, teachers who can be flexible about schedules and lessons when the students aren’t feeling strong. There’s a ground floor program that funds teachers to come here and teach.”
“How have I not heard about this program?”
“Please. You know how stretched the state budget is when it comes to education. This one depends mostly on donations and grants. By filling out a damn mountain of paperwork I was able to get permission to funnel a portion of the money we raised at the carnival to this budget.” Rachel opened her car door and got out, waited for Anna to do the same. “Let me show you what can be accomplished.”
Anna sprang up in bed, roused from a fitful sleep by a strange sound. Her heart thumping, she glanced around the room. Thanks to the night light she’d never outgrown, she saw only shadow. What had she been thinking renting an apartment on the ground floor? She jumped a little when she heard the sound again, and then let out a breath when she identified it as her cell phone alerting her to having received a text message.
Sudden nerves had her fumbling to unlock and press the correct icon so she could read the text.
Open the door.
As she stared at the message, she received another.
I missed you Anna.
“Quinn.” She tossed back the covers and ran down the short hall. Her hands trembled as she fought the locks, as she gripped the knob and turned. She wasn’t sure if the door opened more from her pulling or from Quinn pushing at it. All she knew was the thrill of seeing him stepping over her doorstep, feeling his arms wrap around her, loving the way his mouth claimed hers.
He pivoted, and closed the door by pressing her between it and his body. While his mouth continued to take, to urge her to do the same, his arms held her close. Her hands centered at the small of his back and brought him yet closer. Both, it seemed, couldn’t stand the thought of a breath between them.
She wanted to believe it was heat and passion, but, she knew better. He held her close, and her legs trembled with delight at his unexpected hello.
“Anna.” His hands rose to sweep back her hair, to cup and caress her face. All the while he continued to kiss her over and over. Finally he broke his mouth from hers, nestled her close and just held on. “I’m sorry I came by like this, but, I needed to see you, to hold you.”
Anna lifted her face to stare at him. For an instant, she felt the temptation to shove him aside, to demand he leave. Quinn staying would mean him burrowing further into her life, and into her heart. It was going to make saying goodbye so very hard.
Only, she freed a hand and caressed his cheek. It was going to be hard no matter how much, or little time they spent together. She’d face the future when she had no choice. When she was alone. For now, she’d take him for however long they had.
“You look tired,” she whispered.
He shifted just enough that he could nip at her palm. She felt the heat streak down her middle to the core of her. “It was a long bus ride.”
“Come to bed.” He closed his eyes on a sigh and leaned his forehead against hers. In the shadows she could see the dark smudges of fatigue under his eyes. “To sleep, Quinn.” She smiled a little when he blinked open his eyes. “For now.”
Arms around waists, they moved to the bedroom. With no seduction in mind, well in mind certainly but accepting it wasn’t what he needed now, Anna stripped Quinn free of his clothes. With a low hum, she kissed him before nudging him onto the bed. Crawling in beside him, she felt her throat close at the way he gathered her close and held her tight.
“Worth that long ride,” he murmured in a nearly-asleep voice. He kissed the top of her head, and less than ten seconds later she heard his soft snore.
Anna lay awake a long time, committing every sound, every inch of his body pressed to hers, to memory. Because all too soon it would be all she’d have.
Chapter 6
Quinn woke slow
ly and more at ease than he’d felt in days. As a teenager, baseball had filled so much of his life that he’d never been one of those guys who bounced from bed to bed. It was an attitude he’d carried into adulthood without much examination. Even when there had been plenty of opportunities to do otherwise.
He might have felt guilty for having come here so late last night, until he recalled how good Anna had felt in his arms. Exactly where she remained right now. He suddenly saw the appeal of Anna’s summer idea of sleeping in late.
It wasn’t simply his ego that knew she’d been glad to see him. He’d spotted her warm smile of welcome the instant before he caught it with his mouth, tasted the same need and desire that had dogged him during the last hours of the unending bus ride and drive to her apartment.
He’d spent a good chunk of the past three days and nights thinking about Anna. He wasn’t sure what it was about her that he found so irresistible. His mouth curved as he brushed it over her temple. There was the obvious physical attraction of course. He envied her close relationship with her mother, enjoyed her sense of humor, and liked the way she responded to children. She’d be a good mother.
Quinn didn’t jerk out of her arms, but it was close as he put the skids on that thought. Where the hell had it come from in the first place? He had no intention of getting married anytime soon. If at all. And Anna had made it more than clear that she understood and accepted he would be leaving.
In fact, that time was fast approaching. While the bus ride last night had been miserably long at least Coach Stenning, the pitching coach, had told him to expect to do some tossing from the mound this week. He looked forward to pitching to a batter rather than simply lobbing to the catcher. He was another two weeks away from being in an actual game. Though that would be limited innings for the first few games, he was one step closer to getting back to pitching at the major league level.
He considered sharing the news with Anna, but decided he didn’t want anything to ruin the mood of the last days they’d have together. Instead, he’d enjoy every possible minute. With that in mind, he slipped a hand beneath her nightshirt, found the warm silk of her skin.
“Hmmm.” She snuggled closer even as she opened her eyes and smiled at him. Her hands slid up his chest and linked behind his head. “Good morning.”
“Good morning.” He kissed her. “I’m glad you’re not mad at me for waking you last night.”
“Kiss me again, and I’ll be more than glad.”
He needed no other incentive.
“This is such a lovely treat.”
Anna smiled at her mother, snug in the plush robe of the Eucalyptus spa portion of the Casa Blanca Resort and Spa. Mother and daughter were currently in the middle of being pampered with a mani/ped. They’d already been treated to a massage, and a delicious lunch, including mimosas, at the posh restaurant Junonia. She and Quinn had reservations there later tonight. And while she wanted to look good for her date, today’s luxuries were a gift from Anna to her mother.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”
“How could I not?” Lillian beamed at the woman putting a vivid shade of red polish on her nails. “I have the best daughter in the world.”
The young woman smiled back at Lillian. “I’d say she’s the lucky one.”
“I am,” Anna assured them both.
“Well, I don’t know what I did to deserve all this attention and praise, but I’m not going to complain.”
With a contented sigh, Anna leaned her head back and let her eyes drift shut.
“I should probably feel guilty about you spending all this money,” Lillian said. “You should be saving it for when you find a house you want to buy.”
“I wanted to treat you. Myself also,” Anna said. “And since I’m not having much luck finding a house, I’ve got little else to spend my money on.”
“I don’t understand why you’re having so much trouble finding something. You saw several that you liked while you helped me pick out my cottage.”
Anna didn’t understand why her heart suddenly drummed at a fierce rate. “That seems to be my problem. I see something about one house I like, then something else I like in another house. I can’t find everything all in one house.”
“Oh, Anna,” her mother said. “There’s your problem.” Lillian looked at Anna. “You’ll never find the perfect house. Even when you think you have, after you move in you’ll find something you want to change or realize it isn’t what you thought it would be.” She sighed. “You always tend to see things as black and white, with little to no gray area.”
“I do not.”
“Yes, darling, you do. It’s one reason why you fought with and about your father so much.” Anna could only stare at her mother. “On the one hand, you wanted to be proud of him and his service, but you were always so angry when he was deployed.”
“I was angry when we had to move so much. I hardly had a chance to have friends.”
“No friends?” Lillian asked, her mouth curving in a soft smile. “Then why did I so often feed a bunch of kids and later teenagers, or have any number of them staying over on any given night? Why did I feel as if I practically lived in the car as I drove you and Andrew to one school event, game, friend’s house, or social occasion after another?”
“You’re thinking of Andrew, he was always more popular than me.”
“Anna, you’re got a very selective memory. I’m not saying that the constant moves were easy on you. It always took you a longer time to become acclimated, but you had your share of friends.”
“Maybe, but by the time I did we were usually moving again.”
“Black and white.” Lillian nodded. “You’re forgetting about the years we were stationed in Japan. What was that, three or four years?”
“Four,” Anna acknowledged.
“Then there were the three years we spent at the base in Colorado.”
“Daddy was in Iraq for almost two years before that.”
“Yes, and in between there were shorter assignments, times when we got to all be together.” Lillian sighed as she stared off into the distance and Anna knew her mother still grieved for the loss of her husband. “We had some good times, didn’t we?”
“We did.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “I think that’s why it was so hard to say goodbye all the time. And not just to friends. I wanted Daddy to be with us.”
“Again, you’re only seeing black and white, not the gray. Plenty of families in the corporate environment move from city to city. Like them, you had some wonderful experiences, saw some interesting places, and met a variety of people. With all of the social media outlets that are out there, are you saying you don’t keep in touch with some of those friends?”
“I do.”
“I missed your father, just as he missed us, during those separations. But you’re forgetting about the good memories we made during those times we were all together. None of us took a moment for granted. There’s a lot to be said for that,” she added in a whisper.
“Isn’t that what made the absences so hard? Knowing we’d have so much more if we spent more time together?”
“Would we? Or would we have taken each other for granted and not made the effort to give each other the best we could?” Lillian turned her steady gaze to Anna.
“That’s what you have to decide now, darling. Are you willing to enjoy what you can have, and make the most of every moment, or are you always going to see only the loneliness of goodbye and empty times instead of the happiness of hello and time spent together?”
“Are we still talking houses?” Anna asked with a forced cheer that was counter to the staggering hollowness that she tried desperately to ignore.
“You know we’re not.”
Quinn stood in the shade of the overhang, waiting for the pump to fill his car with gas. It’s not that he needed the gas. His tank had been half full when he left the Barracks – to a chorus of catcalls from his teammates about being in a suit - and he wasn’t driving
far. But he’d needed something to do to kill some time. When the pump clicked he jumped a little. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this nervous. Nor could he understand why he did so tonight.
It was just dinner. Well, he grinned while topping off the tank, dinner and hopefully some intimate time afterward.
His mind filling with erotic images, Quinn went into the store for something cold to drink.
“Well, don’t you look like sin all dressed up.”
Quinn looked at Charity Grambling from behind the counter where she managed the convenience store. As he’d been told more than once, she pretty much knew and spread all the local gossip in town. Some people thought the woman was grumpy and nosey. Quinn enjoyed her edge, and took every opportunity to stop in at the Super Min to tease her a little.
“Does that mean you’re finally going to go out with me, beautiful?” he asked, winking at her as he walked over to the cooler area.
Her lusty laugh had a grin splitting his face. “You should be so lucky.” Her eyes were bright as she looked him up and then down. “It looks like you’re hoping to get lucky tonight.”
“More than hoping.” Quinn set the cold bottle on the counter. It gave him a small jolt of pride to see his signed picture displayed among several others that Charity had on the wall behind the counter.
“With that little teacher you’ve been spending time with.”
It wasn’t a question, but he treated it as one. “Now, you know I’m not the kind to kiss and tell.” He once again winked at her. “Unless you’re ready to let this town in on our little secret that you’re in love with me.”
“I can admire a man without being in love with him.” Ringing up his purchase, she held out a hand for payment. “Besides, from what I hear, you’re not going to be around here much longer.”
Quinn shook his head as he handed over two bills, once again awed by her awareness of everything happening in this town. There hadn’t, to his knowledge, been any press release about his upcoming return to the mound for the Barefoot Bay Bucks.
Barefoot Bay: Hot Summer Kisses (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 6
