Wildly (Crimson Romance) (7 page)

The announcement of the beginning of the bidding came and the room quieted. Shauna scooted to the edge of her chair, practically jumping up every time John gave her the signal. She forgot about the others, and put her hand on John’s knee. They were in this together and it didn’t matter if they won or lost, she was having a blast.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the bidding, and she collapsed back in her chair, laying her head on John’s shoulder, laughing. “That was so much fun. It almost makes me wish we’d won, so we could celebrate.”

“What are you talking about? You did win.” John laughed and pulled her up from the chair. “We’ve got a prize to go collect.”

Her jaw dropped, and she forced herself to recover. “What? We won? Are you sure?”

He gathered her up in his arms and hugged her. “Damn right. We’ve got ourselves another date and I can’t wait to have you all to myself next time.”

She smiled. A date. With John. Suddenly, she was looking forward to another night with him.

It wasn’t until later, when they’d gone outside, that Shauna let her excitement over winning show. The beautiful evening and high spirits had her twirling around in a circle on the grass in her bare feet, shoes in one hand, the certificate in her other hand. She laughed as the cool night air washed over her. If this was the way the rich entertained themselves, then maybe she’d start playing the lottery.

“You enjoy winning.” John leaned against the side of the house and watched her.

She held out her arms and danced. “Yes. It’s the best thing ever. I’ll remember everything about this night.”

John pushed himself away from the wall, cupped her face, and gently kissed her lips. She froze, but before she could think about what he was doing, he told her to wait and he’d go round up the car. She stared out into the darkness where he’d disappeared, smiling. She could do a lot worse than John Bigstraum. He’d done everything right tonight, and she was glad she’d come with him.

“You have no idea what you’re doing.” A familiar masculine voice came from behind her.

She whirled around. Grayson stood over at the corner of the patio, his coat thrown over his shoulder. With all the excitement bubbling inside of her, the shadows pushing in on her, Grayson’s presence was like a beacon in the night. She moved toward him, until she could see the stormy turmoil in his gaze.

“Grayson.” She reached out, but he flung his coat and grabbed her upper arms, stopping her. “W-what’s wrong?”

“I should be asking you that question.” His eyebrow arched. “What’s going on with you and Bigstraum? Are you throwing yourself at him too?”

She gasped. “Of course not. He asked me to come with him, and I’m happy I did.”

“That’s what you do, isn’t it? You drive a man insane until he has no other choice than to take you out.” He leaned in closer. “Tell me, are you going home with him? Are you going to strip out of that skimpy dress and offer your — ”

“Stop!” She broke away from him. “Nothing I do is ever going to please you. What I did before … it was a mistake.” She brushed the hair away from her face. “I know you don’t want me. You never have. I can’t compare to Stephanie … or Chantel.”

She whirled around but before she could escape, Grayson grabbed her wrist. “Don’t do it,” he growled. “John’s not the man for you.”

Her legs shook, and her stomach rolled. Standing up to Grayson empowered her, yet left her weak. Why would he care what she did? She’d never gotten angry with him before, and it seemed wrong. He was the love of her life. She stared into his eyes, waiting to learn why it mattered to him what happened between her and John.

“You have no say in what I do or don’t do,” she whispered. “If I want to sleep with John, I will.”

“Don’t do it, Shauna.”

She lifted her chin. “Why? You won’t let yourself have me, so you don’t think anyone else deserves me either. What about what I want? Don’t I deserve someone who’ll love me back?”

He refused to answer.

“Goodbye, Grayson,” she whispered.

She slipped away and left him standing alone, his gaze burning into her back. The result of what she’d done by standing up for herself left her shivering. She’d always known somehow that he was never going to take her seriously. She was going to have to rid Grayson from her heart.

“Go, go, go!” Shauna slapped the dashboard of Diana’s car and stared out the window at Grayson on the sidewalk.

He stood outside his car in front of the commerce building, his hands on his hips, glaring at Diana’s small, red Honda as they left the parking lot. She sagged against the seat and latched her seatbelt. After what had happened at the McMillian party, Shauna still wasn’t ready to talk to Grayson. She needed space. Of course, it didn’t help that he kept showing up at her office and she kept having to find ways to avoid him. That was where Diana and her handy getaway car came in.

“Lord, Shauna, this is the second time in a row you’ve had me bail your ass out of trouble this week.” Diana glanced over at her. “You’re going to have to face him eventually. You might as well get it over with sooner than later.”

“Lately, all he does is scowl at me, and I’m about to lose my composure and go off on him if he dares insult me again.”

“I think the man protests too much.” Diana flipped on her turn signal, and pulled out onto the main road. “You have to ask yourself why he even cares what you do.”

“I was pretty bad. Do you remember that time I hid a flower everywhere he went? I even got caught skipping a day of school, so I could make it out to the center and hide them while he taught his adult classes.” She stared out the window. “I’ve always wondered if I had something to do with his retirement.”

“How could you?” Diana glanced over at her. “He wasn’t even in the country when he made the announcement.”

“I know, but he was only twenty-nine years old. He could’ve kept going. Even the press said he had a couple years left in him to hold on to the title. There were rumors that he had an injury. Some reporters even said the tennis association kicked him out for testing dirty by doing illegal drugs, which I know can’t be true. Grayson refused to explain his reasons to the press, like it’s some big, hidden secret. I never understood why he’d allow everyone to speculate on the reasons, and let the stories grow.” She sighed. “I remember thinking it was a sign when he came back to Cottage Grove and remodeled the tennis center that he wanted me. I almost left college my senior year. God, I was so juvenile.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Diana turned the air conditioner higher.

“The weird thing is I never did ask him why he came back or what happened to make him give up competing. It must be hard, because he’s continually receiving public challenges from other players, begging him to reenter the circuit.”

“Maybe your dad knows,” Diana said.

“No. He doesn’t. I’ve asked.” She rubbed her forehead. “I know Grayson wouldn’t tell me if I asked him now. He can barely stand to be in the same room as me.”

Diana slowed down and turned into Shauna’s driveway.

Shauna slipped off the seatbelt, leaned forward, and kissed Diana’s cheek. “Thank you. You saved me once again.”

“I’m worried about you.” Diana swiveled in the seat. “I know something happened between you and Grayson at the McMillian party, but you’ve never so much as spoken a harsh word about Grayson before. Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?”

“No.” Shauna jolted when her cell phone rang. “I’m just figuring out that Grayson’s not all that and decorated with glitter.” She glanced at the display. “Thanks again. I need to get this. It’s John.”

“I’ll call you later.” Diana laughed. “I’ll want details.”

She shut the car door, waved, and pushed the call button. “John?”

“Hey, gorgeous. I’ve got a sack of Chinese food to go and wanted to know if you knew anyone who wanted to share my dinner with me?”

She laughed. “I might.”

“What time do you get off work?” he asked.

“I just got home. Come on over.”

“Sounds great. See you in fifteen minutes.” He cleared his throat. “Oh, and Shauna?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you said yes.”

She smiled. “Me too.”

It wasn’t a lie. She looked forward to spending more time with John, and having him take the initiative of seeing her before their planned date next weekend made her happy. He was a considerate man, and she wanted to know him better.

She dropped the phone in her purse and headed up the path to the house. The lawn needed mowing, and the porch railing needed painting, but Shauna ignored all the things she should be helping her dad out with and headed to the garage where her dad spent most of his day, working on other people’s vehicles.

The loud consuming sound of the air compressor and impact tool hid her approach. She stood beside the maroon two-door car and grinned at the legs sticking out from underneath the frame. She’d recognize those grease covered overalls anywhere.

She waited for the compressor to stop, bent down, and grabbed the hem of her dad’s pants. “Watch your head.”

With one pull, she rolled him out from underneath the car. He raised his brows in surprise. “What are you doing in here?”

“What? Is it a crime to visit my old man while he’s working?” She planted her hands on her hips. “When are you going to sell the shop and retire to the recliner in the house?”

He growled as he pulled himself up into a sitting position. “I’m not getting older, just better looking.”

She leaned down, swept off his baseball cap, and planted a kiss on his cheek before replacing his hat. “I stopped by to tell you that John Bigstraum is coming over. He’s bringing me dinner. Do you want me to pop one of those potpies you love in the oven for you?”

“Nah, I’m going to stay late and get the driveline off this rig. I’ll heat up a bowl of soup or something when I come in.” He lay back down. “Have fun with your date.”

“Hey!” She grabbed his leg, stopping him from disappearing back under the car. “Don’t work too long tonight. You’ve been keeping late hours since I got home. You need to take better care of yourself.”

He patted her cheek with his big ol’ rough hand, making her feel twelve years old again. “I love you too, buddy.”

Shauna left the garage smiling. Her dad was her favorite person in the world. It’d always been the two of them, even before her mom ran away from the family. There had been months prior to her mom leaving for good when she and her dad had been left on their own for dinner, her mom refusing to join them. Shauna had spent more hours than she could count lying under the car with him in the evenings, holding the flashlight or handing him tools.

Once inside the house, she straightened up the living room, carried her dad’s coffee mug to the kitchen, and then took a stray pair of shoes she hadn’t put away up to her room. She groaned. The pink and white bedspread on her twin bed, the stuffed animals piled in the beanbag chair in the corner, and the daisies her dad had painted in a string around her window were not a symbol of a single woman on the prowl. No way would she appear sexy and desirable with a Hello Kitty lampshade lighting the room.

“Okay, change of plans.” She backed out of the room and shut the door.

She wasn’t sure exactly when she’d decided to throw everything she had into building a relationship with John. It might’ve been between the time Grayson accused her of sleeping with John and when he’d stubbornly refused to accept her for the woman she was today. She was tired of waiting for him and, after some serious soul searching, was beginning to think that maybe she’d been wrong all these long years. Maybe it was true, and she didn’t stand a chance in hell of Grayson ever loving her back.

The doorbell rang. Shauna hurried to the front of the house, and opened the door. Her smile came naturally. “Hi.”

John held a brown paper sack up in front of him. “Hello back. I hope you’re hungry.”

“Starving.” She stepped back and let him inside the house.

Dressed in faded Levi’s and a buttoned chambray shirt rolled to the elbows, John appeared relaxed and happy to see her. She took the food from him and motioned him to come in the house.

She inhaled deeply on her stroll to the kitchen. “Is that chow mein I smell?”

“Yep, and I grabbed authentic wooden chopsticks.” He pulled two wrapped packages out of his back pocket. “If you don’t use them, I’ll be disappointed.”

“Oh heck yeah.” She grabbed two plates from the cupboard. “Everyone knows the food tastes better when it takes all night to eat a half a cup of rice.”

He laughed. “Exactly.”

“Of course, we’ll probably collapse from starvation before we actually succeed in eating, but it’ll be good for a laugh.”

“I brought extra food. I didn’t know if your dad would be joining us or not.” John sat down at the table.

“That was sweet of you. I stopped in the garage before I came in the house, and he said he was working late.” She opened the boxes and set them in the middle of the table before sitting across from John. “I’ll save him some for later. I’m sure he’ll be thankful.”

Shauna opened her chopsticks, and after several seconds successfully brought one small noodle to her lips. She slurped, letting the long strand slither into her mouth.

“Good?” John asked.

“Wonderful.” She grinned, before setting out to capture more food. “So, how was your day?”

“Excellent.” He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Two of the dogs were placed in their new homes, and that’s always a good feeling. One of them went to a young girl who’s only seven … you should have seen the way she announced to her mom and dad that she didn’t have to hold their hand anymore. The parents had tears in their eyes, and I believe it was the first sign of independence from their daughter that she was growing up and they could let her do things on her own. It amazes me what the dogs give back to their caregivers.”

Shauna sat back in wonder. John’s whole face lit up as he talked, and she could see how deeply his job affected him. Caught up in the story, she struggled with words. “That is amazing. What you do for people, through your dogs, is a miracle. You give them freedom and a new, better way to enjoy life. You’re a good man, John. You should be very proud of yourself.”