Loving Quinn Novel by North Rose

(Quinn)

The call I just received rockest me to my come. It is a phone call that I never want in receive again. Anuora was in an acciderit, and the asked the energency room nurse to call me. I rish out of my lawyer’s off to drive to the hospital,

Every horrible thought of what could go wrong flows though my mlad An Imago of her bleeding, in pain, and alone causes my heart to beat so fast that I think I am having a heart attack. I speed through true, then slow down when I realize getting arrested for speeding won’t do me any good right now,

It takes every ounce of willpower I have to calms my breathing so I can drive to Merry General. At least they took her to a hospital where she is known by the emergency room staff. I know from my records to the doctors and nurses there are all top-notch. She is in excellent hands.

That is the only thought that keeps me from storming into the LH, to rush to her side when I pull into the parking lot. As 1 exit my car and walk into the hospital. However, this is the first time have been to the Fit since we bought the hospital.

calmly as I can,

My mind is bombarded with sights, sounds, and smells from the past, can feel my body start to shake as I am almost overwhelmed by all the memories crashing against the wall that I built around them. Thankfully, a nurse steps up to me, pulling my attention back to the

reason I am here.

My beautiful Annora.

“Sir, can I help you?”

“Annora Winters, she was brought in after a car accident.”

“Oh, yes. Dr. Winters is in bay three. She is currently making a statement to the police,” He says as he paints toward the two police detectives. Both men are listening intently and taking notes.

I give the nurse a nod, then swiftly walk over to bay three, it is only when I see the anger in her hazel eyes that I let out the breath I was holding in on the walk over. She glances at me when I step up next to the examination table. Instantly her eye fill with tears and her arms

open wide.

Not knowing the extent of her injuries other than the scratches on her forehead, I step into her arms and gingerly embrace her. I feel her trembling against me as I hold her. Her silent sobbing breaks my heart and fuels my rage. I glance at the detectives, who have gone silent since she started crying.

“What happened to her?”

“Are you related to Dr. Winters?”

No. ***!!

“He is my boyfriend.” Annie sniffles. “You can tell him everything.”

Before either detective can speak, an orderly steps up with a wheelchair. “I need to take her for a CT scan

After Annora is wheeled away, I turn back to the detectives. I motion for them to follow me, then lead them to the doors to the administrative office on this floor. I swipe my keycard then open the door for them to proceed me into the room.

One of them gives me an odd look as the door closes behind me. “I am one of

of the owners of the hospital. I have access the building. This is a conversation that I would rather not have out there.”

s to everywhere in

The detective who had asked me who I was earlier gives me Amara’s count of what happened as well as corroborating eyewitness statements. This was no accident. Whoever was in that truck was out to hurt Annie.

“Was there anything caught on traffic camera nearby?”

“We are checking g into that now. We have a partial license plate to go from all accounts, the windows and the truck were all darkly tinted, so no one could see the driver’s loop. So, we will work with the partial plate we have and try to find something on the traffic

camera.”

The second man turns to me with a speculative look. “You come in when we were asking her if she knew who could be behind this. Do you know? Does either of you have any enemies?”

I know two people off the top of my head. One of them is in jail now. The other is her jealous billionaire husband who could have hired someone to do it. Why Ethan would target Annora is beyond me. Unless he will do anything to hurt me for hurting his wife. I have an intense gut feeling that Dionne put Ethan up to it.

“Dionne Masters and Ethan McAllister.”

“What is the nature of your disagreement with them?”

Annora. I chose I give the detectives a condensed version of my history with Dianne and my current problems with Ethan. “Dlonne hate Annora over Dionne. Ethan hates me because of the l** Dionne told him about me from the past. It is teenage drama that has now gone

too far.

watch as they both take notes. The rage building inside of me is close to bubbling over. If I don’t get out of this room and back to Annora soon. I man get snappy with these two men. They are just trying to do their jobs.

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“Dionne is in jail now for violating the restraining order I have against her on more than one occasion. She could have put her husband up to this or Ethan could have hired someone to do it.

“We will start with him, then.” One detective hands me his card. “If you can think of anyone else, or if Dr. Winters remembers anything more, call me.”

“Thank you both.”

Once they leave the office, I walk out behind them a few minutes later am calmer than I was when I first came into the E.R. so the sounds around me are not as intense as they were earlier. It makes it easier for me to walk back to bay three to wait calmly for Annora.

As I wait, I can’t help thinking that what happened to Annie today was somehow my fault. If Dionne or Ethan are responsible for the attack on her, they did this because of me. Dionne has a grudge against me for a reason I have yet to figure out

Her words to me were clear when we first started dating Love was not an emotion she believed in. All she demanded was honesty, Oh, and just like that, clarity has been achieved. I understand now, This isn’t just jealousy. This is payback for withholding information from her.

I kept Annora’s memory to myself. I never corrected her when she assumed my first love was dead. Then to come face to form with the very woman she thought was dead. Did I hurt her by keeping my memories of my angel to myself?

Guilt swamps me suddenly. Did I do this to her? Wait, no f**king way is this my fault. I may have kept a part of my past a secret, but she did far more than that. That b**h had secrets of her own but demanded all of mine.

I am torn from my thoughts as Annora is wheeled back into the exam room. The orderly takes the chair away once she is back on the small hospital bed. The moment he closes the curtain over the doorway, I sit down next to her on the bed, then pull her into my arms.

A shuddering breath leaves me as I pull back to study her face. Those scratched on her head. I lay a gentle kiss over them before I tilt her -chin up so I can feel her lips against mine. I keep the kiss short and tender.

There is worry in her eyes when I pull back. “They will find whoever did this, Annie.”

“Something else happened today. I already reported it to the police and was planning to tell you when I got home later.”

I open my mouth to ask what else happened, but we are interrupted when the curtain is ripped open. A tall woman with wild red curls wearing scrubs rushed into the exam room. Her go straight to Annorn before she glances at me.

“Annie, are you ok? I saw your name on the patient log when I signed in for my shift at the

e nurses’ station. What happened?”

“I am fine Shawna.” Annota says.

She turns to face her frien! but doesn’t move out of my embrace. I shift so that she can turn towards Shawna but still feel be in my

embrace. Shawna nods her head at me when I look at her.

“A car accident? Is Grace ok?

*Was

she with you?

“Shaw, relax. I am fine and Grace is at my mother’s.”

“Ah, why am I not surprised you are in here rather than checking in with the charge nurse on duty tonight, Shawna.”A deep voice says from behind her.

I look away from Shawna to see a tall man in a white lab coat behind her. His features are sharp, but his eyes are soft. What bothers me instantly is that he addressed Shawna, but his eyes linger on Annora. I don’t miss the look in his eyes before he covers it with a professional look.

Lust.

Now is the time to make my presence known to this man. He obviously didn’t see my arms around her. I glance at the name on his identification badge. Dr. Jake Paulson. I scoot back from Annie, then stand up off the bed and extend my hand in greeting to him

“Dr. Paulson, it is nice to meet you.”

He turns his face toward mine and blinks as if he is only just now realizing I am in the room. He was so focused on Annie that he didn’t bother to look at anyone else small exam room. Normally I am not a jealous man, but this guy picked the wrong day to get on my bad side. D

“Oh, hello” He takes my hand and shakes it firmly.

Awkwardly, he takes a step back, then holds Annora’s chart up to read it. I feel her hand slip up my back, which causes me to glance back at her. She raised one eyebrow as she gives me a speculative look. I can tell by that look that she didn’t catch the look in Paulson’s eyes when he walked into the room.

Paulson clears his throat. “Your CT scan looks clear. The X-Rays look good. Nothing is broken. I would like to get an MRI just to be sure everything is all right.”

When he looks back up from the chart, he looks at Annora for a moment, then quickly looks back down. I can tell by the way he swallows hard that he knows I saw how he looked at her. He is nervous now. Good

“With all due respect, Dr. Paulson, I don’t think that will be necessary. hit my head and my shoulder. The CT is clear, and the X-Ray showed no broken bones in my arm. I would like to go home. Quinn here is taking me on our first date in twelve years.”

Paulson jerks his head up at that. His expression flows from confused to angry. A very unprofessional look crosses his face as he looks at Annora, then me. Shawna catches it too and laughs before walking away.

so, you are dating a doctor in the hospital you now own. Isn’t that a bit unprofessional?”

375

I take a deep breath to stop myself from punching him in the face. Before I can respond to him, Annor beats me to it. Lucky for

or him.

“How dare you! My personal life is none of your business, Paulson. I knew about your crush on me, but I ignored it because I wasn’t interested in you. I don’t date people I work with ”

He scoffs at that and points at me. “What is he then? He is the owner of this place. You work together.”

“No, we don’t. Quinn may own the hospital, but we are not working…” She breaks off and growls. “I don’t need to defend my actions to you. BUT just to clarify something for you so that there are no more misunderstandings.”

She stands up off the table, then steps in front of me.

“I have k

known Quinn since I was eighteen. He is more than just my boyfriend. He is the father of my daughter Grace. Not that it is any of you g**n business. Now, I am going to the nurse’s station to have Dr. Young sign me out.”

With that, she pushes past him and marches out of the exam room. I give him a moment to decide if he is going to say anything more or walk away. When he tilts his head at me with a challenging look in his eyes, I take that as my cue to speak.

“How I long has she been ignoring your advances?”

“If you are her kid’s father, where have you been all this time? You let her marry that a**hole, Kyle?”

I roll my shoulders, **k my neck; then look back at him. After thinking about it carefully, I decide that he isn’t worth anymore of my tinae. “That, as my lovely girlfriend pointed out a minute ago, is none of your business.”

Just like Annora did, I brush past him and exit the exam room. She is standing next to Shawna as I walk up to the nurse’s station. Shawna gives me a wide smile.

*Please tell me you punched him.”

“No, but I wish I could have.”

Shawna laughs, then turns and gives Annora a hug. “Call me tomorrow

Annora nods as she reaches out to take my hand. We walk out of the emergency room hand in hand. This is a much better outcome than all the other ones that were running through my head as I dove here earlier.

When we reach my car, I push her back up against the passenger door. Then, because I need to calm down, I lean in a place my head into the curve of her neck and shoulder. The warmth of her skin and the smell of her shampoo are enough to steady the sudden erratic beat of my heart.

Annie’s fingers make quick work of the button on my suit jacket. Her hands slip inside, then around my waist to touch my back. The heat from her palms causes me to relax against her.

“Hey, listen to me. I am fine. That **rd didn’t hurt me.”

“This time. Oh, Annie. I was so f**ing scared when that nurse called me. All the worst plausible scenarios flew through my mind as I drove here.” I mumble against her neck.

“Take me home, Quinn. I need a quiet night with you. Make all our problems disappear until tomorrow. Please.”

I can hear the tiredness in her voice,So, I do what she asks and drive us home. Our dinner reservations may have been canceled, but the rest of my plans for tonight will work out just fine.

Tonight, I will show her the sauna in the pool room….