Read Gianni - The Santinis Online
Authors: Melissa Schroeder
Gianni - The Santinis (12 page)
“
Well, the
whole family’s coming in. Marco is bringing Alana for us to
meet, since we’ve only talked on the phone, and that skypy
thing. I wanted to get some arrangements and flowers for the house.
Oh, and Gee just got engaged.”
“
Oh, my.
Little Gee is getting married? Now I do feel old.”
“
You? I’m
about to be a grandmother.”
She looked at the
woman she had known for over twenty years. “You haven’t
aged a bit, Mrs. Santini.”
“
I told you to
call me Joey.”
“
Babe, did you
say you wanted tulips? They’re a little expensive,” Mr.
Santini said from behind her.
“
Yes, I think
we can afford some tulips. They are Kianna’s favorite from what
Gee says and I want to give them to her.”
He grumbled
something but went off to do her bidding. It never failed to amaze
her how all the Santini men did whatever she wanted. There was a
healthy does of fear among all of them.
“
You’re
a rock star, you know that?”
She shook he head.
“What do you mean?”
“
That man will
do anything to make you happy.”
Joey laughed.
“That’s a Santini. I’m sure you’ll see it all
in action tomorrow night.”
For a second, her
brain didn’t “Wait. What?”
“
I want you
there. The boys would love to see you.”
Only Joey Santini
would call four hulking military men boys and make them sound like
they were sweet little innocents. Of course, in Joey’s eyes,
they were all sweet and innocent.
“
That’s
really sweet of you, but I have a lot of work to do.”
“
I didn’t
say what time and I doubt you have work to do on a Saturday night.”
Jules narrowed her
eyes. “Joey, quit trying to be all innocent like you don’t
know what you’re doing.”
Joey made a face. “I
want you there. Can’t you do it for me?”
She shook her head.
“You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“
There is
nothing shameful about this. I would like you to see the boys, they
would like to see you. In fact, Vince is with us today. Vince.”
And true to her
word, Vince walked across her nursery. Okay, walk was too simple of a
word. Striding…marching…something because Vicente
Santini just didn’t walk. And seeing him among the flats of
flowers was kind of surreal.
“
Hey, Jules.”
Just like they
hadn’t talked in years, as if there was no strain between them.
“Hey, Vince. How’re doing?”
“
Pretty good.”
Jules didn’t
miss the eye roll his mother gave him. “I was telling Jules she
needed to come by tomorrow night. I know the girls would like to meet
someone from your childhood.”
Something like alarm
moved over his features before it dissolved. “They would
probably like that. Of course, I don’t know if we can leave her
alone with MJ.”
“
You leave
Maryanne out of this. You be nice to my daughter-in-law.”
“
You are all
sweet on her because she’s giving you a grandbaby.”
“
Exactly. I
have no problem admitting that.”
He laughed and now
that he was paying no attention to Jules, it was easy to study him.
He was even more attractive than he had been in school. He’d
always been well muscled, but now he was filled out. The extra lines
around his blue eyes made him even more attractive. Another of those
unfair things women had to deal with.
“
So, it’s
settled.”
“
What?”
she asked when she looked at Joey.
“
You will
come. Seven o’clock. Unless you have a date or something,”
Joey said smiling.
A date? She couldn’t
remember the last time she’d even entertained that idea. She
was usually so tired by Saturday she would only plan for spending all
day at home on Sunday. Rufus expected it.
“
Okay.”
“
You know the
address? Wait, wouldn’t it make sense for you and Vince to come
together. He lives over here in your neck of the woods.”
Alarm shot through
her again. Vince and her. Alone. They hadn’t done that until
the day before her wedding.
“
Sure,”
Vince said.
“
Write down
your address for Vince and he’ll pick you up. See you tomorrow,
Jules.”
Then Joey turned and
left them alone.
“
Just go with
the flow. It is always best to let her have her way on the little
things.”
She blinked and
looked at Vince. “I don’t even know what to wear.”
“
It’s a
Santini family get together. Casual always works. Plus, Mom is gonna
be cooking all day, so nothing too fancy just in case you drop red
sauce.”
She chuckled. “Of
course you remember what a klutz I am.”
She wrote down her
home address on a sticky note and handed it to him. “What
time?”
He blinked. He still
had all those wonderful dark lashes around his deep blue eyes. It as
almost hypnotic to look into them. “What?”
“
What time
will you be picking me up?”
“
How about
six-thirty?”
“
Okay.”
He didn’t
leave. He just kept standing there staring at her as if he expected
her to say something. She didn’t know what to say to him. Other
than go away and that seemed rude.
“
Vicente, I
have a house to clean, let’s go,” his mother bellowed
across the nursery.
Vince gave her a
smile and she felt her heart take a tumble. “What she really
means is she making Dad clean the house.”
“
I heard
that.”
“
Ears like a
bat. See you tomorrow, Jules.”
Then he walked out.
She watched the family pile into their car together feeling a little
homesick. Not that she had a home since she was a brat but it was
where her parents were, which was Modesta, California. She sighed.
She’d been happy when Joey had started to come around. They had
even started to do lunch every now and then.
“
Who was that
hunk?” Angela asked as she walked down the aisle to Jules. She
was only ten years younger than Jules, but Angela made her feel as if
she were a hundred.
“
That was
Vicenti Santini, Joey’s oldest baby boy, as she calls him when
he’s not around.”
“
Well, he is
hot. I wanted to take a big bite out of that perfect ass.”
Jules smiled at the
younger woman. She had been a great find in a sea of applicants. A
military brat working her way through college with a head for numbers
and a personal gift for selling, Angela made the long hours all that
more enjoyable with her unrestrained commentary. “It is kind of
perfect. All the girls in high school were in agreement with that.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Oh, lord, you went to high school with that?”
“
No. He looks
better today than he did then. Which is why men suck.”
Angela laughed.
“Well, he was mighty interested in you.”
She shook her head.
“No, he isn’t.”
“
Yeah, he is.
He kept looking back there when his Mom was talking to you. He’s
got a thing for you.”
“
Have you
started drinking with breakfast? Besides, I doubt Vicente Santini
spends any of his time thinking about me.”
“
I bet you ten
bucks he does. A lot. I have a sense about these things.”
“
You mean like
the sense you had about the UPS guy being a mob guy in witness
protection.”
“
Okay, so I
was wrong about that, and UPS had no problem changing his route when
it got uncomfortable.”
“
Yeah, he got
sick of you trying to trick him into saying his real name. He didn’t
even look Italian.”
“
Not everyone
who works for the Mafia is Italian and not all organized crime is
Italian. But, that hot hunk of burning Marine blood is. I’m
right about him. Bet ya.”
“
I’ll
take that bet, because I know for a fact he doesn’t like me.”
Especially not after
the
kiss. She could remember like it was yesterday. They were
alone in her parents’ backyard and were supposed to be getting
ready for the wedding rehearsal and he had kissed her. Right there
with the cherry blossoms blooming overhead. And, he told her he loved
her.
It had been the last
words he had spoken to her until today.
Schroeder
From an early
age, Melissa loved to read. First, it was the books her mother
read to her including her two favorites,
Winnie the Pooh
and
the
Beatrix Potter
books. She cut her preteen teeth
on
Trixie Belden
and read and reviewed
To
Kill a Mockingbird
in middle school. It wasn’t until
she was in college that she tried to write her first stories, which
were full of angst and pain, and really not that fun to read or
write. After trying several different genres, she found romance in a
Linda Howard book.
Since the
publication of her first book in 2004, Melissa has had close to fifty
romances published. She writes in genres from historical suspense to
modern day erotic romance to futuristics and paranormals. Included in
those releases is the bestselling
Harmless
series
. In 2011, Melissa branched out into
self-publishing with
A
Little Harmless Submission
and the popular
military spinoff,
Infatuation:
A Little Harmless Military Romance
. Along the
way she has garnered an epic nomination, a multitude of reviewer’s
recommended reads, over five Capa nods from TRS, three nominations
for AAD Bookies and regularly tops the best seller lists
on
Amazon
and
Barnes & Noble
.
Since she spent her
childhood as a military brat, Melissa swore never to marry military.
But, as we all know, Fate has her way with mortals. She is married to
an AF major and is raising her own brats, both human and canine. She
spends her days giving in to her addiction to
Twitter
,
counting down the days until her hubby retires, and cursing the
military for always sticking them in a location that is filled with
bugs big enough to eat her children.
You can connect with
Mel all over the web:
Or email her at:
[email protected]
Melissa Schroeder
Harmless
A Little Harmless
Military Romance