Gianni - The Santinis (3 page)

She followed him to
the kitchen. His father was reading the news on his tablet while he
finished his morning coffee. With a sigh, she grabbed the coffee pot
to top off his mug. “I wish you wouldn’t leave so soon.”

“
I need to get
back to Georgia.”

And back to
Kianna
. They hadn’t done more than email over the last two
months, but it had kept him going while he was over there. He lived
for each and every email. She had even sent him a box of brownies.
He’d talked to her a few times since he’d returned. Okay,
every day since he returned. Each time the connection he felt with
her seemed to strengthen.

His mother wasn’t
done trying her best to keep him close. “I think you should
stay here.”

“
You think all
the boys should stay here, Joe. Quit fussing,” his father said.
He glanced at Gee. “Can you walk and talk?”

“
Yes, sir.”

Papa as he was
called—because only soon-to-be-dead men called him by his given
name of Stewart—peered at his mother over the top of his
glasses. “Then, he’s fine.”

She shot his father
a look that usually spelled trouble for any Santini man but Vince
saved him. “I have to get Gee to Dulles if he’s going to
make that flight.”

His mother frowned
but she nodded. She gave him a hard hug. “You get hurt again, I
will beat the hell out of you.”

He laughed. His
mother had a twisted sense of humor and he loved her more for it.

“
I’ll
make sure to remember that.”

It took him more
than ten minutes to get out the door. By the time they were heading
down I-66 to the airport, Gee was exhausted.

“
You’re
lucky Mom doesn’t have direct access to reports.”

He glanced at his
brother. “I take it you do.”

Vince nodded. “How
bad was it?”

“
To tell you
the truth, I’m not sure. I remember the distress call, then
flashes after it.” He shrugged as some of the memories washed
over him. “I woke up in the hospital.”

Vince whistled.
“Damned glad Mom can’t read those things. She would
freak.”

“
Did you ever
tell her you broke your leg in three places?”

Vince snorted. “What
am I, crazy?”

He chuckled. “No
more than any other Santini.”

“
That’s
true. Glad you made it back in time for the wedding. We have a month
to plan a bachelor party.”

He rolled his eyes.
“You know Marco won’t do anything like that. Hell, Leo’s
was sad and pathetic.”

“
That’s
true.” He took the exit for Dulles but said nothing for a few
minutes. Gee knew there was something coming up. You just never knew
when it came to Vince.

“
So, you gonna
tell me who she is?”

He shouldn’t
be surprised his brother figured out his reasons for rushing back to
Moody. Still, it didn’t mean he had to give into the
questioning. “She?”

“
The woman you
want to get to see back in Valdosta.”

He sighed. Close to
ten years separated them, but Vince was the same with all the
brothers. Hell, Leo and Vince were less than two years apart and
Vince did the same thing to him.

“
Just a woman
I met the last day before I left.”

Vince’s
eyebrows rose. “Oh?”

“
Not like
that. I met her at that sweet shop I go to. We hit it off and we
spent the day together. We’ve been emailing.”

“
Name.”

Gee smiled amused at
the command. “Is this an inquisition?”

“
I just want
to know what to call my future sister-in-law.”

Gianni rolled his
eyes. “We barely kissed.”

“
Gee Santini,
who never lasts more than two months with a woman has been pining for
one for almost three. And you haven’t even slept with her.
Damn, I am going to be the last Santini standing.”

“
Yeah, old
man, why is that?” he asked with a chuckle.

“
I’m
smart.”

Gee grunted but said
nothing else.

“
And, you’re
not talking about her. That tells me more.” He shook his head
as he took the final exit for Dulles. “Last Santini standing.”

Gee smiled but said
nothing else. All he cared about was getting back home. Once he saw
Kianna, everything would be right in his world.

* * * *

Kianna was nervous.
She always was before a date, but this was worse. It was like they
had dated for months on end, over the Internet. Still, it was
different that she was going to see him face to face. He knew things
about her that she hadn’t shared with other people.

At first, it had
been just a few little funny emails, then...they had changed. It had
progressed to something she looked forward to every day. Until she
didn’t hear from him for two days. She closed her eyes trying
to ignore the panic when she got the email from him saying he had
been injured. They had sent him home, well to Virginia. But he had
only five days before he left and his replacement was already there,
so he assured her it wasn’t anything big.

Her doorbell rang
and her body lit with fear and excitement. It made her slightly sick
to her stomach.

She walked to the
door, trying to calm her nerves and dragged in a deep breath and
opened the door. Suddenly, she felt lightheaded. Damn, he hadn’t
changed a bit other than the small bandage on his forehead.

“
Hey,”
she said. She couldn’t come up with another greeting. Her brain
had shut down. Majorly shut down. Like not allowing her basic things
like communication to work.

“
Yeah, hey.”

Stepping through the
door he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. It was like the one
they had the night before he left. Hot and wet. He traced the seam of
her lips with his tongue and she willingly opened her mouth.

His mouth slanted
over hers again and again. He pulled her against his body. His
fingers danced down her spine, then cupped her ass. There was no
ignoring the erection she felt, or the way he moaned when she slipped
her tongue into his mouth to tangle with his.

He pulled back, then
hesitantly let her go. “We have to go or I’m going to
tear your clothes off.”

She shivered.

“
Oh, good God,
don’t do that.”

She smiled. “Sorry.”

“
No problem.
Well, there is a problem, but I can deal with that. Are you ready to
go out?”

“
I made you
dinner.”

He blinked. “What?”

“
I made
dinner. I thought you would appreciate some home cooked food.”

“
Uh, not to be
rude, but it would be bad to stay here.”

“
Naw, come
on,” she said delighted with him. She had never made a man that
crazy in her life and she was thankful for it. It made her feel much
younger than her thirty-three years.

“
Now, you have
a seat. You want a beer?”

He nodded.

“
I’ve
got to check on the lasagna, then I’ll be back.”

He smiled. “I’ll
be here waiting.”

She hurried off to
the kitchen, grabbing a beer before checking on the meal. She took it
out of the oven and set it on the counter to cool for a few minutes.
The need to see him, to keep her eyes on him battled with her
embarrassment. She hadn’t been this hung up on a man since her
husband…and that was saying a lot.

Charley had been the
sweetest man on the face of the earth. He’d teased her, charmed
her, and she’d fallen hard. A three-month courtship and a
wedding at the courthouse had been crazy and romantic. Being left a
policeman’s widow less than two years later hadn’t
been—or the last few weeks as his wife. His job had started
wearing on their relationship. It was one reason she rarely dated
men in uniform…any kind of uniform. But, here she was doing it
again.

She shook away those
thoughts. Brooding over her past life wasn’t going to give
Gianni a good welcome home.

* * * *

Gianni tried his
best to control his need as he waited for his beer. He had meant to
take things slowly, but the moment she’d opened the door, he
had lost it. The need had been basic and primal and it had taken over
him. He had to keep it under control. They hadn’t been dating
for two months. They had been exchanging emails and that was
completely different.

“
I hope it
compares to your mother’s,” she said as she brought the
pan out from the kitchen. His mouth watered for the woman and the
food. She grabbed a beer off the counter then brought her own glass
of water.

“
No drinking
for you, professor?”

She smiled as she
sat, then he followed suit. “No. I don’t drink much.”

“
But you had
beer in your fridge.”

“
Well you were
coming over, so I figured you might like it. If you didn’t, I
would give it to my sister Zoe. It’s the brand she likes.”

“
Your sister
has great taste.”

She snorted as she
cut the lasagna, serving him and then herself. “Well, maybe in
beer. Not in men.”

“
Oh, so the
older sister judges.”

She blushed
prettily. Damn, she was a delight. He knew her, knew about her family
and she knew about his. It was as if they had been dating months.

When he realized he
was making justifications to push things along, he decided to step
back from those ideas. Vince had been right on one thing. This wasn’t
one of his normal quick and crazy romances.

“
No. It’s
just she always dates losers.”

“
Meaning?”

“
Guys who
don’t feel the need to work, or dress for the day. Or bathe.
She had one guy she dated who apparently was on some kind of water
strike. My father would have shot him where he stood if he had ever
met him.”

“
So, he wasn’t
a high earner.”

She blinked. “Money
isn’t important, but respect is. She doesn’t seem to find
men who respect her much. I want her to be happy and none of them
seem to even try to accomplish that.”

He couldn’t
help the way his heart jerked at that. She was sweet as peach nectar.
“And Etta?”

* * * *

Kianna rolled her
eyes. “She dates men who are more interested in what she can do
for their careers than anything else. No respect.”

“
And that is
important to you?”

She nodded. “My
parents didn’t raise us to be mistreated. I can’t say
I’ve always chosen wisely...but maybe it’s because I’m
in my thirties. Zoe is only twenty three.”

“
And Etta?”

“
She’s
more focused on her career so she pretends it doesn’t hurt.”
Then she took a bite of food. “Oh, that was kind of personal.
All that was.”

“
I don’t
mind.”

“
It’s
weird, but it’s like I’ve known you longer and this is
only our second date.”

He smiled. “Yeah,
I was just thinking the same thing.”

“
Are you going
to taste my lasagna?”

He looked down at
his plate then back up at her worried expression. Apparently, she was
worried he wouldn’t like it.

“
Of course.”

He took a bite and
hummed. Tomato, basil, melted fresh mozzarella, and the hint of hot
Italian sausage danced over his taste buds.

“
So you like?”
she asked, a shy smile curving her lips. Damn, he wanted to say
forget dinner and move straight to dessert.

“
No, I love.
Thank you.”

She grinned and
returned to her own plate. Right then, he felt like he owned the
entire world. Just because she grinned at him.

* * * *