Gianni - The Santinis (7 page)

When he reached
them, Kianna was already standing up.

“
Do you have
to leave just yet?” Henry asked. “I don’t mind if
Santini leaves, but we’d love to have you stick around.”

“
I don’t
think y’all need me around cramping your style. The coeds will
be here soon, so you might want to clear the table, so to speak.”

“
It was nice
meeting you,” Henry said as he rose and gave her a peck on the
cheek. Andrews followed suit. She was blushing by the time Jackson
made it back to the table.

“
Already
leaving,” he said with a frown.

“
We tried to
get Santini to leave but he wouldn’t leave her with us,”
Andrews said.

“
Of course
not. He’s afraid one of us might steal her,” Jackson
said with a slanted look in Gianni’s direction.

Then, testing
Gianni’s temper, Jackson gave Kianna a kiss on the cheek, but
he took a fraction or two longer than the others had. He figured
Jackson and he would be having a long talk about Kianna and how he
would get a punch to the throat if he tried that shit again.

By the time they
were in his truck on the way to her house, Kianna relaxed. “I
like your friends. They’re nice.”

“
Yeah, and I
almost had a fight with Jackson.”

“
Whatever
for?”

“
He told me he
would make a play for you.”

She patted his leg.
“He’s just messing with you. And like he would have a
chance.”

He laughed and
leaned over and kissed her on the neck.

“
You do know
how to make a man feel good.”

She leaned up
against him. “Just wait until we get home.”

* * * *

A week later, Kianna
was finishing up her lecture when she saw Gianni in the doorway. She
faltered for a second, heat instantly zinging through her blood. He
gave her an apologetic look, then stepped out of view. It took her a
second or two to get back to the discussion.

“
Dr. Jones?”

She shook her head
to clear it, and smiled. “Make sure to bring your advertising
examples for the next class.” She glanced at the clock. “That’s
it for tonight. Have a good weekend.”

As soon as she
dismissed them, Gianni slipped into the room. Several of her female
students threw him interested glances, but he ignored them.

“
Sorry for
interrupting.”

She shook her head.
“Just finishing up.”

“
Dr. Jones.”
Gregory, one of her military students said.

“
Yes, what do
you need?”

“
I’ve
got night duty next week. I should be off, but they switched things
up.”

She nodded. “Tell
you what. Email me your assignment for tonight, and I’ll let
you know the assignments for the next couple of classes.”

“
Thank you,”
then he left them alone.

“
Well, seems
you have groupies.”

She started
gathering her materials up. “What are you talking about?”

“
That kid
there.”

“
That kid is
probably older than you are, and he’s military.”

He frowned. “Yeah?”

“
What?”

He shook his head.
“I’ll look him up.”

“
Whatever
for?”

“
I have to
check him out, make sure he’s on the up and up. He’s
trying to move in on my woman.”

She shouldn’t
like that term. There was something so wrong with it but part of her
liked it.

“
He’s
harmless and married.”

“
Still.”

“
Gianni, if
you do that, I will have to dump you.”

“
That’s
not nice.”

“
I never said
I was.” She started to walk past him, but he grabbed her by the
wrist and pulled her closer.

“
You
are
sweet. Particular parts of you are amazingly sweet.”

She shivered as he
gave her a kiss.

“
I have to
drop some things off at my office, then we can head out.”

He smiled and gave
her a quick peck on the tip of her nose. “Cool, I want to see
where you work.”

She pulled away to
gather up her books. “Why?”

“
It’s
part of you.”

When she glanced at
him, she realized he was being serious. Unless she worked with the
man, most didn’t want to know about her work, but Gianni did.
In fact, he took as much pleasure as she did in his work.

She unlocked the
door and stepped into the cramped space. “Sorry, it’s
always a mess.”

He laughed. “No
worries. This is actually what I expected a professor’s office
to look like.”

“
You’ve
never been to a professor’s office? I thought your mother was a
teacher.”

“
Art teachers
don’t usually get something like this. For myself, I’ve
taken a few classes but they were all online for now. Getting the
basics out of the way. I want to get a Bachelor’s to back up my
Medic training, but not in a hurry right now.”

She nodded as she
slipped her files into the cabinet then locked it. “I’m
ready.”

“
Yeah, I am
too.”

Something in his
tone stopped her. “What does that mean?”

He smiled as he
approached her. She had to fight the urge to back up.

“
Uh, Gianni,
what are you doing?”

“
I have this
fantasy of being very naughty in the professor’s office.”

She laughed and
slipped away. “No.”

“
You are
saying no, but your body is saying yes,” he said slipping
behind her. He nuzzled her neck, his teeth grazing the sensitive
flesh. “God, woman you drive me crazy.”

She was seriously
thinking of accepting the offer he had just made, when she heard her
baby sister’s voice.

“
Am I
interrupting?”

Sometimes, it’s
hard to remember how not to be the big sister. —Kianna

Gianni bit back a
growl when he saw the petite woman leaning against the doorjamb. He
knew she was the youngest of the three sisters and possibly the most
needy. One thing he had learned about Kianna was that she was more of
a control freak about her younger siblings than Vince had ever been.
But, then again, her parents were gone and as the oldest she probably
saw it as her duty to take care of them.

“
What are you
doing here?” he asked.

Okay that was a
little rude, but he was still trying to pull his head out of the
fantasy of office sex.

“
Zoe,”
Kianna said. “This is Gianni. Gianni, this is my baby sister
Zoe.”

She nodded in his
direction, but said nothing else.

“
So, are you
going to tell you me what you’re doing here?”

She shrugged. The
petulant look on her face told Gianni she wasn’t happy finding
a man with her sister. It was hard to believe they were sisters to
begin with. Kianna was all rounded curves and soft smiles. Zoe was a
little bit shorter, smaller boned. Her waist length braided hair was
purple. Her jeans had seen better days, as had the shirt she wore.

“
I thought I
would come over for the weekend to see you.” She gave Gianni a
measuring look. “Not a student?”

Before he could
answer her, and he was pretty sure she wouldn’t like Gianni’s
answer, Kianna did. “No. Gianni is a PJ here at the base.”

“
Hmm.”

Her sister wasn’t
impressed apparently.

“
We were just
leaving,” Kianna said.

“
Is that what
they call it now?”

He had to fight the
chuckle. Apparently Kianna didn’t get caught fooling around
that often and her younger sister probably loved turning the tables.

“
Yeah, we were
going to go out for a late supper and some drinks if you’re up
to it,” he said.

Kianna gave him a
surprised look.

“
Sure,”
Zoe said, but her expression told Gianni he was in for a long night.

* * * *

The place he picked
was close to the I-95 but quiet being a Thursday night. He could
almost feel Kianna’s relief.

“
So, how long
have you been sleeping with my sister?”

Kianna choked on a
drink. She patted the moisture away from her lips then frowned at her
younger sister. “Zoe.”

“
I think I
have the right to know.”

Before she could
answer her though, Gianni took over the conversation. “I think
you do too, but I think you should show your sister a little more
respect.”

Kianna gave him a
curious glance. She’d never heard that tone from Gianni before.
The frown told her Gianni wasn’t happy with her sister.

Zoe frowned right
back at him. This was definitely not going to be the fun and happy
night she had planned.

“
How’s
work going?” she asked.

Her sister shrugged.
“It’s going. I’m hoping to have enough for a show
by early next year.”

“
That would be
wonderful. We’ll have to have a huge party in Savannah.”

“
A show?”

“
You know Zoe
paints. She’s working to have enough on hand to have a show.”

She beamed at her
sister and Zoe smiled. “I said I was hoping.”

“
You’ll
do it.” She glanced at Gianni who seemed to relax a little bit
more now. “You like the picture she painted of Savannah’s
waterfront for me.”

“
Oh, you mean
the one that hangs over your bed?” Zoe asked, but she was
smiling. “My sister is very traditional, but I couldn’t
resist it. And I knew she would love it.”

She patted Zoe’s
hand. “The ribs are amazing here. You should try them Zoe.”

She tried to keep
the conversation flowing. There was one thing that she knew and that
was Zoe didn’t just show up out of the blue for nothing.
Something was wrong, very wrong, for her sister to pop up out of the
blue.

She just hoped it
wasn’t anything too terrible.

* * * *

Gianni understood
being the youngest. It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world.
You were always taking shit from your siblings and you had to prove
you were just as good as them to the rest of the world. Being mean to
embarrass Kianna wasn’t right. It was bratty.

By the time they
reached the house, he had made up his mind. He would have a talk with
Zoe. Kianna gave him a chance the moment they walked in the door. She
was tired, he could tell, and not in the mood for her sister’s
antics.

“
I need to
change.” She sighed and looked at them. “You two, just
whatever.”

She left them alone
in the living room.

“
You’ve
upset your sister.”

Zoe shrugged. Oh,
damn, she must have been a handful in high school. Part of him
wondered at that. Zoe wasn’t that much younger than he was, but
he felt like he was old enough to be her father when he was with her.

“
If your
sister is upset, I am.”

She cut him a look
out of the corner of her eye. “Is that so?”

He crossed his arms.
“Other people might like the bratty side of you, but I don’t.
It’s cute, but it gets old since you are apparently doing it to
upset your sister. That I find unacceptable.”

One eyebrow rose and
he wanted to laugh. It was so apparently Kianna but he figured
neither sister would be happy to hear that.

“
Really?”

“
Yes.”