Gianni - The Santinis (9 page)

Gee glanced up at
the man. “Yeah?”

He nodded, a proud
smile curving his lips. “I was Army once upon a time. I have
two sons who are retired Air Force, and a granddaughter who is in the
Reserves.”

“
I’ll
take it.”

“
God, I hope
you know what you’re doing,” Andrews said. “I’m
going to walk down to City Hall.”

“
Okay. Catch
up with you.”

Once Andrews left,
Gee watched the old man package up the ring. “Do you know what
you’re doing, young man?”

Gee grinned. “Nope.
But that’s not always important. I know I need to be with her.
That’s all.”

He nodded. “You’re
one young man with your head on straight.”

Now he just hoped
Kianna thought the same thing.

* * * *

Kianna hated the
politics of her job. She loved teaching, loved the fact that she
actually helped people become better English students, but she hated
smoozing around. She had always thought of it as a necessity of the
job. She wanted to make tenure. Or had wanted it at one time. Lately,
though, she started to think of other things, of possibly not always
teaching in Valdosta. It was silly of her, but just being around
Gianni made her think of other things.

She had been trying
her best to inch out of the President’s monthly get together
for the last hour. Every time she made it close to the door, she
seemed to get caught by someone. Gianni was supposed to be picking
her up soon and she wanted to be back in the office before he made it
to campus.

Right before she
made her escape, she was caught.

“
Hey, Kianna,
why are you here so late?”

She glanced up at
her colleague, Dr. Brenda Hollison. The daughter of two other tenured
professors on campus, it was pretty much a given that Brenda would
make it. She was definitely the epitome of what a tenured business
professor looked like. Sleek business suit, short business-like hair,
and stilettos. Why did women who were already tall seemed to feel the
need to wear those shoes from hell?

She smiled. “Not
sure what you mean by that, Brenda.”

They had both
started at the university at the same time, but for some reason,
Brenda thought she should be called by “Dr.”. So, Kianna
deliberately called her Brenda. Sure she was a bit younger than
Kianna, but there was no reason to be such a bitch.

“
I just
thought you would be out with that boy toy of yours.”

She said it loud
enough that a few people turned their heads.

“
Excuse me?”

“
That young
man you’ve been seeing.”

“
I haven’t
been seeing a young man. I’ve been dating a PJ.”

“
Oh.”
She took a sip of her martini and smiled. “I just wondered why
you didn’t invite him here. It seems that you don’t want
any of us to know about him.”

She hadn’t
been hiding him really. Sort of—but not because of his age.
Their relationship was so new and so special, she didn’t want
anyone but family knowing. She just wanted to keep him all to herself
as long as she could. When Brenda glanced over Kianna’s
shoulder, her smile turned evil. Kianna turned to find Gianni waiting
for her.

“
Hey, Gianni,”
she said walking over to him.

“
Hey.”
He gave her a kiss on the cheek and she tried not to get embarrassed.
She wasn’t a woman who liked huge displays of affection,
especially in her work place.

“
Are you going
to introduce me?” Brenda asked.

“
Of course.
Gianni, this is Brenda Hollison. Brenda, this is Gianni Santini.”

She held out her
hand and Gianni shook it, then dropped it like she was poison. She
wanted to smile, but didn’t. Most men were enamored with a reed
thin bleach blonde with perfect teeth and surgery perfect breasts.
Gianni was different.

“
Let’s
go, Gianni, I need to pick up some things at my office.”

He nodded and
followed her out. While she shut down her computer and locked up her
office, she felt as if there was something wrong. Gianni said
nothing, but there was a vibe she didn’t like coming off of
him. By the time they got to her place she was ready to scream.

“
What?”

He looked at her and
blinked. “What do you mean what?”

“
What has you
irritated?”

“
Nothing.”

God save her from
stubborn men.

“
Nothing?”

He just looked at
her. This was not the laughing man she was in love with.

Her brain stopped
working and her world tilted a bit.

Oh shit.

No. No. No. She was
not
in love with the man. No way. He was younger. This was an
affair. And right now, she wanted to smack him upside the head. She
could take him being mad but she couldn’t take him shutting her
out. It was something her mother had done as punishment to all of
them. And she hated it.

“
If you aren’t
going to talk to me, then why not leave?”

“
I just want
to know what functions I am allowed to attend.”

What the hell was he
talking about? Maybe she had been dropped down the rabbit hole, or
maybe it was just because she just realized she was in love with the
stupid man.

“
Excuse me?”

He crossed his arms.
The eyes that normally danced with humor now focused on her with an
intensity that made her want to hide.

“
It was clear
you were uncomfortable with me being there tonight.”

She could only stare
at him in wonder. The man actually thought she was embarrassed of
him. It was the opposite. Sure, she had kept him a bit of a secret,
but it was mostly because she didn’t want to share.

But before she could
respond, he answered for her.

“
Of course you
were. You are ashamed of your younger…white…lover.”

“
What the hell
are you talking about? It has nothing to do with race. My husband was
white.” Now she was getting irritated. She never in her life
had ever been accused of being racist. She had been sure that Gianni
would never assume that. From the look on his face, Kianna was wrong.
“I like you so I didn’t want to subject you to that
scene. It is one of my least favorite things about my job.”

“
Ah, another
thing you didn’t tell me. You were
married
.”

It took her a second
to realize that he had skipped over her explanation. “I told
you I was married. Didn’t I?” Then it hit her. She never
did. It was so long ago and she had lived through it and survived.

“
No. You
didn’t. Is there a reason why you wouldn’t share that
part of your life?”

“
I…seriously,
Gianni, I thought I did tell you.” He didn’t look
convinced. There was something akin to hurt in his eyes and she
didn’t know what she had done. It was as if there was a fire
and she kept throwing oil on it. “He was a cop and was killed
in the line of duty. I was only nineteen at the time. It seems like…I
hate to say it…but a lifetime ago. I was a different person.
And seriously I thought I told you.”

Then it hit her that
he hadn’t been surprised. Just accusatory. She settled her
hands on her hips.

“
You knew.”

“
Zoe told me.”

She wanted to kill
her little sister, but she could wait. Right now, the man she loved
was looking at her like she was some kind of freak. And then, another
revelation hit her upside the head.

“
You knew and
you never said anything. What were you waiting for?”

“
I was waiting
for you to tell me.”

“
Yeah, right.
You weren’t waiting for that. You were going to lord it over me
in a fight just like you did now. My husband used to do that and I
hated it. It was one of the reasons we were headed for divorce when
he was shot.”

That stopped him.
“Wait, what?”

“
We were
headed for divorce but my baby sister didn’t know that. Didn’t
know that the job had changed him. He wasn’t the man I loved
anymore and I had put my foot down. He couldn’t have cared
less. But, wait, you never asked me. If you had, I would have told
you.”

“
Now, wait,
this isn’t my fault.”

“
It isn’t?
Of course it isn’t. It is never the man’s fault, is it?
Women are the secretive ones, the ones who don’t tell you
anything but then expect you to know things.”

“
Yeah, I would
say so.”

“
Bullshit.”

His eyes widened.

“
Yeah, I am
calling you on it. You have never discussed anything else with me.
Not what is going to happen and you sure didn’t ask me about
Charley. You just waited until you could use it against me.”

She didn’t
realize she had been backing him up until he hit the door.

“
You know
what. Go away. Go away and figure out if you can be a man in this
relationship.”

She knew she had hit
a nerve when his face flushed. “What did you say?”

Okay, maybe she had
pushed him a little too far. Gianni would never hurt her, but he was
pissed.

He stepped up to her
and grabbed her. Without a word he slammed his mouth down on hers for
five long seconds. She felt his anger, his passion and something she
couldn’t quite figure out as he devastated her with the kiss.
When he pulled back, he let her go and she stumbled back, almost
falling down. Gianni would have normally helped her, or she thought
he would have. This time, he didn’t.

“
Just so you
know who is the man in this relationship.”

Before she could
respond, he was out the door. She stumbled over to the sofa, her body
hot from the kiss and still vibrating with anger from the fight.
Dammit, the man had her head all messed up. She closed her eyes and
realized she was crying. Damn, she hadn’t cried over a man
since Charley.

What had gone wrong?
One minute she was thinking about how happy she was, the next they
were yelling at each other. Had she been holding back? Maybe. She
just realized she loved the man. He had only been back a couple of
months, but they had spent two months emailing several times a day.
And all through that she never mentioned her marriage.

“
Because I
felt like a failure.”

She whispered it as
if it was a sin. And in her eyes, it was. She had never told a soul
about the divorce. She was ashamed because her husband died in the
line of duty, and when she had asked him to get help, he refused. The
job had made him angry, mean and scary. It wasn’t the laughing
man who had teased her and tempted her into bed. He had been her
first…and she had felt like a failure when he had chosen the
job over her.

She wiped her eyes
and went in search of her phone. She needed to get out of town, take
a break. One person in the world would let her be herself, to just
be.

She dialed the
number. “Etta, I think I need to see you this weekend.”

My mother always
says that it’s always the man’s fault. My father always
agrees, especially if he’s within hitting distance. –Gianni

Gianni was trying to
keep his temper in check, but it was hard. Kianna hadn’t done a
damn thing to dispel the idea that they were just having an affair.
True, they had never talked about it. And she didn’t really say
it tonight.

He almost growled
when his phone rang with Leo’s ringtone.

“
Hey, Gee,
guess who is going to be in Valdosta tonight?” Leo asked.

“
What do you
mean?” He asked, still annoyed over his fight with Kianna. It
wasn’t even a fight. She just made assumptions and kicked him
out of her house. Like he was one of her sisters.

“
Your favorite
brother.”

“
Marco made it
from Hawaii?”

“
Smart ass. We
were just in Pensacola seeing Jesse and I suggested coming up there
to see you.”