The Santini Collection 1-4 (10 page)

“
I—”

“
Better hurry up, or I’ll take up all the space.” He could feel her staring at him, but he ignored her. Instead he lit all the candles then pulled off his clothes. He slipped into the tub. He held out his hand. “Come on, Maryanne.”

She looked down at his hand then up into his face. The small smile she offered had his heart tumbling down at her feet. The silly woman had no idea just how much he loved her, but soon, she would. She tugged off her clothes and he helped her into the tub. She sat with her back to him, leaning against his chest.

“
Now this is nice.”

“
Yeah, I have agree,” he said. “Although, you better not tell any of my students that I did this because there would be hell to pay.”

She chuckled as she threaded her fingers though his. He could feel her relaxing against him. “I promise as long as you don’t tell anyone at the hospital. I have a reputation to uphold.”

“
No worries. Your secret is safe with me. No one will know the Battleax of BAMC likes bubble baths and candles.”

She sighed. “I have to invoke fear in my patients or they won’t push.”

He nodded. “I have a question for you.”

“
No, I don’t go for threesomes and I don’t have any friends who do. Although, Freddy or Dave would probably be happy to accommodate you.”

He chuckled, happy that she was finally relaxing enough to joke around with him. “Yeah, you’re enough for me.”

The quiet returned. He could see her trying to figure out what that comment meant. It was like when they first started going out. She was weighing everything he said as if waiting for him to say something hurtful. The woman must have dated some shitty men.

“
Your question?”

“
Oh, I know from your reputation that you could have taken a job at one of the big hospitals or worked as a contractor or at clinics and made a lot more money.”

“
And?”

“
Add in the fact you said you wanted to avoid men like me.”

She snorted. “Military men in general.”

“
Then why are you working at a military hospital?”

The sigh was long and she shrugged. “I don’t know. I…”

She said nothing else but he knew what she was thinking.

“
You wanted to serve in your own way.”

“
Don’t make me out to be someone who is some kind of wonderful person.”

But she was. She worked well past her hours, making sure that her patients were taken care of. In the six weeks he had known her, he had seen it. She stayed late and showed up early. And, she was dedicated to each of her patients. She fretted if they weren’t doing well and she celebrated when they accomplished the most simple of feats.

She wouldn’t accept his thoughts on that. He knew that. She had this hardened core that made her seem bigger than life, when she was just one woman. It was one of the things that he loved about her.

And he liked that thinking that no longer scared him. The one thing that did scare him was her not being in his life. Less than two months and she had become the most important thing in life to him.

“
I understand why you do it.” She stiffened. “Oh, let it go, Maryanne. Just because I figured out why you do it isn’t bad.”

He hadn’t meant to sound so pissed but it was a raw nerve with him. He needed the connection to be tighter and she kept trying to pull away. She sat up and looked over her shoulder at him. She was a woman who was made for candlelight. It made her skin glow, her eyes sparkle.

“
Why are you mad?”

Because I’m in love with you and you would rather I go away
.

He couldn’t say it. He knew he was rushing things in his mind. She was there. He knew she was scared of what was going on

“
Sorry. Just, I don’t understand why it’s such a secret.”

“
It’s kind of…well, dorky.”

“
You think serving your country is dorky?”

“
No, wanting to serve your country is dorky.”

He could tell from her tone that she was joking and while he wanted to push her more, he knew better than to do that. Instead, he decided to show her. Without warning, he stood, pulling her up in his arms. He had to be careful not to drop her as he stepped out of the tub. He walked over to the small counter and turned her so she could sit on it. He took her face into his hands and kissed her.

Then, he loved her. He might not be able to tell her everything right now, but he knew he could show her. He kissed down her body, teasing her nipples. He settled on his knees in front of her. Then, he set his mouth against her pussy. She was already wet from the bath and from her own arousal. The familiar taste of her exploded in him. Over and over he slipped his tongue between her silken folds. She moved against him, but he never let her go over that edge.

Soon, it wasn’t enough. It was never enough. He rose to his feet, grabbed the condom from the drawer. After he rolled it on, he entered her in one, hard thrust. She gasped at the intrusion and he was going to apologize, but she wrapped her legs around his waist to urge him on. He thrust into her, over and over again, pushing them both to the edge. She was close, and he could feel her muscles clenching against his cock.

“
Maryanne, look at me.” He ground the words out. “Maryanne.”

She finally opened her eyes in time for him to watch them go blurry with pleasure as she went over the edge. He slipped his hands beneath her ass to pull her more tightly against him as he allowed ecstasy to take over his actions. He followed her moments later. He was still looking at her when he came.

Moments later, the only sound in the room was their heavy breathing.

He pulled her off the counter and then stumbled into the bedroom, falling on the bed with her. He rose to an elbow and looked at her. The only light in the room came from the candles in the bathroom. Her hair was wet and her mouth was swollen from his kisses.

“
I love you, Maryanne.”

She stiffened beneath him. “You don’t have to say that.”

“
What?”

“
That thing,” she said panic coloring her voice. She tried to sit up but he held her steady.

“
But I do love you.” He didn’t regret saying it. He might have rushed it a bit, but now that it was out, he was happy with it.

“
That’s ridiculous.”

He stared at her. Her voice had gone kind of squeaky and all girly. “What?”

“
You’ve only known me for six weeks. You don’t know me.”

She wiggled and this time he let her go. He figured she needed a little space and he wanted to calm her down. She grabbed her robe, shoving her arms into the sleeves then tying the sash.

He frowned at her. “But I do love you.”

“
Really? What do you know about me, really?”

“
You love your brothers.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, everyone knows that.”

“
You love your work, love that you are giving back to the military in some way. And you like flowers and romance.”

Her face drained of what little color there was. “Take that back.”

Leo shook his head trying to understand just what was going on. “What?”

“
I do not like romance. I don’t really even like flowers.”

For a second he didn’t seem able to speak. “What do you mean you don’t like romance and flowers? They make you go all gooey inside.”

“
No.” She was shaking her head and backing up from him as if she were afraid he would attack her.

“
What’s wrong with me knowing things like that about you?” he asked, his temper getting the best of him.

“
Because, you could use it against me.”

She could have taken a knife to his heart and it would hurt less than those words. Did the woman not know him at all? After all their time together these last few weeks, she really thought he would use it to hurt her? Anger and pain surged, but he stuffed them down. If she wanted to fight dirty, he could do it too. One thing he wouldn’t do is fight naked. He hurriedly got dressed in silence.

“
Where are you going?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to do this right now.”

Leo was raised to respect women. He also knew when to step back from a fight that wouldn’t solve anything.

“
Just like that you’re running away? Because I didn’t tell you I love you back?”

“
No. I am not in the mood to fight with a coward.”

The moment he said the words, he wanted to take them back. He didn’t normally fight that dirty with a woman. He opened his mouth to apologize but she shook her head. Color rushed back into her face and her eyes narrowed. “I’m not a coward.”

“
Really? What do you think your abrasive personality tells people?”

“
That I’m selective about who I spend time with. And apparently, I made a mistake with you. Just go.”

He wanted to argue but she was standing on the opposite side of the room, her arms crossed protectively in front of her. She was not going to talk. Leo knew if he stayed, he would only make things worse.

“
You made a mistake? I’m the one who should be pissed, Maryanne.”

“
What the hell do you have to be pissed about?”

“
You think I would use things I know and love about you against you. If you think I would do something like that, then you don’t know me at all.”

He waited for her to deny it. Instead, she gave him a stony stare.

“
I guess I have my answer.”

He turned and walked out hoping he hadn’t just made a big mistake.

Chapter Nine

Maryanne tried to focus on reading a report, but she felt her attention shift again. It had been that way for two weeks. Two very long agonizing weeks and she was getting worse by the day.

“
Are you going to be bitchy for the rest of your life?” Freddy asked.

She gave her friend a nasty look. “If I want.”

Okay that was childish and he was her boss, so it probably wasn’t a good idea to snap at him. Maryanne just didn’t do well on no sleep. She wasn’t getting more than two to three hours a night. And dammit, she wasn’t eating. Even now she was sitting with a burger made just the way she loved it, and she couldn’t get into it. She nibbled.

“
If this is the way you are going to treat your gay husband, I might seek a divorce.”

She looked up at him and sighed. The worried look he gave her told her he was truly concerned about her behavior. “I’m sorry. I’m just not hungry.”

“
Yeah, and you’ve dropped about ten pounds—not that you didn’t need it.”

“
I have not lost that much and bite me.”

He set down his burger and looked at her across her desk. “I wouldn’t have run all the way to Whataburger if I thought you were going to just stare at the food.” He took another bite and chewed it then swallowed. “Tell Freddy what the rat bastard did. Then we can go out and do margaritas and look at all the cute guys on the Riverwalk.”

She chuckled, but it sounded more like a sob.

“
Oh, dear,” he said in true Freddy fashion. “This is bad.”

“
He told me he loved me.”

“
I will hunt down the bastard and make him cry…Wait, what?”

“
He said he loved me and I freaked. I mean, I didn’t think he meant anything because we had just had sex. And so I freaked and I told him he didn’t know me. Then he said horrible things about me, like I like flowers.”