The Santini Collection 1-4 (12 page)

Maryanne snorted. “I think you don’t know the first thing about your mother. Do you know what I had to do to get here?”

His heart was in his throat and this woman was griping at him as if he were some naughty boy she had to discipline. If she could be defensive, so could he. “No, why don’t you tell me?”

“
Freddy is working on his anniversary, which made Dave mad at me. I cleared out a chunk of my savings to get the last seat on a horrible flight next to a man I’m sure used his hair to floss his teeth, and you can’t even open the door for me?”

The last word came out as a sob. For a second, he didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t accustomed to seeing her like this. Other women, sure, but Maryanne never cried. She just wasn’t the type.

“
Sure, it’s okay for you to go running off, ignoring me.”

As she talked, the tears flowed. What little makeup she had on was smeared all over her face. It hurt to see her in pain, but there was a little ray of hope lighting his heart. It made him feel like a bit of a bastard but he couldn’t really help it. If she was miserable, she had been missing him.

She wiped her face with the backs of her hands smearing her makeup even more. “And I have to come here, like you’re the girl or something.”

“
You said to leave you alone.”

“
Well, I didn’t mean it,” she screamed. His ears were ringing from the volume. “Fine, that’s what you want. I’m gone. I’ll go back to Texas tomorrow.”

But even as she said it, she didn’t move.

“
What are you here for?”

“
Because I love you, you idiot. I swear I’ve never met such a stupid man before. Do you think I would fly all this way and cry in front of you if I didn’t love you?”

“
Fine.”

She sniffed. “Fine.”

“
I love you too.”

“
I think we covered that. And how I’m a coward,” she said and this time she wailed it. He really didn’t know how to react. The worse she got the more awkward he felt. He rarely dated women who were overly emotional. It was tiring and he really didn’t know how to react.

In the end, he did the one thing he knew would work. He reached out and grabbed her. He thought she might fight him, but she didn’t. When he pulled her against him, he thought the feel of her body against his made everything right in his world.

“
I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Leo.”

He kissed the top of her head so happy he didn’t care what happened now. “I shouldn’t have called you a coward.”

“
But it’s true.”

He leaned back and looked down at her. Her nose was red and the little bit of makeup she wore was smeared over her face, but she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him.

“
No. You’re not.”

She pushed away from him and he panicked. “No, give me a second. I had to do a lot of thinking and I realized you were right. Everything was happening so fast, but then, it never happened like that for me.”

“
You’ve never been in love.”

“
No. Well, that too. I mean, I would date guys a lot longer than we did and didn’t allow them to infiltrate my space.”

He chuckled. “You say the sexiest things. Infiltrate your space.”

Her face flamed pink and he laughed louder.

“
I didn’t mean it like that. Oh my God, why do men make everything about sex?”

“
I haven’t touched you in two weeks, it’s about all I can think of right now.”

He stepped forward and she held her hand out. “No, wait, let me say this. Never before had I allowed a guy into my life like you. I dated one guy for six months before I would let him come into my apartment and stay for more than an hour. I thought all of them were walking away from me, but I realized that I was already gone before they did. But you…you wouldn’t allow that. You just busted your way in by being nice and sweet.”

“
That’s because I raised him right,” his mother said through the door. “And he knows the rules about closed doors and girls in his room.”

He rolled his eyes. “Good Lord, Mom, I’m over thirty.”

“
You do not take that name in vain. You have exactly one minute.”

Maryanne’s eyes widened. “Is she serious?”

“
Yeah. Mom never jokes about that. Says it like it is.”

“
Yeah, tell me about it,” she murmured. But before he could ask her about it, she said, “What I was trying to say is that you let me be who I am and love me for it.”

He pulled her closer. “Of course I do.”

“
Most men don’t think women like me are keepers.”

He looked down at her as she tipped her head back to look at him. “Well, those guys are wimps. I’m made of tougher stuff than that. I’m a Santini.”

He bent his head and did the one thing he had wanted to do since she had opened the door. She rose to her tiptoes and returned the kiss. Everything in him said to take her then, lay her down on his bed and show her how much he loved her. But his mother had other plans.

“
You’re a Santini who’s about to get your ears boxed if you don’t open that door in the next ten seconds.”

EPILOGUE

Leo leaned against the doorjamb and watched Maryanne. She was looking out their hotel window at the Riverwalk. The soft glow of the shops below the only light against her skin.

“
Hey, there, Mrs. Santini, might want to be careful who sees you in that towel.”

Maryanne looked back over her shoulder at him with a smile.

“
I doubt they can see me from the Riverwalk all the way up here.”

“
I don’t know about that,” He said as he made his way across the room to her. He pulled her into his arms. “I know if I saw you from down there I would find a way to meet you.”

She slipped her hands up his bare chest. “Yeah?”

“
It’s bad enough I had to wait four months to marry you.”

“
You know I couldn’t marry you with Jack deployed.”

He nodded thinking of his brother-in-law. Jack had some ghosts to contend with. It was pretty clear he had seen some nasty action, but Leo was happy to have him back, mainly because it made Maryanne happy.

“
And, we had to let Dave and Freddy think they planned the whole thing.”

He shook his head and sighed. “None of it matters, love. You’re mine now and that’s the important thing.”

“
Oh, Leo, I was yours the minute you brought me lunch at the hospital.”

“
You mean the way to your heart was through your stomach.”

She laughed. “No. It was that you sort of made it romantic. I told you. Guys never tried to romance me before. I didn’t accept it, but that’s when I knew I was falling for you. The fact that you made our wedding even more romantic was wonderful.”

He had known that no matter how far she had come in accepting her soft side, Maryanne still wasn’t ready to admit she had wanted a big romantic wedding. It hadn’t been huge, but he had made sure it had been something she should never forget. They’d married outside, just as the sun was starting to set over the Riverwalk.

“
Oh. Okay.”

She laid a hand on his chest. “Now wait. We’re married now. Tell me when you fell for me.”

“
Seriously?”

She nodded.

“
When you punched me.”

She snorted. “Oh, come on.”

“
No, really. I knew a woman with that much punch had a passion I wanted to taste.”

“
So you wanted me.”

“
No, I wanted you the moment I saw you. Marching into the room all sassy, giving orders. It’s the way to my heart.”

She smiled. “Yeah?”

“
But, when you hit me, well…I guess it was sort of like being hit by cupid’s arrow.”

She laughed and rose to her tiptoes. “It’s a good thing it was you and not Vince.”

He laughed, lifting her off the floor and carrying her back into the king-sized canopy bed.

“
I would have had to kill my brother.”

“
Leo,” she said, shaking her head. “You would never kill your brother.”

“
Okay, maim him. But, there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you, Mrs. Santini.”

She smiled. “And that’s why I love you.”

“
Yeah?” He laid her on the bed. “Well, just let me show you how much I love you.”

Then he joined her on the bed and showed her.

Marco

Melissa Schroeder

Dedication

To my sister, for all the years we shared together as official brats and beyond.

A Note from Mel

Ah, Hawaii. It was a dream come true for many people to be stationed there, but we had a rough time. We moved there just months before 9/11. We went from Aloha Fridays, with Les coming home an hour or so early, to lock down on the base. Our world was turned upside down. I was also pregnant, our surprise. Living in a two bedroom with two kids who were seven years apart in age wasn’t easy. But I will always love Hawaii for the culture and for inspiring my most successful series, Harmless. Since Marco is a SEAL, I had to have in Hawaii and I needed to give him a Hawaiian woman. For some reason, I just did. There are a few Hawaiian words I throw about in the book:

Ha’ole-newcomer, not Hawaiian

Kama’aina- a local, an Hawaiian

Tutu- grandmother

Ko’u ipo – my sweetheart or sweetheart

I hope you enjoy Marco and Alana’s story.

Marco - Chapter One

Marco Santini jogged up the stairs to his cottage, enjoying the loose feelings in his muscles. It had been a few days since he had been able to hit the beach to run in the morning. He’d been so busy with work lately he hadn’t had the time to make it out. He did his PT but his morning run started his day off right.

As he stepped up to his tiny lanai, he noticed his landlady walking in his direction. Although, every time he thought of her that way, it felt wrong. For most of his life, Marco had always thought of a landlady to be older. Alana was young and beautiful and always had a smile for him.

“
Good morning, Lieutenant Santini,” she said.

Marco resisted the urge to tell her she didn’t have to use his rank, but he knew it was useless. He knew she did it out of respect and there was a part of him that found it kind of cute.

Now, the rest of her, he found downright gorgeous. She was wearing a blue t-shirt that hid most of her curves, but she had on a pair of black spandex shorts that she regularly wore for her walks. They clung to the sleek muscle and emphasized her long legs.

“
Good morning.”

“
Your brothers are getting in today, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah. Sort of an after the fact bachelor party for Leo.”

“
That’ll be fun. You have the keys to the SUV, yeah?”

“
Yes. I really appreciate you switching cars with me.”

“
No problem. I couldn’t pass up a chance to drive your convertible.”

When he had asked her about renting an SUV she had been more than willing to switch cars for the weekend. The truth is, she had to be one of the most accommodating people he knew.