The Santini Collection 1-4 (16 page)

“
Give us a chance to wash up and we’ll meet up with you out front in about twenty,” Vince said.

“
I would make that thirty if I were you, Vince, there’s only one shower,” Marco said.

“
I call shower first,” Gee yelled and took off running.

“
Damn,” Vince muttered. He and Leo tore off after their brother.

“
You don’t have to go with us if you don’t want to,” Marco said after a few moments.

“
I don’t mind, unless you do.”

“
No.”

Another long moment of silence.

“
I guess I should go get ready.”

She nodded and he kept staring at her.

“
What?” she asked.

“
Are we cool?”

For a second she didn’t know what he was talking about, then it hit her. His comments from this morning still bothered her, but she wouldn’t let him know that. Her pride wouldn’t allow for that.

“
Yeah, we’re cool, lieutenant. You might want to hurry because I have a feeling your brothers will have no trouble leaving without you.”

He sighed. “See you in a few.”

She watched him walk away, her gaze slipping down his body. When he turned the corner she sighed. She couldn’t seem to keep her mind or her attention off his body. Seriously, what woman could? And she had just agreed to have dinner with all four of them.

She had to be insane.

* * * *

“
You should really ask her out,” Leo said as he took a sip of beer. They had returned hours before. Dinner had been…nice. Alana had been a bit reluctant to join into the chatting until Leo had loosened her up.

“
She seemed more comfortable with you.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, because I’m not a threat.”

“
What does that mean?”

“
She’s shy around guys. The Santinis aren’t that easy to take even for the most outgoing woman. And with all of us there at once, we are kind of loud. I have a feeling that your lady is accustomed to quiet times.”

He grunted but said nothing as he took another sip of beer. He knew she was shy, but she hadn’t been so quiet with him. Their interactions had always been pleasant until that morning when he made an ass out of himself.

Leo apparently wasn’t ready to let it go. “Make sure not to wait too long. That’s one woman who won’t last long.”

“
She doesn’t date much.”

“
Could be that the right guy hasn’t asked her out.”

He thought about that for a moment or two then nodded. “You’re probably right.”

“
Maryanne isn’t a woman who would be considered shy, but I did have to convince her to go out with me.”

Marco snorted as he thought about his larger than life but petite sister-in-law. “After she punched you in the nose.”

“
No, she hit me in the eye.” He sighed. “It’s when I started falling for her.”

He chuckled. “You’re warped.”

“
And I’m gonna be a daddy. Lord.” He shook his head. “We wanted to try right off, because you know we don’t know how long I’ll last at teaching. They might put me back out in the field and that will mean more deployments. Still it happened fast.”

“
You’re getting kind of old, so good decision.”

“
Yeah, at least I’m not old and cranky, like Vince.”

“
I heard that, jackass,” Vince yelled out the window.

Leo ignored Vince because once he got going on a subject he would not shut up. “Still, I think you should take a chance. She’s a sweetie and since you’re so hung up on her, it might be a good idea.”

He opened his mouth but Vince interrupted him. “I now know why I’m not married. Apparently it turns you into someone who talks about feelings and babies and shit. Can you two shut up or go somewhere. I need sleep.”

He shared a smile with Leo who nodded. Marco counted off with his fingers then they both banged on the wall. The sofa was located against the wall. Vince fell on the floor with a thump then a string of curse words filled the air. Both of them started laughing.

Then, they heard him stomping down the hall at them. He appeared in the doorway in his boxers and T-shirt. He’d had to put on his glasses and damn he looked pissed. It made them laugh even harder. He looked like some kind of deranged serial killer. Even with his hair as short as it was, it was already smushed upside his head.

“
I’m going to kill you both.”

He came after them and they took off on a run.

“
You’re getting old, Vince, so I am pretty sure you won’t be able to catch them,” Gianni yelled after them.

He had just reached Marco and leapt at him, taking them both down so they were rolling over the grass in front of Alana’s house. Vince straddled him and had his arm lifted to smack him against the head when the lights came on. Both of them blinked against the brightness trying to focus. Then the door opened.

Shit
.

“
What is going on?” Alana asked, concern lacing her voice.

Marco looked over and his tongue stuck to the top of his mouth. Damn, the woman was almost naked. She was wearing a soft t-shirt that stopped at her waist and some low riding shorts. It gave him enough of a view of her belly to make his brain go blank.

“
My brothers are making fools of themselves,” Leo said with a smile.

Vince rolled to his feet and offered a hand for Marco. He took it and stood beside him.

“
That still doesn’t tell me what’s going on.”

Now she didn’t sound concerned. She sounded irritated.

“
I’m sorry about that, Alana. Vince decided to chase us in the yard and tackle me.”

“
Oh,” she said, but the tone in her voice told him she didn’t understand. “Okay. I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Good night.”

She slipped inside and shut her door.

“
Well, that impressed her,” Leo said with a chuckle.

Marco glanced at the door one more time before following his brothers to his house. It would be one more thing he would have to apologize for when his brothers headed back to the mainland.

And sadly, he was looking forward to it because it meant time with Alana.

He just hoped she was still talking to him by then.

Chapter Four

Alana sat by the pool and tried to keep her mind on the figures she was looking at on her laptop. It was getting close to her quarterly meeting for the charity she headed up and she hated it. The charity, she loved. But, this…well, numbers should be illegal. And spreadsheets.

She shut the top of her laptop and frowned. She had been in a bad mood for two days and she knew it had to do with Santini. They had seemed to come to an understanding but there was still something there. She didn’t know if it was her embarrassment or his, or something else. If she hadn’t known better, she would say that it was sexual tension, but that would mean he was attracted to her also.

With a sigh she leaned her head back on the lounger and closed her eyes. She shouldn’t be surprised that he thought of her like that. Most hot men did. They would tell her she was pretty in the same tone they would tell their sister…and that was all she would ever be to them. A sister figure. And it wouldn’t hurt so much if she hadn’t been letting Colin’s comments get to her.

She knew she could lay the blame of all of this at Pete’s feet. He had made her believe that a hot man like that would be interested in her. The romance had been fabricated, as was any kind of feelings he had for her. He had only been interested in her money and in the money she raised for the charity.

The sad thing is, she would have given it to him. Hell, to have a real family again, she would give up her money, the house…and she would do it to get her parents and brothers back. How many times had she thought about that phone call to her dorm room in the middle of night that had changed her life forever?

“
Alana?”

She shook herself out her sour mood and looked up. It was Marco and he was alone. She hadn’t heard him. And he was standing there looking glorious, and she was in her bathing suit. Damn.

“
Is there something you needed, lieutenant?”

“
No, I just wanted to thank you for being so nice to my brothers. They can be a bit overwhelming.”

She nodded. “They’ve already left?”

He slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Yeah.”

“
That’s too bad. To really appreciate Hawaii you need to be here at least two weeks.”

“
Well, Leo used up most of his leave on his honeymoon.”

He said it with enough confusion she smiled. Nothing like a man who’s never been in love enough to want to use his leave on a woman.

“
Was there anything else you needed? I have some work to do.”

He glanced at her closed laptop. Then, he looked at her for a minute. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior Saturday.”

She said nothing. She had been down this road before with men. Somehow it all turned out worse than when they were an ass to her. Apologizing for not being attracted to her always hurt. She knew they thought they were being nice, but it was always very painful for her.

“
Accepted.”

“
I don’t know why I behaved that way, and part of it is I don’t know much about your personal life. I know you do volunteer work, but I don’t know what you do.”

“
Are you going to keep standing there making me look up at you or are you going to sit down?”

He gave her one of those little smiles he rarely offered and took the lounge chair next to hers. She wanted to sigh. Why she had invited him to sit was beyond her. She knew why. She was sick enough to want him to stay and be pissed because he did.

“
Are you going to tell me what you do?”

She cocked her head to the side. “Why do you want to know?”

He shrugged. “I think I should know more about you.”

She nodded and looked out over the pool. “I do a lot of volunteer work, but the main thing I do is head up an organization in my family’s name. Which is what I was doing when you showed up. I have a meeting tomorrow and it has to do with the budget.”

She hoped he would take the hint that she had work to do. Okay, she really didn’t want to do it, but then, he didn’t know that. Instead, he leaned back on the lounger. Being subtle with a Santini apparently didn’t work.

“
Are you going to tell me more or are you going to make me pull the information out of you?”

She smiled. “Our main purpose is handling several homes on the islands for battered women and their children. We are talking about expanding to raise funds for scholarships.”

“
And you took it over at such a young age?”

She shook her head. “I established it.”

She said nothing else because she didn’t know what to say. Most people in her personal life knew about her work, and most people on the islands where familiar with her story. The whole situation was odd. She never had her tenants out on her back patio. They were permitted to use it, but she mostly stayed out of the way then. And other than a cordial greeting here and there, she didn’t really get to know them. She probably knew more about Santini than any of the others.

“
So, you’re not going to tell me more.” He said it as if he were thinking some great decision over. Then she realized he had made one. “I would like to take you to dinner. You know, to make up for being an ass.”

She sighed. “Lieutenant—”

“
Please call me Marco.”