The Santini Collection 1-4 (21 page)

She smiled. She had been, more times than she could count. Part of her wanted to know how long it would last. But, there was a bigger part of her that didn’t want to know. She had planned so much of her life out for herself. Every time, life seemed to throw her a curveball. For once, she decided to live in the moment.

After the trip to the bathroom, she couldn’t go back to bed, so she wandered to the kitchen. He kept it neat for a bachelor. That military training again. She knew it had to be that because she had been to Colin’s place and it was a mess. And, she thought as she opened the fridge, he never had food. Marco’s fridge was well stocked and put Colin’s to shame. Last time she had been there he had half a bottle of champagne and caviar to eat. That was it.

She pulled out the carton of eggs, the milk and some cheese and got to work. There was one thing she knew about a man with Marco’s stamina was that he would need food when he returned.

* * * *

Marco was humming when he walked up the path to his cottage—nothing like a bout of healthy sex to loosen him up. It had been one of the best nights of his life, if not the best. Making love with Alana had been sexy, sweet and it had blown his world apart. Maybe that’s why he’d been avoiding it with her. He had known before they had even gone out for their first date that she could mean so much to him.

He had wanted to wake her up this morning and make love to her again, but he had forced himself out the door for a run. They had gotten very little sleep the night before and he was pretty sure she was exhausted. As he headed for his front door, he spotted that red sports car in the driveway. He stopped and watched the blond-headed man head to the door. The polo shirt and khaki shorts weren’t formal, but Marco was damned sure there wasn’t a wrinkle in them.

Marco could have told him that Alana wasn’t there, but he took some kind of satisfaction out of watching him walk to the door and ring the bell. Then to Marco’s irritation, the bastard used a damned key.
A key
. How did he rate a key? After a few seconds, pretty boy stepped out of the house and spied Marco and headed in his direction. Worry etched his features.

“
Santini?”

He nodded.

“
Have you seen Alana? We were supposed to go to breakfast this morning but she’s not in her house.”

“
She’s in mine.”

He expected the guy to get upset, but he didn’t. Instead, relief smoothed out his features. When the man smiled, there was something familiar about it, something from Marco’s memory he couldn’t seem to grasp.

“
Thank goodness. Alana has a habit of taking in strays and I’m always worried that someone will take advantage of her.”

“
Marco?” Alana called out. She had opened the door and was walking down the front steps of his house. She was wearing one of his shirts. The sight of it transfixed him for a moment or two then he realized she was walking out there with Colin looking on.

“
Colin’s here, Alana.”

“
Oh.” Then she frowned. “Oh, no. I forgot about breakfast.”

She stepped in full view of Colin and Marco tried his best not to get irritated. It was Hawaii and people tended to be very lax about the way they dressed, but he didn’t like the idea of his woman being looked at by another man, especially one who spent the night at her house just a few weeks ago.

“
Alana, love, I can’t believe you threw me over for another man.”

She rolled her eyes. “Come on in. There’s enough for everyone.”

Marco was nonplussed for a second then he smelled the eggs cooking.

“
As long as Navy man doesn’t rip my arms off, I’ll be fine.”

She snorted. “Come on.”

She turned and left them standing there. Colin leaned in and said, “A bit of advice for someone who has known Alana since she was five. Just go with the flow. Alana gets what she wants.”

Then he walked away, following Alana into his house. For a moment, Marco couldn’t think. His brain was just not functioning. The woman stood there in his shirt after one of the best nights of his life and invited another man to breakfast. And he hadn’t done a thing to stop it.

“
Marco?” She called out. He looked and saw her looking out the window. “Come on, or your food will get cold.”

And, as Colin said, he just went along with Alana. But they would have a discussion about her relationship with the other man, and soon.

Alana knew that Marco was irritated, especially when he grumbled that he was going to take a shower before eating. He was polite to a fault on occasion, but today he had been rude. At least now she could make his omelet the way he liked it.

“
Methinks lover boy is jealous.”

She gave Colin the stink eye but said nothing.

“
Well, I guess you moved past your problems in the bedroom.”

“
Colin Fergus McKenna, I will tell your Tutu if you don’t stop saying things like that.”

He smiled then took a sip of coffee.

“
I have the worst luck. I can’t believe I forgot to call you.”

“
I think that’s a good thing.”

She sprinkled a little grated cheese onto Marco’s omelet. “What do you mean?”

“
You never forget anything, but I think we all need someone who makes us forget our obligations for a little while.”

She frowned at him. “Don’t tell me you’ve been back with Sara.”

“
No.”

She sighed. “Good.”

“
Yeah.” But he didn’t sound convinced.

“
Colin, you know it’s a good thing for you to stay away from that woman.”

He smiled, although it didn’t reach his eyes. “I should have known to stay away from her. You never liked her.”

“
She’s a user.”

“
Very true.”

“
And you deserve someone better.”

“
I agree with you there.”

She stopped her arguments after that because he had surprised her. “Yeah?”

“
Yes. Seeing you with Marco this last week made me realize I wanted more than to be someone’s booty call.”

She chuckled. “You’re showing your age there, Colin. They don’t call it that anymore.”

“
It’s neither here nor there. We are done. Which I told her last night. She wasn’t very happy.”

“
Oh, I wished you had called me.”

“
I did, but someone was busy.”

Her face heated.

“
And since you’re cooking him breakfast while wearing his t-shirt, I’ll assume you were really, really busy.”

She rolled her eyes. “I am not giving you details.”

“
Good because that would completely gross me out. It would be like hearing about my sister.” He studied her over the rim of his coffee cup. “I’m just glad he makes you happy, not like Pete. Have you told him about your family?”

She shook her head. She hated telling people about it. Most everyone knew about the accident and the scandal that followed. They definitely knew about the money she had been rewarded by the state. But she didn’t want to talk about that, not yet.

“
He knows they died in a wreck, but that’s about it.”

“
Well, I think it’s still a good thing, especially if you are going to cook omelets every weekend.”

* * * *

Marco showed no reaction to the conversation he’d overheard. He had a feeling Alana hid a little bit of herself from him, and he felt justified listening. Okay, not really justified. His mother would smack him if she knew he had been listening, but Marco had wanted to make sure of the relationship between McKenna and Alana.

He stepped into the room and he couldn’t help but smile. She was cooking at the stove, humming a little tune and tapping her foot. He had thought she would get dressed but she didn’t. True, his shirt covered her, but he had thought with another man around, she would. Although, there was a part of him that was thrilled she wore something of his.

“
Your omelet’s ready, Marco.”

She hadn’t turned around, she just knew he was there.

“
Smells good,” he said as he grabbed a cup and filled it with coffee. She set the plate on his small kitchen table but before she could return to the stove, he grabbed her and gave her a large smacking kiss. Partially for his benefit, but also for McKenna.

She was blushing when she turned back to the stove.

“
So, McKenna, what do you do for a living?”

The younger man didn’t answer him for a moment and Marco looked up.

McKenna shook his head. “Sorry, I’m used to most people knowing what I do.”

Alana laughed as she rinsed out the pan. “There’s that big head of yours, Colin. He does the news for one of the local stations here in the morning.”

Then it clicked. “Oh, yeah, that’s why I recognized you.”

He gave Marco a self-depreciating smile. “They like the ‘hometown boy does good’ angle here.”

“
Yeah. I don’t watch much television, especially in the morning.”

“
I’m going to wash up,” Alana said, leaning over his shoulder and giving him a kiss.

“
Aren’t you going to eat?” he asked.

She laughed. “I did. I don’t believe in waiting for food.”

Then she walked out of the room and he watched her go. Damn she had the sweetest walk, and those legs. They were long and muscular…

He looked back at McKenna who was giving him a narrowed look.

“
I would suggest you mind your own business,” Marco said.

“
Yeah? Why is that, Santini?”

“
She might have been yours at one time, but now she’s mine.”

Marco said nothing else as he dug into his omelet. Heaven was more like it. The woman could cook.

“
Tell me something. Are you telling me you’re planning on making it a permanent arrangement?”

Marco’s first response was yes. From the moment he gave her that one little kiss he had known she was the woman for him. Getting to know her over the last few weeks had given him insight into her character and he knew he wanted to spend his life with her.

“
I’m planning on the long term for right now.”

A few more seconds ticked by as the man watched Marco. “But you don’t want to tell Alana. Smart man.”

Marco chewed on another bit of omelet as he studied the man across the table. He and Alana were the same age and there was an intimacy there that he hadn’t liked before. But, now he was thinking there was something else going on. It wasn’t sexual intimacy, but more like familial intimacy.

“
You’re not a former lover.”

“
Eww. No. We have never been lovers, although, we did share our first kiss and second. It might explain why neither of us has been lucky in love before now. It ruined us.”

“
Really? You aren’t attracted in the least?”

McKenna smiled. “No. Do you have sisters?”

He shook his head. “No, just three brothers.”

“
Well, I look at Alana as a sister and she thinks of me as a brother. I was raised by my Tutu and Alana’s family sort of adopted me. Tutu worked a lot of hours and they filled that time. So, it is kind of gross to me to think of her as more than a sister.”

Then McKenna’s smile faded and his eyes narrowed again. He might appear affable, but his next words let Marco know he wasn’t as harmless as he appeared. “Just so you know. She might not have her brothers around, but I won’t think twice about making you disappear if you hurt her.”