The Santini Collection 1-4 (25 page)

“
I am trying to sit with you because I’m interested in you,” he said shaking his head.

“
Oh.” It took a few seconds for it to hit her. “You’re interested in me?”

She said it so loud several people glanced over.

“
I don’t think this is going the way I thought it would. I must be losing my touch.”

“
Hmm.”

He sighed. “So, can I sit with you?”

“
Sure.”

He took his seat and smiled at her. Damn he was fine. Blond hair and golden brown eyes. Where did they make men like him? He was so handsome he made her eyes hurt.

“
I’m Gianni, but you can call me Gee.”

“
Why would I do that?”

He stared at her for a moment then laughed. “It’s my nickname.”

“
I just wondered why you wouldn’t want to be called such a fabulous name.”

“
Well, it’s not half as pretty as Kianna.”

She tried not to smile but she couldn’t help it. “Thank you. I take it that your nickname came from family?”

“
I’m the youngest in the family so they started calling me that when I was barely walking.”

“
Ah.” Okay that showed all her intelligence. A borderline IQ and all she could say was a one-syllable acknowledgement. “Big family?”

He shrugged as he watched her. God, he was pretty. Not too pretty, but he had blond hair, milk chocolate eyes, and the cutest smirk. He was bigger than most men his age—which she pegged for mid-twenties. She inwardly sighed.

“
There are four of us. All boys.”

“
Oh, wow, we had three girls. Not sure how I would handle that many men.”

He stopped in mid sip. “Really?”

“
Yes.” Then she realized the double entendre. Her face heated. “I mean I was raised in a mainly female household, so boys are a foreign unknown.”

He nodded.

“
So, you buy lots of girls sweets?”

“
Yeah. Well, not a lot, but every now and then.”

She nodded and played with the paper beneath her half eaten malasada.

“
Are you going to eat that?”

“
Okay, I’ll admit it. I am a bit of a freak and you’re making me nervous so it’s hard to eat.”

He blinked at her, and his lips curved. “No reason to be nervous. Wanted to spend my last day in Georgia with a pretty Georgia woman.”

“
Oh? You’re moving?”

Figures. Just her luck that an attractive man who would buy her food was leaving. Not that it was anything but him being nice, and apparently some kind of thing that he did all the time.

“
No. Just heading out for a two-month deployment.”

“
I didn’t know they had a squadron going out from the forty first.”

“
You didn’t know that we are airmen but you know that?”

She could tell he was teasing by the tone in his voice. The man was so sweet she could get a toothache just from talking to him.

“
Yes. Some of my students are connected to the military. I also have a few spouses and a few active duty in my night classes.”

He nodded. “What do you teach?”

“
English.”

“
Just English?” When she didn’t answer right away, he said, “My mom teaches at the community college level in Virginia, so I know you all have your areas.”

She smiled. It was nice to hear a man talk about his mother with such pride. “I teach beginning composition and reading comprehension.”

He said nothing for a few long seconds. “You like you job.”

“
No. I love it. It was what I wanted to do from the time I started college.”

He gave her a full smile. Every drop of moisture dried up in her mouth.
Damn
.

“
That’s all that is important.”

She nodded but wanted to move on. “What is it like having three older brothers?”

“
It was horrible. They hated me because they’re all ugly and stupid.”

She laughed enjoying him. “Yeah, so are my sisters. Are your brothers in the Air Force too?”

He shook his had. “We all went for different services. Leo is in the Army. Marco is Navy and old man Vince is in the Marines—which is what our father was.”

“
Ah. So you’re all brats.”

“
And damned proud of it.”

“
And you jump. And you’re leaving tomorrow?”

He nodded as he finished chewing a bite of his malasada. He rubbed his hands to get rid of the sugar from his sweet treat. She could just imagine sucking one of those sugar-covered fingers.

Dammit
.

“
What are you doing today, Kianna?”

It took her a second to dispel the fantasy she’d just conjured in her head. She shrugged. “I was going to grade some papers.”

“
How about spending the day with me?”

She didn’t answer right away. “Why?”

“
I told you. I wanted to spend my last day here with a pretty Georgia woman.”

“
This isn’t some kind of incident that will have me ending up on a show on Discovery ID, is it?”

“
What?”

“
This isn’t some kind of date from hell where you lock me in a basement and leave me for two months?”

He put his hand over his heart. “I promise.”

His expression was solemn but his eyes were dancing with amusement.

“
Just hang out?” she asked.

“
Yeah.”

Normally she would say no. Men like Gianni usually didn’t flirt with her and generally didn’t ask her out—not unless there was something they wanted from her. But he was leaving in the morning. And, he was sitting there giving her the most beautiful smile. She couldn’t say no.

“
Okay.”

His smile widened and she felt her heart turn over. What the hell had she just gotten herself into?

* * * *

By the end of the night, Gianni was completely charmed. They’d spent the day all over Valdosta, including the Wild Adventures Theme Park. It had taken his mind completely off the worry of his deployment.

“
I had a great time, Gianni.” She barely flirted, but those cute little smiles of hers had his head spinning.

“
Thank you for spending the day with me.”

“
It’s the least I can do,” she said.

“
Well, there is one more thing you could do.”

“
Yes?”

“
A kiss to remember you by.”

She blinked. “Uh…”

“
What?”

“
Sorry, just…never mind.”

She leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the cheek. When she pulled back he was amazed she didn’t pat him on the head. That was just not going to do.

“
That wasn’t a kiss, Kianna.”

God, he loved her name. It rolled off his tongue every time he said it. He could imagine what it sounded like when he groaned it.

Whoa, boy, slow down
. He had an o dark thirty appointment with a plane. He just thanked his mother for her early training. He was packed and ready to go, so it made it easy for him to spend the entire day with Kianna.

“
It wasn’t?” She shook her head. “Then what was it?”

“
A peck.”

She frowned. “Funny, I thought it was a kiss.”

He shook his head. “No. This is a kiss.”

He slipped his hand to the small of her back and stepped closer. Leaning down, he slammed his mouth over hers. She tasted sweet as he thought she would. Tempting, sugary…a decadent treat he wanted to gorge himself on. By the time he pulled himself back, they were both breathing heavily and he was busy convincing his body that there would be no reward tonight.

“
Thank you for the wonderful day, Kianna.”

He gave her another brush of his mouth over hers. “I have your email. I hope you don’t mind a few emails from me.”

She smiled. “I wouldn’t have given you my card if I did.”

He opened her car door and waited for her to slide in before shutting it. “Drive safely.”

She nodded. “Be safe, Gianni.”

He watched her drive away, her taillights fading into the night before he walked to his truck. Just like every other military man, he was always looking forward to the homecoming even before he left..

He licked his lips and he could still taste her there. Now he had something more to look forward to when he returned.

Chapter Two

I love my family, but there are times they can be overbearing. Being Joey Santini’s baby is a blessing and a curse. —Gee

Gee folded his last shirt and placed it in the suitcase. Ten days in Virginia was enough for him.

“
I made all your favorites,” Joey Santini said studying him. He would sigh, but he knew it would hurt his mother’s feelings. She’d apparently been a wreck since his parents had gotten the call two weeks earlier. Vince had said the once indestructible Joey Santini had come undone. Gee hadn’t seen it, but just knowing made him feel guilty.

“
Mom, you really don’t have to do that. I know you and Dad are busy.”

She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorjamb. “You’re injured.”

“
No, I’m not. I had a concussion because of an accident so they sent me back. I’m right as rain. You heard the doctor.”

That had been the worst of it. His mother had insisted on driving him to his appointment at Bethesda. It had been beyond embarrassing to have his mother questioning the doctor as if Gee was five. Of course, he didn’t tell her that the accident came under heavy fire and they had to set the copter down hard. She probably would have been even worse.

“
Vince did say I was overreacting.”

“
He’s right, Mom.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek as he slipped past her into the hallway.

She followed him to the kitchen. His father was reading the news on his tablet while he finished his morning coffee. With a sigh, she grabbed the coffee pot to top off his mug. “I wish you wouldn’t leave so soon.”

“
I need to get back to Georgia.”

And back to Kianna
. They hadn’t done more than email over the last two months, but it had kept him going while he was over there. He lived for each and every email. She had even sent him a box of brownies. He’d talked to her a few times since he’d returned. Okay, every day since he returned. Each time the connection he felt with her seemed to strengthen.

His mother wasn’t done trying her best to keep him close. “I think you should stay here.”

“
You think all the boys should stay here, Joe. Quit fussing,” his father said. He glanced at Gee. “Can you walk and talk?”

“
Yes, sir.”

Papa as he was called—because only soon-to-be-dead men called him by his given name of Stewart—peered at his mother over the top of his glasses. “Then, he’s fine.”

She shot his father a look that usually spelled trouble for any Santini man but Vince saved him. “I have to get Gee to Dulles if he’s going to make that flight.”