The Santini Collection 1-4 (40 page)

“
I’ve been waiting for this for a really long time. I’m riding a hair trigger right now. One little move from you and it’s over.”

Instead of being embarrassed by his frank talk, she felt powerful. She had never had a man say those kinds of things to her before. There was enough light to see the humor in his eyes and she smiled and held out her hand. He took it, joining her back on the bed.

He kneeled between her legs, and entered her swiftly. She was prepared but not for his size. It had been years since she’d had sex and she was just not ready for the intrusion.

“
I’m sorry, Jules.” Apparently picking up on her discomfort, he gave her a long, wet kiss before he started moving again. With each thrust, she felt more and more relaxed. Soon she was moving in rhythm with him. He still had his hand in hers as he bent down to kiss her.

“
Come with me, Jules. Come.”

He whispered the words against her mouth and she could do nothing more than follow his orders. The orgasm burst through her, pushing her to the limits. She bucked up against him as he thrust one last time, her name on his lips as he followed her into bliss.

* * * *

Vince wrapped an arm around Jules and pulled her close to him. It hadn’t been anything like he expected. It had been better.

She sighed and lifted herself up. “I guess I should get ready to go.”

“
Why?”

“
Well…I don’t know why. Isn’t that what people do?”

He frowned at her. “You don’t have a reason to go home, do you? Rufus is here.”

“
I just thought that maybe this…”

She didn’t continue and he realized she seriously wanted to leave. Or thought she should leave. He leaned over and turned on the light. She blinked and that’s when he got a full view of her.

Damn.

All those dark red curls were a tangled mess dripping over her shoulders. Her lips were swollen from his kisses.

He was never going to get enough of her.

“
Tell me why you think you should leave.”

She shrugged and sat up pulling the sheet up to her chin, unfortunately. His fingers itched to yank it from her grasp but she looked too vulnerable. Now was not the time to insist on nudity. But, damn, he wanted to.

“
I just never did this before. I don’t know how to handle it.”

“
You’ve had sex before.” He was starting to get irritated. It was stupid and completely irrational but he had been blown away from their lovemaking. The fact that she was trying to skip out on him bothered him.

“
Yes. It’s just that there’s only been Mike.”

That had his anger fizzling. “You’ve never been with another man? You’ve been divorced for years.”

She pulled her knees up as if to protect herself. She didn’t look like the savvy business owner at the moment. Instead, she looked like the girl he left all those years ago. It tugged at his heart.

“
I wasn’t really in the mood to date after the divorce, then, the business took up all my time. I don’t know how to have a casual relationship like this. I was a virgin when I got married.”

Which hit him. Mike had lied to him about that. He’d claimed they’d been having sex for years. Then, he realized what she said. He opened his mouth to tell her there was nothing casual about what they had but knew she would freak. Her unsteady gaze told him that she was ready to leave as fast as she could. She might have enjoyed herself, but their connection was still fragile. Vicente didn’t want to do anything to scare her away.

“
We do what we want. There are no rules.”

Her shoulders relaxed and she gave him a shy smile. “Yeah?”

She was naïve in so many ways and he laid the blame at Mike’s feet. Jules wasn’t that experienced, but she had been married. She should know more about her power over men if she’d been married to the right man.

Now that she seemed relaxed, he tugged on the sheet. She gasped, and giggled when he pulled her over on top of him. “Yeah.”

He pulled her bottom lip between his teeth and she shivered against him. He couldn’t stop his reaction any more than he could quit loving her. When his cock hardened against her, her face turned red. He laughed.

“
I’m sorry, Jules, but I hate to tell you I’m in a state of almost constant arousal around you. Now that I have every gorgeous inch of you against me while we’re both naked, it’s gonna happen.”

She smiled. “So everything was okay?”

“
Okay?”

She rolled her eyes. “I don’t have much experience so I don’t have any idea.”

“
First, for most guys it doesn’t take much. Seriously. But, you blew my mind.”

And she had. He’d been confused about her reactions but now they made sense. There was an element of…innocence and when she had her first orgasm, she’d sounded surprised. He wanted to know what went on in her life and her marriage but he couldn’t ask her now. He didn’t feel he had a right. Besides, he was feeling too good to bring it down with questions. So, he kept it light.

“
Now, what about me?” he asked with a smile.

“
What?”

“
Well, I said nice things to you. Now tell me how wonderful I am.”

Jules settled her forearms on his chest. “You were wonderful?”

She tilted her head to the side as if giving the question great thought. Her silky tresses slipped over his skin.

“
What did you exactly do?”

He leaned up and kissed her then swatted her on the ass. “I rocked your world. Three times if I counted correctly.”

“
You kept count?”

“
All men keep count. At least the good ones.”

“
What do the bad men do?”

“
They don’t rock your world three times.”

Then, she laughed. That Jules laugh he loved so much. Over the years, he would hear a woman laughing that almost sounded like Jules and he would search for her. Didn’t matter where he was, he would think she was there. And now, she was lying on top of him, naked, and laughing. A man couldn’t ask for much more.

When she noticed him watching her, her smile faded. “What?”

“
Nothing. I just always liked your laugh.”

“
Yeah?”

“
Yeah.”

She wiggled and he groaned. “I’m sorry.”

“
No, don’t be.” He shifted and entered her, then cursed. He opened the drawer to grab another condom. He rolled it on and said, “Take me in, Jules.”

She sat up, and rose to her knees. Inch by inch, she sank down on his cock. He was ready to come just from the sight of that. He’d left the light on and he was glad for it now. Smooth skin, all that red hair, and lord, she had the prettiest breasts. Not overly large, but the perfect size for his hands…or his mouth. She lifted up and sank down again. The woman was going to be the death of him. She was so damned tight. Soon though, she sped up her rhythm. Watching her take control of her pleasure was probably one of the sexiest things he’d ever seen.

His control was slipping, but he didn’t want to take over. He wanted this to be hers to give. But it didn’t mean he couldn’t help her along. He slipped his hand between her legs and pressed on her clit. A couple of strokes and she came apart. She shuddered with her release, arching her back and allowing her head to fall back. A sensual moan escaped from her throat.

Erotic, amazing and beautiful. He couldn’t resist joining her a moment later as she still shivered from her release.

Moments later she collapsed on top of him and he wrapped his arms around her.

It was then that he knew there was no doubt. She was the woman he wanted in his bed, by his side, for the rest of his life.

Chapter Seven

Vince was looking over the course directive for the next session when there was a knock at his door. He welcomed the interruption. He wasn’t getting anything done thanks to daydreaming about Jules.

“
Come.”

The door opened to reveal Jesse Johnson. He was in civilian clothes.

“
Are you busy?” he asked.

“
Not really, come on in. Have a seat.”

Before MJ and Leo married, he knew Jesse by reputation and now he knew him just a bit better. Of the three brothers, he was the hardest to read. He was the oldest and reminded Vince of the General more than the others. There was already talk that he would make a star early and from everything Vince had seen, he was definitely on track to do it.

Jesse settled in a seat in front of Vince’s desk. “I guess you’re wondering what I’m doing here.”

Vince nodded trying not to reveal his irritation. If the man thought he could warn him away from Jules, he better think twice. After the night he’d just had with her, he refused to let anyone get in the way, even if he was family in a round about way.

“
I sort of feel responsible for Jules. I was the one who started the paperwork to kick Mike out of the service.”

“
He said he decided to get out.”

Jesse shook his head. “No. He was lucky he lasted as long as he did. He had a lot of problems from the very first. He barely made it out of basic.”

Vince didn’t know what to say to that. They hadn’t really talked after the wedding. Truth was, he dreaded each call. He didn’t want to hear how happy Jules and Mike had been in their marriage. Vince wasn’t too sure how he would have handled them having children.

And in that instant, he realized that’s what he wanted. In his head, he had seen the two of them together, but now, he knew what he wanted for sure. He wanted that marriage, kids, the whole thing. And he only wanted it with Jules.

“
Earth to Santini.”

He shook his head and focused on Jesse. “So, you’re saying he was a shit Marine.”

Jesse shrugged. “I could handle it if he at least tried. He didn’t though. He expected to succeed without trying.”

The memories of high school came back to him: Mike quitting the basketball season, quitting his job, ditching school. Without the happy haze of high school friendship clouding his thought process, Vince realized his former friend hadn’t been good at sticking it out.

“
Yeah, he had a history of it.”

Jesse nodded. “You know some guys. They’re losers, can’t get their shit together. They get in the military and it seems to all come together for them. Then they’re the best in the unit. That didn’t happen with Mike.”

“
So what happened?”

He shrugged. “Truthfully, he didn’t give a fuck. As I said, he wanted the reward without even trying. Subsequently, when he failed, he blamed everyone else. Including Jules. And, well, I know after he got Article Fifteen, he just never recovered.”

For a moment, he said nothing. “Are you telling me he was court martialed?”

He nodded looking confused. “Yeah. He’d had all kinds of issues. Insubordination, dereliction of duty. When he started drinking, he was lost to the Marines.”

“
He’d said he got out because of Jules.”

And that had always bothered him. Not that he thought he had a chance with her, but the truth was, he had never met a woman more ready to be a Marine spouse than Jules was. She loved being a brat, loved the lifestyle. It had always niggled at him that Mike claimed she’d been a dismal failure. When she had told him Mike had been kicked out, it hadn’t really registered. Mainly because he hated hearing anything about her time with Mike.

“
Nope. In fact, he held it together longer thanks to her in my opinion. If you know Jules, you know that she’s one for organizing anything and she did it for Mike, for a while at least. But, he started to resist. Then…the drinking and the women.”

“
Women?”

“
Yeah, your friend was a real bastard. He couldn’t keep it in his pants. I think that was what drove Jules completely away. She put up with a lot from the bastard, but when he started cheating on her…not to mention messing with their money, she walked away.”