The Santini Collection 1-4 (5 page)

“
Oh.” Her face heated as she stepped aside. He opened the door and paused.

“
I would love to take you out tomorrow.” She was formulating her excuses, when he continued. “But, my brother is only here for another day. How about next Friday?”

“
You’re asking me out?”

She didn’t mean to shout the question but this was bad. Worse, she wanted to say yes, Yes, YES.

Oh, god.

“
I thought we should explore this…thing.”

“
Thing?” Great. She sounded like an idiot.

“
How about we call it breaking even? You made me dinner. I’ll take you out for dinner.”

She should say no. A man like Santini had heartbreak written all over him, but she could only say, “Okay.”

He smiled as if she had given him some kind of gift.

“
Good night, Maryanne.”

Then he slipped out the door.

“
You need to lock the door, Maryanne,” he said through the door.

“
You’re not my keeper.”

But she did lock it.

“
Goodnight.”

She said nothing and leaned back against the door. The man was dangerous. Big time dangerous. Like get her into all kinds of trouble dangerous. And dammit, that excited her even more.

As a military brat, she had grown up around like men like him, and when she started dating, it was natural to gravitate toward military guys. She knew a lot of her friends went the other way, but she hadn’t, mainly because they didn’t expect her to be prissy. They accepted the fact that she could take them down like she did with Leo and still see her desirable. She could hunt and fish and be herself. A lot of them liked rough and tumble girls like her.

After awhile though, being treated as their buddy with a side order of sex got boring. They always seemed to think she wanted nothing more than that.

She sighed. Going out with Santini was a mistake. She liked him. He was hot, sexy and that one kiss still had her knees feeling like asphalt on a hot Texas day. She would have to come up with some kind of excuse not to go out with him. And that would be the end of it.

Really.

Chapter Four

Leo straightened his shoulders before knocking on Maryanne’s door. He knew he was in for a battle tonight. She had called and left messages all week. His good sense told him she was trying to break their date. He wasn’t about to let that happen. If he had to go in her apartment and dress her, he would do it.

Of course, that brought a whole new set of ideas to the forefront of his mind. Damn, the woman had him hotter than he could ever remember and just from that one little kiss. He hadn’t planned on doing that, but something told him he had to at least see what she tasted like. It had been worth getting crap from Vince about it later. Now, he knew she was definitely interested and he wasn’t going to let it go.

He knocked on the door. He heard some rustling and then the door opened wide. It wasn’t Maryanne. It was a man, as tall as him, with dark hair and a rather pissy look on his face. He had apparently been sleeping.

“
What?”

“
Jackson Michael Johnson, is that the way you greet someone at the door?” Maryanne asked from behind the man. Of course, he could only hear her. He couldn’t see her with the massive roadblock in the door.

“
I was sleeping, MJ.”

He saw a hand reach up and smack the man on the back of the head.

“
Damn, MJ, do you have to hit so hard?” He stepped aside.

“
Do you always cry like a little girl?” she asked.

When she stepped up beside the man, he saw the resemblance. Dark hair, blue eyes and that same stubborn chin.

“
Leo, I tried to call and cancel because Jack here decided to drop in on me uninvited.”

He studied her and realized she was being truthful, but he also noticed that she dressed to go out. The cute little dress she wore wasn’t something a girl would wear around the house hanging out with her brother. And, thank the good lord, she wore her hair down again. His fingers had been itching to slip through the silky curls.

“
But, you’re still going,” Jack said.

“
Yes, I am. I’m not in the mood to hang around you when you’re in such a foul mood. Go back to sleep, loser.” She rose to her tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. “There’s beer in the fridge.”

Then she stepped out, causing Leo to step back.

“
Ready?” he asked.

She nodded and smiled.

“
Hey, I didn’t get to interrogate him.”

She smiled back over her shoulder at Jack. “Yeah, how about that, Marine? He got the drop on you and he’s Army.”

With that she laughed and started walking down the stairs. He smiled and followed her down.

“
Be home by eleven.”

“
Suck it, Johnson.” It was all she said as she waited for Leo to finish walking down.

“
So, your brother…”

“
Is a pain in the ass. I don’t know what he’s doing here, but it makes me nervous.”

He opened the door and she slid into his truck. She watched him as he rounded the hood.

“
He’s making you nervous how?” he asked after he joined her.

“
Jack has a habit of being involved with women who just tear him to shreds. He usually comes to see me to lick his wounds. And by that, I mean he comes here because I will be the designated driver for him.”

“
When did he get in?”

“
Last night.”

“
But you tried to cancel earlier than that.”

She sighed and looked across the cab of his pickup at him. “I didn’t want to want to go out with you.”

He blinked. “Wow, that made my head hurt.”

She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. He found himself wanting to make her smile like she had that night at dinner.

“
I’ve been involved with military guys before. It just never ended well.”

He could tell she was skittish and he thought it had to do with their initial interaction.

“
How about this? We’ll do dinner, call it even for you cooking for me like I said, then you can decide if you want to make it…more than platonic?”

She cocked her head to one side. “And if I said no romance you’d be cool with that?”

He thought about it. No he wouldn’t be. He wanted her in his bed. He had decided that the night he had kissed her. There was nothing he wanted more in his life at the moment, than this woman beneath him moaning his name. But…he could wait. For now.

“
Sure.”

She looked out the window. “Okay, let’s do dinner.”

* * * *

Maryanne tried not to be charmed, but she was. He took her to one of her favorite restaurants, The Alamo Cafe. As they ate he told her stories of growing up with four brothers and they compared what it was like to have an older brother who was a Marine.

“
So, all of you got into the military?”

He nodded as he slathered some butter on his fresh tortilla. “Yep.”

“
But you didn’t go into the Marines like your father. What about the other two?”

“
Marco’s in the Navy. A SEAL. Gianni’s Air Force. PJ.”

She sat back. “So your entire family represents the armed services.”

He offered her one of those smiles that had her heart doing a little tap dance. “Well, we don’t have anyone in the Coast Guard, but Mom said she was done after Gianni. And, he was sort of a surprise from what I remember.”

“
How rude of your mother.”

He laughed like she expected and she bit back a sigh. The man had an amazing laugh. There was nothing calculated about it. It did funny things to her insides. Like, having his attention only on her. He wasn’t overly flirtatious, but he had asked about her work…and just about her. And, unlike so many men, he had actually listened.

“
If my mom can’t handle four boys like us, I doubt there’s a woman on earth who could.”

Okay, that was starting to get to her too. Any other man would sound like a Mama’s boy, but Leo didn’t. His voice was filled with admiration.

“
Where are they all stationed?”

We’re scattered all over the place, but at least we’re all back in the US, but not the CONUS. Marc’s in Hawaii.”

She sighed as she indulged in another tortilla. It was one of the things she loved about San Antonio. They brought freshly made tortillas to the table like most restaurants did with bread. It was a huge weakness of hers and she would have to run tomorrow to make up for it.

“
All your brothers are Marines?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’m not sure they thought of anything else, but they are all in different career fields.”

“
But you never wanted to join?”

“
No thank you. I am not good at taking orders.”

“
Yeah?”

She heard the way his voice dipped and felt her face heat up.

“
That is to say, I grew up with three older brothers and a father who had told them it was their duty to watch out for me. I don’t think I would have lasted a week in boot. Truth is, I think my father was relieved. He was worried he would have to deal with the aftermath of me making a drill sergeant cry. And, the worry I would end up stationed on the same base as one of my brothers…that did not sit well with me.”

“
Jack didn’t seem to be too bad.”

She snorted. “Tell that to my prom date. He showed up and found Jack cleaning his gun. Swear to God I had never been so embarrassed. I didn’t even get a kiss good night.”

He was staring at her as if she was insane.

“
I swear it happened.”

“
No, I believe you. I just wondered what was wrong with it.”

“
Please tell me you don’t have sisters.”

“
Nope just the three brothers like I said. My mother said she would never be so mean to a girl and do that.”

“
Yeah, well, it worked because like I said, I was a tomboy.”

“
You told me that the other night but I find it almost impossible to believe,” he said in mock disbelief.

“
No, really. I can even take down a two hundred pound Army dude.”

He laughed and she tried to ignore the way his eyes sparkled at her. She was a sucker for a man with a sense of humor. “You didn’t take me down. You caught me off guard.”

“
That’s what they all say.”

The waitress returned with their entrees. “Another margarita?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I’ll stick to water.”

Leo ordered water also. It was another thing she liked about him and about his brother. They had a couple of glasses of wine the other night, but they both watched their drinking.

“
So, you picked San Antonio, why?”

She shrugged as she chewed her first bite. “I went to UTSA and Grannie was already here at the Air Force Village. I wanted to work at a military hospital. The only other place with so many opportunities was DC and that’s where Dad is, and Brett, my oldest brother. He’s at the Pentagon, too. So, while I don’t mind my Grannie checking up on me, I do mind them. They never understood why I needed space.”

He nodded and she did sense he understood.

“
I have kind of a personal question and I don’t want you to be offended,” she said.