Gianni - The Santinis Read online

  “You leave Maryanne out of this. You be nice to my daughter-in-law.”

  “You are all sweet on her because she’s giving you a grandbaby.”

  “Exactly. I have no problem admitting that.”

  He laughed and now that he was paying no attention to Jules, it was easy to study him. He was even more attractive than he had been in school. He’d always been well muscled, but now he was filled out. The extra lines around his blue eyes made him even more attractive. Another of those unfair things women had to deal with.

  “So, it’s settled.”

  “What?” she asked when she looked at Joey.

  “You will come. Seven o’clock. Unless you have a date or something,” Joey said smiling.

  A date? She couldn’t remember the last time she’d even entertained that idea. She was usually so tired by Saturday she would only plan for spending all day at home on Sunday. Rufus expected it.

  “Okay.”

  “You know the address? Wait, wouldn’t it make sense for you and Vince to come together. He lives over here in your neck of the woods.”

  Alarm shot through her again. Vince and her. Alone. They hadn’t done that until the day before her wedding.

  “Sure,” Vince said.

  “Write down your address for Vince and he’ll pick you up. See you tomorrow, Jules.”

  Then Joey turned and left them alone.

  “Just go with the flow. It is always best to let her have her way on the little things.”

  She blinked and looked at Vince. “I don’t even know what to wear.”

  “It’s a Santini family get together. Casual always works. Plus, Mom is gonna be cooking all day, so nothing too fancy just in case you drop red sauce.”

  She chuckled. “Of course you remember what a klutz I am.”

  She wrote down her home address on a sticky note and handed it to him. “What time?”

  He blinked. He still had all those wonderful dark lashes around his deep blue eyes. It as almost hypnotic to look into them. “What?”

  “What time will you be picking me up?”

  “How about six-thirty?”

  “Okay.”

  He didn’t leave. He just kept standing there staring at her as if he expected her to say something. She didn’t know what to say to him. Other than go away and that seemed rude.

  “Vicente, I have a house to clean, let’s go,” his mother bellowed across the nursery.

  Vince gave her a smile and she felt her heart take a tumble. “What she really means is she making Dad clean the house.”

  “I heard that.”

  “Ears like a bat. See you tomorrow, Jules.”

  Then he walked out. She watched the family pile into their car together feeling a little homesick. Not that she had a home since she was a brat but it was where her parents were, which was Modesta, California. She sighed. She’d been happy when Joey had started to come around. They had even started to do lunch every now and then.

  “Who was that hunk?” Angela asked as she walked down the aisle to Jules. She was only ten years younger than Jules, but Angela made her feel as if she were a hundred.

  “That was Vicenti Santini, Joey’s oldest baby boy, as she calls him when he’s not around.”

  “Well, he is hot. I wanted to take a big bite out of that perfect ass.”

  Jules smiled at the younger woman. She had been a great find in a sea of applicants. A military brat working her way through college with a head for numbers and a personal gift for selling, Angela made the long hours all that more enjoyable with her unrestrained commentary. “It is kind of perfect. All the girls in high school were in agreement with that.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Oh, lord, you went to high school with that?”

  “No. He looks better today than he did then. Which is why men suck.”

  Angela laughed. “Well, he was mighty interested in you.”

  She shook her head. “No, he isn’t.”

  “Yeah, he is. He kept looking back there when his Mom was talking to you. He’s got a thing for you.”

  “Have you started drinking with breakfast? Besides, I doubt Vicente Santini spends any of his time thinking about me.”

  “I bet you ten bucks he does. A lot. I have a sense about these things.”

  “You mean like the sense you had about the UPS guy being a mob guy in witness protection.”

  “Okay, so I was wrong about that, and UPS had no problem changing his route when it got uncomfortable.”

  “Yeah, he got sick of you trying to trick him into saying his real name. He didn’t even look Italian.”

  “Not everyone who works for the Mafia is Italian and not all organized crime is Italian. But, that hot hunk of burning Marine blood is. I’m right about him. Bet ya.”

  “I’ll take that bet, because I know for a fact he doesn’t like me.”

  Especially not after the kiss. She could remember like it was yesterday. They were alone in her parents’ backyard and were supposed to be getting ready for the wedding rehearsal and he had kissed her. Right there with the cherry blossoms blooming overhead. And, he told her he loved her.

  It had been the last words he had spoken to her until today.

  About Melissa Schroeder

  From an early age, Melissa loved to read. First, it was the books her mother read to her including her two favorites, Winnie the Pooh and the Beatrix Potter books. She cut her preteen teeth on Trixie Belden and read and reviewed To Kill a Mockingbird in middle school. It wasn’t until she was in college that she tried to write her first stories, which were full of angst and pain, and really not that fun to read or write. After trying several different genres, she found romance in a Linda Howard book.

  Since the publication of her first book in 2004, Melissa has had close to fifty romances published. She writes in genres from historical suspense to modern day erotic romance to futuristics and paranormals. Included in those releases is the bestselling Harmless series. In 2011, Melissa branched out into self-publishing with A Little Harmless Submission and the popular military spinoff, Infatuation: A Little Harmless Military Romance. Along the way she has garnered an epic nomination, a multitude of reviewer’s recommended reads, over five Capa nods from TRS, three nominations for AAD Bookies and regularly tops the best seller lists on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

  Since she spent her childhood as a military brat, Melissa swore never to marry military. But, as we all know, Fate has her way with mortals. She is married to an AF major and is raising her own brats, both human and canine. She spends her days giving in to her addiction to Twitter, counting down the days until her hubby retires, and cursing the military for always sticking them in a location that is filled with bugs big enough to eat her children.

  You can connect with Mel all over the web:

  WEBSITE

  TWITTER

  FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

  HARMLESS ADDICTS

  THE HARMLESS SERIES

  THE CURSED CLAN

  THE SANTINIS

  Or email her at: [email protected]

  Other Books by Melissa Schroeder

  Harmless

  A Little Harmless Sex

  A Little Harmless Pleasure

  A Little Harmless Obsession

  A Little Harmless Lie

  A Little Harmless Addiction

  A Little Harmless Submission

  A Little Harmless Fascination

  A Little Harmless Fantasy

  A Little Harmless Military Romance

  Infatuation

  Possession

  Surrender

  The Harmless Shorts

  A Little Harmless Surprise-includes ALH Fling and ALH Kalikimaka

  A Little Harmless Gift

  The Santinis

  Leonardo

  Marco

  Gianni

  The Cursed Clan

  Callum

  By Blood

  Desire by Blood

  Once Upon An Accident

  The
Accidental Countess

  Lessons in Seduction

  The Spy Who Loved Me

  Leather and Lace

  The Seduction of Widow McEwan

  Leather and Lace—Print anthology

  Texas Temptations

  Conquering India

  Delilah’s Downfall

  Hawaiian Holidays

  Mele Kalikimaka, Baby

  Sex on the Beach

  Getting Lei’d

  Bounty Hunters, Inc

  For Love or Honor

  Sinner’s Delight

  The Sweet Shoppe

  Her Wicked Warrior

  Connected Books

  Seducing the Saint

  Hunting Mila

  Saints and Sinners—print of both books

  The Hired Hand

  Cancer Anthology

  Water—print

  REISSUES

  Telepathic Cravings

  Her Mother’s Killer

  A Calculated Seduction

  Going for Eight

  Tempting Prudence-The Sweet Shoppe

  Cowboy Up-The Sweet Shoppe

  Chasing Luck

  Coming Soon

  The Santinis: Vicente

  The Harmless Shorts

  Angus

  A Little Harmless Ride

  Craving

  Relentless

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Epilogue