Rules of Engagement (2 page)

And she wasn’t big on being hurt.

“
I’m sure you have other
things to do than listen to me, anyway. Since I doubt I’ll see much
of you before you go, you take care of yourself,” she said. Then,
unable to resist, she reached out and skimmed quick fingers along
his already stubbled jaw. She gave him a tremulous smile, then
winked. “No more throwing yourself on bombs or any other crazy
heroics. It freaks your sister out.”

Her hand on fire, aching to
touch more, she tightened her fingers around the stems of her
bridesmaid bouquet of red roses, turned on her strappy stiletto
heel and hurrying off.

Before she did something
really stupid like forget her convictions and attempt a little
make-believe normalcy.

Although for a tumble with a guy like
Rico?

Make-believe normalcy and a
broken heart might be a fair price to pay.

Baffled, Rico watched his
sister’s wild assistant hurry through the crowded ballroom. The St.
James house was huge, the ballroom where they’d had the ceremony
flanked on one side with French doors leading to the garden and the
other side opening to the foyer and rooms beyond. He’d seen it all
before, though, so Rico didn’t pay much attention. He was too busy
wondering what was up with Gina.

What was the deal? She
flirted and chatted up most guys like crazy, but acted like he was
the devil and had just propositioned her for a piece of her
soul.

His eyes fixed on the
tempting sway of her hips. He had to admit, it wasn’t her soul he
wanted a piece of.

But there were rules to be respected. He
wasn’t the kind of guy who chased after a woman just for sex. At
least, not when the woman was his sister’s friend.

“
Scaring off the girls?”
Carlos asked, the question followed by a punch to the shoulder.
“You need to work on that, little brother. You’re the last one of
us left loose and single. If we’re gonna marry you off, you can’t
make them run away.”

“
Don’t you have anything
better to do than hassle me? I’m gonna find that pretty wife of
yours and tell her you’re so bored you’re playing matchmaker now.”
Rico shot back.

Not that Rico was against
the idea of marriage. He wanted to get married. Hell, he hadn’t
realized just how much until he’d watched his baby sister promise
to love and honor his best friend.

But he wanted just the
right kind of wife. His dream wife. The Santiago kids had all been
young when they lost their mother, Rico only four. He’d spent his
childhood dreaming of a woman who’d make a perfect house. Warm
meals, clean clothes, hugs and a little bit of attention. He’d
spent plenty of years chasing the joys of easy sex, too. But as fun
as that was, he’d always known it wasn’t the direction he planned
to look at when it came to marriage.

“
Maria’s all for getting
you settled down. She even has a few girls lined up for you to meet
now that you’re home. Two of them here at the wedding. I heard her
and Carla talking about which of their favorites you should dance
with first.”

Rico winced. “I can get my
own girls.”

“
Yeah. I saw how well that
was going when you scared off that girl. It was Gina, right?”
Carlos prodded. “I like her. She’s feisty.”

Feisty was one way to put
it. Rico knew from a few visits home that the woman was mouthy.
Outspoken, clever and unique. When he was a kid, she’d have been
called Goth. He had no clue what the term was now, except that she
was out there. Wild clothes, wilder hair. Even dressed in a
glittery bridesmaid dress that paid tribute to Valentine’s Day with
red fabric and full skirt, she’d paired it with black nail polish,
red rhinestone glasses and a big black bow in her hair.

Yeah. Feisty was
right.

And unexpectedly sexy. Rico
watched as Gina laughed with the bartender, taking two flutes of
champagne and toasting the guy her thanks. The crystal reflected
the glittering red beads across the strapless top of her dress as
she made her way back to the photographer, Sophia and
Max.

He recalled the feel of her
skin against his. Soft, silky and warm. Heat, strong and sexual,
stirred. Just his body’s little reminder that it’d been a long time
since his last leave. That had to be why he was so hot and horny
for a woman with black and red striped hair sporting a winking
smiley face tattoo on her shoulder.

“
You planning on a little
fun with the sassy bridesmaid?” Carlos asked, his words
amused.

“
She’s not my type.” Rico
shoved his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. She wasn’t.
Even if she was the type his body happened to be craving right this
second.

“
What type is
she?”

“
Wild, with a little bit of
crazy thrown in.”

“
What’s wrong with that?
Wild and crazy are fun. You don’t want to be saddled with a boring
woman, do you?” Carlos looked around, as if checking to see if his
wife was in hearing distance, then leaned closer. “Fun offers a lot
more heat, if you know what I mean. That’s just as important as all
the stuff the women yammer on about when it comes to a good
match.”

But Rico wasn’t in the market for fun. He
was home with a plan. He had a month of leave, and now that he’d
safely seen his one and only sister married to the man he’d
hand-picked for her, he was ready for part two of his mission.

To find his own bride.

A sweet, biddable one who’d
adore and worship him, keep a perfect house and want lots of kids
to raise and love.

Yeah, he was an ass for
digging back to the fifties for his dream wife.

But he wasn’t a stupid ass.
So he was keeping what he liked to call his Rules of Engagement to
himself.

A plate heaped with a huge
slice of the rich, chocolate groom’s cake in her hand, Gina sat on
the rock wall overlooking a large pond. Trying to relax, she
watched the koi swim their water ballet to the sound of the
trickling waterfall.

Behind her, music and
laughter filled the air as the wedding reception hit high gear. She
should be in there. Dancing, drinking champagne, nibbling on
canapés she couldn’t pronounce.

Watching Rico dance with perfect, upscale
women with perfectly gym-toned bodies and salon-sculpted looks.

Her shoulders drooped
dangerously low for a woman wearing a strapless dress. Realizing
she was pathetically close to pouting about things she knew better
than to invest an ounce of energy in, she scooped up a dose of
emotional-healing in the form of double-chocolate
delight.

“
Hiding?”

With a loud gasp, Gina
jumped, dropping her fork.

“
Sneaking around?” she shot
back, not relaxing even a little bit when she realized her surprise
visitor was Rico.

“
I needed a
break.”

He looked so damned good.
He’d changed out of his uniform, now fitting in with the rest of
the guests in slacks and a dress shirt. She swallowed, looking at
his chest with a sigh. He’d left the shirt unbuttoned just enough
to show that he had a very sexy sprinkling of manly hair on his
chest. If she nuzzled her face against that chest and maybe gave
just one tiny little nibble or two, could she blame it on
champagne?

Oh, how she was tempted. Just being out here
with him made her skin tingle with want, her body ache with
need.

And clearly, made her mind
run with crazy ideas.

“
It’s a big estate. Lots of
grounds and pretty gardens.” Gina hoped he’d go away before the
crazy got ahead of her good sense. Her appetite—and her fork—gone,
she set the cake aside. “You could take a break in another part of
it.”

“
Trying to get rid of
me?”

Gina blinked, surprised
that he sounded a little hurt.

Peering at him, she saw the
downward tilt of his lips and heavy set of his
shoulders.

Nice
. She wrinkled her nose. Just because she pouting over the
never-to-be-fulfilled need to straddle his body and ride him like a
racehorse was no excuse for bad manners.

“
And being very rude about
it, too.” Gina gave him a sheepish look and waved a hand at the
rock wall she was sitting on. “I’m sorry. Have a seat, enjoy the
view.”

“
The party too tame for
your tastes?” He lowered himself to the wall and leaned back. Gina
could actually see the tension seep from the hard, sexy planes of
his body, like the water pouring down the rocks behind him. She
wondered what it must be like for him, coming home from
war.

“
The party’s fine,” she
said. “It was a great wedding.”

“
But...?”

She grinned. “But, it was a
little overwhelming. You have a very large family.”

He shot her a sympathetic
look, then glanced back toward the party. “You’re not into large
families?”

Gina’s eyes widened and her
lower lip trembled. A big family would be amazing. Any family
would, she figured. But that was a silly dream. One of those things
she’d never have. Right up there with being prom queen, a lifetime
supply of delicious fat-free fudge and Rico asking her to get
naked.

“
I’m an only child of an
only child. Sophia’s the closest I’ve got to family, and she’s been
hiding from you and the rest of your family for most of the time
I’ve known her.”

Rico’s smile was quick and
naughty. Gina sighed, her fingers itching to trace those indentions
in his cheeks. They were too manly to be termed dimples, but she’d
just bet they’d been adorable when he was younger.

“
I notice you’re hiding
from all of us, too,” he teased.

“
Not hiding,” she
corrected. “Taking a break.”

Rico shifted his body,
angling toward her in a way that made Gina’s breath catch in her
throat. The warmth of him wrapped around her, filling her senses.
He was so gorgeous. So intense. So damned sexy.

And so off limits.

Rico watched the moonlight
dance over Gina’s features. Softening, highlighting. Enticing. She
was beautiful. Wild and sassy, with the red tips of her black hair
glowing against her milky-pale shoulders. But it was the sweet
curve of her lips and the hint of sadness in her eyes drew him
in.

He’d come out to escape the
noise, yes. But also to get away from the disappointment. He’d
spent the last two hours dancing, dining and flirting with a
half-dozen women who fit his idea of the perfect wife. He’d been
bored to death. All he’d been able to think about was Gina. Her
smile. Her sweet toast to the happy couple. Her sassy tattoo of a
winking dragon.

And despite his better intentions, he hadn’t
been able to stop wondering. Wondering what she tasted like.
Wondering how her skin would feel against his. Wondering if she was
as wild in bed as she was out of it.

And wondering how the hell he could find
out.

“
You confuse me,” he
confessed.

“
Me?” She pressed one hand
to her breasts, her black fingernails vivid against the red fabric.
“I’m an open book.”

“
Hardly. See, Sophia talks
about you. A lot. She’s sent pictures over the years, mentioned you
in letters. I’ve watched you two together when I visit. You’re best
friends with my sister, who is about as conservative as they
come.”

“
Your sister runs an art
gallery focusing on the erotic,” Gina countered. “Her latest photo
exhibit features a black and white study of women’s naked
asses.”

“
Besides that,” he
dismissed with a wince, not liking to think about his sister and
anything to do with the word sex.

The image of Gina and sex,
though? He shifted, trying to ease the sudden stress against his
zipper. Yeah, that image was something he was thinking a whole lot
about. Right this second, his mind was entertaining all sorts of
ideas of how
her
ass looked naked.

“
So tell me,” he asked,
both truly curious, and because he was trying to keep from begging
to see her butt. “What makes two girls, who on the surface have
nothing in common other than a love of art, end up as tight as you
both are?”

“
Maybe I’ve just been using
Sophia to get close to her gorgeous brother,” Gina joked, poking
one finger into his shoulder as she gave him a wicked
smile.

“
Me?”

“
Nah. Carlos. Have you seen
him on the dance floor? Wow, your brother has some solid
moves.”

Rico laughed, impressed with how she’d
sidestepped the question and put him in his place, and still kept
things upbeat.

He was attracted to her
like crazy. To her sense of humor and her body. To her intensity
and to her smile. To her, well, every damned thing, it
seemed.

But...

She was wrong for him.

She wasn’t quiet.

She’d never be biddable.

She didn’t blend in and she was anything but
forgettable.

Rather than staying in the
background of his life she’d always be a distraction.

His rules of engagement
were clear. Don’t chase after a woman when he was interested in a
totally different outcome than she could provide. With that in
mind, he should get up, walk back into that reception and focus on
the job at hand. Finding his perfect wife.