The Santinis: Leonardo, Book 1 (11 page)

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Authors: Melissa Schroeder

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“But it’s true.”

He leaned back and looked down at her. Her nose was red and the little bit of makeup she wore was smeared over her face, but she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him.

“No.

You’re not.”

She pushed away from him and he panicked. “No, give me a second. I had to do a lot of thinking and I realized you were right. Everything was happening so fast, but then, it never happened like that for me.”

“You’ve never been in love.”

“No. Well, that too. I mean, I would date guys a lot longer than we did and didn’t allow them to infiltrate my space.”

He chuckled. “You say the sexiest things. Infiltrate your space.”

Her face flamed pink and he laughed louder.

“I didn’t mean it like that. Oh my God, why do men make everything about sex?”

“I haven’t touched you in two weeks, it’s about all I can think of right now.”

He stepped forward and she held her hand out. “No, wait, let me say this. Never before had I allowed a guy into my life like you. I dated one guy for six months before I would let him come into my apartment and stay for more than an hour. I thought all of them were walking away from me, but I realized that I was already gone before they did. But you...you wouldn’t allow that. You just busted your way in by being nice and sweet.”

“That’s because I raised him right,” his mother said through the door. “And he knows the rules about closed doors and girls in his room.”

He rolled his eyes. “Good Lord, Mom, I’m over thirty.”

“You do not take that name in vain. You have exactly one minute.”

Maryanne’s eyes widened. “Is she serious?”

“Yeah. Mom never jokes about that. Says it like it is.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” she murmured. But before he could ask her about it, she said, “What I was trying to say is that you let me be who I am and love me for it.”

He pulled her closer. “Of course I do.”

“Most men don’t think women like me are keepers.”

He looked down at her as she tipped her head back to look at him. “Well, those guys are wimps. I’m made of tougher stuff than that. I’m a Santini.”

He bent his head and did the one thing he had wanted to do since she had opened the door. She rose to her tiptoes and returned the kiss. Everything in him said to take her then, lay her down on his bed and show her how much he loved her. But his mother had other plans.

“You’re a Santini who’s about to get your ears boxed if you don’t open that door in the next ten seconds.”

EPILOGUE

Leo leaned against the doorjamb and watched Maryanne. She was looking out their hotel window at the Riverwalk. The soft glow of the shops below the only light against her skin.

“Hey, there, Mrs. Santini, might want to be careful who sees you in that towel.”

Maryanne looked back over her shoulder at him with a smile.

“I doubt they can see me from the Riverwalk all the way up here.”

“I don’t know about that,” He said as he made his way across the room to her. He pulled her into his arms. “I know if I saw you from down there I would find a way to meet you.”

She slipped her hands up his bare chest. “Yeah?”

“It’s bad enough I had to wait four months to marry you.”

“You know I couldn’t marry you with Jack deployed.”

He nodded thinking of his brother-in-law. Jack had some ghosts to contend with. It was pretty clear he had seen some nasty action, but Leo was happy to have him back, mainly because it made Maryanne happy.

“And, we had to let Dave and Freddy think they planned the whole thing.”

He shook his head and sighed. “None of it matters, love. You’re mine now and that’s the important thing.”

“Oh, Leo, I was yours the minute you brought me lunch at the hospital.”

“You mean the way to your heart was through your stomach.”

She laughed. “No. It was that you sort of made it romantic. I told you. Guys never tried to romance me before.

I didn’t accept it, but that’s when I knew I was falling for you. The fact that you made our wedding even more romantic was wonderful.”

He had known that no matter how far she had come in accepting her soft side, Maryanne still wasn’t ready to admit she had wanted a big romantic wedding. It hadn’t been huge, but he had made sure it had been something she should never forget. They’d married outside, just as the sun was starting to set over the Riverwalk.

“Oh. Okay.”

She laid a hand on his chest. “Now wait. We’re married now. Tell me when you fell for me.”

“Seriously?”

She nodded.

“When you punched me.”

She snorted. “Oh, come on.”

“No, really. I knew a woman with that much punch had a passion I wanted to taste.”

“So you wanted me.”

“No, I wanted you the moment I saw you. Marching into the room all sassy, giving orders. It’s the way to my heart.”

She smiled. “Yeah?”

“But, when you hit me, well…I guess it was sort of like being hit by cupid’s arrow.”

She laughed and rose to her tiptoes. “It’s a good thing it was you and not Vince.”

He laughed, lifting her off the floor and carrying her back into the king-sized canopy bed.

“I would have had to kill my brother.”

“Leo,” she said, shaking her head. “You would never kill your brother.”

“Okay, maim him. But, there isn’t much I wouldn’t do for you, Mrs. Santini.”

She smiled. “And that’s why I love you.”

“Yeah?” He laid her on the bed. “Well, just let me show you how much I love you.”

Then he joined her on the bed and showed her.

Coming May 10
^thfrom Melissa Schroeder, meet the next exciting Santini brother, Marco.

Marco
is the quiet one of the four brothers which works well for his career as a Navy Seal. Living in Hawaii is a dream come true, his only probably is the infatuation he has for his landlady. He’s not sure he wants to act on his attraction until his brothers push Marco’s temper with a little harmless flirting.

Alana Kailikea
is a woman who understands loss. Her entire family was killed when she was only eighteen, leaving her an heiress. A bad experience with gold digger has left her wary of most men—especially gorgeous men like Marco. She never expected him to ask her out, or that it would lead to a romance that has them burning up the sheets. Still, she tells him that an affair is all she wants.

Marco doesn’t want an affair—he wants forever. He agrees to her idea of an affair determined to use every chance she gives to convince her that they were made for each other.

She knocked on the door, then had to do it again because apparently she couldn’t be heard over the discussion.

The door opened with a whoosh and she game face to face with a younger version of Santini. Except, this one was blond and had golden brown eyes. He blinked, then, his lips curved.

Oh, my
.

“Well, hello. Can I help you?”

“Who is it, G?” a man asked loudly from somewhere in the cottage. She wasn’t sure if it was Lieutenant Santini though.

“I have no idea but I think I’m in love.”

“Lieutenant Santini, it’s just me.”

She thought she heard him curse, then he came to the door with a frown. Oh, no, he was irritated with her. She always tried her best to stay out of her tenants’ way but she wanted to make sure his brothers were welcomed properly to the island.

“I just brought some pineapple by for your brothers.”

“You can move now, G,” the lieutenant said.

“I think Mom would be embarrassed by your manners.” He didn’t stop staring at her

and something tickled the back of her throat as she felt her face heat up. He took her hand in his. “My name is Gianni, but everyone calls me G.”

Before she could answer, another of the brothers showed up. This one was older and if possible, bigger. Dark haired and blue-eyed, he was just a gorgeous as his brothers.

“And you can call me, Vince.”

“Go away. I found her first,” G said playfully.

“Finders are not keepers, especially when there’s a Marine around.”

“She’s mine,” Marco said.

Both brothers broke their attention from her and looked at him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant this is my landlady, Alana Kailikea. These are two of my idiot brothers. The third is on the phone with his wife.”

She couldn’t say anything. There was just too much male beauty to form a thought. Two of them were smiling at her and one was frowning, but it didn’t matter. Any heterosexual woman would have problems speaking around them.

“Guys, you’re making her nervous. And, G, it’s going to be hard to be a PJ missing a hand.”

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 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:

Or email her at:
[email protected]

Other Books by Melissa Schroeder

Harmless

A Little Harmless Sex
A Little Harmless Pleasure