ASantiniinLoveMelissa Schroeder (3 page)

“Yeah, well, you are a Marine. We watch each other’s backs.”

She felt her smile fade. “Yeah, well, I used to be a Marine.”

He shook his head. “Madison Baker, don’t you ever say that again. There is no such thing as a
former
Marine.”

She nodded and just wished someone would explain that to her father. He’d let his disappointment be known by his absence. Other than an occasional call, she rarely heard from her parents. They were only two hours away, but she hadn’t seen them in years.

Brushing off her morose thoughts, she smiled again at Jack.

“Thanks again for checking on me.”

“No problem. Give me a call if you need anything.”

She nodded and headed back into the house. It was time for toast with Charlie and maybe a very cold shower.

CHAPTER THREE

Two days later, Dante was walking across the Commissary parking lot when he heard someone shout his name.

He turned and found his brother’s best friend, Jethro Thomas, known to everyone as JT, jogging toward him. His appearance took Dante by surprise. The usually neat JT was a little ragged around the edges; his hair longer and a bit unkempt, his jaw had an overgrowth of a few days, and his clothes appeared rumpled. For a man who used to be active duty, he appeared to have had a bit of rough luck lately.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dante asked as he shook his hand.

“Taking a little break for the day.”

Which Dante was pretty sure wasn’t the whole truth. JT was in NCIS and often couldn’t tell any of the Santinis about his work. Well, other than Anthony, who was also NCIS.

“I heard you just got back and figured you would know where to go to be entertained on a Friday night.”

Damn, it was Friday night. He was definitely getting bad. At one time, he’d been out every weekend night and some weeknights as well. Recently, though, his nights consisted of going over some work and going to bed early.

He was turning into his brother, Brando. The man had never liked to party and he was even worse now that he was active duty.
Damn
.

“Not sure. I haven’t been out that much since I got stationed here. Why don’t I give Jack Johnson a call and see if he can give us some suggestions?”

“Jack?”

“He’s related to the Santinis in a very roundabout way according to my Aunt Joey.”

He smiled. “Sounds like a plan. Wanna grab some lunch?”

Dante nodded. “Why don’t we hit the food court? Most of the lunch crowd should be clearing out, and I don’t have a meeting until after three.”

They made their way across the parking lot.

“How’s Anthony doing in Hawaii?” JT asked.

“I guess okay. I mean…he’s living in Hawaii. How hard can that be? You haven’t talked to him lately?”

Which was odd. Dante knew the two men had been thick as thieves since high school.

He shook his head. “Naw. I’ve been out of the loop for a while. I was at his going away party, then went deep.”

JT worked undercover every now and then as part of his job. He knew his brother did every now and then too, but JT seemed to do it more often.

“That was two months ago.”

He nodded as they stepped into the food court attached to the exchange. “It’s been a long seven weeks.”

Dante didn’t ask, because part of him didn’t want to know. The other part of him understood JT couldn’t talk about it.

“I’m going to grab a sandwich,” JT said. He headed off in the direction of the sandwich shop. Dante pulled out his cell and called Jack.

“Hey, Dante, how’s it going?”

“Fine. I was wondering if you had any suggestions about a place for dinner.”

“Is this for a date?”

“No, this is for hanging out with a friend.”

“Oh, so a drink and be stupid kind of place.”

He glanced at JT, who nodded toward a table. Dante nodded in return. The shadows he saw under the older man’s eyes told him JT needed to relax, at least for one night.

“Yeah. Definitely a drink and be stupid kind of place.”

Jack chuckled. “Not that I would know about that. I’ll text you the names.”

“Do you wanna join?”

He chuckled. “No. See, I have a hot woman to go home to.”

“Suck it, Johnson.”

He just laughed again and hung up. While he was standing in line to order his food, his cell buzzed indicating a text. True to his word, Jack sent him info on a couple of bars in the area. Knowing the Marine, none of them would be on the restricted list.

It was a good thing he ran into JT. Tonight was going to be a night to remember.

* * * *

After returning home from her Friday afternoon class, Madison wandered around her house, something simmering beneath her skin. She felt…energized. The yoga class had been very positive. Most of them were, but there had been something in the air that had given her a special connection with her students.

Excitement. Good excitement. Not the sick, overwhelming sense that something bad was going to happen, but just good. She went out to her patio in the backyard, walked over to the water feature and sat on the bench. Charlie sat down beside her feet.

With the appearance of Dante the night before, it had her thinking of Dr. James’ suggestion that she reach out to friends more often. Accepting the dinner invitation the night before was one step. Hannah had been asking for months when she finally accepted. Other than dealing with her odd feelings for Dante Santini, she was pretty happy she had gone.

She hadn’t really made any girlfriends since she’d returned to California. Truth was, Madison had never been a girlfriend kind of a girl. She had been raised by a man who had wanted boys. Instead, he had been saddled with one daughter. She learned to hunt, fish, and fight…all of it like she was a boy. But she could never blame her father for her issues with what she called the “chick mindset.” Madison always thought it was built into her DNA. So many things all women seemed to get just went over her head. Why did they always want to go to the bathroom together? And the shoes…why so many?

But there was a woman who always seemed to understand her. Plus, the woman had just moved back to California. She pulled out her cell and hit Elena’s number.

“Hey, you’ve got Elena.”

Madison chuckled. “Hey, yourself. Is that how you answer the phone? Do you even know who this is?”

“Well, that tone tells me I’m talking to Mad Madison Baker,” she said, her voice filled with laughter.

She sighed dramatically even as her mood lightened. No matter how long they had been apart, it was always the same when they got together.

“You never change.”

“Why should I? My mother tells me I’m perfect.” Knowing their mother, Marcella Santini, she did. The mother of six always seemed to have something wonderful to say about each one of them.

“Does she say the same thing about Dante?”

“No. She says he’s ugly as dirt.”

“Sure, sure,” she said. “I had dinner with him last night.”

“My brother and you had a date?” she asked.

“Good God, no! I was invited to my next door neighbor’s house and Dante was invited too.”

“So, that’s your social life. Dinner with the married neighbors. Mad Madison, what a shame that you have come to this.”

“And Dante.”

“That’s pretty sad. I see that I’m the only one holding up the fort in the way of the dating scene.”

Knowing Elena, she was. Whenever someone was around Elena, they never seemed to have a bad time. She was a force of nature and she tended to overwhelm people. The pretty brunette was often the life of the party. She understood that part of it was being the only girl in the family of a bunch of Alpha males. Elena had been a godsend for Madison. She’d have spent her entire college life in her room studying and working out if it hadn’t been for Elena.

“These days, I tend to stick close to home.”

There was a beat of silence. “How about we go out tonight?”

Madison wanted to say no. It was her first instinct always. Even now, three years later, she tended to stay away from crowds. But, she did need to start pushing her boundaries or she would be a wreck for the rest of her life.

That
she could not live with.

“Sure, and to show you how much I love you, I’ll drive since I can’t drink much.”

Elena let out an Oh-ra so loud, Madison had to hold the phone away from her ear.

“You do love me. In fact, if I went that way, I would propose marriage. Give me your address so I can head up your way.”

“Make sure to bring a change of clothes,” Madison said.

“Why?”

She rolled her eyes. For a woman who planned her career down to the minute detail, Elena tended to just go with the flow. Most of the time it was fun.

“So, if you drink too much, you can just crash here.”

“Hot dang, woman. I might just have to marry you.”

Madison laughed. “That’s what all the pretty girls say.”

After giving her friend directions to her house, she hung up and headed back into the house. She had a night of fun to get ready for.

CHAPTER FOUR

Blaring music assaulted her senses the moment Madison and Elena stepped inside of the bar and grill. The sound and the activity crawled under her skin. Charlie leaned heavily against her leg. He felt her agitation. Maybe she had made a mistake. She glanced over the crowd looking for some kind of table up against the wall. Madison knew she would fare better that way.

“This place looks questionable,” Madison murmured.

Elena laughed and clapped her hands together. “Yeah, that’s what makes it great.”

Madison shook her head and couldn’t fight the smile that curved her lips. Elena was wearing an old Supernatural t-shirt, a pair of worn jeans and barely any makeup. This is why they had gotten along from the first. They were more focused on being comfortable in their own skin.

The music seemed to grow and Madison looked down at Charlie, who didn’t look phased at all by the noise. He didn’t look all that impressed either. There were a lot of people in the bar, and it was rapidly filling up. Her heart started to pound like it always did before a panic attack took hold. Charlie sensed it and leaned more heavily against her.

Elena glanced at her. Her smile faded. “Aw, damn, Mad, I should have known this would be too much. We can go somewhere else.”

Madison wanted to turn tail and run. It would be easier, safer. But she needed to push those boundaries. She shook her head. “No, let’s try it. If it gets to be too much, I’ll let you know.”

“Are you sure?”

Madison looked over the crowd, squared her shoulders, and nodded.

“That’s the Mad I know,” she said.

Elena hurried them both over to a corner booth. As they sat down, Madison surveyed the perimeter. She was thankful she didn’t have to fight the manager about Charlie. It happened more than people thought it did, but since there seemed to be a ton of Marines in the bar, he was probably sympathetic to her issues.

The waitress came up. “I’ll take an extra-large margarita, frozen,” Elena said.

“I’ll take a light beer. What do you have on tap?”

She named off a few and Madison picked one. The waitress left them with a bowl of pretzels. She picked one up and continued to watch the crowd as she nibbled.

“You should be ready to party,” Elena said, pulling her out of her thoughts.

She looked at Elena, who was bouncing away to the music. “First of all, someone has to drive. I have a feeling that you are in the mood to drown your sorrows. Plus, with my issues, I like to keep my head on straight.”

Elena nodded but said nothing to that. She surveyed the perimeter, looking over the patrons not as threats as Madison did. This was more personal. Elena had more than one reason she was out that night. She was looking for someone to use if the margarita didn’t work.

“One of these days you’re going to tell me who broke your heart.”

Elena looked at her then sighed. Madison regretted dimming her friend’s spirits.

“Sorry.”

Elena shook her head. “Nah, you didn’t do anything to me and unfortunately, neither did the guy.”

“They always claim it was an accident.”

“No. He really had no idea. It was a crush kind of thing on an older guy.” Elena shrugged. “I could never get him out of the mode of thinking of me as a little sister.”

“And now?”

“Same thing. Just saw him the other day, and he practically patted me on the freaking head.” She rolled her eyes. “Like I need to be treated like a little girl.”

Madison nodded. “Yeah. Let me guess, he’s military?”

“Not anymore.”

The waitress returned with their drinks. Once she left, Elena held up her glass. “Screw all the sad talk. Let’s just have fun.”

Madison clinked her glass to Elena’s. “Agreed.”

She definitely needed a little fun tonight.

* * * *

Dante looked around the bar and smiled. The place Jack recommended was rowdy and filled with Marines. It didn’t surprise Dante at all. Every military town had a bar or two that was favored by the military. This one definitely catered to the military. The wood paneled walls were filled with pictures of military men and women and plaques he was sure had something to do with the same subject. There was a large wall filled with windows and above them were flags representing each branch of the service.

They grabbed a table when a group got up to play pool, which was at the end of the bar and grill.

“Damn, this takes me back. Do you remember the first time Anthony and I took you out drinking?” JT asked as he settled onto his chair.

“Of course I do. You let me drink until I started puking my guts up. Mom was reading me the riot act and Elena was pissed she’d been left behind.”

The waitress came over and they ordered a couple of beers.

“Well, yeah, your sister never understood being left behind.”

He chuckled. “That’s why she is bucking to make rank before me. Nothing like having a younger sister trying to outdo your accomplishments.”

“Younger by just a few minutes.”

“That’s the truth. Lord knows when we hit fifty she will be happy to remind me of that fact.”