The Santini Collection 1-4 (30 page)

“
Yeah, and I almost had a fight with Jackson.”

“
Whatever for?”

“
He told me he would make a play for you.”

She patted his leg. “He’s just messing with you. And like he would have a chance.”

He laughed and leaned over and kissed her on the neck.

“
You do know how to make a man feel good.”

She leaned up against him. “Just wait until we get home.”

* * * *

A week later, Kianna was finishing up her lecture when she saw Gianni in the doorway. She faltered for a second, heat instantly zinging through her blood. He gave her an apologetic look, then stepped out of view. It took her a second or two to get back to the discussion.

“
Dr. Jones?”

She shook her head to clear it, and smiled. “Make sure to bring your advertising examples for the next class.” She glanced at the clock. “That’s it for tonight. Have a good weekend.”

As soon as she dismissed them, Gianni slipped into the room. Several of her female students threw him interested glances, but he ignored them.

“
Sorry for interrupting.”

She shook her head. “Just finishing up.”

“
Dr. Jones.” Gregory, one of her military students said.

“
Yes, what do you need?”

“
I’ve got night duty next week. I should be off, but they switched things up.”

She nodded. “Tell you what. Email me your assignment for tonight, and I’ll let you know the assignments for the next couple of classes.”

“
Thank you,” then he left them alone.

“
Well, seems you have groupies.”

She started gathering her materials up. “What are you talking about?”

“
That kid there.”

“
That kid is probably older than you are, and he’s military.”

He frowned. “Yeah?”

“
What?”

He shook his head. “I’ll look him up.”

“
Whatever for?”

“
I have to check him out, make sure he’s on the up and up. He’s trying to move in on my woman.”

She shouldn’t like that term. There was something so wrong with it but part of her liked it.

“
He’s harmless and married.”

“
Still.”

“
Gianni, if you do that, I will have to dump you.”

“
That’s not nice.”

“
I never said I was.” She started to walk past him, but he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her closer.

“
You
are
sweet. Particular parts of you are amazingly sweet.”

She shivered as he gave her a kiss.

“
I have to drop some things off at my office, then we can head out.”

He smiled and gave her a quick peck on the tip of her nose. “Cool, I want to see where you work.”

She pulled away to gather up her books. “Why?”

“
It’s part of you.”

When she glanced at him, she realized he was being serious. Unless she worked with the man, most didn’t want to know about her work, but Gianni did. In fact, he took as much pleasure as she did in his work.

She unlocked the door and stepped into the cramped space. “Sorry, it’s always a mess.”

He laughed. “No worries. This is actually what I expected a professor’s office to look like.”

“
You’ve never been to a professor’s office? I thought your mother was a teacher.”

“
Art teachers don’t usually get something like this. For myself, I’ve taken a few classes but they were all online for now. Getting the basics out of the way. I want to get a Bachelor’s to back up my Medic training, but not in a hurry right now.”

She nodded as she slipped her files into the cabinet then locked it. “I’m ready.”

“
Yeah, I am too.”

Something in his tone stopped her. “What does that mean?”

He smiled as he approached her. She had to fight the urge to back up.

“
Uh, Gianni, what are you doing?”

“
I have this fantasy of being very naughty in the professor’s office.”

She laughed and slipped away. “No.”

“
You are saying no, but your body is saying yes,” he said slipping behind her. He nuzzled her neck, his teeth grazing the sensitive flesh. “God, woman you drive me crazy.”

She was seriously thinking of accepting the offer he had just made, when she heard her baby sister’s voice.

“
Am I interrupting?”

Chapter Seven

Sometimes, it’s hard to remember how not to be the big sister. —Kianna

Gianni bit back a growl when he saw the petite woman leaning against the doorjamb. He knew she was the youngest of the three sisters and possibly the most needy. One thing he had learned about Kianna was that she was more of a control freak about her younger siblings than Vince had ever been. But, then again, her parents were gone and as the oldest she probably saw it as her duty to take care of them.

“
What are you doing here?” he asked.

Okay that was a little rude, but he was still trying to pull his head out of the fantasy of office sex.

“
Zoe,” Kianna said. “This is Gianni. Gianni, this is my baby sister Zoe.”

She nodded in his direction but said nothing else.

“
So, are you going to tell you me what you’re doing here?”

She shrugged. The petulant look on her face told Gianni she wasn’t happy finding a man with her sister. It was hard to believe they were sisters to begin with. Kianna was all rounded curves and soft smiles. Zoe was a little bit shorter, smaller boned. Her waist length braided hair was purple. Her jeans had seen better days, as had the shirt she wore.

“
I thought I would come over for the weekend to see you.” She gave Gianni a measuring look. “Not a student?”

Before he could answer her, and he was pretty sure she wouldn’t like Gianni’s answer, Kianna did. “No. Gianni is a PJ here at the base.”

“
Hmm.”

Her sister wasn’t impressed apparently.

“
We were just leaving,” Kianna said.

“
Is that what they call it now?”

He had to fight the chuckle. Apparently Kianna didn’t get caught fooling around that often and her younger sister probably loved turning the tables.

“
Yeah, we were going to go out for a late supper and some drinks if you’re up to it,” he said.

Kianna gave him a surprised look.

“
Sure,” Zoe said, but her expression told Gianni he was in for a long night.

* * * *

The place he picked was close to the I-95 but quiet being a Thursday night. He could almost feel Kianna’s relief.

“
So, how long have you been sleeping with my sister?”

Kianna choked on a drink. She patted the moisture away from her lips then frowned at her younger sister. “Zoe.”

“
I think I have the right to know.”

Before she could answer her though, Gianni took over the conversation. “I think you do too, but I think you should show your sister a little more respect.”

Kianna gave him a curious glance. She’d never heard that tone from Gianni before. The frown told her Gianni wasn’t happy with her sister.

Zoe frowned right back at him. This was definitely not going to be the fun and happy night she had planned.

“
How’s work going?” she asked.

Her sister shrugged. “It’s going. I’m hoping to have enough for a show by early next year.”

“
That would be wonderful. We’ll have to have a huge party in Savannah.”

“
A show?”

“
You know Zoe paints. She’s working to have enough on hand to have a show.”

She beamed at her sister and Zoe smiled. “I said I was hoping.”

“
You’ll do it.” She glanced at Gianni who seemed to relax a little bit more now. “You like the picture she painted of Savannah’s waterfront for me.”

“
Oh, you mean the one that hangs over your bed?” Zoe asked, but she was smiling. “My sister is very traditional, but I couldn’t resist it. And I knew she would love it.”

She patted Zoe’s hand. “The ribs are amazing here. You should try them Zoe.”

She tried to keep the conversation flowing. There was one thing that she knew and that was Zoe didn’t just show up out of the blue for nothing. Something was wrong, very wrong, for her sister to pop up out of the blue.

She just hoped it wasn’t anything too terrible.

* * * *

Gianni understood being the youngest. It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world. You were always taking shit from your siblings and you had to prove you were just as good as them to the rest of the world. Being mean to embarrass Kianna wasn’t right. It was bratty.

By the time they reached the house, he had made up his mind. He would have a talk with Zoe. Kianna gave him a chance the moment they walked in the door. She was tired, he could tell, and not in the mood for her sister’s antics.

“
I need to change.” She sighed and looked at them. “You two, just whatever.”

She left them alone in the living room.

“
You’ve upset your sister.”

Zoe shrugged. Oh, damn, she must have been a handful in high school. Part of him wondered at that. Zoe wasn’t that much younger than he was, but he felt like he was old enough to be her father when he was with her.

“
If your sister is upset, I am.”

She cut him a look out of the corner of her eye. “Is that so?”

He crossed his arms. “Other people might like the bratty side of you, but I don’t. It’s cute, but it gets old since you are apparently doing it to upset your sister. That I find unacceptable.”

One eyebrow rose and he wanted to laugh. It was so apparently Kianna but he figured neither sister would be happy to hear that.

“
Really?”

“
Yes.”

“
And you think it’s your job to see to this?”

“
It’s my job to make sure she’s happy. You are not helping.”

She snorted and walked around the room. “You think that she’s so nice?”

“
No, but I know that while she might not be happy with people’s life choices, she accepts you and the men you date. You should show her the same respect.”

Before she could respond, Kianna joined them back in the living room. He was pretty sure she was going to try and push him out the door, but that wasn’t going to happen. He knew that Kianna was used to rearranging people and for once she was going to have to understand where he fit in her life.

“
Did you want to watch something?” Kianna asked.

Zoe looked from him then back to Kianna. “Sure.”

* * * *

“
What did you do with my sister?” she asked as he shut the door behind him.

He smiled. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”