Loving a Santini

by Schroeder, Melissa

“For what?”

  “I just don’t want to answer right now. This is a big step.”

  “You had to know it was coming.”

  “No. I did not. I think I made it clear to you when we started that this was casual.”

  Yeah, she had, but that didn’t mean he believed it. He wasn’t an asshole, but he knew she felt something for him.

  “Listen, forget I brought it up. I have to get going so I’m not late, and who knows what the road will be like?”

  “Nando, please, wait. I don’t like you leaving like this.”

  “How do you expect me to leave?”

  “I don’t appreciate you throwing this at me then running away.”

  “I’m not running away. I have to get to work.”

  She sighed. “Really? Or did you expect me to fall down at your feet and thank you for thinking of me?”

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  “No. Tell me.” He didn’t have a quick temper, but it could be particularly nasty. And he knew Sunshine could get mad, but he didn’t expect her to lose it because of his suggestion.

  “I have a whole life, one that I built. I can’t just give that up because I’m involved with you. I have never wanted to live anywhere else.”

  “I didn’t say you had to do that.”

  “No, you suggested we live together, which neither of us have done before. Then when you’re done with your assignment, you will leave me here alone.”

  “I would never do that.”

  “Really? Because I sort of thought that was the plan anyway. I’m not leaving my island, and I am definitely not doing it for someone I barely know.”

  “Barely know? What the hell do you mean by that?”

  She blinked, and he thought she hadn’t expected him to yell, but damn. Was that how she saw him? A man who would take her to bed, and then simply walk away and not look back?

  “We’ve only been seeing each other for a few weeks,” she said quietly.

  “And?”

  If he hadn’t been so hurt by her obvious reluctance, he would have seen how pale she had gotten. But his heart wasn’t logical, and he knew when he was hurt, he could lash out.

  “I don’t have time for this right now,” he said.

  “I’m not the one who brought this up.”

  Just the night before…actually all weekend, they had spent every moment together. He knew something had been bothering her, but now he had to let it go. She seemed reluctant to discuss it. Now, though, he felt that they clearly needed to discuss whatever it was.

  “What’s going on?”

  “I thought you were going to be late.”

  “I am, and I don’t care.” He sat back down, his stomach rolling over. “You’ve been out of sorts all weekend. Something happened on Saturday night before I showed up.”

  She frowned harder.

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “My father was here when I got home.”

  “Oh.” And she hadn’t mentioned that to him. “What did he want?”

  “He wanted to plead my brother’s case.”

  He nodded. It was hard to ignore the fact that this had all happened, and she hadn’t told him.

  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I didn’t want to think about it. To deal with it. It’s…personal.”

  He blinked. “Personal.”

  “Yes.”

  “So, you’ll have me in your bed, but you don’t want to talk about your father because it would be too personal?” He couldn’t help but be a little angry. She had hit him right where it hurt.

  “Nando—”

  He stood up. “No. I’m not going to deal with you in this mood.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You’ve been off all weekend and refusing to talk to me. I’ll come over tonight and we’ll talk.”

  She didn’t look happy with his suggestion, but she nodded all the same. He turned to leave, then stopped and turned around. It took two steps to get to her. He pulled her up out of the chair and slammed his mouth down on hers. He wanted her to know—to feel—his love, his need for her…how right they were together.

  “We’ll talk tonight.”

  Nando waited for her nod, then he headed to the car. There was no way he was letting her go without a fight.

  Later in the day, Sunshine still hadn’t dealt with her mixed feelings from their disagreement that morning. She knew her unsettled state had to do with her fight with Nando. He was being pushy, when he hadn’t been before. It was odd for her that Nando spent more time over at her house than he did at his own. Not that she was complaining. It was, however, making it really difficult to remind herself that this wasn’t forever. Instead, she kept thinking in terms of months. It started out with days. What were they going to be doing in a day? Then in a week. And now it was months. She was worried she would start contemplating years. He wasn’t going to be here more than two or three more years. Then, he would move on. She couldn’t do that. She was completely tied to Hawaii. It was in her blood. She liked to travel, but Hawaii would always be home.

  “You’re standing there daydreaming.”

  She glanced at Mary. “Just a little bit. Did you get the receipts from the day finished?”

  She nodded. “Tell your auntie what’s going on.”

  She sighed. “Man problems.”

  “You shouldn’t have a problem with that hunk of a man.”

  Mary had inspected Nando at a family dinner the past weekend. She had given him her stamp of approval easily, as Nando was just like all of the Santinis. He charmed her slippahs off her.

  “Have you talked to your father?”

  More man problems of a different nature. “Yes. He was on my front stoop Saturday night.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Mary demanded.

  Because it reminded her of her fight with Nando, and she didn’t want to talk about that just now. “I think I should meet my brothers and sister, but I don’t know if I can go through with it.”

  “You can do anything, baby.”

  She smiled. “You said that when I wanted to be in choir.”

  “Well, that’s because I hadn’t heard you sing yet.”

  She chuckled. “True. Anyway, I think I might. I need to have some contact with them, right?”

  Mary shook her head. “No. You need to do what’s good for you.”

  Sunshine nodded. She had a lot to think about, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to call her father. She glanced at the clock. “You need to go.”

  “I can’t leave you alone.”

  “It’s still light out. I’ll finish up the laundry and get ready for tomorrow. You have a date with your hubby.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. If it gets dark before I leave, I’ll call Nando.”

  She smiled. “Good. See ya, sistah,” she said, as she hurried out the door.

  Sunshine laughed and locked the door behind Mary. As she walked back to the laundry area, she sighed. She wanted to protect herself. Nando knew she had been weird that weekend. He had been the perfect lover, in and out of the bedroom. Which had made it even more difficult for her to choose.

  Grabbing the laundry bin, she tugged it toward the washer and dryer. Why did life have to be so hard? She met a man who would normally be perfect for her. His military career made it complicated. But did she want to give him up?

  She stopped what she was doing, searching her own heart for the answer. No. No she didn’t want to break up with him. Dammit. She was definitely going to talk to him, but she still didn’t know what would happen. She couldn’t really leave Hawaii. She could, but it was her heart. Her home. She didn’t know if Nando could understand that. He was a military brat and had moved a lot. But…

  She shook her head. She couldn’t figure it out without talking to him. So, she decided to concentrate on work so she could get home and talk with Nando.

  As if he knew
she was thinking about him, her cell phone buzzed with a text from him.

  Hey, we still on tonight?

  Yeah. Give me about an hour and a half.

  You got a deal. Can’t wait to see you.

  She smiled and decided to get to work. An hour later, the sun was just starting to set, and she was done for the day. It wasn’t dark out yet, so she grabbed the trash and headed to the door. She opened the back door, carrying the trash out to the dumpsters. After tossing it in, she turned around and found Richard standing there.

  “Why are you dating that bastard?” he screamed.

  Before she could mentally process that he was there, he raised his hand and she felt something hard hit her head. Pain radiated from her forehead and her world started to spin. Stars formed before her eyes as she stumbled back. She would have fallen if the wall of the store hadn’t been there. He started toward her as fear held her immobile. All of her defense classes had taught her to run. Get out of the situation as fast as possible. Her vision was blurred and her brain didn’t seem to be working right. Then, Richard looked over his shoulder. Something must have scared him.

  “Hey,” she heard a man yell out after him. Then she heard footsteps racing toward her. It was then she realized she had shut her eyes. Her stomach almost roiled but she swallowed the bile, beating that urge back. She really hated throwing up.

  “Hey, there, be careful.”

  He held onto her and she realized then she had been slipping down the wall. She forced herself to open her eyes. He was a younger man, just a year or two older than she was. He was wearing what she knew was a pilot’s uniform and he had green eyes.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She licked her lips and tried to answer but felt her stomach roll. Damn. She might just lose what little food she had in her body.

  “Are you Sunshine? Who was that man?”

  She tried to concentrate on his words, but her brain just would not compute anything. “I…I can answer that but not right now.”

  His frowned turned darker. “Why not?”

  “Because I’m going to pass out right now.” Then, she was falling forward into darkness.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “So, you think that you might have found the one?” Marco asked.

  They were sitting on the lanai as he waited a few more minutes to leave for Sunshine’s. He was still unsettled about the fight, but at least she had answered his text. He hoped he hadn’t pushed too much. He didn’t like the way he’d left that morning. It probably would’ve gotten a lot worse if he had stayed.

  “You don’t believe me?”

  “Oh, no, I believe you. Santinis always know who and what they want. Just, Sunshine is a local girl. She once told Alana that she would never live anywhere else.”

  Dammit. “People change their minds.”

  “Yeah, but I think this has to do with her mother. You say you met her father?”

  He nodded. “Kind of an asshole. Showed up at her house asking me why I was there. Like that’s any of his damned business.”

  Marco sighed as he glanced over at his children. “Hard to believe someone would just turn their backs on their kids. I can’t even imagine that.”

  “Yeah. I just...you know my mom and dad know him?”

  “Really? What did Aunt Marcella say about him?”

  “She didn’t like him. Said he was too slick.”

  “Meaning your father wasn’t,” Marco said laughing.

  “Yeah, he didn’t appreciate that.” He remembered the conversation. His father had been complaining in the background, and his mother was laughing so hard he was sure she had been crying. Still, no one could say they didn’t love each other. After six kids and so many years together, there was no denying that they both still adored each other. He wanted that. He wanted it with Sunshine.

  He wasn’t sure he could convince her. He definitely didn’t want to give up his career in the military...did he?

  “Hey, earth to Nando.”

  He glanced at Marco. “Sorry, just woolgathering.”

  His cousin smiled. “You’ll figure it all out, Runt.”

  “I just…I’m actually thinking of getting out.”

  “Of the military? Because of Sunshine?”

  He sighed. “Not completely. It’s…I like my job now. I like playing with numbers. You know, they will probably send me back into my career field at the end of this assignment.”

  “And you don’t want that?”

  He blinked at the question. “No. Damn.”

  “What?”

  “I’m not sure that my sleep issues were because of my last assignment. I mean, that might be part of the problem, but I needed to make a decision. I wasn’t happy after the last couple of assignments.”

  “Don’t make a rash decision.”

  “I have to fulfill my obligation to my assignment here, so it wouldn’t happen too soon.”

  Marco nodded. “You’ve been thinking about this for a while?”

  “Not directly.”

  “Well, that clears it up,” Marco said with a chuckle.

  “No. It’s just, I kept thinking about how much I loved this job. I get to play with money…a lot of money…but even on the crappy days, I like it. I do well at combat, but I don’t like it.”

  “Of course you do. You’ve moved up in the ranks pretty fast and, well, we all know you’ve gotten more than a few medals and ribbons.”

  He sighed. He was good at combat. “I had five siblings who made sure I was prepared for combat.”

  Marco snorted. “That’s true.”

  “Still, while I am good at combat, I don’t like it as much as I like figuring out a budget or playing with numbers, so we can make sure an organization can buy something. I know it’s not as sexy as being a SEAL.”

  “Well, there is nothing as sexy as being a SEAL.”

  Nando shook his head, then he sobered. He truly did think he might want to get out. Nothing was for sure, because the state of the world could change in an instant, and he might feel obligated to stay in. Right then, though, he just didn’t want to. He wanted to get an accounting or budgeting position as a civilian, possibly on one of the bases. Here in Hawaii.

  “Can you tell me when you knew Alana was the one for you?”

  Marco chuckled. “Truth was, I had a crush on her from the moment I moved into the cottage. Then, my idiot brothers showed up and proved that I didn’t just want to admire her from afar.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Especially Gianni. You know he’s always had a thing for women who were a little older.”

  “And that’s who he married.”

  Gianni was a rescue PJ in the Air Force. He fell in love with Kianna, who was slightly older and a professor of literature.

  Marco chuckled. “But he didn’t worry me as much as Vince. I knew he would have made a play for her. That’s when I realized what I wanted.”

  “Oh, great. I’m a what?” Alana asked as she walked out on the lanai. Eddie was in her arms and Jon followed behind them. They were all in their bathing suits.

  “I meant that I wanted forever with you. That was the what,” Marco said, standing to take Eddie from Alana.

  Before Alana could respond, Nando’s phone vibrated. He didn’t recognize the number but it was local.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this Captain Fernando Santini?”

  “Yes? Who is this?”

  “My name is Nurse Singh. I’m a nurse at Tripler Army Medical Center.”

  His heart lurched. “Yes?”

  “There’s a woman here by the name of Sunshine Foster. She said she wanted us to call you.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t give you the particulars over the phone, Captain, but if you come in, I can tell you. Since you aren’t family, that is.”

  “Yes, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  He clicked off the phone. “Sunshine is at Tripler.”

  “What’s wrong?” />
  “I don’t know. They said she’s going to be okay, but that she asked that they call me.”

  What happened? Had she been hurt badly, in a wreck? And why didn’t she call him?

  He started for the driveway, but Marco stopped him. “I’ll drive you.”

  “No, you stay.”

  He handed Eddie back to Alana. “No, you shouldn’t be driving. We don’t need two people we care about in the hospital.”

  Marco kissed Alana, then headed into the house. Nando followed him. On the way through the house, he picked up the keys to his car.

  “Let’s go.”

  Nando bust through the ER doors and hurried to the desk. Marco had dropped him off out front while he went in search of parking.

  He had to wait until a mother with an ill son had checked in before he could get an answer. He stepped up to the window.

  “My name is Nando…sorry Fernando Santini. A nurse called me to tell me Sunshine Foster was here.”

  “Hold on.”

  Then, a nurse appeared.

  “Santini?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Come on back.” Just then, Marco came in. “That’s my cousin.”

  “He can’t come back.”

  “They are taking me back.”

  “Can you tell me her condition? My wife is good friends with her and worried.”

  “She’s stable. The only thing we’re worried about is a concussion. No other injuries.”

  Marco smiled, and he thought he heard the nurse sigh. “Thank you. Gonna call Alana,” he said to Nando.

  He nodded as he watched his cousin head back outside.

  “Come on. She got hit in the head.”

  “In the head?”

  She nodded. “Not sure exactly what happened, but from what I know, she was attacked behind her store.”

  His heart lurched. Dammit, he should have been there.

  “She’s in here. She has a headache, but she should be fine. Once the tests come back, we’ll decide on whether to let her go or not. If she goes home, she’ll need someone with her tonight.”

  “No problem.”

  He planned on calling Ferguson and taking tomorrow off. Nothing big was going on, and Sunshine needed him.

  “Just so you know, it looks worse than it actually is.”

  That was all the warning he got before she opened the door. His heart dropped to his stomach when he saw Sunshine. She looked so pale, too pale.