“You leave Maryanne out of this. You be nice to my daughter-in-law.”
“You are all sweet on her because she’s giving you a grandbaby.”
“Exactly. I have no problem admitting that.”
He laughed and now that he was paying no attention to Jules, it was easy to study him. He was even more attractive than he had been in school. He’d always been well muscled, but now he was filled out. The extra lines around his blue eyes made him even more attractive. Another of those unfair things women had to deal with.
“So, it’s settled.”
“What?” she asked when she looked at Joey.
“You will come. Seven o’clock. Unless you have a date or something,” Joey said smiling.
A date? She couldn’t remember the last time she’d even entertained that idea. She was usually so tired by Saturday she would only plan for spending all day at home on Sunday. Rufus expected it.
“Okay.”
“You know the address? Wait, wouldn’t it make sense for you and Vince to come together. He lives over here in your neck of the woods.”
Alarm shot through her again. Vince and her. Alone. They hadn’t done that until the day before her wedding.
“Sure,” Vince said.
“Write down your address for Vince and he’ll pick you up. See you tomorrow, Jules.”
Then Joey turned and left them alone.
“Just go with the flow. It is always best to let her have her way on the little things.”
She blinked and looked at Vince. “I don’t even know what to wear.”
“It’s a Santini family get together. Casual always works. Plus, Mom is gonna be cooking all day, so nothing too fancy just in case you drop red sauce.”
She chuckled. “Of course you remember what a klutz I am.”
She wrote down her home address on a sticky note and handed it to him. “What time?”
He blinked. He still had all those wonderful dark lashes around his deep blue eyes. It as almost hypnotic to look into them. “What?”
“What time will you be picking me up?”
“How about six-thirty?”
“Okay.”
He didn’t leave. He just kept standing there staring at her as if he expected her to say something. She didn’t know what to say to him. Other than go away and that seemed rude.
“Vicente, I have a house to clean, let’s go,” his mother bellowed across the nursery.
Vince gave her a smile and she felt her heart take a tumble. “What she really means is she making Dad clean the house.”
“I heard that.”
“Ears like a bat. See you tomorrow, Jules.”
Then he walked out. She watched the family pile into their car together feeling a little homesick. Not that she had a home since she was a brat but it was where her parents were, which was Modesta, California. She sighed. She’d been happy when Joey had started to come around. They had even started to do lunch every now and then.
“Who was that hunk?” Angela asked as she walked down the aisle to Jules. She was only ten years younger than Jules, but Angela made her feel as if she were a hundred.
“That was Vicenti Santini, Joey’s oldest baby boy, as she calls him when he’s not around.”
“Well, he is hot. I wanted to take a big bite out of that perfect ass.”
Jules smiled at the younger woman. She had been a great find in a sea of applicants. A military brat working her way through college with a head for numbers and a personal gift for selling, Angela made the long hours all that more enjoyable with her unrestrained commentary. “It is kind of perfect. All the girls in high school were in agreement with that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, lord, you went to high school with that?”
“No. He looks better today than he did then. Which is why men suck.”
Angela laughed. “Well, he was mighty interested in you.”
She shook her head. “No, he isn’t.”
“Yeah, he is. He kept looking back there when his Mom was talking to you. He’s got a thing for you.”
“Have you started drinking with breakfast? Besides, I doubt Vicente Santini spends any of his time thinking about me.”
“I bet you ten bucks he does. A lot. I have a sense about these things.”
“You mean like the sense you had about the UPS guy being a mob guy in witness protection.”
“Okay, so I was wrong about that, and UPS had no problem changing his route when it got uncomfortable.”
“Yeah, he got sick of you trying to trick him into saying his real name. He didn’t even look Italian.”
“Not everyone who works for the Mafia is Italian and not all organized crime is Italian. But, that hot hunk of burning Marine blood is. I’m right about him. Bet ya.”
“I’ll take that bet, because I know for a fact he doesn’t like me.”
Especially not after the kiss. She could remember like it was yesterday. They were alone in her parents’ backyard and were supposed to be getting ready for the wedding rehearsal and he had kissed her. Right there with the cherry blossoms blooming overhead. And, he told her he loved her.
It had been the last words he had spoken to her until today.
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 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:
WEBSITE
TWITTER
FACEBOOK FAN PAGE
HARMLESS ADDICTS
THE HARMLESS SERIES
THE CURSED CLAN
THE SANTINIS
Or email her at: Contact@MelissaSchroeder.net
Other Books by Melissa Schroeder
Harmless
A Little Harmless Sex
A Little Harmless Pleasure
A Little Harmless Obsession
A Little Harmless Lie
A Little Harmless Addiction
A Little Harmless Submission
A Little Harmless Fascination
A Little Harmless Fantasy
A Little Harmless Military Romance
Possession
Surrender
The Harmless Shorts
A Little Harmless Surprise-includes ALH Fling and ALH Kalikimaka
A Little Harmless Gift
The Santinis
Leonardo
Marco
Gianni
The Cursed Clan
Callum
By Blood
Desire by Blood
Once Upon An Accident
The
Accidental Countess
Lessons in Seduction
The Spy Who Loved Me
Leather and Lace
The Seduction of Widow McEwan
Leather and Lace—Print anthology
Texas Temptations
Conquering India
Delilah’s Downfall
Hawaiian Holidays
Mele Kalikimaka, Baby
Sex on the Beach
Getting Lei’d
Bounty Hunters, Inc
For Love or Honor
Sinner’s Delight
The Sweet Shoppe
Her Wicked Warrior
Connected Books
Seducing the Saint
Saints and Sinners—print of both books
The Hired Hand
Cancer Anthology
Water—print
REISSUES
Telepathic Cravings
Her Mother’s Killer
A Calculated Seduction
Going for Eight
Tempting Prudence-The Sweet Shoppe
Cowboy Up-The Sweet Shoppe
Chasing Luck
Coming Soon
The Santinis: Vicente
The Harmless Shorts
Angus
A Little Harmless Ride
Craving
Relentless
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Epilogue