The Santinis: Leonardo, Book 1 by Melissa Schroeder Read Free Book Online

head. “No.”
    He glanced at her, his gaze scanning over her. She could see his mind working behind that sexy face of his. “It’s his duty, Maryanne.”
    He didn’t try to placate her. He just said the unvarnished truth, which for her was always better to deal with.  
    “He volunteered. Again. They all do.” She shook her head “They piss me off.”
    Leo laughed. “But you love them.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Where’s he going?”
    She shrugged. “I don’t know. He couldn’t say.”
    Which made it worse. Sure, she obsessed whenever she knew where they were, watching every news program and she was insane enough to have a Google alert for whatever country they were in. But…it was better for her that way.
    “Hey,” he said, his voice lowering and filled with so much concern she felt tears burn the back of her eyes. She looked up at him. “Don’t be sad. I bet he’ll be back before you know and he’ll happily be interrupting my pursuit.”
    She laughed and sniffed. Then, she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “You’re sweet.”
    His cheeks turned ruddy and she smiled. The fact that he was blushing because of her gratitude was kind of cute. And sexy. Why did she find it so appealing that the big Army medic blushed? She was in deep after two weeks if that was getting to her.  
    “So, no brothers around, yeah?”
    She sighed. “I hope not. It would be just like Jack to call them. It would be easy for them to pop in since everyone is CONUS right now.   But at the moment, no.”
    “Good. How about pizza in tonight?”
    She smiled. “Trying to fatten me up, Santini?”
    He grinned back at her. She felt something clogged her throat. “I have a feeling if I don’t feed you, you’ll waste away to nothing. So, how about it? I’ll bring the pizza.”
    “No anchovies this time. I can’t believe you and Jack did that to me.”
    “That wasn’t my fault. He told me you loved them.”
    “What woman in her right mind would like anchovies on a pizza?”
    He shook his head. “Are you trying to avoid the question?”
    A little, but she wouldn’t admit it out loud. Having him in her house without her brother playing guardian would be dangerous. Like fall into bed, lose her mind kind of dangerous.
    And she really wanted to be dangerous with Leo.  
    “Just pizza?”
    He nodded.
    “Yeah. I like that idea, and I’ll provide the beer.”
    Then she dug into her food, feeling better by the moment.
    *   *   *   *
    “Do not expect anything tonight, Santini,” Leo murmured as he made his way to Maryanne’s apartment.  
    It was hard to convince his body to pay attention though. Leo wanted more than a little kiss good night. The cold showers he was taking every day were getting irritating.   He hadn’t been this frustrated since high school. He found more ways of making out with Maryanne than he ever did during his teenage years and Leo knew he was almost at the end of his rope.  
    Still, he knew not to push. Granted, Jack had been the main reason they hadn’t gotten any further, but something was telling him to go slow. A huge part of him, the one that wasn’t listening to his hormones, wanted to take his time. It should scare him, but as his father always said, once a Santini found something he wanted, there was nothing that would stand in his way. The only thing that did, or one of the biggest things, was her experience with men.  
    She was wary. That was understandable if she had never had a man try to romance her. What kind of idiots had she been dating? Leo had picked up on it the last couple of weeks. The fact that men apparently didn’t hold the door open for her, listen to her talk…just pay attention to her had been evident from her reactions. Of course, those other men didn’t matter. None of it did because he was in for the long haul.
    He stopped in front of her door and just stared at the knocker. What the hell was he thinking? In for the long haul. Like forever? He had only known the