A Santini's Heart (The Santinis Book 10) (9 page)

“I don’t need a man to be happy.”

“No. No woman should. It doesn’t mean that he can’t make you happy. You’re strong and independent. It is one of the reasons you are so good at your job and dealing with Carlos. Still, you deserve to have someone there for you.”

“It doesn’t mean it will be Carlos.”

His mother shrugged. “That is up to you two. Answer me this though. If Carlos were to marry and bring someone back to the ranch, how would that make you feel?”

Her heart sank into her stomach before she could stop it. Marcella must have picked up on her feelings.

“Ah, I thought so.”

“What?”

“You got that dreamy look all women do over Santinis.”

“I did not.” Did she? Good lord, was she getting soft over Carlos? Marcella apparently picked up on Tia’s thoughts.

“Don’t worry. I know my children, and my son is positively gaga over you.”

She blinked. “He is not.”

“Has he brought another woman to the ranch since he moved in?”

She frowned. “No.”

“So, what, over two years now? That isn’t normal for a Santini.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“The men in this family aren’t known for being lonely. Carlos strikes me as lonely, except when you are around.”

“I…”

She couldn’t think of anything to say. She knew that Carlos was attracted to her, and she was attracted to him. Hard not to be. He had all the moxie of a Marine. Add in the cowboy image and he was hard to resist. But she’d had no idea he was that much into her.

Marcella reached across the table and patted Tia’s hand. “Just let things happen. I see a spark between the two of you that is hard to deny. Now, your food is getting cold. Let’s eat.”

* * *

T
ony Santini watched
his wife breeze into the house, and felt that familiar uptick in his pulse. Over thirty years together and the woman still got to him. She’d knocked him on his ass from the moment she walked up to him and made a bold proposition. He hadn’t been the same since.

“I take it shopping went well?”

She smiled. “Yes. Fantastic.”

“I hope you weren’t too rude to her.”

Those gorgeous soft brown eyes widened. “What makes you think I would ever be rude to my future daughter-in-law?”

“Now, Marcella, don’t get your heart set on her marrying Carlos. You don’t even know his intentions.”

Granted, Tony was pretty sure his son was ready to take the dive, but Carlos and Tia did not need someone butting in, especially not a Santini mother. They always thought they were helping their children; but sometimes, they just needed to let things lie. You couldn’t tell one of them that, though, especially in the throes of planning the next wedding.

“I know his intentions and now I know hers.”

“And those would be?”

She sat down on the couch next to him. “She’s halfway in love with him. I don’t think she realized that he hadn’t dated anyone for the last couple of years, or that she might be the reason for it. They are going to make beautiful babies.”

He rolled his eyes. “Woman, I told you to leave it be.”

She smiled. “At least I know that next weekend, with all that romance and the dress I just helped Tia pick out, Carlos is going to have a hard time resisting.”

Before he could respond to that, her cell rang with Joey’s ringtone.

“Hey, Joey. I just got back.”

Marcella leaned over and kissed his cheek, then she bounced off the couch as she relayed the same information to his sister-in-law. With a long sigh, he shook his head. There was nothing you could avoid once the Santini mothers started planning—and Joey was their ringleader.

There was part of Tony that wanted to warn his son. There was a good chance Carlos already knew his mother was plotting the death of his single status; and truth was, once a Santini met his match, there was just no way to avoid it.

He glanced into the kitchen where Marcella paced and chatted. His heart turned over and he smiled. Fate might deal Santinis the destiny of their Curse, but it wasn’t a bad one to have.

B
y the time
Tia arrived home, she was worn out. She spent her days working with horses and patients. Some days she could barely walk to her bed and collapse. There wasn’t a day that went by that she did not use muscles most people rarely overworked. One afternoon with Marcella had left her mind spinning and her body not far behind.

Not that she was complaining. She had enjoyed herself. It had reminded her of the days when she and her mother would run off for some girl time. It had been a long time. Of course, it had made her miss her mom even more. So, she had called, chatted about the benefit, shopping, and the ranch. By the time she hung up, she was feeling better.

After throwing a week’s worth of clothes in the wash, she decided to take a bath. With a glass of wine nearby, she sunk into the hot, scented water, and sighed. Just as her body started to relax, her phone vibrated. Tia dried her hands off, then grabbed her phone.

Carlos.

Of course. He had said to call him, but she was trying to avoid temptation. If she didn’t answer, there was a good chance he would end up knocking on her door. And that would end badly, because she was naked in the bathtub and had a whole lot of need built up for him inside of her.

“Where have you been?” he demanded.

She said nothing for a long second. She wasn’t accustomed to answering to anyone—not anymore. “Well, it’s nice to hear from you too, Carlos.”

There was a beat of silence, then a sigh. “Sorry. I just got worried about you.”

“Really? I’m twenty-eight and have had full control over my life for a while. I can take care of myself, Carlos.”

He didn’t respond right away, and she knew it was because he was planning another line of attack. Her brother had been the same way. Plan A didn’t work. Make another plan. It was one of the things that had driven her crazy about Adrian, and one of the things that made him born to serve in the military. Knowing the Santini family, they drilled that kind of behavior into their heads from the day they were born.

“Are you still there, or can I finish my bath in silence?”

“You’re in the bathtub?” His voice had grown deeper, thicker.

Oh, damn. She didn’t want to hear desire in his voice, the same desire that now would zing through her blood.

“Yes.”

“Are you trying to be mean to me on purpose?”

She laughed, she couldn’t help it. “No. I wasn’t going to tell you, but you irritated me.”

He chuckled and she had to fight back a moan. The man had one of the best chuckles.

“It doesn’t take much to irritate you.”

That was true. “Just you.”

“Bubbles?”

“What?”

“Do you have bubbles?”

She shook her head and sunk down into the water. “No. I have bath oils.”

“Hmm.”

She smiled and closed her eyes, laying her head against the rim of the tub. The hot water, the honeysuckle-scented oil, and the sound of Carlos’ voice were doing the trick for her tonight.

She could just imagine if he were there right now, his hands skimming through the water, then over her flesh.

Dammit. Need a new topic. “How did the tours go today?”

“Good.” She heard a squeak and knew he was leaning back in his office chair. “Looks like we will have a huge surge in autistic and spectrum children and adults.”

“That will be great.” And it was one of the things they had both hoped for. They loved what they did for PTSD sufferers, but they had also worked with autistic children and adults. “We’ll need to train some more people.”

“And expand.”

“Hmm.”

“You’re not falling asleep, are you?”

“No.”

“I can come over and keep you up.”

“You already keep me up at night.”

“Oh, do tell.”

Dammit, she hadn’t meant to say that to him. That showed her just how tired she was.

“No comment.”

He chuckled. “I bet. So, what kind of bath oils are you using?”

“What kind? Are you shopping for yourself?”

“No. I mean, what does it smell like? Honeysuckle, right?”

She frowned. “How did you know?”

“You smell like it all the time.”

“I do?”

“Uh huh.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that. He knew how she smelled?

“Tia?”

“What?”

“I didn’t freak you out, did I?”

“No. Not really.”

Just a little. She hadn’t really thought he actually thought about her. Well, he knew she did, but…this was different. More intimate.

“’Not really’. That isn’t a ringing endorsement.”

“I didn’t think you thought of me that way.”

“In what way?”

“Stop teasing me. You know what I mean.”

He was quiet for a long time, then he said, “The first time I saw you, you were riding Starburst.”

“Yeah.”

“You wore that old straw hat, a green shirt, and worn jeans.”

“You remember what I wore?”

“Yes. And I remember that when you rode up, you took my breath away.”

For a second, she said nothing. Couldn’t. Carlos wasn’t a man who spoke in those terms. He didn’t use it to woo women, not really. Of course, all he had to do was smile at a woman, and she would be ready to strip naked for him. But this was different. Remembering what she wore…how he felt the first time he met her, that was a whole other level.

“You didn’t like me much.”

He grunted. “I didn’t like a lot of people then.”

“That’s true.”

“But I kept coming back. Something about you made me want to keep coming back. It wasn’t that I thought I could talk you into bed. It wasn’t that. I wanted to impress you.”

She couldn’t fight the smile that curved her lips.

“Yeah?”

She wasn’t sure if a man had
ever
said that to her. So many times in the past, she had seemed forgettable enough, and they definitely hadn’t tried to impress her.

“Yeah.”

“I just thought you were doing it to irritate me.”

“Well, there
is
that.”

She laughed.

“But it was more than that and you know it.”

Yes, she did. The feeling that he was different from her other clients had been with her since the first moment they’d met. She had had clients with worse cases of PTSD, but something about Carlos had tugged at her from the beginning.

“So, I guess I can’t convince you to come over here tonight?” he asked.

She wanted to, more than she would ever admit to him. “Naw. I’m pretty tired right now. Your mother is kind of crazy organized but also exhausting.”

“She had to be. Imagine school shopping for six kids.”

“Sounds like a nightmare.”

“I guess I’ll let you go, since I have a feeling I can’t get you over here tonight.”

“Nope. Sleep is best for me I think.”

“You could sleep after.”

She didn’t need to ask what he meant by after. “No. Staying here. Go to bed, Santini.”

He sighed. “Fine. Good night, Tia.”

“Good night.”

She clicked her phone off and set it on the table next to the bathtub. She knew she was smiling, and she didn’t care. There was definitely something about being the object of fascination for a Santini man. Now, she just had to figure out what to do about it.

* * *

W
hen Tia arrived
at the ranch early Sunday morning, she avoided the house. She didn’t need to see Carlos this morning. After lunch with his mother the day before, Tia had run some errands, then headed home. That had more to do with trying not to think about Carlos. And sex with Carlos. Of course, when she went to bed, there wasn’t much she could do to avoid the dreams of him, which had left her without a lot of sleep.

She made her way through the barn, patting the horses, seeing that they had enough food and the stalls had been cleaned out. Carlos had seen to that, apparently. She turned and started to walk to the entrance, when she realized someone was there.

“Avoiding me this morning?”

Dammit. The man was relentless. She knew that part of his plan was to wear down her resistance to him. If he knew just how little she had, he would be worse.

“No, just thought I would stop by and see my horses.”

“They’re fine.”

“Hmm.”

It was the only thing she could think of saying. Seriously. He was standing there wearing a cowboy hat, a faded chambray shirt, and a pair of jeans; and she just couldn’t think. For a woman who had spent her entire life around cowboys, she had thought herself immune to them. But, when Carlos donned those worn jeans...she had to fight her need to touch.

He cocked his head to the side and studied her. She did not like that look in eyes. Well, she did, but the heat she witnessed flare in the depths of his deep chocolate gaze made her melt. “Nothing really on the agenda today.”

“Yeah, I know. I wanted to come by and check on things.”

“Yeah?”

She heard the deepening of his voice as he moved forward. She took a step back.

“Stop.”

“Why?” he asked, frustration stamped in that one syllable.

“Carlos.” She couldn’t come up with anything to say. It was beyond her to explain to him why she shouldn’t go to bed with him. Hell, at the moment, she couldn’t come up with a way to convince herself not to. He was standing there with the sun shining bright behind him, creating a shiny halo around that perfect body. It was almost as if someone was trying to give her a sign.

“Give me a reason, other than our worries about the ranch, and I will consider them. Do you find me ugly? Not sexually attracted to me?”

“My life would be so much simpler if I wasn’t.”

“Yeah?”

Damn. She really didn’t need him getting a big head. He already knew he was drop dead gorgeous. He was a Santini. They walked into a room and women were ready to strip naked. Hell, she knew that because it was the first thought she’d had when she met him. It had been the first time she had ever had an inappropriate thought about a client. And knowing he was her business partner, it added to the complication.

“It doesn't matter, Carlos. We can’t just jump into this situation and pretend like the rest of our issues don’t matter. They do.”

He nodded. “They do, but it doesn’t mean we need to abandon the thought.”

Was he getting closer? She wasn’t sure if he had actually stepped closer, or if it was her mind playing tricks on her. Tia knew one thing: Being in close proximity to Carlos was not a good idea. He was a temptation that she was finding almost impossible to resist.

She stepped around him and strode to her truck. Get home, then soak in a bath of ice cubes. It was the only way to keep herself from making a huge mistake.

Before she could make it to her truck, Carlos caught up with her.

“Nope, we are going to talk about this.”

She stopped. “What?”

He grabbed her hand and tugged. “Come on. We are going to talk.”

She resisted and he stopped.

“What?” he asked.

“You demand it, so it is going to happen?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Then what? Why is it important that we speak about this?”

He looked at her with an expression of irritation and disbelief. “You actually think if we ignore this attraction that it will just disappear?”

She threw her hands up in the air. “I have no idea.”

He had released her hand and settled his own hands on his hips. He stared at her as if he were trying to figure out some kind of great mystery.

“So you just hope these feelings are going to go away?”

She didn’t answer. How could she? The man tempted her in the worst way, and had from the moment they’d met. Now that they were on an equal level, she had to fight the urge every damn day. And since he had kissed her, she didn’t know how to shut it off.

“Right. Well, that isn’t an answer.”

He grabbed her hand again, but instead of tugging her along, he yanked her so she fell against his chest. She opened her mouth to protest, but found herself up in the air and then over his shoulder.

“Dammit, Santini, put me down.”

He didn’t answer. He just walked to the house, up onto the porch, and into the house. Tia thought he would set her down the moment he entered the house, but he didn’t. He just continued up the stairs and into his bedroom. With infinite care, he slid her down his body until her feet were on the floor.

Her body was already humming when she looked up at him. Heat flamed deep within his gaze as he lowered his head. She didn’t resist this time, couldn’t. She gave into the feeling she had been fighting for weeks now. Their mouths touched and her knees almost buckled. No sweet pecks this time. This kiss was full on carnal. It rushed over her like a sea of need. He traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, and she opened her mouth without hesitation.

The moment she did, he stole inside. She slipped her hands up his arms to his shoulders, then behind his neck. She melted into him, wanting nothing more than this moment with this man.

He slipped his hands down to her ass and cupped it, urging her closer to him—as if that were possible. The long, hard length of him pressed against her stomach and she moaned. She couldn't stop the sound even if she wanted to. Somewhere, deep inside, she knew this time was different from every man who had come before him.