The Santini Collection 1-4 by Melissa Schroeder Page A

hard to be in his presence. For a few moments, she just stood there and stared. When she realized what she was doing, she stepped back.
    “ Have a good time.”
    “ Thank you for the pineapple.”
    She nodded and turned to walk. She was hoping he went into the house, but she had a feeling he was standing there staring at her. He did that a lot. He always seemed to want to make sure she was in the house or on her way before he broke his attention from her. It had to be a SEAL thing.
    When she walked around the corner she found Colin waiting for her. “You’re supposed to be in the house.”
    He rocked back on his heels and smiled. “I have to look out for my girl.”
    She snorted. Colin had never been interested in her and the feeling was mutual, but he did feel it was his duty to watch out over her now that she was alone. “I don’t think you need to worry about that.”
    “ I’m not so sure about that. They all seemed to be interested, very interested. Especially the tenant.”
    She rolled her eyes and walked past him into the house. She didn’t need to get all excited about how that made her feel. She had a little crush on the SEAL since he moved in a couple months earlier, but she had learned early in her life men like him would be interested only in her for her money. Otherwise, they were just nice to her. Like a brother. A really hot brother.
    God, she needed to get her mind on something else.
    “ I think you’ve gone mental,” she said as Colin shut the door behind him.
    “ I think you have a blind spot. And, I think you need to take a chance again.”
    She didn’t want to talk about Pete or the mistake she had made. It had been five years and she still felt like a fool. Her romantic life had been desperately barren since the episode, but it was better that way. A woman in her position couldn’t take a chance on a man, not when every one of them knew how much money she had. The thought that Pete would have gotten ahold of the money for the charity still haunted her. Thankfully, she had found out what a scum he was before.
    “ I don’t want to talk about it. Tonight is only for happy discussions. Unless you want to bash Sara.”
    He wanted to say more, she could tell from the expression on his face. He rarely held back when it came to her love life, but thankfully he refrained.
    “ I’ll make the drinks, you get out the carbos that will kill my waistline,” he said with a smile.
    “ You got it.”
    And maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t go to sleep thinking about one sexy lieutenant just yards away from her bed.
     
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    “ So, she’s not a senior citizen,” Vince said conversationally.
    Marco wasn’t fooled. Vince wanted to take a few jabs at him. He said nothing as he grabbed up his keys to drive for the night trying to ignore Vince’s amusement. He was still trying to deal with his feelings about watching his brothers flirt with Alana. One thing he knew, any kind of discussion would lead to a fight that would definitely turn physical. Santinis didn’t mind mixing it up a bit, but he wasn’t in the mood. He didn’t want Alana finding out. He had been attracted to her from the start, but it didn’t explain the urge to beat the hell out of Vince and especially Gee.
    He glanced at Vince. “No.”
    That had been one thing he had felt guilty about. He let his brothers assume she was older because he was sure they wouldn’t see her. It had nothing to do with the fact that he knew both of them would want to get to know her better.
    Of course, Vince wouldn’t let it go. “And, she’s hot.”
    Why did he invite them over for a visit? Why didn’t he just keep her to himself? Dammit. He had to remember she wasn’t his.
    He noticed that Vince was looking at him in that way that made the three younger Santinis nervous. He liked to know what was going on in their lives just like some little old woman.
    “ Don’t talk about her that way.”
    Gee came walking out. “That’s