The Last Santini Virgin

She leaned back against his car and shook her head. For such a tiny woman, she had the look of an immovable object.

“You started this, Sergeant. Now you finish it.”

This was his own fault, he told himself. He never should have said what he was thinking. But Gina had a way of irking him like no one else he’d ever known.

He swept his gaze up and down her compact, curvy form before coming to rest on those beautiful brown eyes of hers. And damned if she didn’t know just how pretty she was, too. Oh, not that she seemed conceited, but there was a confidence about her that came from knowing she presented a hell of a picture. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized how right he was in his assessment of her. Pampered, spoiled, obviously used to getting her own way, she was completely unprepared for someone—anyone saying no to her.

“So, General,” she said, “do you explain, or do we stand here all night?”

All around them their fellow students were leaving the tiny parking lot. Overhead, dark clouds sailed across a black sky, obliterating the stars and threatening rain. Even in southern California, January weather could be unpredictable. And just in case it was going to start raining anytime soon, he decided to end this debate once and for all. If she wanted the truth that badly, she could have it.

“It means that I know you better than you think I do.”

“Oh, really?”

It didn’t take a rocket scientist, he told himself. She was Italian. So was he. And if there was one thing he knew, it was Italian families.

“Youngest in your family, weren’t you?”

She flinched slightly. “So?”

“The apple of daddy’s eye?”

She straightened up away from the car. Squaring her shoulders, she lifted her chin, glared at him and asked, “Your point?”

Ah…direct hit.

“My point is that you’ve spent your entire life getting exactly what you want just by batting those gorgeous eyes of yours.” He leaned in closer and knew instantly it had been a mistake. Her perfume distracted him, but he steeled himself against that potent scent and finished what he had to say. “Well, it’s not gonna work with me, princess. We’re partners on that dance floor, because we’re stuck with each other. But you can save that wide-eyed, innocent look for the college boys, all right?”

It took her a minute to calm down enough to talk.

Then she started sputtering. “You are the single most irritating, annoying, overbearing, insulting—” She paused and bit her bottom lip.

A bottom lip he suddenly wanted to kiss more than he wanted to draw his next breath. The other couples were driving away, and the flash of headlights skimmed across her face and faded again, leaving only the dim glow of the yellow fog lights in the parking lot. Streamers of gray, damp fog drifted in from the ocean and twined around their legs, linking them together in an otherworldly grip.

Seconds passed, ticking by as they stared at each other. She was so close. Close enough to kiss. To touch. He lifted one hand, and as she leaned in toward him a car horn sounded, shattering the weird spell that had been cast over them.

She shook her head as if coming up out of a dream. “I, uh, have to go.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

She opened her mouth to say something more, but snapped it shut again a moment later. Then, without giving him another look, she turned around and marched off across the shadowy parking lot toward her car.

Nick watched her go and told himself he was only keeping an eye on her to see that she made it into her car safely. After all, a pretty woman, a deserted parking lot, it was the decent thing to do. But he was still standing there, staring after her, long after she’d pulled out of the lot and driven off.

The next day after work, Nick entered the Staff NCO club and headed down the wide hallway. Absently he took the short flight of steps, passed the small reception area and climbed five more steps to the darkened ballroom. As he stepped into the familiar club, he turned to his right and stopped just at the long mahogany bar. His gaze swept the shadow-filled room. A huge place, it looked nearly empty, with just a sprinkling of tables dotting the floor. But when the room was decked out for a ball or a party, the old club shone like a gem.

The few noncommissioned officers seated at the tables barely glanced his way. He recognized a few familiar faces in the bunch. But on a base the size of Pendleton, it wasn’t unusual to see a lot of strangers as well as friends.

He leaned his elbows on the bar, ordered a beer and, as he had been doing all day, relived those last few minutes in the dark with Gina. Gritting his teeth, he told himself for the thousandth time that he’d had no right to stomp on her feelings like that. So what if she irritated him? That didn’t give him leave to fire mortar rounds at her heart.

And, damn it, he was sure he’d seen her eyes go all teary.

Great, he thought as the bartender slid his beer in front of him. Big, strong Marine had made a woman cry.

He took a long swallow of beer and tried to rinse the taste of disgust from his mouth as another Marine entered the bar and walked up beside him. “Paretti?”

Half turning, he looked at the man, noted the insignia on his shirtsleeve and recognized him as another Gunnery Sergeant. “Yeah?”

The guy stuck out his right hand and said, “Thought it was you. I’m Davis Garvey.”

“I’ve seen you around,” Nick said with a nod as he shook the man’s hand, then turned to pay the bartender for his beer. Glancing back at Davis, he asked, “You want anything?”

“No, thanks,” he said, and waved the bartender off. “I’m on my way home. Just stopped in to look for you, actually.”

“Now why would you do that?” Nick asked, and took another sip of his drink, wishing the guy would leave so he could get on with torturing himself for picking on Gina.

The other man grinned and leaned one elbow on the bar. “Sort of promised my new sister-in-law I would.”

Nick looked at the guy, trying to figure out what was going on here. As far as he knew, he hadn’t dated any women lately who had brothers-in-law stationed at Pendleton. So it couldn’t be some defending-her-honor kind of thing. And if this was leading to a “shotgun wedding” scenario, the man would just have to go ahead and shoot him. No way was Nick Paretti getting married again. The phrase “been there, done that” roared across his mind.

“Okay,” he said after a minute or two of silence, “you have my attention. What’s up?”

Around them conversations flowed, Marines relaxed after a long hard day, and splashes of laughter shot through the air. But Nick wasn’t paying attention to any of it. Instead, he concentrated on the man now grinning like some damned fool.

“I hear,” Davis said, “you’ve been making Gina’s life miserable at dancing school.”

Panic, swift and sure, shot through him.

“Hey!” Nick spoke up quickly, then threw a fast glance at the Marines on either side of them to make sure they hadn’t been listening in. After all the trouble he’d been going to, to keep his dancing lessons a secret, he sure wasn’t about to stand there and let Davis Garvey announce it in the NCO club. Hell, the news would be all over base by morning.

He could almost hear the teasing and ribbing he’d be getting for the rest of his life if word got out. They would be calling him Sergeant Twinkle-Toes or something else just as humiliating. For Pete’s sake, he had to get Garvey out of there.

Wouldn’t you just know Gina would be involved in this? All of his guilty feelings melted away to be replaced by the irritation he usually felt for the woman.

“Why don’t we go outside to talk about this?” he suggested, and took a huge swallow of beer when he’d finished talking.

Davis’s grin broadened, and his eyes held a knowing gleam. Yep, he knew exactly why Nick was trying to get him to leave the club. “Oh, I don’t know. I’m happy right here.”

Scowling at his fellow sergeant, Nick muttered, “Look, I’m not going to talk about it in here, all right?”

Then he turned around, marched out of the room and down the first flight of stairs like a man on the parade ground. He never looked back, never checked to be sure Garvey was following him. Just kept walking, across the reception area, up the short flight of steps and out the doors into the late-afternoon gloom. Nick kept walking until he reached his car, and there he stopped, waiting.

In another minute or two Davis Garvey approached slowly, hands in his pockets, that damned smirk still on his face.

“All right, what’s this about?” Nick snapped.

“I told you. Gina.”

Figured. It wasn’t enough that she drove him crazy at class. Now she’d thought of a way to bother him at work, too. And to think he’d spent all day berating himself for hurting her feelings. “She’s your sister-in-law, you said?”

“Yep. I married her sister Marie a couple of weeks ago.”

“Congratulations,” Nick muttered, and silently wished the poor guy luck. He’d need it if his new wife was anything like her sister.

“Thanks.”

He didn’t want to insult the man’s family, but damned if Nick was going to stand there and not defend himself, either. “Since you’re related to her, you should know what Gina’s like.”

“Charming?” Davis suggested. “Beautiful? Funny?”

All of the above, Nick thought, and plenty more. “Don’t forget to add annoying, shrewish, bossy…” He paused, then asked, “Do I have to go on?”

“No,” Davis said on a laugh. Shaking his head slightly, he added, “I think I get the picture.”

“I’m not sure you do.”

“Look,” Davis said, “Gina said you’ve been giving her a hard time, so I thought I’d talk to you about it.”

Disgusted, Nick said, “Strange, she didn’t strike me as the kind of woman who needed someone else to fight her battles.”

“She isn’t,” Davis told him, and his smile was gone. “But she’s family now. And I look out for my family.”

Nick took the man’s measure and slowly nodded. He could understand family loyalty. “I’d do the same.”

“Then you’ll lighten up on Gina?”

“I’ll fire only if fired upon,” he said solemnly.

Davis smiled again. “Sounds fair enough to me.” He held out his right hand once more, and Nick took it in a firm shake. “Good to meet you, Gunny.”

“Same goes, Gunny,” Nick said.

But as the other man walked off toward his own car, Nick’s mind was racing. Gina Santini had called in reinforcements. Oh, maybe she hadn’t come right out and asked her brother-in-law to talk to him, but she’d probably expected him to. That meant she wasn’t retreating, only regrouping.

She may have won the first battle, but as far as Nick was concerned, the war was still on.

Three

Family-dinner night at the Santinis’ was always interesting. At least one night a week, no matter what else was going on in their lives, the Santinis came together over the dinner table. And for a couple of hours they caught each other up on the news, argued, laughed and ate themselves into a stupor.

Gina glanced around at the faces of her family and smiled to herself. Mama, of course, lonelier since Papa’s death two years ago, but still vibrant and deeply involved in whatever her daughters were up to. Then there was Angela, the oldest Santini sister. A widow herself, Angela and her son, Jeremy, had moved back home after her husband’s death three years ago. Jeremy was a great kid, Gina thought as her glance slid in his direction. And it was doing him a world of good to have Davis, Marie’s new husband, in the family. Jeremy’s father hadn’t been much good at the “family” thing. He’d made all of their lives miserable, and if anyone here was willing to admit it out loud, they’d have to say that Angela was actually happier as a widow than she had ever been when she was married.

But naturally no one would ever admit it.

Then there was Marie. Gina smiled to herself as she looked at the middle Santini sister. Since meeting and falling in love with Davis, Marie had really come into her own. Oh, she was still a great mechanic, and spent most of her time happily involved in some greasy job or other. But there was a sparkle in her eyes and a glow about her that hadn’t been there before Davis.

So basically, she told herself with an inward frown, every Santini at the table looked happy as a clam. Except of course, for her.

“I saw your Gunnery Sergeant Paretti today,” Davis said, and reached for the bowl of pasta.

Well, that came out of nowhere.

Gina looked at him. “He’s not my anything,” she said, and forked up a bite of salad.

“Yeah, well, I had a little talk with him, anyway,” her brother-in-law told her. He looked pretty pleased with himself about it, too.

Eyes wide, she hurriedly chewed, swallowed and said, “You talked to him? When? Where? What do you mean? What did you say?”

Davis shrugged, smiled at his wife, then looked back at Gina. “To answer your questions in order…after work, at the Staff NCO club, and I just told him you were my sister-in-law and I’d appreciate it if he’d back off.”

“Oh, great.” She dropped her fork with a clatter and sat back in her chair.

“Wasn’t that nice?” Mama asked no one in particular and reached out to pat Davis’s hand fondly.

“Nice?” Gina said, staring at her mother. “You think it’s nice?”

“What’s wrong with you?” Marie demanded. “Davis was just trying to help you out.”

“If he wanted to help,” Gina said, glaring at her sister, “then he should have simply run the man down in the street.”

“Oh,” Angela piped up, “there’s a plan.”

“Run who down?” Eight-year-old Jeremy asked.

“A nice Marine like Davis, dear,” Mama told him, and handed him more garlic bread. Unflappable, Mama let nothing interfere with dinner.

“No he’s not,” Gina said quickly.

“Nice?” Mama asked.

“Like Davis,” Gina clarified.

“What’s the big deal?” Angela asked as she poured her son more milk. “So Davis talked to him. You’re overreacting, Gina.”

“Big surprise,” Marie muttered.

“I am not overreacting,” Gina snapped. “How does this look? Now he thinks I went crying to my big brother-in-law wailing for help.”

“You did,” Marie reminded her, rising to her husband’s defense like a lioness defending its den.

“I did not,” she argued hotly, and shifted her gaze from Marie to Davis. “Did I ever ask you to talk to the man? Did I plead for your help?”

“No, but…” Davis squirmed in his chair.

Ordinarily Gina might have felt sorry for him, surrounded by women, the only other jolt of testosterone in the room coming from a boy too small to be on his side. But not tonight.

“Cut it out, Gina,” Marie said sharply. “Davis was trying to help you, for crying out loud. It’s your own fault. All you’ve done since starting those classes is complain about the man.”

Okay, so she’d complained a little. Wasn’t that one of the perks of having a family? They were supposed to let you rant and rave. She hadn’t noticed them rushing out to buy her new clothes when she complained about her wardrobe.

“Papa would have been pleased with what Davis did for you,” Mama said. “Family takes care of family.”

Oh, for pity’s sake, she made it sound like they were in the Mafia. What’s next? We send Nick a dead fish wrapped in newspaper?

“But…” Gina began.

“Davis went out of his way to find this guy, you know. He did you a favor. The least you could do is thank him.” Marie stared at her, silently waiting for Gina to do just that.

Five pairs of eyes watched her. She could hear the ticking of the mantel clock in the living room. No one moved. Damn it. Didn’t they understand that even though he’d meant well, Davis had just made a complicated situation even more difficult?

In an instant she recalled everything Nick had said to her after their last class. Spoiled. Pampered. Princess. Well, now, thanks to Davis’s well intentioned meddling, Nick would think himself proved right.

Why was her life suddenly so complicated?

Men, that’s why.

First, there had been Richard. A lawyer she’d dated long enough to convince her to take ballroom dancing lessons in order to fit into his social sphere. Unfortunately she’d stopped dating him before her second class. Though a perfectly nice man, they hadn’t shared enough chemistry to set off a sparkler.

Sparklers. Fireworks. Skyrockets.

The thought of which brought to mind the new male in her life. Nick Paretti. Her blood hummed in her veins. Her stomach pitched and rolled.

Oh, for Pete’s sake.

“Gina!”

Marie’s voice dragged her back to the moment at hand.

“You could at least pay attention when we’re arguing,” her sister said.

“Oh, I’m paying attention,” she muttered, then continued, “all I said was that Nick Paretti is a pain in the—”

“Gina.” Mama’s voice broke in, firmly.

She closed her mouth, sighed then said, “He’s a pain in the drain, that’s all.”

Mama nodded, satisfied.

Jeremy snickered until his mother shushed him. Apparently, he hadn’t been fooled by his aunt’s quick save.

“I only meant to help,” Davis said, looking directly into Gina’s eyes.

Instantly she regretted shouting at him. He had meant well. And if you stopped to think about it, it was really very sweet, him rushing in to play big brother. Boy, would she have loved having him around when she was a kid.

“I know,” she said, giving him a smile and letting him know he was forgiven. It wasn’t his fault she had such conflicting feelings for Nick. Then she forced herself to add, “Thanks, Davis. You’re a good brother.”

He grinned at her. “Yeah, I think I’m getting the hang of it.”

Conversation flowed again, swirling around and past Gina. No one seemed to notice that she wasn’t taking part.

“Okay, let’s have it,” Gina said as they left the dance studio.

“Have what?” Nick glanced up at the starry sky and shrugged deeper into the windbreaker jacket he wore.

“I’ve been waiting all night,” she said, and grabbed his arm to bring him to a stop.

Scowling, he turned his gaze down at her. He should have known they wouldn’t be able to go an entire night without an argument. Although, up until now the evening had gone fine. They’d hardly spoken and they’d danced better than ever. Maybe that was the secret to getting along with Gina Santini. No talking.

“Waiting for what?” he asked.

“For you to make some smart remark about my brother-in-law hunting you down on base.”

“Oh…” Nick nodded and immediately understood. She was wondering why he hadn’t said anything. But the truth was, he’d been doing a lot of thinking since Davis Garvey had spoken to him a few days ago. In fact, he’d been trying to figure out exactly why Gina Santini rubbed him the wrong way more often than not. He’d lost his temper more times since he’d met her than he had in the past five years. And that wasn’t like Nick at all.

Then last night the truth had finally dawned on him. Gina reminded him—too much—of his ex-wife. Oh, she didn’t look anything like her, and if truth be known, Gina was a helluva lot nicer than Kim had ever been. But there were too many similarities to ignore, too.

Both of them spoiled, used to getting their own ways and not above using their looks to do it. Every time Gina tried to flirt her way out of an argument, Nick’s defenses went on full alert. He’d fallen once for a woman with more looks than heart. He wouldn’t let it happen again.

As for her brother-in-law’s visit, there was no need to say anything about that. If Nick had been in the same position, he would have done the very thing Davis had. In the Paretti household they’d learned one lesson very early in life. Family comes first.

“Forget it,” he said finally, and saw wary relief wash over her features.

Obviously, she wanted to believe him, but didn’t.

“Why are you being so nice?”

“I can’t be nice without an ulterior motive?”

“I don’t know.”

Well, hell. Good to know she thought he was a complete jerk. “Look, why don’t we call a truce for the duration of the lessons?”

“A truce?”

“Yeah. You know, a cease-fire.”

“I know what it is, I’m just not sure why you’re offering one.”

He inhaled sharply and let the cold ocean breeze reach down inside him and quench his budding temper. Even when he was trying to be agreeable, she fought him. “We both want to learn these damned dances, right?”

“Right.”

“We don’t have to like each other. All we have to do is dance together.” There. He couldn’t make it plainer than that. “Deal?” He held out his right hand.

She stared at it for a long moment as if it were a snake in striking distance. Then she slipped her hand into his and said, “Deal.”

Warmth skittered up from their clasped hands, and Nick released her quickly. Then she flashed him a million-watt smile, and he had to firmly remind himself that it would be easy to resist her charms.

“As long as we’re being so friendly,” Gina said as they started again for their cars, “maybe you’d like to reconsider entering that competition.”

He snorted a laugh. A private truce was one thing. Announcing publicly that he was taking dancing lessons was quite another. “Not a chance, princess.”

“So much for a truce,” she muttered.

“I’m not entering that contest.”

“But we’re really getting good,” she argued.

“No way,” Nick said and shook his head for emphasis.

She took his arm and stepped in close. “You could at least think about it.”

Her perfume drifted to him, and he inhaled it deeply. Light, flowery, it seemed to fill his head with images of summer nights. Her hand on his arm felt warm and entirely too good. He didn’t dare risk a look at her. No doubt she was wearing her patented, “pouting for prizes” expression. And as much as he’d like to pretend he could easily resist it, he knew darned well it would be tough.

“Gunnery Sergeant Paretti?” A woman called out to him from off to their left.

Nick glanced her way and simply stared at the woman. Good Lord. The new Colonel’s wife. A thousand thoughts ran through his head in an instant. Would she know that he and Gina had come from the dance studio? No, he told himself. Close by, there was a theater, the Bayside Seafood Restaurant, an art gallery and a drugstore. They might have been in any of them. Nope. He was in the clear. Relaxing just a bit, he smiled and said, “Mrs. Thornton, ma’am. Good evening.”

“Hello,” she said and walked closer, smiling warmly at both Gina and him.

Gina.

Oh, man. How could he silently tell his dance partner to keep quiet about what they’d been up to?

“Mrs. Thornton, Gina Santini,” he said, unable to avoid introducing the two women.

“Nice to meet you,” Gina said.

“Thank you.” The Colonel’s wife smiled at the two of them again before saying, “My, what a lovely couple you make.”

Nick almost choked.

Gina actually chuckled.

“Taking in a movie?” The other woman asked.

Gina opened her mouth, but before she could speak, Nick said, “That’s right.”

Gina frowned up at him, but he ignored her and slipped his arm around her shoulder. If the Colonel’s wife believed he and Gina were a happy couple, then he’d just play along. It was certainly a better option than letting her know the truth.

“Well, I’m so glad I ran into the two of you,” Cecelia Thornton said.

“Ma’am?” Hurriedly, Nick tried to think of a way to get Gina and him out of there. But there was no polite way to leave the Colonel’s wife standing alone in a parking lot, so he could only hope to escape this meeting unscathed.

“As you know, we’re new on base…”

“Yes, ma’am.” He shot a glance at Gina. What was she thinking?

“The Colonel and I will be hosting a small get-together at our house in a couple of weeks for the staff NCOs and their wives. A barbecue, if the weather looks fine enough.”