Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Sunshine parked beside a Jeep that she knew had to belong to Anthony. She’d met him a couple of times and knew his wife Lalani well. Now that she thought about it, she knew quite a few Santinis. They seemed to slowly pull you into their orbit, then all of a sudden you were considered family. She smiled. That was okay by her. She had always wanted a bigger family and now she had several. Mary and her family always treated her as if she were blood related, and she also now had the Santinis.

She grabbed the bottle of wine she’d brought with her and slipped out of the car. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like to go through what Alana had been through these last few months. Sunshine knew that she wasn’t strong enough to deal with a military husband. Or any husband for that matter.

The door opened just as she reached it. Anthony was standing there.

“Hey, I heard Runt invited you,” he said, as he picked up Eddie, who tried to run out the door. “Watch it, punk.”

Eddie giggled.

“I take it that Runt is Nando?”

He nodded and leaned in to kiss her cheek. She wasn’t used to this open display of affection. She’d had it from her mother and from Mary, but it was still odd when she was with the Santinis.

He stepped back and let her in.

“I have a feeling that Jon’s expecting cookies."

She frowned. “Oh, no.”

“Don’t worry. I think he’ll take Marco being home over cookies. At least today.”

They walked out to the lanai where the celebration was in full swing. Music filtered out over the area, as she watched Lalani and Jon in the pool. Marco had his arm around Alana, as he tended to the grill. She looked around for Nando and found him in the pool.

“Runt, your date’s here.”

“Oh, I’m not his date,” she said.

Anthony chuckled. “Just teasing.”

She looked back to see Nando’s reaction but lost all ability to think suddenly. She had seen him unclothed as part of the job, but this was different. He rose out of the pool by placing his hands on the edge and pulling himself up. Water sluiced down his well-defined muscles. It wasn’t in slow motion, she was sure of it, but she felt like it was. In fact, she was sure she heard some techno beat music and she was in a scene from Magic Mike Hawaii—which totally should be a movie.

She wanted to lick all the water off of him.

“Hey, you made it,” Nando said, and grabbed a towel to dry himself off. Drat. She liked him wet.

Nope. Not going there. Not really. God, why did she have to see him wet? Next Saturday was going to be a hard session if she didn’t get her mind off him.

“Sunshine?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Sorry. It’s been a long day. I brought some wine,” she said holding up the bottle in between them like it was a barrier. There was no way to fight this though. Well, at least not the Santini beauty.

“Suuuuunshine!” Jon yelled as he ran toward her.

“Don’t run,” his mother said. But as soon as the warning fell from her lips, Jon started to pitch forward, Nando saved him. He scooped him up.

“Woah, cuz, watch it.”

He walked over toward her, a smile curving his lips. “Apparently this young man is so interested in meeting up with you, he took his life in his hands.”

She chuckled. “Hey, there, Jon.”

He practically jumped into her arms. He wasn’t as small as he used to be, and she lost her footing and almost fell back. Nando was there again, catching the two of them from falling over. For a long moment, he held her in his arms, Jon in between him.

“Careful, there.”

The timber of his voice, along with the scent of salt water on his skin—one of her favorite scents—had her head spinning. He held onto them

“Sunshine?”

“I’m okay,” she said, although the quiver in her voice belied that.

Jon placed his hands on her cheeks. “Did you bring cookies?”

She chuckled, as did Nando. “I’m sorry, no. But I promise, I will make some this week and bring them over.”

“Okay.”

Then he wiggled and Nando stepped back. She placed Jon on the ground and he ran to his father. He wrapped his arms around Marco’s waist.

“That’s a pretty scene,” Nando said beside her, his breath on her skin. She realized that he had stepped closer and leaned in to make the comment. She didn’t feel threatened...but she did feel...hot. Really, really, really hot.

She glanced at the pool. She should have brought her bathing suit. “Hey, woman, it’s great to see you,” Lalani said breaking into their moment. Sunshine tore her attention away from Nando to look at her. The former prima ballerina looked tired, and she looked like she’d dropped a few pounds.

“It’s good to see you too,” she said, giving her friend a hug.

“Oh, I got you wet,” she said.

Sunshine looked down at her white shirt and realized that it was virtually see through now. Thank goodness it was one of the days that she decided to wear a bra.

“No worries.”

“Food's ready,” Marco called out.

“I guess we should go eat,” she said and looked at Nando. His gaze shot up to hers, and she realized he’d been staring at her chest. Her nipples tightened further.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

“The party can start now,” Colin McKenna called out from the doorway. He stepped out onto the lanai, then made his way over to the grilling area. Marco gave him a manly hug. He was laughing at something Anthony said when he caught sight of her.

“Sunshine,” he called out and made his way over to where she stood. He was one of Alana’s best friends. She had even tried to fix Sunshine up with him at one time. They had both had great fun together but no spark whatsoever.

The local weatherman wrapped his arms around Sunshine, picked her up, and twirled her around.

“It’s been ages, woman,” he said, giving her a big smacking kiss on her cheek.

“You can put her down now,” Nando said.

Colin looked over at him, then he focused on her again. “Did you know that, Shiny?”

She punched him in the arm. “Put me down, you idiot.”

He relented, but he slipped his arm over her shoulders. She tossed him an irritated look.

“Hey, Santini. Well, crap, I guess I should call you Nando since there are three of you here.”

“Are you guys going to come over here and eat?” Marco yelled out.

“Come on. I’m famished,” Colin said.

“Nando, Nando!” Jon yelled out.

“Okay,” he said. He tossed a look in their direction, then walked toward his young cousin.

She watched as he let himself be dragged away and made to sit by the little ones. She turned to look at Colin. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I can’t help screwing with the Santinis.”

She frowned at him and wiggled away from him. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts. “Why?”

“I think it doesn’t hurt to give them a little competition to spark their interest.”

“He’s a client.”

“Yeah, and I watched both of you for a few minutes.”

“That’s creepy.”

“He’s so into you.”

“He is not. He’s a client.” She repeated the comment, but she could see that he wasn’t listening.

He leaned forward and kissed her on the nose.

“Oh, Little Santini doesn’t like that.”

She stepped back and put her hands on her hips. “One of these days, you are going to get the crap beat out of you by a Santini.”

He gave her a toothy grin and she couldn’t help but smile back. “I can handle myself.”

She shook her head. The man was a local celebrity on the islands.

“C’mon, Shiny, be nice to me.”

She rolled her eyes and took his offered arm. “Don’t call me Shiny.”

“Or what?”

“I won’t answer my phone after your next marathon.”

“God, don’t be mean.”

“Just sayin’,” she said, laughing. “Watch it.”

They got their plates and went over to get food. All the while, she tried to ignore Nando and the way he was staring at her. She didn’t understand his reaction…or hers. Why did it make her belly quiver knowing that he was acting a little jealous?

She shook her head and concentrated on her food. Sexy wet clients who looked good in their uniforms were not for her to think about.

Nando sipped at his beer and watched Sunshine across the lanai. She was hanging with his sister-in-law and Alana chattering on about local things. They all appeared to know the same people, but one thing Anthony had told Nando when he arrived was that Honolulu was the biggest little town. Everyone knew everyone else it seemed.

“Got a thing for the massage lady?” Anthony asked.

He glanced over at his eldest brother. He, Anthony, and Marco were sitting on Adirondack chairs. Jon was drawing on the pavement on the lanai and Eddie was asleep in his father’s arms.

“No.”

Anthony glanced at Marco, then back to Nando.

“Really? Cuz, we all saw the way you ordered Colin to put her down.”

Dammit. He knew he’d been an ass. At least the weatherman was gone. Nando had contemplated different ways to hurt the guy every time he’d touched Sunshine—and Colin had found many ways to touch her…a lot. The only thing that kept Nando from beating the man to a pulp was that she wasn’t his woman. And it would be wrong. But he really, really wanted to.

He glanced back at the women. “She has a ‘no dating clients’ thing.”

Marco chuckled. “Yeah. She’s had issues.”

His head whipped around “What kind of issues?”

Marco shrugged. “I know one guy got a little too attached. She had to get the cops involved.”

Anger surged, and his head started to pound. “What?”

“Oh, yeah, he does have the hots for her,” Anthony said with a chuckle.

“I do not.”

“Then why get so hot and bothered about some man stalking her?” Marco asked as he took a long swallow of his beer. “Damn, that tastes good.”

“It’s because she’s such a tiny thing.”

“She is. Lalani says she always feels like she could pick Sunshine up and put her in her pocket.”

Nando chuckled at the image. “That’s kind of true.”

Then, Alana and Sunshine squealed and hugged Lalani.

“What the hell is that about?” Nando asked.

“I guess she told them she’s pregnant,” Anthony said.

“What? Damn, that’s fantastic,” Marco said.

Nando stood and grabbed his brother up out of the chair and hugged him. “Happy for you, bro.” He pulled back. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

“She didn’t want to intrude on Marco’s return.”

“Screw that,” Marco said as he stood to give Anthony a one-armed hug. “Like Mom says, it’s always a good time to celebrate.”

“True. And we all know that celebrating the big and small stuff is important.”

For a military family, they had been spared the worst. At least during the last two generations. Their family went way back in service to their country. They made their way over to the women.

“I thought we were waiting, babe,” Anthony said as he wrapped an arm around his wife and kissed the top of her head.

“I got a little nauseous and Alana guessed.”

“Come here,” Nando said. “I get to be the first brother to hug the expectant mother.”

He pulled her close. “So happy for you, Mommy.”

When he let her go, he noticed the tears in her eyes. He looked at Anthony, who just looked smug. He turned back to Lalani. “Are you okay?”

She nodded as she swallowed. “I cry at everything now.”

“She cried during a Zippy’s commercial the other night,” Anthony said.

She turned and punched him in the arm. Marco handed him Eddie, then held out his arms. “Give it up,” he said with a smile. She took the hug with fresh tears.

“This is fantastic,” Sunshine said rubbing her hands together. “I get to buy more baby gifts, but I insist on getting some girl babies in here. I love my boys, but I’m ready to buy those sweet little Hawaiian sets they sell in the booths at the Aloha Swap Meet.”

At the mention of the weekend shopping event, he said, “I still haven’t been,” he said, holding Eddie against his chest. The toddler sighed and settled his head on Nando’s shoulder.

Sunshine’s eyes softened as she watched the scene, causing a little hiccup in his stomach. Nope, he didn’t need to impress her. He needed to just have a platonic relationship with her because she had given him the best sleep he’d had in a while. It didn’t matter that he wanted to see just how many freckles she had beneath her clothes, or if she were a true redhead.

His mother would kill him for just thinking that.

“Well, it makes sense that Alana didn’t take you, but Anthony is falling down on the job as tour guide,” she said.

“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to take him out there.”

He rolled his eyes. “Hey, I’m an adult who can take himself there.”

Anthony winked at him and Nando suddenly got a very bad feeling. His oldest brother had become a meddler in the last few years. He had always taken an interest in their personal lives, but now Anthony seemed to think he needed to help things along. Could be that his best friend married their sister Elena, or even his own marriage to Lalani. Once a Santini fell for the curse, he wanted to drag the rest of them along into bliss.

Nando mentally shook himself. Why did he even associate marriage with bliss? Granted, everyone in the Santini family had pretty strong marriages. Not that they didn’t have issues, but all of them knew how to stick it out. He had never wanted that, not really.

He glanced at Sunshine.

Dammit. He had to stop thinking of her that way. She had given him back some semblance of normalcy. Granted, they were now down to the once-a-month Reiki sessions but he was her client.

“So, why don’t you take him tomorrow, Sunshine?” he asked.

“You don’t have to take me,” he said, almost too quickly. Anthony’s sinister smile told him all he needed to know. He was not going to let this go, and his brother knew of his attraction to Sunshine.

She settled her hands on her hips. “I haven’t been in a while. What do you say, Nando?”

“Yeah, Runt, what do you say?” Anthony asked, a huge grin curving his lips. Oh, he was going to make his brother pay for this later. Pay big. He might just have to text their mother and tell her about the baby. That Nando knew before she did would put Anthony in the doghouse for sure.

“Nando?”

He glanced at Sunshine. “Sure, why not?”

“Geez, don’t sound so enthusiastic,” she said drily.

He shook his head and smiled. “I just don’t want you to think that you have to take me. I can take myself.”

Some day.

“Not at all. Plus, I need to stop by a few of my friends’ booths.”

“Didn’t you used to have a booth there?” Alana asked.

“Yep. It’s how I built up my business. I only had to do that for about six months though. It’s not fun.”

“And you want me to go shopping there?”

“To do massages. Half of the customers were great. The other half were rude—many of them tourists.”

“Imagine that,” Lalani said.

“Standing there for eight hours doing massages in the heat and humidity is not that much fun.” She took out her phone and grimaced. “I gotta get going.”

“Got a hot date?” Anthony asked. Nando tossed him a nasty look, but he just smiled again. Yep, he was going to text their mother.

“Nope, but I need to do a lot of laundry. We’re having issues with one of the driers this week at the shop, so I brought all my linens home with me. Thankfully, I don’t work Sundays, so I have time to finish them.”

“Oh, Nando will you walk her out?” Alana asked him. Her sweet smile told him she was just being nice to her friend.

“Sure thing, cuz,” he said.

They walked side by side around the side of the house to the driveway.

“I’m glad you invited me. I had a great time.”

“I’m glad you came by.”

She nodded as she stopped in front of her VW bug.

“Why did you name yourself?”

She blinked, then smiled. “Alana told you I named myself?”

He nodded, unable to ignore her lips. She wore no lipstick. In fact, she hardly wore any makeup. He didn’t care if a woman wore makeup or not, as long as they didn’t look clownish when they did. He never understood why men thought they had a right to tell a woman what to put on her face.

But now, here by themselves, her lips were unpainted and definitely kissable.

Dammit. Not kissable. He didn’t need to get the hots for a woman with magic hands.

“Nando, is there something wrong?”

“No, sorry. Why did you name yourself Sunshine?”

She shrugged. “Mom used to sing “You Are My Sunshine” to me. When I turned five, I demanded to change my name. So Mom changed it for me.”

Her eyes had warmed as her smile turned into a grin. He felt himself leaning closer, wanting to be close to her warmth, her happiness. Before he knew it, he had his mouth on hers. She tasted of joy and heat—and sugar. She was so damned sweet. His head started to spin, and he stepped closer. For a quick second she didn’t respond, then she moaned and opened her mouth. He invaded her mouth and tasted the wine she had drunk.

His cock was so damned hard. Thankfully, he had changed into his jean shorts or his erection would be more noticeable. As it was, there was a very good chance the zipper on his jean shorts would be imprinted on his dick.

She pulled back. “Nando.”

He thought she might have been trying to admonish him. Instead, her voice had deepened as she spoke the syllables of his name.

“Sunshine.”

“We really can’t do this.”

He sighed. “Because of the whole massage thing?”

“Well, you are down to just Reiki once a month, but you’re military. You’re a Santini, so I know you are a pretty great guy, but I can’t be involved with a military dude.”

“Military dude?”

She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. It just wouldn’t work out.”

“Why not?”

“Military guys like order.”

“You seem really orderly.”

“Are you kidding me? Would you let your child rename themselves at the age of five?”

“Are we having kids? I just wanted to have a date.”

She snorted, then shook her head. “I’m serious, Nando.”

“So am I. Just a date.”

“No. You’re a client.”

“You’ve never dated a client?”

“Well, not really. Okay, once or twice.”

“Tell you what. We’ll go out tomorrow, spend more time together. Then you can decide.”

“Nando.”

“I haven’t kissed a woman in months, and I don’t know if someone ever rocked my world like you just did.”

She blinked, her cheeks flushing. “What?”

“That kiss. It just sucked me right in. I’m still trying to come up with a way to get you into my cottage so I can taste every bit of flesh you have on your body.”

“Oh…wow.”

“Yeah. And I’m going to have to take a cold shower for sure before I head back to the pool area.”

Her gaze dropped, then shot back up, and her skin turned even pinker. “Well, hmm.”

He nodded. “Exactly. Just tomorrow. We’ll spend time by ourselves. Maybe pick up lunch.”

She thought about it. “You won’t try any of that kissing stuff again.”

“Are you twelve?”

“I’m sorry. If I talk seriously about it, it makes me hot, and then I just want to jump your bones.”

He rested his forehead against hers. “You are going to drive me insane.”

“I’m sorry.”

He sighed then lifted his head. “Tomorrow. Swap meet.”

“Okay. Do you want me to pick you up?”

He shook his head. “Are you okay with a motorcycle?”

She nodded.

“Text me your address. Is eight a good time?”

She nodded as she walked around the front of her car.

“Are you going to say anything else?”

She slipped into the driver’s side and smiled at him. “You’re a damned good kisser, Nando.”

Then she started up the car and backed out of the drive. He watched until she pulled out on the road.

“Are you done playing kissy face,” Anthony said from behind him.

Fuck. “Yes.”

He turned and found his brother standing there with Jon. Jon was frowning at him. “You kissed Sunshine. She’s my girlfriend.”

“Uh, sorry, Jon.”

“That’s okay. As long as she doesn’t share her cookies with you.”

Anthony snorted. Nando gave his older brother a dirty look before he smiled at Jon.

“Don’t worry. She’ll still bring you cookies.”

The little boy’s expression lightened. “Good.”

“Just promise me you won’t tell your father.”

“Okay.”

Then he ran away around the side of the house.

“So, did you convince her to share her cookies with you?” Anthony asked with a snort.

“Get bent.”

Anthony laughed. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

“Seriously, Anthony, let it go.”

“Why?”

“Because she has hang-ups about military guys. So, we’re just trying this swap meet thing out to see if she even wants to go on a date.”

“Let alone get her to share her cookies.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but the front door opened. Marco was standing there. “You were kissing Sunshine?”

“I told Jon not to tell you.”

“Oh, that will work. He tells everyone everything. I bet his mom will know pretty soon too.”

“Dammit.”

Anthony crossed his arms over his chest. “He was kissing Sunshine, but he didn’t get any cookies.”

Marcos eyebrows shot up, then he shook his head. “It’s a shame.”

“What?”

“That you Marines can’t close the deal like a SEAL.”

“Oh, those are fighting words, you ass.”

“Come get me, Runt,” Marco said as he stepped off the front step. Damn, they were adults, and Marco had kids, but…

He ran at him and tackled his cousin. They fell on the grass and rolled around. He got one good punch to his chin while Marco returned with one to his gut. Damn, Marco might be a decade older, but he was a SEAL.

“What the hell is going on?” Lalani asked, but he barely heard her as he and Marco traded punches.

In the next instant cold water hit them.

“Get up, both of you,” Alana said as she held the hose, ready to douse them again. “There are children here.”

“Aw, but Nando started it, babe.”

“Don’t you babe me.”

She walked over.

“I’m sorry, Alana.”

She threw the hose down. “Could you turn that off for me, Anthony?”

“Yes.”

“Get up you idiot.”

“Do you know that Alana did this one other time? All my idiot brothers came to visit, and Vicente irritated me, and we fought.”

“And I sprayed you then too. Idiot.” She was smiling when she said it. He watched the look between them and wondered if he would ever want that. If he would ever get that. And, of course, as soon as he thought that, he thought about Sunshine. Dammit.

Shaking away those thoughts, he held his hand out and Marco took it.

Once he was on his feet, Nando said, “Sorry.”

“No problem. You needed to blow off some steam, plus, my woman likes me when I’m all wet.”

“You call me that one more time and I’m going to smack you upside the head.”

“You sound like you’ve been spending too much time with Aunt Joey,” Nando said.

They all had a good laugh about that.

“God help us all,” Anthony muttered.