Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Lalani sat back in her chair and sighed. Her stomach was filled with the wonderful huli huli chicken Marco had cooked, and she was feeling a little less crazy. “You really do know your way around the grill, for a haole .”

Marco didn’t take any offense and smiled at her. “Thanks. I knew with you coming over, I would have to make sure to have enough food.”

She smiled. Many dancers would starve themselves to maintain weight, but she had been one of the lucky ones. A fast metabolism and constant workouts had made it impossible not to gorge herself. Granted, she didn’t eat fatty foods as often as she liked, but it made it easier to indulge every now and then. “I should be insulted, but since it’s true, I can’t complain. Plus, you are getting to be a damned good huli huli chicken guy.”

“Do you always eat like that?” Anthony asked.

She glanced over at him. He was definitely a pretty man. He had a ton of dark hair, and he let it grow a little long. It curled at the ends. What she wouldn’t give to slide her fingers through it.

Whoa, girl, not your type; and even if he was, he had made it pretty damned clear he was not interested. Plus, he had the manners of a goat.

“Do you not have any sisters?”

He blinked, apparently expecting a different reaction. “One. But, she’s mean.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. I bet you drove her to it.”

Alana chuckled. “I can imagine being one girl in a family with five boys wasn’t easy.”

“She was born mean. Ask her twin,” he said to Alana, his eyes dancing. It was hard not to notice. They were amazing eyes. Brown, with little flecks of gold throughout and then beautiful rims of gold around the irises.

Shit. She needed to stop thinking like that. Pretty men with nasty manners were not her kind of guys. Not any more. She had been down that road one too many times. Of course, he was as sweet as could be to Alana, and that won him points in her book.

“Anyway, what does that have to do with me asking Lalani about her eating habits?”

“It’s rude,” she said.

He shrugged, apparently not that upset with being labeled rude. She realized first impressions of his body were deceptive. The man seemed long and lanky, but he wasn’t slim. His muscular definition was amazing.

“Okay, yes, I do. I have long days, and as a dancer, I work off a lot of calories. Added with the metabolism that I have, I have to eat a lot to keep up.”

“I thought you didn’t like training.”

“Training for dance is different. I told you about that.”

“How is that?”

“It’s my life,” she said, more comfortable talking about dance.

There was a small beat of silence, and she realized she had said it with more force than she expected. It was hard to explain things like this to non-dance people. She was pretty sure Anthony did not go to the ballet regularly.

“So, I hear one of Brando’s new family is showing up next week,” Alana said, gracefully changing the subject. Lalani gave her friend a grateful look.

He nodded.

“Brando is one of Anthony’s brothers,” Alana said. “He just got married a few months ago.”

She smiled. “One of your younger brothers?”

“They are all younger,” Anthony said with a frown. Oh, he didn’t like being reminded of his age. “And yes, the oldest brother, Aeden. He’s restless according to my new sister-in-law, and the Chief is making him take some time off.”

She sighed. “So, more military.”

“Nope. He’s a fireman. But, he has a ton of leave and he needs to use some of it. Had some airline miles to use up, so Brando asked if I could take him off their hands.”

“He has to be taken care of? Like a puppy?” she asked, trying not to laugh.

Anthony smiled, and her breath caught in the back of her throat. Most of the time he looked dangerous, but here…he looked dangerous to her libido. Damn. Damn. Damn. He was so pretty.

“Brando’s wife Kaitlin is pregnant, and Aeden is a little overprotective. He is driving her insane, so a few days with him out of her hair would help.”

“We’ll have to have a pool party or something for him,” Alana said.

“You need to rest,” Lalani said.

“If you would help, it wouldn’t be that hard.”

The sly smile her friend gave Lalani told her everything she needed to know. It was her fault for playing right into Alana’s hands like that.

“Sure, whatever.”

“Great.” Alana looked at Anthony, who wasn’t that happy. “How long is he staying?”

“Just five days. It’s all they could get him to take off.”

“That is a waste,” Lalani said.

“What?”

“Five days in Hawaii? You need at least two weeks to truly appreciate it.”

“A person would have to spend a lifetime here to get a true appreciation of it,” Anthony said, just matter of fact.

She smiled and he blinked. She didn’t pay much attention to it because he easily recovered. “It’s nice to hear a haole say that. But I understand why some people just come for a few days. It might be all they can spare. And five days in Hawaii is better than no days, so I guess that is okay.”

“But you do need more than just a few days here to really understand the life,” Marco said. “From what Mom said about Aeden though, he might be able to stuff three weeks into five days.”

“Yeah, he’s a bit…rambunctious,” Anthony said.

She laughed at that and again, he gave her a strange look. But before she could even think what that was about, Jon demanded that she take him in so he could show her the new toy Marco had brought back for him. Thankful for the reprieve, she followed him inside and hoped that a break would get those crazy thoughts about Anthony Santini out of her head.

Alana handed her the container of leftovers, and Lalani shook her head. “I really don’t need this food. I had enough to eat tonight.”

Alana laughed. “You saw how much we have left over.”

“And, I am assuming that some of that is going to go back to Anthony’s with him?”

“You know how I am. Everyone needs to have a full fridge.”

Lalani. “Yeah, and you are always trying to fix me up.”

She had the good grace to blush. “Sorry. I thought you two might hit it off.”

“Really? He’s military.”

“Former. You like Marco.”

“I like him and he treats you like he should.”

“And if he didn’t?”

“I don’t watch Discovery ID just for the blood.”

Alana laughed. “You are horrible.”

Lalani leaned forward and gave Alana a hug. “Yes, so remember that next time you try and fix me up. I will help with that pool party as long as you promise not to mess with me anymore.”

“Okay.”

She pulled back and gave Alana a frown. “That was too quick. Okay, just for the next couple of months. I can’t seem to keep my head about me these days, and I am not in the mood to deal with a man. With my first recital with my students coming up, I don’t need to deal with fix ups.”

Alana’s smile faded and understanding filled her eyes. “No worries, sistah.”

She knew her friend probably understood better than other people.

“Be careful,” she said. Lalani nodded and walked to her car. She didn’t want to think of what next week would bring, or how she would deal with it. Once she was on the road, she realized that the past year had been a year of firsts. First Christmas. First birthday. First Mother’s Day. All without her mother.

With a sigh, she pushed the loneliness away and decided to take the scenic route home. She needed to let loose.

Anthony and Marco were talking about the recent rash of weddings on his side of the Santini family when Alana rejoined them. She no longer looked happy.

“What’s wrong?” Marco said.

“Nothing.”

“Oh, please, that wasn’t even good acting,” Anthony said.

“Sorry, I’m tired. Just, I forgot the date,” she said, taking her seat next to Marco.

“The date?” Marco asked.

“Next week marks the date,” she said.

He looked at Marco.

“Oh, it’s been a year, huh?”

She nodded. “I shouldn’t have pushed her.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?”

Alana laughed. “Oh, Anthony, I love having you here with us. Lalani lost her mother to cancer a year ago. She does pretty well with it, but it has to be hard on her. She’s an only child, so it’s just her and her father.”

“Ah.”

“I had to promise no more fix ups, so you’re safe. Of course, I should have known it wouldn’t work out.”

“Why the hell not?”

“She has this thing about military men. She doesn’t date them.”

“I’m not military.”

She laughed. “Didn’t you just correct me last week when I called you a former Marine?”

“Give it up, cuz,” Marco said. “You and I both know that you might not be active duty anymore, but you’re still in that military mindset.”

“And she’s not my type.”

Marco let one eyebrow rise at that. “Really? So, hot, athletic, funny, and down to earth isn’t your type?”

“If you say so.”

“So, you don’t think she’s hot?” Marco asked.

Scorching. Hell, right now he could barely remember his name whenever he thought about her laugh. She liked to laugh, that was easy to see. And she was very sweet with Jon.

“Of course she is. I’d have to be fu—excuse me,” he said glancing at Alana, who was still smiling at him. “Freaking blind not to see it. But, personality wise, she’s not my type.”

Marco said nothing, but gave him that know-it-all smile. Anthony forgot what an ass his cousin could be. The SEAL was the quiet one in that branch of the Santini tree, but he was probably the most devious.

“Yeah, Anthony doesn’t like women who talk back,” Marco said as he leaned back in his chair. He had reached over and was tangling his hand in the ends of Alana’s hair.

“You don’t like women with personalities?” Alana asked.

“That is not what I said. Stop screwing up my words,” he said.

“Sure, sure. We understand.”

“Watch yourself, SEAL. You might end up in the pool.”

His cousin laughed. “Sorry. It’s just too much fun giving you shit.”

He wanted to retaliate, but the more he protested, the more it sounded like he wanted her. And he did, but Anthony knew one thing was true: getting what you wanted didn’t always work out.