Conquering Love (The Santorno Stories)

by Sandrine Gasq-Dion

  “Yeah, I watch porn too.”

  Nico smiled and pulled Tanner against his chest. “Now, I’m taking you home.”

  Nico drove him home and walked him to the front door holding his hand. Tanner turned to face him and Nico pulled him into his arms and kissed him, a slow and sensual kiss that left him in a daze.

  “Goodnight, Tanner.”

  “Wow.”

  Tanner watched him to his car, where Nico smiled and gave a quick wave before he got in. The front door opened.

  “You’re early.” Tyler smiled at his son. “Someone got a goodnight kiss.”

  “Must have been a good one.” Damon smiled at Tanner’s dazed look.

  “Oh, it was.” That wasn’t all that was good.

  chapter three

  The two couples were sitting in the movie theater and Katiana was sharing a tub of popcorn with Landon. Katarina was drinking Josh’s soda and he nudged her and nodded sideways toward Katiana and Landon. Their hands kept hitting each other as they both reached for the popcorn, and Katarina nearly giggled.

  Katiana couldn’t help it; every time her hand ran into Landon’s, her face turned red. Thank God they were in the dark.

  “Are you thirsty?” Landon whispered.

  “No. Not yet.”

  “Let me know when you are and I’ll go get you a drink,” Landon whispered.

  Katiana glanced at him. Every time she had gone to the movies with Joe, he had made her go get the drinks. Landon was different in every way. He caught her looking at him and he smiled.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.”

  They watched the movie and Katiana sighed. Of course, it was one of those movies where the guy comes back after a long absence and the girl is involved with someone else. He works through the whole movie to get her back and at the very end she finally realizes how stupid she was to ever let him go. They finally get together and the movie ends with an epic kiss during which he holds her and she almost faints.

  Katiana looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Landon smiling at the movie. She reached for the popcorn and their hands met again. Landon looked at her and smiled and Katiana took her hand out.

  “Sorry,” she whispered.

  “Don’t be.”

  The lights came on and Landon smiled to himself at her flushed face.

  They left the theater and Josh suggested they get ice cream. Landon laughed and Josh looked at him.

  “What?”

  “Remember the story of your dads going out for ice cream?” Landon snickered.

  “Oh, my God, yes! Dad said he’d never realized how erotic eating ice cream could be.”

  “And yet we’re going to eat ice cream?” Katarina asked, as a voice spoke up behind them.

  “Well, look who’s here.”

  Landon turned and found his fathers behind them. “Yes?”

  “We have seen you for maybe five hours since you got home,” Jay observed.

  “So, you’re stalking me?”

  “Pffft. If we were stalking you, you’d never know it,” Jay teased.

  “I’m spending all day with you guys tomorrow,” Landon reassured them. Jay smiled and gave Greg a one-armed hug around the shoulders as he stage-whispered, “It’s your father’s fault we’re here.”

  “I know,” Greg admitted. “But we’ve missed you.”

  “Well, I’m home for good now,” Landon announced.

  “Really?” They all said it at once.

  “Yes, I already told Grandpa. I want to stay here now.”

  “Sounds like you, Jay.” Greg chuckled.

  “Remember when I came back from New York?” Jay hugged him against his side.

  “How could I forget? It was New Year’s Eve and you surprised me in more ways than one.” Greg palmed Jay’s face.

  “Okay, TMI.” Landon put his fingers in his ears.

  “Oh, shut up. I just mean that I wasn’t expecting him and he had gotten a lot taller and muscular than the last time I’d seen him.”

  “Kinda like Landon, huh?” Katiana smiled.

  “Oh, trust me. Landon’s not done.” Jay winked. “Anyway, we’ll leave you guys alone now.”

  “By the way, your grandfathers are expecting you for the night,” Greg informed them.

  “All of us?” Katarina cocked a skeptical eyebrow.

  “Yep, something about your dads wanting alone time.” Greg cracked up.

  “Eww. I have a visual.” Katiana’s face scrunched up.

  Jay and Greg hugged Landon and the rest of the kids and left. Landon watched them walking away hand in hand and smiled. His parents had met in high school and they had been together since.

  “Who wants to hit the pond?” Josh suggested.

  “I’m up for it; it’s already humid.” Katarina looked at Josh.

  “I’m in.” Landon smiled.

  “Well, let’s hit it.”

  Stefan and Phoebe had been talking for a while now, about their jobs and what they had been up to besides business. It had been a long time since they’d actually had a conversation and Stefan had missed her so much. He reached for her hand and Phoebe looked at his lips. “Phoebe?”

  “Yes?” Phoebe leaned in closer and Stefan’s hand went to her face.

  “I really want to kiss you.” Stefan looked at her lips.

  Phoebe leaned in and closed her eyes. “I want you to.”

  Their lips touched and Stefan sighed happily. He loved kissing Phoebe; her lips were soft as rose petals. His hand moved to her hair he parted her lips with his tongue. Phoebe made a soft sound and Stefan pulled her closer. Their tongues met and Stefan couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy. He loved and wanted Phoebe so much.

  Kissing Stefan brought back so many memories. His hands were in her hair and his tongue was doing wonderful things to her mouth. She wanted more.

  Her hands slid beneath his shirt and she stroked her hands over his chest. Stefan moaned and she crawled into his lap, the memory of Paris was front and center as Stefan caressed her. They had made love together and Phoebe would never forget her first time.

  “Phoebe.” Stefan moaned, as his lips left her mouth and he pulled her head back and kissed her neck.

  “Stefan.” Phoebe’s voice was husky.

  Stefan was kissing her neck and nibbling her collarbone. She wrapped her legs around him and raked her hands through his hair. He returned to her mouth and kissed her again, becoming passionate very quickly as both of them tried desperately to get closer to the other. Stefan lowered her to her back, still kissing her. She pulled him down and kissed him harder, her hands gripped his hair. She couldn’t get enough of him.

  Stefan broke the kiss slowly, leaving light kisses on her lips.

  “God, I want you.”

  “I want you, too.”

  “I missed you so much, Phoebe.”

  “I missed you, Stefan.”

  Stefan suddenly checked the time and his mouth quirked. “Unless I want to be grounded, I should go. Can we get together tomorrow?”

  “I hope so,” Phoebe giggled.

  “You are coming to my birthday party, right?”

  Phoebe gave him one last kiss. “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  Damon was walking Lily to the front door, hands sweating and heart pounding. He was trying to come up with something to say and nothing would come out. He was kicking himself for not coming up with something else for them to do, but to be fair she had suggested Sal’s and nothing beyond that. They made it to the door and Damon stood on the bottom step, unabashedly admiring her beauty.

  “Did you want to come in?” Lily asked. “We could watch a movie.”

  “Okay.” Damon trotted up the steps.

  Lily made popcorn and put in a DVD. They sat on the couch and Damon kept his hands in his lap. The movie started and Damon realized it was a horror film, his favorite kind of movie. They were sitting next to each other eating popcorn and every now and then Lily would jump and cover her eye
s, making Damon smile. She grabbed his hand when another scary part came on and immediately looked shy.

  “Sorry.”

  “I’m a guy, you know. You can sit closer. I’ll protect you,” Damon teased.

  Lily giggled and snuggled into his side. Damon put an arm around her and they watched the movie. “Why do they always do that? They see a bunch of dead people and still call out, ‘Hello?’ ” Lily rolled her eyes.

  “They just want to know if the killer is still in the house.” Damon chuckled.

  “I wouldn’t be anywhere near that house, and the first dead body I saw, I’d be running.”

  “Hopefully not in heels,” Damon laughed.

  Lily smacked his arm. “Who’s that stupid?”

  “You aren’t.” Damon looked into her eyes.

  “No, I’m not.” Lily agreed, discreetly admiring his handsome face.

  Damon couldn’t stop looking at her. There was a scream on the TV and he turned back to watch. Lily sighed. What was she going to have to do to get him to kiss her? Getting a guy to kiss you should not be a problem.” Lily giggled.

  “What?”

  “I was just wondering if you were planning on kissing me at some point?”

  Damon looked shocked. “You want me to?”

  “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t want you to. Who’s stupid now?” Lily batted her eyelashes at him.

  Damon was nervous now. They had come so close to being together over the years, only to have it fall apart. He didn’t think he could do it again.

  He leaned over and kissed her softly, loving the feel of her lips against his. Lily’s hand slid into his hair, and she parted his lips and slipped her tongue into his mouth, gently tasting every bit of it. She pulled away and looked at his flushed face.

  “Wow.” Damon looked awestruck. “You really take charge.”

  “I figured you wouldn’t, since you’re so scared of me and all,” Lily giggled.

  “I’m not scared of you, just nervous.”

  “Why?” Lily palmed his face.

  He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and dove in. “I don’t want to screw this up.”

  Lily smiled at the closed eyes.

  “Hey. Look at me.”

  Damon opened his eyes and looked at her face. She was smiling at him. “I really want to be with you, Damon. Now, please kiss me.”

  Damon caressed her cheek and brushed his lips exploringly over hers, letting his tongue trail her bottom lip before really kissing her. He pulled her closer, deepening the kiss. Kissing Lily was different than kissing any other girl. He had such intense feelings for her, had since he was younger.

  Lily pulled him down on top of her and the kiss became more and more heated. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t kissed Damon before, but this kiss was different. Damn, he was so good at it! They heard car doors and sat up, putting some space between them. Lily looked at Damon’s face and giggled.

  “Relax.”

  “Yeah. I don’t want to die.”

  Heath and Caleb walked in and noticed them sitting on the couch. Caleb’s eyebrows rose as he watched Damon, obviously flustered, with his daughter. “Damon.”

  “Uncle Caleb, Uncle Heath.” Damon licked his lips. “So, yeah. I’m going to head home now.”

  “I’ll walk you out.” Lily shot her fathers a look. She and Damon walked hand in hand to the car. Damon turned to face her. “I had fun.”

  “So did I. You’re a good kisser, Damon.”

  “So are you.” Damon looked into her eyes and saw something there. He palmed her face and she leaned into it. “What is it?”

  “I’m sorry, Damon, for everything. All this time I’ve wanted you, and I was stupid to push you away. Please forgive me?”

  Damon swept her into a kiss that took her breath away. He moved back reluctantly. “Nothing to forgive.”

  Lily got up on her tiptoes and kissed him softly. “Goodnight Damon.”

  “Night, Lily.” Damon watched her go into the house and smiled when she blew him a kiss.

  Lily shut the front door and stood in front of her dads, tapping her foot. “Really?”

  “What?” Caleb looked innocent.

  Lily deepened her voice and did her best impression of her dad: “Damon.”

  “Oh, come on!” Caleb laughed. “I had to mess with him.”

  “Yeah. Just so you know, I kissed him.” Lily smiled and went to her room.

  “Not laughing are ya?” Heath laughed at Caleb.

  Stefan and Jordan watched Josh’s Jeep pull in the driveway and went out front to meet them. The boys had grown up so much. They were turning eighteen and Stefan couldn’t believe how fast time had gone by. It seemed like just yesterday all the kids were in diapers, stealing toilet paper.

  “Hey, Grandpa.” Josh smiled and hugged Stefan.

  “Must you call me that?” Stefan joked.

  “What would you like me to call you?”

  “Uncle Stefan.” Stefan laughed.

  “Yeah, not going to happen, Grandpa.” Landon smiled.

  “Come here.” Jordan studied him and then mussed his hair.

  Landon hugged them both hard. “I missed you guys.”

  “Anthony and Jeremy not taking care of you in New York?” Jordan teased.

  “They did, and they’re awesome but I missed home.”

  Josh interrupted, “We wanted to go swimming, is that cool?”

  “You know where your stuff is.” Stefan looked at them. “You two have Heath and Damon’s old rooms.”

  “Girls, you have Charlie and Isabelle’s rooms.” Jordan didn’t see his daughters often, so it was nice to have the granddaughters for a while.

  The boys made it out first and they watched as the girls came out in their bathing suits. Landon was immediately hard watching Katiana. Josh couldn’t stop staring at Katarina, who was even more beautiful by moonlight.

  Katiana finally got a good look at Landon’s body. Holy hell, he was ripped. He had changed quite a bit over the years. His biceps were huge. Right now, Landon and Josh were staring at them.

  “Problem?” Katarina looked them over.

  “Nope.” Josh went under.

  They were all playing and splashing around and Katarina was dunking Josh. Katiana was splashing Landon as he was trying to grab hold of her to stop her. She almost fell backward and he caught her around the waist and drew her up straight. Katiana looked at him and her eyes fell to his lips.

  “Kat?”

  Katiana snapped out of her near trance. “Hmm?”

  “Are you okay?” Landon pulled her closer.

  She was pressed up against him, her hands flat on his chest. The way he was looking at her right now was very flattering.

  “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” Landon swam away.

  Katiana watched him swim and she knew she had to end things with Joe. She still loved Landon and she wasn’t sit around while he found someone else. All it took to harden her resolve was the pain of the memory of him with Bree.

  Josh came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder and smiling.

  “You’d better hurry — he’s already been seen in the light of day by a few of your friends.”

  “Don’t be stupid, Josh.”

  “Don’t you be. They’ve already asked me about him.” Josh swam away and Katiana caught his foot.

  “Who?”

  “Tina.” Josh smiled. “That’s just to name one.”

  Katiana grabbed him. “Get out of the ‘friends zone’ with Kat.”

  “Hey, she put me there.”

  “Because she’s scared of losing you as a friend. Just do it, Josh,” Katiana advised.

  “Maybe.” He studied Katarina laughing and splashing with Landon. “It’s not like I haven’t tried to get her to admit she has feelings for me, Kat. She’s so damned stubborn.”

  “I’ll do it with Landon if you’ll do it with Kat,” Katiana challenged him. “I know she
wants you; she always has.”

  Josh stuck out his hand . “Okay, I will. Deal?”

  “Deal.”

  Landon was sitting out on the deck looking up at the stars. You couldn’t really see them in New York and he had missed home. Being back was so comfortable for him. He knew it had hurt a lot of people when he left but he’d had his reasons. One was Katiana. He couldn’t sit back and watch her date other people. It was killing him and she had never shown interest in him. Things were different now; he was different now. He was older and more mature and he knew he could handle it now.

  “Landon?”

  He jerked around to find Katiana wearing a diaphanous gown and robe and approaching fast. Oh, God.

  “Hey.”

  “Why are you out here alone?” Katiana sat down and looked at him.

  “It’s so quiet. It’s going to take me some time to get used to not hearing ambulances and sirens, much less traffic.”

  “I can stay up with you,” Katiana offered. He was shirtless and the moon shone on his face.

  “You don’t have to,” Landon assured her.

  “I want to, unless you don’t want me to?” Katiana stood up and felt Landon take her hand.

  “Stay.”

  They sat quietly, both of them looking up at the night sky and thinking of what to say to the other. Josh had told him what Katarina had said about acting indifferent but he wasn’t a game player. He was honest and had matured way beyond that now.

  “Are you going to miss New York?” Katiana queried.

  He knew what she was really asking. “Bree and I are friends. I actually spent a lot of time with Juliet. She was there for me. Besides, you know Bree and Sergio are together, right?”

  “I’m so happy for him.” Katiana smiled wide. “He’s been through so much and in a way, Bree healed him.”

  “She did. I wouldn’t expect anything less from her. She’s a good person. So, is Joe mad?” Landon glanced over at her.

  “He’ll get over it.”

  “Tomorrow, everyone should be showing up.” Landon looked up at the sky.

  “This house is going to be packed.” Katiana sighed.

  “When isn’t it?” Landon laughed.

  “True.”

  Katiana settled against the back of her chair and pulled one leg up, propping her foot on the edge of her chair. She had to know if Landon still wanted her and she was going to have to test him. The filmy gown slid down her thigh. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Landon’s eyes were following the fabric as it slid.