A Santini Christmas

by Melissa Schroeder

  The blond spoke up first. He was taller than the rest, had a bunch of freckles scattered over his face…but she wasn’t fooled. Most of the ones who looked so innocent were the worst—she had learned that early enough in life.

  “Whatcha got on tap, darlin’?” he asked, his voice heavy with Texas twang.

  She named off the beers and he picked one. The other two agreed but the fourth kept staring at her. Not in a creepy way. Instead he looked shocked as if she had horns growing out of her head. She wanted to ask him what the hell was his problem, but the longer he stared at her, the more self-conscious she became. It took every bit of her control not to reach up and mess with her hair.

  It didn’t help that he was gorgeous. He was definitely the most attractive of the group. Dark hair, chocolate brown eyes, and he had one of those strong jaws that attracted her.

  Well, used to attract her. She pushed that thought away and decided to get on with the order.

  “And you? Do you want anything?”

  Blondie glanced at his friend and laughed. “Cat got your tongue, Papa?”

  He didn’t say anything to his friend, and she was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with him. “Papa?” she asked.

  “One of his nicknames.”

  Like she didn’t know they all had nicknames for each other and that some of them were horrible. At least this one could be said in public.

  “So, would you like to order or should I bring whatever I feel like bringing you?”

  Papa shook himself and then…a slow smile curled his lips. Dimples appeared and Joey felt the air back up in her lungs. She did her best to suppress the sigh that threatened to escape. He was attractive to begin with but he was lethal with that smile. She was suddenly hot all over.

  “Whiskey, neat.”

  She nodded and turned to rush back to the bar. Sam was setting up the last of her other order.

  “Three Buds and whiskey neat for that Papa fellow.”

  For a second, Sam stilled then grabbed his glasses off the shelf. After slipping them on, he peered over her shoulder. “I’ll be damned. Papa Santini, get your lily white ass over here.”

  She heard a laugh and then the man approached from behind. Sam came from around the bar—something he rarely did—and pulled the Marine into a bear hug.

  “Let me look at you. Lord, I can’t believe you’re already old enough to be a Marine.”

  He laughed. “Mom says the same thing.”

  “Could we get those drinks?” her customers yelled from the other table.

  She grabbed her tray and headed off to the other table. By the time she returned, Papa and Sam were already exchanging memories of old times.

  “So, Joey, this here is Stewart Santini. His father and I served together. I’m still trying to find out why he didn’t call me before he came down here.”

  “I wanted to surprise you. Mom says to tell you that they’ll be down after the holidays and I’m supposed to make sure Thelma is taking it easy.”

  “She is, thanks to Joey here. Looks after her as if she were her own mother.”

  Sam and Thelma had only one son, who had been killed in action three years earlier. Since her parents were off in some foreign country again saving the world, Joey had become attached to the older couple.

  When Papa or Stewart, or whoever he was, looked at her again, she felt that same weird reaction as earlier. Her body went hot like an electrical spark and she felt breathless. Silly, but nothing she couldn’t handle.

  “Well, my mother thanks you. Ever since she heard about Thelma’s accident, she’s been worried.”

  “How are your brothers?” Sam asked.

  Good lord, there were more of them. The thought that there were more of them at home like him was mind-boggling.

  “All fine. Dave is finishing up at Annapolis next year. Tony and Adam are still in high school.”

  “Let me get you those drinks.”

  Sam hurried around the bar. Stewart really hadn’t taken his attention away from her since he had looked at her a few moments earlier.

  “So, Joey has to be short for something.”

  She heard the charm there, and she was honest enough with herself to know it made her want to blush. She just wasn’t stupid enough to fall for it.

  “Yeah, it is, Stewart.”

  He chuckled. “I should have made sure Sam knew not to call me by my real name.”

  She heard the front door squeak open and a few college students came in. “I’m going to assume you can get your own drink.”

  “Sure thing, Joey.” He had emphasized her name, rolling his thick northeastern accent over it. She would not admit to anyone but herself that it sent a rush of need coursing through her.

  Wanting distance from her disturbing reaction to the Marine, she hurried off to the college students. It really had been a long freaking day.

  Chapter Three

  Papa watched Joey work the tables as he sipped on his whiskey. It was an easy thing to do. She walked with ease around the entire bar, keeping her patrons happy with a smile. He’d never seen a woman who could smile like she owned the world. Not like that. Every time he saw it, he lost his train of thought.

  He paid no attention to the conversation around him. His friends were in a lively discussion about their night on the town. Well, what little town there was here. He’d lost interest the moment he’d seen Joey. Music was blaring on the jukebox and there was an argument over at the pool tables. He ignored it all. It was easy to do with the object of his attention being so interesting.

  “Earth to Papa,” Andrews said. He glanced at the Texan and realized his friend had been trying to get his attention for a while.

  Papa sipped his whisky nonchalantly and asked, “What?”

  “We were talking about hitting Scores later.”

  He made a non-committal sound when he heard Joey laugh at something one of the idiotic college boys said. Dammit, she was avoiding their table as if they had the plague. He knew why the college boys were flirting with her. Part of it was the job. Any young man getting served beer would flirt with a waitress. They always hoped to either get her phone number or free beer. Or both. The other part of it was the woman.

  Tall and slender, she definitely demanded attention as she walked through the bar. There was something else about her, something that drew the eye toward her.

  “Santini,” Johnson said.

  “What?”

  He’d loved the sassy long ponytail that swung back and forth as she hurried around the bar. She wasn’t overly flirty and he realized that maybe she didn’t realize just how sexy she was. Natural beauty was always a turn on for him. He didn’t go for a lot of makeup on a woman. Just not his thing. He also liked the fact she wasn’t super skinny. Especially that full, round ass of hers. The way her bellbottom jeans hugged her curves was enough to make a man beg. Hell, the top she wore kept moving so he was playing peekaboo with her belly button.

  “You’re going to give her the creeps if you keep watching her like that.”

  He sighed and looked back at his buddies. The four of them had known each other at Annapolis, but not that well. Making it through training together had drawn them closer. The fact they all got stationed together at Camp LeJeune recently just added to that. Still, they made him feel old. They were all around the same age, give or take a year, but being the oldest of four boys made him look at things differently. And now that he had seen Joey, he didn’t feel the need to head out to a strip joint.

  “You can go on without me. I’m going to spend some time talking to Sam.”

  Johnson, a bruiser of a guy from Idaho, “God, we’ve lost our leader, men. He’s all soft on a woman.”

  Papa didn’t say anything. He knew they didn’t understand, and explaining the Santini curse to them wasn’t going to help. It would just make them mock him even more. As a Santini, he understood it well. When he had seen her, he’d felt like he’d had the air knocked out of him. After that, he did
n’t remember much.

  “I told you Sam and my dad went way back.”

  The other shock of the evening was seeing just how old Sam had gotten. Papa’s father had aged, but Sam…the years had weighed heavy on the Marine. Papa knew both Sam and Thelma had taken the death of Mike, their son, hard.

  “Sure,” Donaldson. “It has nothing to do with that fine filly that’s been flitting around the tables.”

  Born and raised on a ranch in Montana, everything he said had to do with horses. Anyone else, Papa wouldn’t like the term filly used for Joey, but with Donaldson, it was nothing.

  They finished off their beers and left him with the check, as usual, and headed out the door. Joey came up to collect their glasses. “Your friends abandon you?”

  Again, he couldn’t speak. Dammit, what the hell was wrong with him? Just like last time, it seemed his tongue was glued to the top of his mouth. This went beyond attraction, but he didn’t even want to think about that.

  Of course, he could come up with all kinds of other things he would like to think about. Like what it would be like to have Joey slip right there onto his lap and give him a kiss.

  Then he realized she was looking at him waiting for his response to her question. Dammit, what had she asked him? Oh, his friends.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  That will impress her, Santini.

  “It was nice to see Sam so happy. He’s been kind of off lately.”

  With Christmas approaching, it would mean one thing that would get Sam down. “It’s getting close.”

  “To the anniversary of Mike’s death.” She nodded and he knew she understood. “Yes. Plus, with Thelma being hurt.”

  “How did that happen? My mom said she didn’t have the whole story.”

  Joey sighed as she stretched out her back. “She was out on the bike in the rain. Sam’s been on her about driving the Harley during bad weather, but she doesn’t listen to him. Someone ran a red light; she had to swerve and lost control. The doctor said she was lucky only to have broken her arm.”

  “Are you telling tales on me, girlie?” Thelma said. He had to look past Joey then down to see the miniature woman who had been a second mother to him.

  When he glanced at Joey, he saw her face turn pink as if she got caught being naughty. It made her even cuter. And sexier.

  “No. I’m just telling Stewart that you were being bad and riding in the rain.”

  “You and Sam.” Thelma shook her head and then looked at Papa. “Are you going to sit there and stare at me or are you going to come give me a hug?”

  He smiled, and did as he was ordered. He pulled the diminutive woman into a hug, being careful of her arm. Again, though, the woman surprised him. From the moment he’d met her all those years ago, he’d been surprised by her strength. When he let her go she smiled at him.

  “Little Stewey Santini, all grown up. And in Special Forces. Hard to believe you’re the same boy who broke all my Christmas lights.”

  “He broke your Christmas lights?” Joey asked, as she wiped off a nearby table and cleaned up the empty glasses.

  Great, now he knew Thelma would go to town on stories with an interested party.

  “Yes. He was bored one day when we were stationed at Quantico together with his folks. We lived next door to each other at the time and your poor mother. She was not having an easy time of it with Dave, who was just a toddler. At that time, she must have been about four months along with Tony and sick as a dog still.”

  “Mom says that should have been the omen that Tony would be a pain in the ass.”

  Thelma laughed, as he knew she would. “Well, ain’t that the truth. Either way, this one was about five years old.”

  “Lord, your mother had two kids under five and was expecting another one?” Joey asked.

  “Ahh, the Santinis couldn’t seem to keep their hands to themselves,” Thelma said, making him want to kill the woman he thought of as a second mother. “Anyway, I walk out and find little Stewey smacking all the lights on the bushes with a big stick. Of course, when he saw me, he dropped the branch and started to run.”

  Joey snorted. “Fleeing the scene of a crime.”

  “We were all scared of Miss Thelma,” he said very seriously.

  Thelma belted out a laugh. “Well, that’s because you should have been.”

  Joey opened her mouth to say something, but there was a shout from the most recent table of college boys.

  “Duty calls,” Joey said, and started to make her way over to the table. He couldn’t help but admire the way her full, rounded hips swayed from side to side. Damn the woman was put together just the way he liked. Lately it seemed like so many women were on diets trying to become as thin as a beanpole. Joey had curves—and in all the right places.

  “You better watch where you’re looking, boy. Sam will definitely tear you a new one if you think you’re going to play around with Joey.”

  He felt his face heat as he glanced at Thelma. “Sorry. I can’t…”

  He heard Joey laugh and he couldn’t stop from looking over to see what it was.

  “Oh…so that’s the way of it?” Thelma said, tsking. “The Santini Curse strikes another generation.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Boy, when a man looks ready to beat another man up because he made a woman laugh…he’s hooked.”

  He opened his mouth to argue, but Thelma shook her head and patted his arm. “Don’t even try to argue with me. Just know that you are going to fight to get that one to pay attention to you. She’s got too much on her plate.”

  “How so?”

  Thelma looked like she was going to answer him, then she shook her head. “Naw, I think you need to work to find out. Things come too easy for pretty boys like you. Why don’t you come on over to the bar so Sam and I can tell horrible stories about your parents and brothers.”

  He chuckled and grabbed the whiskey he was still working on. “Sure.”

  He’d work the problem of Joey out later.

  Chapter Four

  Joey locked the door just as another loud burst of laughter sounded from the bar. She grimaced before turning around. Stewart…Papa…whoever he was, hadn’t left all night. He’d spent his time reminiscing with Sam and Thelma. It was good to see her bosses so happy for a while, but she wanted the Marine gone. Away. So she wouldn’t drool over him.

  With reluctance, she made her way to the bar. Studying the trio, she wondered what the attraction was about. She’d been working at the bar for about two years and had never had an issue with Marines before. Sure, she was able to admit that she was attracted to the physique. What hot-blooded American girl wasn’t? Add in the service before self, especially after the last few years, and she found most of them damned admirable. This one…he pulled at her. Every now and then she would find him watching her before he had a chance to look away and part of her was intrigued. Joey knew she shouldn’t be. She’d learned her lesson several years ago about pretty men. They were smooth and shiny on the surface…to hide the fact they were monsters beneath.

  Before the dark memories could pull her back into that nightmare, she pushed them away and started to wipe down the bar.

  “Joey, sweetie, go on up to your room. You have an early day tomorrow,” Sam said.

  “I’m just wiping down the tables. You and Thelma have to drive home.”

  He shook his head. “Go on. Hey, Stew, why don’t you walk Joey to her apartment?”

  Apartment was a stretch. It was more of a studio above the bar. The Jacksons had allowed her to stay there and almost free of rent. If it hadn’t been for that, she wasn’t sure if she would have made it the last year.

  “Uh, I can walk myself. Like I do every night.”

  And she didn’t like the idea of the Marine walking her up to her apartment. But, apparently, he did. He was already off his stool and heading her way. Dammit. Butterflies erupted in her stomach. Not the kind that spelled trouble but the ones who fluttered at th
e anticipation of being with him. Alone.

  What the hell was wrong with her?

  “It’s better to just go along with Sam and Thelma,” he said with an understanding smile.

  He was right. When she first met them, Joey had tried her best to keep the relationship professional, but Sam and Thelma adopted people. They had taken her on as a waitress and as a part of their family. Now, she couldn’t imagine a day going by that she didn’t talk to them.

  “Give me a second.”

  He nodded and went to what she assumed was parade rest to wait for her. She untied her apron and headed back to the office. After the day she had, she really didn’t need this kind of irritation. She was pulling out her tip money when Thelma slipped into the office.

  “What’s got you in such a bad mood?”

  She sighed. She loved Thelma like a mother, but the woman drove her crazy at times. She knew right now Thelma wanted Joey to date Santini. It had been months since she had attempted the insanity of dating. She’d been so uncomfortable with the very safe accountant that she had decided to give up on all dating. The idea of going out with a big, hulking, pretty Marine left her unsettled.

  “Nothing. I’m just tired.”

  Thelma knew better. Joey could tell just from the way the woman was eyeing her. Thankfully, though, Thelma knew not to push it.

  “Okay. You need to take it easy every now and then, Josephina.”

  “I would love to, but I want to have the money to start school next semester. I want to be able to just work here and go to school. That’s not going to happen if I start to take it easy.”

  The older woman nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

  She slipped her tips into her wallet, then stood. “There will be time for fun later on.”

  Thelma shook her head. “You’re way too serious for someone so young.”

  “Of course I am. Someone around here needs to act like an adult.”