as she said it, she didn’t move.
“What are you here for?”
“Because I love you, you idiot. I swear I’ve never met such a stupid man before. Do you think I would fly all this way and cry in front of you if I didn’t love you?”
“Fine.”
She sniffed. “Fine.”
“I love you too.”
“I think we covered that. And how I’m a coward,” she said and this time she wailed it. He really didn’t know how to react. The worse she got the more awkward he felt. He rarely dated women who were overly emotional. It was tiring and he really didn’t know how to react.
In the end, he did the one thing he knew would work. He reached out and grabbed her. He thought she might fight him, but she didn’t. When he pulled her against him, he thought the feel of her body against his made everything right in his world.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Leo.”
He kissed the top of her head so happy he didn’t care what happened now. “I shouldn’t have called you a coward.”
“But it’s true.”
He leaned back and looked down at her. Her nose was red and the little bit of makeup she wore was smeared over her face, but she was the most beautiful woman in the world to him.
“No. You’re not.”
She pushed away from him and he panicked. “No, give me a second. I had to do a lot of thinking and I realized you were right. Everything was happening so fast, but then, it never happened like that for me.”
“You’ve never been in love.”
“No. Well, that too. I mean, I would date guys a lot longer than we did and didn’t allow them to infiltrate my space.”
He chuckled. “You say the sexiest things. Infiltrate your space.”
Her face flamed pink and he laughed louder.
“I didn’t mean it like that. Oh my God, why do men make everything about sex?”
“I haven’t touched you in two weeks, it’s about all I can think of right now.”
He stepped forward and she held her hand out. “No, wait, let me say this. Never before had I allowed a guy into my life like you. I dated one guy for six months before I would let him come into my apartment and stay for more than an hour. I thought all of them were walking away from me, but I realized that I was already gone before they did. But you...you wouldn’t allow that. You just busted your way in by being nice and sweet.”
“That’s because I raised him right,” his mother said through the door. “And he knows the rules about closed doors and girls in his room.”
He rolled his eyes. “Good Lord, Mom, I’m over thirty.”
“You do not take that name in vain. You have exactly one minute.”
Maryanne’s eyes widened. “Is she serious?”
“Yeah. Mom never jokes about that. Says it like it is.”
“Yeah, tell me about it,” she murmured. But before he could ask her about it, she said, “What I was trying to say is that you let me be who I am and love me for it.”
He pulled her closer. “Of course I do.”
“Most men don’t think women like me are keepers.”
He looked down at her as she tipped her head back to look at him. “Well, those guys are wimps. I’m made of tougher stuff than that. I’m a Santini.”
He bent his head and did the one thing he had wanted to do since she had opened the door. She rose to her tiptoes and returned the kiss. Everything in him said to take her then, lay her down on his bed and show her how much he loved her. But his mother had other plans.
“You’re a Santini who’s about to get your ears boxed if you don’t open that door in the next ten seconds.”
EPILOGUE
Leo leaned against the doorjamb and watched Maryanne. She was looking out their hotel window at the Riverwalk. The soft glow of the shops below the only light against her skin.
“Hey, there, Mrs. Santini, might want to be careful who sees you in that towel.”
Maryanne looked back over her shoulder at him with a smile.
“I doubt they can see me from the Riverwalk all the way up here.”
“I don’t