The Santinis: Marco, Book 2 by Melissa Schroeder

killed by a drunk driver? A cop with a history of drinking and driving and that you were rewarded money for it?”
    She was stunned. “Were you spying on me?”
    “No. Yes. Not really.”
    She would have been amused if she wasn’t so pissed. And scared. She was damned scared and she didn’t know why.
    “Which is it?”
    “You said they died, in a wreck. I looked it up. And you didn’t tell me about your fiancé either.”
    He spat it out as if accusing her.
    Panic twisted her gut. She had learned long ago that men used what they knew about you.  
    Marco wouldn’t .
      She shook that thought away. She might want that to be true, but the news of Pete’s arrest brought back everything. The lies, the embarrassment.  
    “Listen, Marco, if you want to end this, you don’t have to fabricate a fight.”
    His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
    “I understood when we got together that it wouldn’t last. You’re going to be gone soon, or some time and you were just passing the time.”
    For a few moments, he said nothing. He studied her as if she were a puzzle he wanted to figure out. He walked up to her, grabbed her and slammed his mouth down on hers. “I was not just passing the time.”
    Then he marched out of her house. Drained, she collapsed on the couch. Her phone rang with Colin’s ringer. She wasn’t in the mood, but she knew he would just keep calling until she answered.
    “What do you want?”
    “Oh, that doesn’t sound good. I guess I can wait on the news.”
    “Great, more news. What now?”
    He sighed. “That’s not important. What happened now? You sound like you’ve been crying.”
    “I had a fight with Marco.”
    “About what?”
    “He said that I had been hiding things from him.”
    “And? Have you?”
    She closed her eyes. “No. Yes. Maybe.”
    “Honey, I know that you think you need to protect yourself from him, but you don’t. That man wouldn’t hurt you.”
    She felt a tear trickle down her cheek and she brushed it away refusing to give in. The fear that she had from the time she was eighteen bubbled up.  
    “He’ll leave. Everyone leaves.”
    “No, they don’t. I’m still here.”
    “But…”
    “I think I need to make a trip to the mainland and kill that bastard. At least I know where he is.”
    “Colin, really. Stop talking about beating Pete up. He’s going to have enough worries now that he’s the pretty man in prison.”
    He chuckled. “Still. I want to kick his ass for making you doubt someone like Santini.”
      “That’s not what I’m talking about.”
    “What then?”
    She sighed. “When Pete left, I was hurt, but it was my pride more than anything else. It wasn’t my heart. I realize that now. But, with my folks…” She took a moment to gather herself. Otherwise she would be crying on the phone to Colin. “Everyone leaves sometime.”
    He sighed. “You have to take a risk, Alana.”
    “But, I could get hurt.”
    She hated to admit she was afraid. Afraid of being so in love with a man who risked his life for a living. One who would never give it up. And she couldn’t ask him to do that because it was so much a part of him. It was one of the things she admired about him.
    “Part of the reason you love the man is because he is so committed to what he sees as his duty.”
    “I know that. Don’t you think that I know that?” She shouted into the phone. “It’s what makes him so wonderful.”
    “He’s a good man, Alana. And I’m pretty sure he loves you.”
    “He’s never said it.”
    “Have you told him you love him?”  
    She said nothing.
    “Pot meet kettle. Take a risk, tell him, love.   Don’t let him get away.”
    She hung up and stared out the window again. She did love him. From the beginning she had known she would fall hard and she had tried her best to resist that. It was more than the sex. It was the way he made her laugh. And every now and then, he would look at her, just a look. It made her heart feel like it was