A Santini's Heart (The Santinis Book 10) by Melissa Schroeder Page A

definitely didn’t irritate women enough to sleep with him like his older brother Anthony. The youngest of the bunch, Fernando, was still young, but the baby face of his attracted women. Then there was his twin, Brando.
    Brando and he were night and day, and not just with their hair color. Their personalities were different. Brando had met his wife, Kaitlin, in college years ago and, thanks to a chance encounter, had the opportunity to romance her into marriage. He had loved her from afar, but didn’t act on it until later. It had never been like that with Carlos.
    He had never had a big romance, not really. He was sure he’d thought Annabel Frazier broke his heart in the eleventh grade, but now it was barely a blip on his memory. In fact, it took him a moment or two to even remember what she looked like at the time of their “relationship.”
    There was the Santini Curse, and he had scoffed at it. He didn’t really believe in it. He attributed the long marriages in his family to the way they had been raised. You don’t get married unless you are completely committed. It was just the Santini way. There was only one person who no longer had a mate, and that was Brennan. The accident that had killed his wife had left his cousin devastated, because everyone knew Santinis matted for life.
    Why the hell was he thinking about marriage? It was the second time that day. Damn.
    His phone buzzed, and he looked at the caller ID. His brother Brando.
    “What are you doing calling me so late?”
    “Uh, were you sleeping?”
    “No.”
    “You do remember we’re still in Hawaii, right?”
    Damn, he had forgotten. Brando and Kaitlin had had a fast wedding, and hadn’t had time for a honeymoon. So they had come just two days before the wedding and were staying for another week.
    “Yeah. So what are you calling me for?”
    “I love you too, bro.”
    He chuckled. “No. I just thought you would spend all your time with that sweet wife of yours.”
    “She’s sleeping. She does a lot of that, and I have insisted on naps. I wanted to give you a heads up. Looks like Nando has some orders coming down.”
    Their youngest brother had spent more time overseas than he had in the US these last few years.
    “Where to?”
    “Not sure yet, but he heard it was a step up and maybe more time in an office. He’s not happy about that, of course.”
    Carlos chuckled. “He wants to make rank; it is the way of the world.”
    “So, how are things at the ranch going?”
    “Well. Mom came over with some tamales tonight, and we discussed the benefit some.”
    “I wish we could make it.”
    “I wish you could too, but we understand.”
    “We?”
    “Tia and I.”
    There was a beat of silence. “Oh, so it’s Tia and you? As in a couple?”
    Fuck. Being a twin was cool sometimes, but damned if Brando always caught him.
    “No.”
    “No?”
    He sighed. “Not yet.”
    “Ha. I knew it.”
    “You knew what?”
    “When I met her. She’s the one.”
    Because he had been thinking along those lines in the last few hours, he shifted in the bed and tried to come up with a retort.
    “Carlos?”
    “Still here.”
    “Something wrong?”
    “No.”
    “Not having any issues?”
    That was the Santini code word for PTSD. With so many of them serving, they’d had more than one brush with the condition. It was easier to ask about it in public that way. No one in the family looked down on the condition, but it was easier to handle being asked about issues than specifics.
    “No.”
    “Then, it’s the woman.”
    Dammit. He hated when his twin was right.
    “Let it go, Brando.”
    “Nope, not going to happen.”
    “It’s bad enough Mom is needling in.”
    “Come on, tell me. You know I’ll just get it out of you one way or another.”
    He had been the first one Brando had told when he’d made the decision to get married. Although it wasn’t that serious yet. Maybe. Damn.
    “I’m not sure, but there’s something there.”
    “Yeah, I figured. Mom