A Santini's Heart (The Santinis Book 10) Read Free

drink it while she took a bath. And, she wanted to eat cake right there in her bubble bath. It was a day to feel sorry for herself—and she did not like doing that in public. But, she knew there would be no fighting him on it.
    As she walked closer, she felt her face flame. She had come into work early that morning for a couple of reasons. Yes, it was a day she needed to connect with Adrian, and one way to do that was through Carlos. The other had been embarrassing. She had missed him. She missed his frowns and being able to say things that drove him insane. Her fascination with annoying him had turned into an obsession of sorts.
    “What did you make me?”
    He frowned. There it was. Annoyance. God, how did a man look so damned sexy when he was mad? Somehow, Carlos did it. He was almost as sexy as he was this morning when he’d stumbled down the stairs. That sleepy voice and those bedroom eyes were hard to ignore.
    “Steaks, although, I’m about to throw them on, so they haven’t been made. I know you like them to be just this side of mooing.”
    She smiled. “I like a man who respects my need for red meat. I need to clean up.”
    He nodded. “You know you still have a few things in the guest room.”
    “Oh, yeah.” She had stayed over the first week they opened the ranch together. “I guess I could hop in the shower and clean up while you cook.”
    His eyes narrowed and her nipples tightened. She knew he hated when she ordered him around, and she did it just to get a rise out of him. The main reason to do it was because he looked so damned sexy when he frowned. So, in other words, she irritated him because it turned her on.
    She was sick.
    “I’m not sure I like that tone.”
    “What tone?” she asked.
    “The one that makes it sound like you’re ordering me around.”’
    She stepped up on the porch, then sat on the bench to remove her boots. After she finished the task, she stood and smiled at him. “Aw, Santini, but I am ordering you around.”
    He shook his head and opened the door. “From the moment I met you,” he grumbled. Normally she would retort, but tonight, she was just too damn mad and sad to fight.
    “Give me ten minutes.”
    “Okay.”
    She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her hair was plastered to her head; thanks to the hat she had been wearing—not to mention the large amount of sweat she had expended today. Dirt was on her shirt, pants, and her face. She was a freaking mess.
    “Oh, hell. Give me fifteen.”
    He chuckled. “Just come on out back when you’re done.”
    Without a backward glance, she hurried up the stairs. It was a familiar path since she had grown up in the house, and she had made herself at home even after Carlos had moved in. Since he had never complained, she had always thought he was okay with it. They had a strange relationship, that was for sure. From the moment they met, there had been an undercurrent of irritation between them. It wasn’t that odd when she first started working with a patient. Carlos had been a pain in the ass when he’d first arrived, but when he got with the program, he became her star pupil, and had found his way in the world.
    Usually, though, she formed a friendship with patients who had moved through the program. Not with Carlos. She had a friendship, but there was always something more there, something that kept them growling at each other all the time. For her, it was the attraction. From the moment she had met him, she had this thing for him. And he wasn’t even her type. She usually went for sweet, funny men, much like his twin Brando. Carlos…well, he rubbed her the wrong way. Of course, that one thought had her thinking about all kinds of other rubbing.
    She closed her eyes and tried to push him out of her mind. Adrian would be embarrassed by her thoughts. Hell, she was. She didn’t want to think what her brother would have thought of them.
    Before she could get into the shower, her phone buzzed. When she saw the