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

interest. He hadn’t had a real relationship since before he was deployed. Since then, there had been a few interesting women, but none of them had made him want to settle in for a long relationship. Truthfully, no woman tempted him the way Tia did.
    She parked in her usual spot. Dressed for work in a pair of jeans, t-shirt and boots, she held onto her travel mug as if it was the holy grail. Irritation shimmered in the air around her. Of course, that was nothing new. She always seemed to be annoyed around him. Except for last night. Last night they had been almost…friendly.
    She was scowling when she stomped up to the house.
    “Bad morning?”
    She nodded. “Flat tire.”
    Without another word, she brushed passed him and into the house. Probably needed more coffee. She was in a pissy mood, but at least it had nothing to do with him. He always knew when to stay out of her way, and this was one of those times. What had he been thinking? Because of that one moment, or even a night of comradery, that she would show up and be his BFF today?
    She walked out a moment later, letting the screen door slam shut behind her. He rolled his shoulders. Carlos didn’t know why things like that bugged him, because when his brothers did those things, he ignored it. With Tia, it got under his skin. Still, he said nothing.
    “I thought you just got new tires,” he said.
    “I did. A month ago. I’ll have to take a look at it later.”
    He nodded. “We have a full schedule?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Well, we better get to it.”
    She gave him a side glance, but said nothing. After another sip of coffee, she trotted down the steps and he followed. Routine was good for him. There were still moments when he would wake up with sweat-soaked sheets and the smell of cordite and gunpowder filling his senses. Keeping a routine was important.
    It had started small, with the operation being run by Adrian and Tia. When Carlos had arrived, they had talked of becoming a formal business, and Carlos had wanted to help. The dreams of establishing a ranch had seemed to dissolve the night Adrian had died. It had taken him a lot of work to get Tia to agree to sell him a major percentage of the ranch. And as much as they sometimes irritated each other, they had found a common purpose and thrived.
    Since the grand opening of the ranch, they had been overwhelmed with the response. Truth was, there was a good chance they would have to hire some full time people and train them soon. Equine therapy was definitely making strides with PTSD sufferers, but there was also good research with other conditions like autism. He wanted to expand their outreach to those areas, and if the benefit did as well as his mother had said it would, they would be overrun with requests.
    He followed Tia, watching the way her hips swayed. If there was ever a woman who had been made for a pair of jeans, it was Tia. Perfectly rounded hips, not too skinny. He could imagine digging his fingers into her generous flesh as he thrust…
    He tripped over his own feet and almost fell. She glanced over her shoulder, the same damned frown on her face. Then, seeing that he hadn’t fallen, she turned back around. She said nothing, as usual. The woman was damned contrary. He knew she had a tender heart, but she rarely showed it when it concerned him. And that irritated him even more.
    She turned into the barn and he followed, drawing in a deep appreciative breath. He loved the smell of horses and hay and everything that went with it. When he’d first arrived on the ranch, the scent of manure wasn’t something he thought he would ever get used to. Not that it was his favorite scent, but it was familiar, and that was important to him.
    “Who do we have coming in today?”
    She sighed. He hated the sound of it. It told him that she would rather he just go away.
    “I have the schedule on our work board. I share it with you all the time.”
    He knew that, and he had even read over it on his computer that