Always Be True Read online

  Natalie took her usual spot at the head of the line and opened the first three boxes of pizza. They always ordered an equal number of pepperoni, cheese, and vegetarian pizzas. It would be interesting to see which one Tino would ask for. She was betting a big guy like him would go for the pepperoni, the only one with meat on it. She spotted him making his way toward her as the line snaked forward.

  He noticed her looking at him and nodded with a smile. She smiled back. At the same time, she had to fight to keep from checking her hair to make sure it was behaving itself. When his tray was finally in front her, she asked, “What kind of pizza do you want, and how many slices? We always order more than we need, so don’t hesitate to take as much as you like.”

  He studied the selections. “In that case, I’ll have two pieces of the veggie.”

  Okay, so she would’ve lost that bet. She dished up two of the bigger slices and handed him the plate. “There you go, and thanks again for volunteering today, not to mention the lesson in repairing drywall.”

  “Anytime. Let me know if there are any other skills you’d like me to demonstrate.”

  One problem with having such fair skin was that she blushed too easily. Right now, she suspected her cheeks were bright red, because the skills that came to mind had nothing to do with fixing up the community center. He knew it, too, because he winked at her as he continued down the line toward the salad bar.

  “He’s new, isn’t he?”

  Natalie glanced over her shoulder at Rosalie. “Yep, it’s his first day here. I’m hoping he comes back. He’s definitely got the kind of skills I covet.”

  When her friend started laughing, Natalie replayed what she’d just said. Once again, she wanted to bang her head on something. “Lady, you have a wicked mind. The man knows basic carpentry, plumbing, and stuff.”

  Rosalie patted her on the shoulder. “You just keep telling yourself that’s all you’re interested in if it makes you feel better. I might be old enough to be that man’s mother, but I’m not blind to his particular…skill set.”

  Normally, Natalie loved Rosalie’s husky laugh, but not at this particular moment. For one thing, she was pretty sure she was blushing again, not to mention Tino had just glanced back in her direction. Had he figured out that he’d been their topic of discussion? From the small grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, she suspected the answer was yes.

  To make matters worse, she’d fallen behind in her duties. Time to get her head back in the game. She turned her attention to the next person in line. “Thanks so much for coming today! What kind of pizza would you like?”

  —

  Tino had a call to make. As he waited for his brother to answer, he guarded the empty spot next to him and kept an eye on Natalie Kennigan. The long line of volunteers was finally winding down, and he wanted to see if she would make good on her promise to join him for lunch. When he’d glanced back at her while he’d still been filling his tray, she’d looked almost guilty, like maybe he’d caught her and her friend talking about him. If so, he wondered what they’d said. Something interesting, for sure, considering the way she blushed.

  He realized he’d missed hearing his brother answer. “Tino, I’m guessing you called me for some reason other than so I could hear you breathe in my ear. Because, I’m telling you straight up, that’s kind of creepy.”

  “Stuff it, Jack.”

  His brother laughed, something he seemed to do a lot more lately. Tino tried not to envy his brother’s newfound happiness with his wife and adopted teenage son, but it was hard. Once again his gaze wandered over toward Natalie, the reason he’d called his brother in the first place.

  “I wanted to let you know that I’m not going to make it today. Something’s come up.”

  There was a second or two of silence before his brother responded. “Is everything okay? I thought you were putting in a couple of hours of volunteer work at that community center just to keep Mom off your back.”

  “Yeah, I was. It’s turned out to be more complicated than I thought.”

  More silence. “Any chance the complication is female and attractive?”

  No way was he going there, not with Jack’s tendency to give him grief every chance he got. “They don’t have anyone else here today who can do a decent job patching the walls. I’d like to finish what I’ve started. If I get the drywall taped and mudded, next week they can finish painting the gym.”

  “Need a helping hand? Ricky and I could be there in twenty minutes.”

  Oh, hell no. Considering Jack now ran their family’s construction company, he definitely had the necessary skills. What he didn’t have was the ability to keep his nose out of Tino’s business.

  “No, I don’t want to take you away from Caitlyn and the kid on your day off. I can handle it.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure. Ricky will be disappointed that you’re not coming over. He mentioned something about kicking your ass at that new video game you got him. He’s been practicing.”

  “Tell him I also bought a copy for myself, and my avatar will eat his for breakfast. Apologize to Caitlyn for me for ducking out on dinner.”

  “Not a problem, little brother. See you on Monday.”

  Tino bit back the urge to remind Jack, yet again, that there was only a four-month difference in their ages. “I’ll be ready.”

  Jack did the bulk of the work in the family business, but Tino helped out whenever his brother needed an extra set of hands. He’d also taken on all the paperwork that their mother had done when their late father had run the business. As always, a sense of loss washed over Tino when he thought about the man who had been his anchor in this world. Joe Lukash’s sudden death had left a big hole in all their lives.

  “Is that seat for me?”

  How had he missed seeing Natalie approach? He lowered the phone long enough to say, “It sure is.”

  Time to hang up. “Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you on Monday.”

  “Sounds good.” There was another pause. “And, Tino, if she’s the reason you’re bailing on us, I’m all for it.”

  Not about to encourage his brother’s matchmaking efforts, Tino kept his response to a simple goodbye, but he was pretty sure his brother was laughing when he hung up. No doubt he’d get the third degree on Monday, but he’d deal with it then.

  Meanwhile, he shoved the phone back in his pocket and scooted his chair over a little to give Natalie more room to maneuver. She put her tray down next to his and sat down with a sigh. “Boy, it feels good to get off my feet for a few minutes. I’ve been on the run since about five thirty this morning.”

  “How long have you been working on this particular project?”

  “About a year and a half now.” She popped the top on her drink and took a quick sip. “That’s including the planning stages, though. The actual work started about three months ago when we had a professional contractor gut the kitchen and rebuild it pretty much from the ground up. After that, the entire place was wired for Wi-Fi and the phone system upgraded. Next up is the computer lab. We plan to offer adult training classes at low cost as well as making the lab open to students in the area to use.”

  Then she grimaced. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to go on and on about it.”

  When was the last time he’d been that excited about anything? Maybe never. Rather than pursue that depressing thought, he told her, “Don’t apologize. I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t interested. I will say that you were smart to let the pros take on the hard stuff. It might cost more to begin with, but at least you know it’s all being done right.”

  Natalie glanced around the room. “I really appreciate everyone’s willingness to pitch in and help, but there are limits to what can be done with volunteer labor.”

  Her dimples made an appearance. “But enough about me. So, how about you, Tino? What do you do when you’re not saving damsels from marauding buckets of paint?”

  He had just taken a big bite of pizza, which gave him a few seconds to decide
how much he wanted to share. “Well, up until recently, I was in the army.”

  Before she could ask for details, he added, “I served in the military police with multiple tours in the Middle East.”

  Maybe she sensed he really didn’t want to elaborate, because she changed the subject. “I don’t know about you, but I want to hit the dessert table before all the good stuff is gone. A lot of it is homemade.”

  As they stood up, he asked, “Did you make any of it?”

  One of the women sitting on his other side immediately snickered. “I hope not.”

  Even though Natalie joined in the resulting laughter, Tino winced. “Sorry, did I touch on a sore subject?”

  Natalie’s smile didn’t fade at all. “Not at all. Even if I can’t bake as well as Rosalie, I have other talents.”

  The other woman nodded in agreement. “That’s true enough. None of this would have gotten done without our Natalie riding herd on this project.”

  “Now, Brenda, you’re going to have me blushing.” She turned her attention back to Tino. “I think my friend Rosalie is serving up a couple of her blackberry pies, which are to die for. I will not be happy if I don’t score a piece. I consider it my reward for working hard this morning.”

  Then she charged off across the room, leaving Tino to follow in her wake. A piece of pie would be nice, but watching Natalie’s cute ass in those form-fitting jeans as she made a beeline straight for the dessert table was definitely a sweet reward all on its own.

  He’d noticed she’d scrubbed that streak of paint off her cheek and also tried to tame her hair since he’d last seen her. That was too bad. He would like to see it loose and tumbling around her shoulders. Or better yet, spread out on his pillow. He caught himself flexing his fingers, imagining what it would be like to tangle them in her soft curls as the two of them got to know each other a whole lot better.

  Natalie picked up two plates that held generous pieces of blackberry pie. As she handed one to him, she performed introductions. “Tino Gianelli, this is my friend, Rosalie Earle.”

  “Nice to meet you, Ms. Earle.”

  From the considering look her friend gave him, she must have picked up on the direction his thoughts had taken regarding Natalie. He smiled and did his best to look innocent. That had never worked well with his adoptive mother, and Tino suspected this woman had that same scary ability to see past the bullshit.

  She glanced at Natalie and then back at him, her expression cautiously friendly. “You’re the new guy, the one with the impressive skill set that she was admiring earlier.”

  He pretended not to notice Natalie’s reaction, although he suspected that Rosalie wasn’t talking about how well he could patch drywall. “This is my first time here, and Natalie has gone out of her way to make me feel welcome. I’m not sure whether it’s because I know how to patch drywall or because I let her play with one of my power tools.”

  Rosalie’s eyes flashed wide and her laugh rang out across the room. “Well, you are a brave man.”

  For some reason Tino felt compelled to defend Natalie. “She did great.”

  “Well, you should’ve been here the time she—”

  Natalie cut her friend off mid-sentence. “Rosalie, I warned him that there’d been an incident. Now, we need to eat our pie. It’s almost time to go back to work.”

  Tino smiled at Rosalie again before following Natalie back to their seats. “I’m looking forward to trying your pie.”

  As he walked away, Rosalie called after him. “I hope we see you again soon, Tino.”

  He hadn’t made up his mind if he would come back. He’d enjoyed the experience more than he’d expected to, but since leaving the army, he hadn’t been in the mood to commit to anything further away than getting through the day at hand. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t mind spending a little more time with Natalie Kennigan. Of course, no one said hanging out here at the community center was the only way he could enjoy her company.

  The other people were already drifting back to work, but Natalie seemed willing to linger a little longer over her pie. As soon as he sat down, she set down her fork and looked at him. “I will tell you all the sordid details about the unfortunate incident if you’d like. It appears my so-called friend is determined to bring up the subject.”

  He took a bite of pie before answering. “Two things—first, you’re right about the pie. It’s delicious. Second, you don’t have to share the details, sordid or otherwise. I think a relationship should have a little mystery to it.”

  Natalie tilted her head a little to one side and studied him. “So we’re going to have a relationship?”

  “That depends.” He indulged himself with another bite of pie and the fun of leaving her hanging a little longer.

  “On what?”

  “On whether or not you want to go to dinner and a movie with me. Say, next Friday night.”

  This time it was Natalie who used her friend’s dessert to buy herself a little time. Finally, she nodded. “I’ve already got another…obligation for Friday. But if you can make it Thursday night instead, you’ve got a deal.”

  Did that obligation involve another man? It wasn’t as if he had any right to ask. “That works for me. Any preference where we go?”

  Natalie’s blue eyes glittered, and her dimples played peek-a-boo as she finished the last bite of her pie. “Surprise me.”

  A soldier, even an ex-soldier, knew what to do when given a mission. He considered the lay of the land, the objective to be achieved, the weapons he could bring to bear, and finally, the opponent he planned to engage. Oh, yeah, this was going to be fun.

  “A surprise it is, then. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

  Chapter 2

  After finishing the drywall, Tino had hung around to install shelving in a storeroom off the gym. On the way out to his car, he’d stopped to watch a few kids from the neighborhood shoot hoops outside of the center. He couldn’t help but notice that the pole supporting the basket listed to the right and the net hung in tatters, even if neither of those things detracted from the intense competition between the rival teams. When the ball bounced off the backboard and came flying his way, he caught it with one hand, then made the shot from the sideline.

  A couple of the players applauded while the ones on the other team made sure everyone knew the points didn’t count. The good-natured bickering left Tino grinning as he walked away. How many times over the years had he and his brothers squabbled over the rules like that? Too many to count. Then there had been all those pickup games on military bases scattered all over the world. Maybe the next time he got together with Jack and Ricky, he would see if they were up for a game.

  When he got home, he was ready for a hot shower and a quick meal to restore his energy. It had been a productive day, but he was looking forward to some downtime.

  His mother stepped out onto the front porch just as he got out of his car. “I didn’t expect you home so early. I thought you were going over to Jack’s for dinner.”

  “There was a change in plans.” He popped the trunk to retrieve his toolbox. “The work at the community center took longer than I expected. I called Jack and let him know that I wouldn’t make it.”

  “Sounds like they kept you plenty busy.”

  “They did.” And because he knew his mother would be curious, he added, “They had me patching walls and putting up a bunch of shelves. I’m glad I brought more than just a hammer and a couple of screwdrivers with me.”

  She looked pleased. “Have you eaten?”

  “Not since lunch. I thought I’d take a quick shower and then scrounge up something.”

  Not that there was much to eat in the three-car garage he now called home. His late father had turned it into an apartment for Tino and his two brothers back when they were seventeen years old. After graduating from high school, all three of them had enlisted in the military and used the annex as a place to crash whenever they came home on leave. It wasn’t fancy, but it would do until he
figured out what he wanted to do next.

  “You go get cleaned up and then come back over to the house. I’m sure I can put together a better meal for you than what you’ve planned. A bowl of cold cereal isn’t enough after the day you put in.”

  She knew him so well. “Thanks, Mom. Give me about twenty minutes.”

  “No rush. I’ll keep it hot for you.”

  —

  Tino ended up eating out on the back patio, taking advantage of the last bit of daylight. His mom came out to keep him company. As far as he could tell, she was adjusting to her new life as a widow as well as could be expected, but she got lonely rattling around in the house by herself. It was one reason he’d decided to move back into the annex rather than getting an apartment somewhere close by. Jack had done the same thing when he’d come home to take over the family business.

  “So, do you think you’ll go back again next weekend?”

  “Maybe.” He shrugged. “Probably. God knows they could use the help, especially someone who knows how to swing a hammer. A lot will depend on how much Jack needs me on the project he’s starting on Monday, that one where we’re finishing the client’s daylight basement. Evidently the guy started the work himself but needs us to pick up where he left off. We’re hoping to be done on Friday, but it could run over into Saturday. Regardless, Jack promised the homeowners that it would be done by next weekend. Apparently they’ve got company coming into town and will need us out from underfoot.”

  His mother had something on her mind. Marlene had never been one to pull her punches. “I know Jack appreciates your help. Have you given any more thought to working full-time for the company? It’s as much yours as it is his.”

  Tino owed her the respect of at least considering the idea. When her husband, Joe—Tino’s adoptive father—died, he’d left the family business equally to his three sons. Jack had been the only one in a position to take over at the time, and he now had a wife and son to support. Neither Tino nor their younger brother, Mikhail, had made any claims on the net income the business generated. For now, whenever Tino helped out on a job, Jack paid him by the hour. The same went for the few hours a week he spent doing the books for the company. Tino wouldn’t have taken even that much if his brother hadn’t insisted.