Page 57 of Her Intense Protector

He nodded.

“But I’m still staying here?”

“God yes. I want you here in my house. I want to spend time with you. You’ve captivated me, now I want time to get to know the real Samantha Gail Brooks.”

He watched as she played with the tip of her braid. “I’m not very interesting.”

Ezio couldn’t help the laugh that roared out of him. “You’re kidding, right?”

She frowned. “It’s true.”

“In that case, God help me if you ever get interesting, I’ll have a heart attack.”

* * *

Ezio talked to at least one of his family members every day. He didn’t seem to mind that Samantha was around to hear the calls on Monday and Tuesday. Today’s turn was Anthony—he was the baby at seventeen.

“So which school do you want to go to?” Ezio asked patiently.

He had the phone on speaker because they were in the kitchen, both of them prepping food for dinner.

“I want to go to Northwestern, but every time I mention that school to Mom, she seems to freeze up.”

“Yeah, I could see that. Most everybody went to some school in New York or New Jersey.”

“Not you,” Anthony said. “You joined the Navy.”

Samantha saw Ezio wince. “Yeah, I did, and I still hear shit about it, and it’s been over twelve years. Anthony, you can’t let Mom stop you from going to the school you want to. Why Northwestern?”

“They’ve offered me a great scholarship, and their math program is strong. It would be the perfect steppingstone for an electrical engineering degree.”

Ezio smiled. “You’ve thought this through. I’m impressed.”

“Mom thinks I should take the scholarship I got to NYU.”

“Of course, she does.” Ezio threw the bell peppers and onions into the wok. “Did you just call me to be a sounding board, Anthony?”

Samantha could tell by the sound of Ezio’s voice that the conversation had just turned serous.

“No, I was wondering if you could put a good word in with Mom for me.”

Ezio laughed. “Sure thing. But have you thought through how it’s going to be living so far away from home, from family, from your girlfriend?”

Tony didn’t say anything.

Ezio laughed again. “Let me guess, Greta got accepted to Northwestern too, right?” He started to vertically cut some summer squash.

“Kind of,” Anthony answered.

“For a kid who’s good at a black and white subject like math, that sure was a shitty answer,” Ezio responded.

“Yeah, she got a drama scholarship,” Anthony admitted.

Samantha could tell how excited he was. Sounded like he really liked his girlfriend. But they were both really young. She knew from personal experience how young love could sometimes turn out badly. She’d keep her fingers crossed for them.

“Does Mom know about this?” Ezio asked.

“Yeah.”