Maria (Made Men Book 7)

by Sarah Brianne

  The room was so pitch black that she couldn’t see the face that was now placed in front of hers. The only reason she knew there was one was because his hot breath was ragged and heavy as it danced across her skin.

  Waiting impatiently for what was to come, her voice was the only thing that gave away her smile. “Is this it, then? Your proof that you like me.”

  “No.” Kayne dropped his forehead to rest on hers. “This is.”

  When lips touched hers for the first time in her life, she was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t that she didn’t expect him to kiss her, because she knew what was coming the second he closed that door behind them. It was how he did it—the softness with how he carefully captured them and just how tenderly he kept them that had her taken aback.

  It was fucking everything a girl would dream of how to be kissed for the first time, and not even a perfect Maria could believe she was living it. The only thing that ruined it was when he stopped.

  Placing his forehead on hers, it was obvious he hated to stop just as much as she did.

  “How was that?” he asked through a smile of his own.

  “Not bad.”

  Maria gripped the doorknob, opening the door slightly to let in the light from the hallway. With the slight glow illuminating their faces, she saw his smile that hid the pain he felt from stopping himself from going any further with her.

  Slipping out the door, her delighted expression, however, wasn’t faked. “For now.”

  Twelve

  A Caruso After All

  The rest of the dance was spent being a good volunteer. Well, mostly. She might have looked at Kayne more than she watched the students, but that was okay. No one got hurt, got drunk, or did drugs … that they knew of.

  She saw Leo standing by Jerry, waiting for her by the front door. They had been one of the last to leave the gym, waiting for all the students to head out first.

  “Who is that talking with Leo?”

  “That’s Jerry, my … cousin,” she lied through her teeth. “I never learned to drive, so he’s picking us up.” That part, however, wasn’t a lie.

  “I thought I saw him sitting there earlier.”

  Christ. “Yeah, well, after the wedding, my dad got a little spooked, so he wants someone close by us for a while.”

  Kayne didn’t look away from where her brother and Jerry were standing. “Did they catch who did it?”

  “Nope.”

  Before he could ask another question, she walked up to the coat check.

  “Here, let me help you with that.” Kayne took her fur coat that the volunteer held out. He helped put it on her like he had when he had helped take it off.

  Spinning to give him her back, she let him slide it up her arms and over her shoulders. “Thank you.”

  Oh shit. Stupidly, she remembered she had left her phone in her fur coat, not taking it with her. Praying to God that she hadn’t missed a call, she reached into the pocket she left it in. “What the …?”

  “What is it?” he asked.

  Reaching into her other pocket, she felt the cold glass before pulling it out. “N-Nothing.”

  Concerned, he took a step closer to her. “You sure?”

  “Yes,” she assured him, putting her phone back after seeing she had no missed notifications.

  “Good.” Kayne looked back toward the front door. “Your cousin doesn’t look very happy, so I better let you go.”

  Without even turning, she could feel the hole he was fucking burning into the back of her head. “You’re probably right.”

  “Thank you for your help, Maria. I appreciate you making this night bearable for me.”

  With a slow tilt of her lips, she just couldn’t resist. “I sure hope I made it more than bearable for you, Mr. Evans.”

  “You did.” That molten gold in his eyes glowed. “Have a good night and stay safe, Ms. Caruso.”

  Giving him a wink from over her shoulder, she regretfully started to walk slowly away. “Sweet dreams.”

  Kayne might have smiled as she walked away, but the slight flex in his jaw revealed the man she had once thought had to be a saint … wasn’t.

  Shaking his head when she reached them, Jerry held open the door for them to finally leave. “Four years later, and you’re still nothing but trouble, I see, Maria.”

  “Whatever do you mean?” She played dumb to match the color of her hair like the world expected of her.

  “Save it for the next schmuck. I’m only watching your ass for the next week ’cause there was no one else stupid enough to say yes.”

  “Aw, thanks, Jerry.”

  “Yeah, thanks, Jerry,” Leo agreed with a chuckle before whispering over to Maria, “Well …?”

  “Well, what?” She pretended not to know what he was talking about.

  “Did you give him your number or not?”

  “Fuck.” No longer pretending, she could kick herself right now. “That’s what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it?”

  “Christ, Maria!” Frustrated, Leo flipped his dirty blond hair to the other side, using his hand. “You didn’t give him your number? That was literally all you had to do.”

  She knew her brother was right understanding now, because a teacher wasn’t going to take the risk to give out his. She needed to be the one to do so, but her lack of experience made her … .“I suck at this.”

  “Pretty much.” Leo didn’t sugarcoat his sister’s complete and utter failure. “You’ve relied on your looks, and now that you actually like someone, you’ve found out this is how it feels to actually have to try.”

  Maria scoffed so hard that she almost tripped on her jaw that dropped to the ugly red carpet beneath their feet. “I can’t believe you just called me out like that.”

  When he threw his arm around her shoulders, she noted he was getting closer to her height every day.

  “Sorry, sis. Someone has to welcome you to the real world.”

  “Who even are you?” She could practically cry. Reaching a hand over to his face, she squeezed it, but his cute cheeks didn’t squeeze the same since they lost their baby fat over last summer. “Where is my cute, little baby brother and what have you done with him?”

  “Well, this brother got that kid with the camera to take a picture of you and Kayne.”

  Oh.

  My.

  God.

  I should have known.

  “You clever little shit.” She beamed proudly, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I guess you are a Caruso after all.”

  “Yeah, and now it’s you who has tainted the name. Can’t even get a dude’s numb—”

  Shoving her little brother hard, she sent him flying into the velvet ropes, knocking them all down, one by one, like a row of dominoes.

  “Maria! What the fuck?” Leo roared while also trying not to piss himself in laughter trying to get up.

  Adjusting her fur coat, she continued strutting down the red carpet. Welp, that was enough affection for the day.

  Thirteen

  The Sound of the Cigarette Paper Burning

  Getting back to the house, it was as if all her problems washed over her at once. Her mind immediately went to one person, and one person only.

  Lucca.

  It was the not knowing that was eating her alive, of why he had acted that way when she left. If Maria was going to get any sleep tonight, she had to speak with him.

  Knocking on his office door, she then heard the words, “Come in,” before she slowly opened it, seeing that Lucca wasn’t the only one in there. Chloe was actually sitting lovingly on his lap.

  The two sitting there in the dark room on the huge leather chair looked perfect enough for a painting that could hang in the Louvre. Even Maria had to agree they made one hell of a good-looking couple. The only things they were missing were crowns dipped in gold.

  “I’m heading to bed.” Reaching up, Chloe placed a light kiss on his jaw. “Good night.”

  “Night, darlin’.” Even though his mood seemed
to change once he saw his sister, his eyes didn’t leave Chloe until she closed the door behind her.

  Ew. Maria didn’t know why, but people in love made her want to vomit. It was especially hard seeing it from Lucca, knowing what he was capable of. It didn’t fit him, making it unbelievable to her. It only ever became believable when she caught them alone, when they thought no one was looking. Then it made perfect sense.

  Once the door closed, Lucca snapped his eyes to Maria, who was now sitting in front of him. He, however, didn’t look at her the same way he had looked at his fiancée.

  Any hopes Maria had of this exchange going well went down the toilet the second his blue-green eyes looked at her. She could also tell the stage of his unhappiness by the way he started flipping his Zippo open and closed.

  “What did you say to Chloe that night she and Elle were in your room?”

  Huh? That was definitely not how she had imagined their conversation starting.

  “Did you ask her?”

  When he flipped the Zippo closed, the room suddenly felt colder. “She won’t tell me.”

  Knowing that she had sworn her to secrecy, she was more shocked that Chloe had kept it than the fact that she had touched her for the first time.

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “Because she hasn’t been the same since.” Flipping the Zippo back open, his face glowed from the flame, highlighting the anger that was beginning to brew inside. “I want to know what you said to her, Maria.”

  If it was anyone else in the world on the other side of this desk from him, they would be praying to the good Lord right about now. But the truth was that Lucca didn’t scare her. Even if that did make her the dumbest person in Kansas City.

  Maria didn’t want to divulge what they specifically talked about, but she did know what he was referring to. Chloe wouldn’t have been upset about her asking about Kayne since, shockingly, the scarred beauty was on her side. She might, however, get upset about being asked about her ex-friend who had gone rouge on her. “I asked Chloe how she knew that she loved you and not Amo.”

  The Zippo flicked closed yet again. “And, what did she say?”

  “She said she didn’t know that the love she felt for Amo was just as a friend … until you.”

  The anger he carried slightly dissipated after hearing what she had said. Pulling a cigarette out from a pack, he held it between his lips before lighting his Zippo for the last time.

  Maria could see it—the one and only fear the boogieman carried.

  The fear of losing Chloe. A five-foot girl was the only thing that made the future king of this city … weak.

  In this moment, for the first time, she felt bad for him … almost.

  Maria parted her lips, asking an honest question and wanting an honest answer, “Do you ever think that, if Lucifer never scarred her, she would have been meant for Amo and not you?”

  Everyone could see the two broken souls for what they were—meant to be mated forever. But Maria wondered if they had only been broken to fit? If one had never been broken, would it still be so? If Chloe had never gotten her scars, the girl they knew would have never existed, and the other one, the unbroken one, might have been meant for Amo. In life, people think they are only meant for one soul mate, but what if we were meant for two?

  “No.” Lucca spoke the word with certainty as smoke poured from his lips. “Chloe was meant for me and only me. Her scars only brought her to me in this lifetime.”

  Sitting back, Maria nodded. Who was she to disagree with how Lucca felt? She only wanted him to see it from a different angle. That was the only reason he wasn’t killing her this second, as he was used to her giving her thoughts.

  “The question is”—he tapped his ashes into the ashtray—“why did you ask her that question in the first place?”

  Now this was how she thought their conversation was going to start.

  Maria simply shrugged. “Just wanted to know if—”

  “I’d be careful to insult me more than you already have, Maria.”

  Closing her mouth, she thought that was probably a good idea.

  Taking a long draw, he narrowed his eyes more as he did so. “If you think I don’t know that you danced with Kayne, no less than I knew you danced with Dominic, then you are mistaken.”

  No, Maria wasn’t mistaken. She knew he knew. Lucca knew when someone in this city took a shit, even if she never understood how.

  “I didn’t exactly try to hide it from you, did I? I told you where I was going and that Kayne invited me.”

  “Well, maybe you should have.”

  “What is it about Kayne that you don’t like?” Maria was reaching her own breaking point. “That he’s not made? That he is better than us? Or is it that he wasn’t scared to look you in the eyes as he shook your hand?”

  Lucca’s voice cut like ice, “Is that it, then? What it takes for Maria to finally fucking like someone?”

  Maybe it was! Fuck if she knew anymore.

  “I have to say that’s a bit disappointing.”

  There it was, the word she had feared he felt. That was another thing she didn’t understand: why it didn’t sit right with her to disappoint Lucca. “I thought, of all people, you would have understood.”

  “Why is that?”

  Speaking each word calmly, Maria could cut glass with her voice, the same as him. “’Cause Chloe doesn’t belong in this world, and neither does Elle. Yet, here I sit, for the first time in my life, telling you that I like a man who you don’t even fucking know, but you’re disappointed in me?”

  Lucca sat back in his chair, blowing out a puff of smoke. “You think your precious teacher can handle who you truly are, Maria? What we are?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “He’s not as precious as you think, you know. He grew up in Blue Park.”

  Lucca’s silence was so deafening that the only thing she could hear was the sound of the cigarette paper burning.

  “If he’s as fucking great as you say he is, why is he teaching at Legacy Prep?”

  Oh, I don’t know … money? 401K? To have a better life?

  “No one’s perfect, Lucca.”

  “No, they’re not,” he agreed. “I just thought you were smarter than that, Maria. I really, really did.”

  Crossing her arms, she raised a perfect brow. Her brother had never fucking talked to her that way before. So, why now?

  “Where was this when I danced with Dominic? You didn’t have anything to say then.”

  He smashed his cigarette into the glass. “Our father had enough to say.”

  “Yes, he did, and so have you.” Getting up, she stormed toward the door, stopping only because something had been driving her fucking crazy to know. Not only did she not know who else to ask, but since everything was all out in the open and she didn’t plan to talk to Lucca anytime soon, she figured it wouldn’t hurt to get the fucking question out of her mind already.

  “Is it true Dominic can shoot someone between the eyes from a hundred yards away?”

  Lucca, who was already pulling out his next cigarette, paused. “Yes.”

  Unable to stop, she asked her final question before heading to bed. “How do you know?”

  “Because I’ve seen it.”

  Fourteen

  Love on the Brain

  Maria heard the music lightly playing in the background, gracing her ears with a simple, recognizable melody that started soft like the beautiful woman’s voice before slowly becoming more sensual the raspier her voice became.

  Swaying in place to the beat that was sending her pulse racing in anticipation, sensations of heat and desire assailed her as a muscular arm curled around her waist, driving her backward into a male chest that pressed heavily against her. Her head fell back to a hard shoulder.

  Gazing up at golden eyes, Maria sucked in an indrawn breath, becoming dizzy when Kayne slid his hand to her waist, sending butterflies soaring as he pulled her farther back. Marveling at h
ow it felt to be held so intimately against him, she grabbed the wrist at her waist to steady the heightened awareness that she felt as the ridge of his cock pressed against the curve of her bottom.

  She wanted him to tell her how much he wanted her, that he would grovel at her feet for the rest of her life, just like most of the men under her father’s command had. Yet, she was the one who was limp against him, letting her body meld into his like a hollow mold, waiting for the slightest sign of what he wanted from her.

  She felt her nipples tighten as he lifted his hand to brush knuckles over the tips of her breasts under her short, silk gown, and a breathy sigh escaped her parted lips. No man had ever dared to touch Dante’s ice princess before. That a mere teacher out of the realm of her father’s influence heightened her desire that was gliding through her bloodstream and had her quivering with longing to be stroked without the expensive material between them. The ache inside of her with his simple touch sent a warning flash through her mind, but it didn’t stop her from pushing her breast forward.

  As if her Catholic upbringing did her any good, it definitely went out the fucking window when he curled his hand over her breast, giving her a taste of what she had never experienced before—pure, unadulterated lust. She never believed herself capable of such a mundane emotion. Not her, never her, until she was brave enough to turn and face the handsome golden-eyed teacher and felt the slide of Kayne’s lips along the side of her mouth, the tip of his tongue taking a small sip before he slid it down to nuzzle her throat, breathing warm air against her heated flesh while lifting her weightlessly into his arms.

  Squinting her eyes closed, she grasped him around the neck, wanting the deeper kiss he had teased her with before.

  Feeling the luxurious softness of a bed beneath her, Maria lazily gave Kayne a beckoning smile when he moved his face to the side, avoiding her kiss. Undeterred, she traced her manicured fingertips down the front of his shirt.

  As she bit down on her bottom lip, he narrowed his eyes at the temptation she was unashamedly offering, daring him to ignore the hesitation she saw that was stopping his hard body that had followed her down onto the bed. She wanted it too. And the acts she was about to commit, she wouldn’t be confessing in confession.