Maria (Made Men Book 7)

by Sarah Brianne

  “I am going to give him so much crap when I get home.” Wiping away a half-fallen tear, she thought about how she would give her entire shoe collection to her worst enemy to read that paper.

  “I suppose that’s why I was pleasantly surprised myself,” he told her, as if he could read her mind. “How is Elle doing, by the way?”

  “She’s really good, actually, taking as many writing classes as the university will give her.”

  “Glad to hear it. She’s very gifted.” Kayne turned to look at her from where they were walking. “Are you in college, Maria?”

  “Yes. I graduate in May with a Bachelor’s in Business.” She supposed she should feel bad for skipping a class at the moment but staring into the molten gold of his eyes, she didn’t regret a thing.

  “Any plans once you graduate?”

  She had plans, but they were unattainable. “I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure it out.”

  “I’m sure you will,” he agreed with a smile. “Your father owns the casino hotel downtown, correct?”

  “Yes ….” Knowing where he was going with that, she continued, “But I don’t think he wants me working for him.”

  Kayne nodded after a moment. “Well, I’m sure your father has his reasonings.”

  Yeah, I don’t have a peni—

  “Listen, I’m curious if you’d be interested in volunteering for the homecoming dance next Saturday. We’re short on volunteer—”

  “Yes!” Maria blurted, probably a bit too quick on the draw. “I’d love to.”

  “Great.” Kayne was clearly amused by her response.

  Checking the time on his watch, the gleam in his eyes slowly vanished. “Well, I better let you go. See you soon, Ms. Caruso.”

  Christ. It was everything Maria could do not to ask for his number in front of the whole school. She’d had men tell her they would drink her bath water, for fuck’s sake, yet she wasn’t asking out a man with a possible girlfriend under any circumstances.

  Is this what girls feel like on a regular basis around guys who don’t take the fucking hint? She didn’t know what dying felt like, but this had to be pretty freakin’ close.

  “Have a good day, Kayne.”

  “You, too. And Maria?” He waited for her heels to stop clicking from her walking away—the gleam in his eyes slowly returned. “Go easy on Nero. Men can do crazy things when they’re in love.”

  Managing a nod and not asking if they were going to fuck already after that comment, she left with a gleam of her own. “No promises.”

  Maria made her way through the halls quickly, wanting to leave and not trusting the fact that she wouldn’t go back and make a fool of herself.

  “Are you trying to get me fucking killed, Maria?” a furious but sweet and also unfortunately dumb as rocks Todd asked once she exited the pretentious building.

  “Of course not.” It’d be like training a new puppy all over again.

  Walking over to the bench, she lightly grazed the back of her fingers over his rough cheek from his five o’clock shadow that appeared to have grown while she was in there. “I’ve told you: what Lucca doesn’t know won’t hurt you.”

  Dropping her fingers as quickly as she placed them upon him, she flipped her infamous switch. “Come on.”

  She hadn’t made it two and a half steps before Todd was following right behind her, the fury in him replaced by utter infatuation yet again.

  Poor Todd.

  Eight

  Her First Dance

  The wedding in the church had been beautiful but entering the ballroom in the casino hotel was even more so. All of Maria’s hard work had come to fruition; she had spent a month on making the perfect wedding since the day Drago had chosen Katarina. It was the only job she had been given from her father and Lucca. And, even though it wasn’t exactly what she wanted, she took what she could get. Plus, she might have enjoyed it … maybe a bit too much. It was the first wedding between a Caruso and a Luciano, so she had spared no expense.

  It was the most upscale event the Lucianos had probably ever seen, might ever see. She made sure it was a black-tie affair. The sea of black and white clothing matched the decor, making the to-die-for red roses adorning the tables stand out.

  Katarina was unlike any bride she had ever seen. She looked like an ethereal goddess straight from the underworld. The dress might have not been the most traditional, as it was as black as Maria’s heart, but it made Kat’s pale skin glow and her baby pink hair stand out enough to have Maria thinking about dying her blonde locks pink for a day.

  Since her dress was black and gothic in style, Maria had settled for a tight, ruched, satin white dress that had a slit up her left thigh. She’d wanted to look the opposite of Kat so Kat was sure to shine in this very untypical wedding.

  Watching Kat plead for help as she was dragged to the dance floor, Maria didn’t move, making no plans to rescue her. She needed to rescue herself.

  Every day that they had gotten closer to the wedding, her skin tickled with the thought of Dominic’s words.

  I’ll be wanting a dance.

  And Lucca’s ….

  If my men see you dancing with him, then everything Dominic has sacrificed will be for nothing.

  So, Maria planned to avoid him like the plague, and she definitely wasn’t going to go anywhere near the dance floor. Whether it was the fact that her body craved that dance he promised her, or that she didn’t want Dominic to give away his sister all for nothing, she would never know.

  Looking at the empty flutes on the table, she needed another drink. ASAP.

  Maria stood and found a young bow-tied waiter who held a tray of champagne. She stole a glass of the bubbly liquid, downing the contents like a worn-down, middle-aged mother of four who sucked down red wine.

  “Have you seen the bride’s dress?” an old, stuck-up woman from the Caruso side of the family asked another old bitch who was already one step in the grave. “She’s Luciano trash, for sure.”

  “I thought she’d get more use out of a black dress, Luisa.” The Caruso’s consigliere’s mother or no, someone needed to put that hag in her place. “I’ll tell her to wear it to your funeral.”

  The two scoffed at her before they saw the man who was now standing behind Maria. Without retorts, they quickly shuffled off.

  “I have to say that was better than anything I could’ve come up with, princess.” Dominic came up from behind her. Taking the empty flute from her hand, he put it back on the tray and replaced it with a freshly filled one. “You really are as cold as I think you are, aren’t you?”

  “What makes you think that?” she asked, looking down at the bubbles dancing in the glass.

  “Do you remember the last time we saw each other before all this?” He motioned to the festivities going on around them, specifically referring to the time prior to him vowing to give Kat away.

  Her brows furrowed, trying to think. She wasn’t sure. To be honest, she just vaguely remembered him being younger.

  “Wow.” He laughed, picking up a drink for himself. “You don’t even remember, do you?”

  Shaking her head, she took a quick sip from her glass. “When was it?”

  “Dance with me, princess, and I’ll tell you.” The way his hazel depths bore into her as he spoke, she felt like he could see her soul.

  Wanting nothing more in this moment than to see how it felt to dance with this man, she couldn’t do it. The two sides of the room were finally starting to come together with the music and alcohol consumption.

  “I … We can’t. Not here in front of everyone. Our blood only mixed a few hours ago, and I think it’s probably too soon for the Luciano boss to dance with the Caruso’s boss’s daughter.”

  Smiling, Dominic started to walk off. “Well, who said I wanted to dance with you in front everyone anyway?”

  Huh? Maria watched him leave with that smirk on his face like it had been a dream. What the hell did he mean by that?

  Taking a huge gulp of
the champagne, she wasn’t even sure what number of glasses she was on, so she thought it was best to sit back down and maybe try to nurse the next one.

  She hadn’t sat down for a few minutes when the youngest Luciano brother came up to her. His black and white suit jogged something in Maria’s memory, but she still could only see Dominic’s young face that was very reminiscent of Cassius’s.

  “Dom wants you to follow me.”

  “What?” She continued to stare at him, still trying to place the memory.

  Cassius tugged at her hand. “Just come with me.”

  Fuck it. Maria threw the rest of her drink down her throat while the little Luciano began to drag her across the room. She unsteadily set the empty glass down on a passing tray, almost sending it flying from how fast Cassius was walking.

  “Where are you taking me?” she asked what she should have the second he had taken her hand.

  When he didn’t answer, she wondered if she should worry.

  The coldness of the young hand had her looking down at him, seeing what she hadn’t seen when she had first met him in the Luciano home. She couldn’t believe she had missed it ….

  Seconds away from snatching her hand from his, he led her behind a black, sheer curtain then stopped in front of a hidden, swaying door.

  “Dom’s waiting for you in there” was all Cassius said before he left.

  Knowing it led to the kitchen, where she had met the caterer earlier, she lightly swung the door open, seeing it was almost completely cleaned out since dinner had ended a while ago. Only one chef, who was putting up the knives, remained. The only other person in there was Dominic, patiently waiting for her to come in.

  “You’re not scared, are you, princess?” he asked when she remained standing on the other side of the door.

  Maria took those words as a challenge and made her way across the barrier, letting the door glide closed behind her, cocooning them in the room, alone. “Of course not.”

  Dominic lifted an inked hand. “Good.”

  Staring at his palm, her stomach somersaulted, the unusual feeling forcing her to reach for the hand in order to keep herself firmly on her strappy stilettos.

  Everything seemed to suddenly move in slow motion, her senses changing instantly. His grip on her hand was different than she had thought it would be—his skin strangely rough yet soft at the same time. His scent closed in on her as he dragged her closer to him and placed his other hand on her waist. He smelled … Fiery? Burnt? Maybe hot even? Fuck, the champagne must be working.

  Dominic stared down at her, looking a bit confused. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve never danced before?”

  “Because I haven’t.” She tried her best not to let that hurt her pride. “Not with a guy, that is.”

  “Just relax and listen.”

  It felt strange to be held by a man, let alone agree to let one touch her or to be this close. To slow dance meant you needed to be a moldable figure in someone’s hands as they led, something Maria was far from accustomed to.

  Closing her eyes, she took a long, deep breath, encouraging each bone in her body to relax. The more she did, the more the slow song entered her ears, making the stiffness go away, letting him mold her to him.

  Dominic pulled her a tad closer. “See? It’s not so bad.”

  “Yeah, not for you.”

  “That’s true.” He laughed. “I’m sure I’m enjoying this more than you.”

  “If only your father could see you now.” The joking words seemed to have slipped from her alcohol-induced lips before she could stop them.

  Maria was savage, but that was probably a bit too far, even for her. It was his father, after all, and she didn’t know what kind of relationship they’d had.

  “I’m sorry. I—”

  “It’s all right,” Dominic assured her, clearly unbothered. “I’d pay good money for him to see us dancing together right now. I’m sure he’d fucking rather die all over again.”

  Relieved that she hadn’t put her foot in her mouth, she started to relax with him even more, letting him slowly sway them to the music. Yep, it’s definitely working now.

  “I take it you and him didn’t get along?”

  “We had a complicated relationship. How about you and your father?”

  “Complicated.” She decided to use his word, thinking it fit. “But I have a feeling yours might be more so.”

  His hand still in hers, he gripped her soft, slender one slightly tighter. “Yes, you’re probably right.”

  She saw black, Gothic letters inked his knuckles around hers. O-V-E-R. Unable to keep her eyes from drifting to the hand at her waist, she could see the majority of the rest of the letters, able to fill in the blanks. C-O-M-E.

  Lightly biting her bottom lip, she pressed her luck again, wanting confirmation on her suspicions. “Cassius is like your father, isn’t he?”

  “You mean, like Lucca ….” His eyes bore harder into her emerald ones. “And you.”

  Knowing it wasn’t a question but a factual statement, she flipped it on him. “What about you …? Are you like him, too?”

  “Princess, I’m nothing like my father.”

  That nickname she hated. Except, for some reason, when it came out of his mouth.

  Feeling the hand at her waist grip her ever so slightly closer, she wondered if their eye contact was ever going to break. Both were clearly too compelled by the other to look away… “Then, how did you know I was heartless? And, what does that have to do with the last time we saw each other?” … until he did, breaking their connection as easily as he twirled her in the desolate room.

  “I still can’t believe you don’t remember.”

  “Sorry, but I don’t.” Maria’s apology was said like she wasn’t really sorry at all, and she wasn’t. “I’m dancing with you like you wanted, so tell me already.”

  The room fell silent at the precipice point where one song stopped before another began. The only thing they danced to in that split-second was their weighty breaths. Their bodies touched, leaving no space for air between the two. It was something Maria wasn’t aware of until right now.

  She seemed to subconsciously inhale deeper, wanting that burning scent he carried to be inside of her.

  When the new song replaced their breathing, he finally revealed to her what she had forgotten over all these years. “Your mother’s funeral.”

  From those words alone, the clear memory finally escaped from the deep recess of her mind, flooding her with an image of a young Dominic in an old, brown suit that was a size too big on him. However, Maria didn’t understand how he had known what she was like even all those years ago. The only one who had truly believed that something was wrong with her had been her psychiatrist, because then, not even her parents wanted to accept that their precious daughter was evil.

  Seeing the confusion on her face, he continued, “I knew you were heartless because you didn—”

  BANG.

  Her first dance might just be her last.

  Nine

  You’re Drunk

  Hearing the gunshot fire, she went for the swaying door, wanting to make sure her family was okay.

  “Are you fucking crazy?” Dominic wrapped his arms around her, getting to her before she could open the door to the mass hysteria in the other room.

  “We can’t just”—she tried fighting him off—“stay in here and do nothing!”

  Lifting her off the floor, he started dragging her back through the safety of the kitchen. “If I let the boss’s daughter go out there and get hurt, then my family and I are as good as dead anyway.”

  He wasn’t necessarily wrong, but to her, he was. Fear wasn’t in her vocabulary, and she thought it wasn’t in his, either.

  Fighting him harder when he opened the deep freezer in the back of the room, Maria couldn’t believe how wrong she had been about him.

  “Please, Maria.” He set her back on her skinny heels in the chilly metal box. To stop her from trying to escape aga
in, he firmly grabbed a hold of her face, wanting her to look at him. “You’re drunk.”

  “No, I’m—am not.” Well, fuck.

  “You are,” he stated the obvious of why he got her to dance with him in the first place. “And, if I don’t protect you—”

  “I don’t need protecting, Dominic. Why can’t anyone understand that!”

  He studied the soft, perfect face in his hands, from her jeweled eyes to her pouty lips. “I don’t think you do, princess, but we both know, if I let you walk out of here like this, I’m dead, my brothers are dead, Kat’s dead.”

  Maria stared up at his pleading eyes, understanding that she may have been the one captured at the moment, but she was also the one who held his fate in her hands. “Fine.”

  Letting her go slowly, finger by finger, Maria wondered who regretted it more. She hadn’t realized until he let her go he was a few inches taller than her even in her heels. It was the type of petty shit girls noticed when they liked someone.

  “Here.” Dominic quickly removed his suit jacket. “Take this, and I’ll be back.”

  “You’re leaving me?”

  “I can’t sit here with my family and my men out there,” he told her, draping the warm material over her shoulders.

  So Dominic was who she thought, even if he was making her stay in here. But, if he was guilting her into not leaving, she needed something in return.

  “Will you make sure Leo’s okay?”

  She watched him nod as he still held tightly onto the jacket around her shoulders. With his knuckles practically turning white, she thought he was going to pull it and her up into a kiss, but he simply let go.

  He turned his back to her, going for the door. “I’ll make sure someone comes to get you when it’s safe.”

  An eerie feeling hit her. “Don’t you dare lock me in here, Dominic.”

  Not looking back or saying a single word, he opened the door.

  “I swear to God, Dominic, if I go for that door when I think it’s safe and find it locked,” she warned him with a promise that would last a lifetime, “I will never forgive you.”