“I don’t know where her crazy ass is,” he answered gruffly.
“Well, I need her help with my math.”
Seeing the cute boy stressed, she found words falling out of her mouth yet again. “Would you like me to see if I can help you?”
“Sure.” He shrugged with a wicked smile when he finally noticed her and practically ran to the couch.
She looked at Drago to see if it was okay. He seemed a bit shocked that she offered, but he didn’t protest her into not helping him. So, she followed the kid to the couch with a smile assuming this was probably what Lucca had meant by being more comfortable here.
“I’m Leo.” He held out a strong hand when she reached the couch.
“I’m Katarina, but you can call me Kat if you want.” She took his hand, shaking it, unable to get the smile off her face. Whoever this kid was had some serious women skills already. A few more years, and he was going to be a lady killer.
“Kat,” he repeated, sticking her name in his head. “Your hair is sick.”
“Thanks.” She laughed knowing it was a compliment. “Now, let’s see if I can help you.”
He opened the book as she sat down next to him and pointed to the problem he was stuck on in his homework.
“My brother Cassius is learning this in school too.” Her assumption of him being around her brother’s age had been right. She took his pencil and paper, writing out the problem. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Drago just standing there staring, which was making her feel self-conscious, but finally, he left the room, which let her work out the problem easier as she began trying to teach Leo.
However, they only had worked out half the problem when she saw Drago return with a bunch of paperwork and take a seat at the end of the kitchen table, keeping them in his view. It took a while for her to begin to forget about him again, and by the time they were toward the end of the problems, someone started coming from the foyer again. When she looked at who it was, her jaw practically dropped to the floor when a tall blond model entered the room.
“Where were you?” Drago was the one to ask.
“What do you care?” She laughed as she went to sit on the couch. Rolling her eyes when his face became serious, she answered. “I was in my bedroom on the phone.”
“I thought you looked for her?” he asked, giving Leo a stern look.
“She must’ve not heard me when I knocked.” Leo shrugged.
“You should have knocked harder then.”
“It’s okay,” she interjected, noticing Drago getting a little frustrated. “I don’t mind helping him. We’re already almost done.”
“Thank God. If I have to teach him PEMDAS one more time, I’m going to shoot myself.” The woman touched by Jesus himself smiled at her. “I’m Maria.”
Smiling back, she figured the woman was definitely Leo’s older sister. “Katarina.”
“You can call her Kat though,” Leo added.
“Your hair is freaking gorgeous,” Maria complimented her, looking at the light pink strands.
“Thank you.” Hearing a shuffle of papers, she noticed Drago stand up and beginning to pack up his papers, but she turned back to Leo. “Ready to finish?”’
“Do I have to? It’s not like I’m going to use this when I’m done with high school.”
Even though she had heard that typical response from every other teenager, she had gotten a different vibe from the kid since he was the one who’d sought help. “How do you know?”
Leo smiled proudly. “Because I’m going to be like my brother Lucca, one day.”
Huh…. “Lucca’s your brother?”
“Yeah.” Maria was the one to answer, seeming to be dumbfounded by her response.
“Oh.” She licked her dry lips seeing that even Drago had stopped packing up. “I don’t see the resemblance, is all. You two are very…” Katarina tried to search for the right word. “…good looking.”
Maria’s jaw dropped. “You don’t think Lucca’s good looking?”
Oh fuck. She stared at the shocked faces in the room thinking she had just made a huge mistake telling them she didn’t find not only their brother handsome but the Caruso underboss. However, she couldn’t help it. She really didn’t find him attractive at all. He was quite fucking frightening to her. Wondering if she should try to backtrack, she decided to fuck it and just be truthful. “Not really, no.”
“What?!” The sister’s voice came out half shocked but filled with laughter. “Every girl he meets falls in love with him.”
How in the hell? Now she was the one with a shockingly pain-struck face. “Really?”
“YES.” Maria continued to die with laughter realizing she was being serious in not finding him attractive.
Drago placed his papers on the table and sat back down again.
Shrugging, she had to make sure and try to reel it back. This was the underboss, for Christ’s sake. “He’s just not my type, I guess.”
“Then what’s your type?” Leo asked with an arched brow.
Handing the pencil for him to solve the last problem, she answered him truthfully. “Men who are smart.”
Leo couldn’t have grabbed the pencil any faster.
Katarina wasn’t sure if she heard the mumble coming from Drago’s direction correctly over Maria’s even louder hilarity, but she could have sworn she heard the words….
“I’ll be damned.”
Seven
He’s an Idiot
“Can we get pizza?”
“Leo!” Maria hissed at him.
“Sorry, I forgot.” His voice trailed off.
She was confused at first as to why she had hushed him, but then she quickly remembered her brother telling her how Lucifer had taken down Drago. Posing as a pizza delivery guy had gotten Drago to open the door and make an almost fatal mistake.
Drago didn’t even look up from his work. “I’ll get one of the guys to bring some pizza.”
She figured the Carusos had unfortunately learned their lesson. Hence why she was here. It was all going very differently than she anticipated, not knowing what she had expected, but it wasn’t this. Katarina wasn’t even really spending the day with Drago per say, but she figured he wanted it that way, distancing her from himself, so his mind wouldn’t change. She had barely learned anything new about him; the only things she did know about him were what Dominic had told her—that she needed to know everything she could about the enemy in order to defeat him. In order to get him to change his mind in choosing her. She learned Drago De Santis was the boss’ personal bodyguard and one of the most respected men in the family, like most De Santis men were. The night he had been taken down, he was here, in the Caruso family home, when he was shot and the woman he was protecting, Chloe, was captured. All she knew of Chloe was that her father had been fascinated with her and to stay the hell away from her, as she was Lucca’s.
When there was a knock on door, Drago went to open it, and Leo excitedly went to the kitchen to grab a seat at the counter while Maria followed her brother. She was following behind them but stopped when she saw Drago just standing in the foyer staring at the door.
Her feet stepped almost unknowingly toward him. When she reached him, it was like she was seeing him for the first time. Without a barrier between them. For a moment, it had been brought down, and you could see… pain.
Going to the door, she did what he couldn’t find himself to do, open it.
“Who are you?” A guy in a suit smiled perfectly but seemed to be surprised to see someone other than Drago open it.
Smiling back, she took the pizzas from the handsome blond. “I’m Ka—”
Thud.
Blinking at the fact that Drago just slammed the door in his face, she couldn’t believe he did that. “Was that one of your men?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you slam the door in his face?” He was kinda cute.
“Because he’s an idiot,” he said, simply taking the pizzas from her.
Okay, so, so far, she had learned he didn’t particularly like anyone. She noticed he didn’t like Maria, he really didn’t like that blond guy, and even Leo seemed to get on his nerves a bit. She wondered who exactly he did like, if anyone.
Turning to head back, she was stopped in her tracks when she saw a girl standing close to the bottom of the stairs. She was breathtakingly beautiful with long black hair and light skin that was as pale as her gray eyes. She knew exactly who she was, and it wasn’t the scar that marked the side of her face that gave it away. It was the nightmares that were hidden behind her eyes.
“Hi.” Another word fell out of her mouth, knowing good and well she should have kept walking, and when Drago slightly took a step forward and stood between them, she realized she probably really should have.
Clasping her hands tightly together, the girl managed to get the word out. “H-Hi.”
A sweet expression appeared on her face along with her tone. “I’m Kat.”
“C-Chloe.”
She had confirmed what she knew before she’d spoken her name. It was like she knew her, understood her, all in a single glance. Probably better than anyone else.
“We have pizza. You should come eat with us.” Katarina smiled before walking to the kitchen, not wanting to place any pressure on the girl. Shockingly, she followed, coming into the kitchen as she placed the pizzas on the counter.
“Hey, Chloe,” Leo and Maria greeted her just as sweetly as she had.
Instantly, she got more comfortable seeing them. “Hey.”
“How did your test go?” Maria asked, revealing she must have online classes in what she would assume to be college.
“Pretty good.”
“Good. Now, let’s eat.” The young brother started ripping open the pizza boxes.
She found it strange when they all grabbed a plate from the counter but Drago. She watched him go to the fridge to grab a protein shake, then headed back to his table to work. Placing a big slice of pizza on her plate, she bit her lip before taking a seat at the counter.
You have to get him to fall in love with you, Katarina, Angel’s voice whispered through her mind. Even though it scared her to death, she headed toward Drago, knowing Angel was the brother with the right advice.
Putting her plate on the table beside his papers, she sat down next to the man who didn’t even look over at her when she did.
“You don’t want any pizza?” she asked, being sure to be polite. “I can grab you a slice if you wan—”
“If I did, I would have grabbed my own,” he cut her off.
Fine. She picked up her pizza and took a huge bite out of it. The man clearly had no taste if he could scarf down that gross-looking protein shake like that.
Continuing to eat, she couldn’t care less what he was staring intently at, but Katarina had a problem of being nosy where numbers were concerned. And he was definitely writing the wrong number down. “Two thousand and forty-one.”
“Excuse me?” Finally, he looked up at her.
“It’s two thousand and forty-one dollars, not two thousand and thirty-one.”
The look on his face showed he clearly didn’t believe her, so he punched the numbers in the calculator again and quickly, his face changed. “Oh. I must have punched it wrong in the calculator.”
“Mistakes happen.” She shrugged taking another huge bite, but she was unable to keep her eyes from straying. “The one before is wrong too. Should be five thousand six hundred and seventy-five dollars and seventy-eight cents.”
“For fuck’s sake,” he mumbled under his breath.
“Lucca usually does payroll, but he’s been trying,” Maria told her with a snicker as she came to sit down beside her with a slice of pizza.
“You two need to mind your fucking business and leave me alone. You shouldn’t even be looking at this.”
Leo joined them, bringing a whole pizza box with him to see what they were arguing about.
“Christ!” Drago started packing up the papers.
“Third one down should be a seven, not an eight.”
He grabbed the bridge of his nose. “Fucking hell.”
“Is she right?” Leo asked with a mouth full of pizza.
Even Chloe came over with her pizza to see what he was going to say as he started punching the numbers in.
The eraser hitting the paper was their answer.
Maria’s cackling filled the space.
Drago, however, put down the pencil and stared intently at her. “What’s a thousand four hundred and forty-five times eight?”
Swallowing the pizza, she gave him the answer. “Eleven thousand five hundred and sixty.”
It was Maria who grabbed the calculator from him to see if she was right. “Holy shi—”
“Whoa!” Leo dropped his pizza, so impressed that he wanted to see her do it again. “What’s five hundred and six divided by twelve?”
“Forty-two point one seven.”
The blond punched it in the calculator. “She’s right again.”
Even Chloe was fascinated. “W-What about nine hundred and eighty-seven dived by three hundred and nine?”
“Three point one nine.”
Leo was the one to snatch the calculator from his sister’s hand, putting it in. “This is so cool! She’s like a human calculator.”
“I suppose.” She shrugged before looking at Drago, whose eyes hadn’t left her. “Here.” Leaning over, she took the payroll paper, placing another paper over the names to cover them before grabbing a paperclip off another set of papers to hold it in place. That way she could do it for him quickly, and he wouldn’t worry about her seeing the names. Katarina couldn’t care less who got paid what; she just couldn’t watch him continuing to butcher the math. “May I?” she asked, holding out her hand for the pencil that was just out of reach.
He stared at her harder for a second longer. This time, they looked a lot like hers did when she’d felt like she was seeing him for the first time just minutes ago. Except this time… he was seeing her. Picking the pencil back up, he placed it in her much smaller hand.
His fingertips grazed her palm. She wondered if they stayed there for just a little too long. Is it working? Katarina smiled sweetly at him.
Looking over at Leo, she raised a brow. “Wanna time me to see how long it takes?”
“Heck yes.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “One… two…”
Cracking her knuckles and getting her pencil ready, she couldn’t help but notice the smile behind those strange ring-of-fire eyes.
“Three….”
It’s working.
“Go!”
Eight
Drago’s Girlfriend
Somehow, she, along with everyone else, ended up in an Escalade, and before she knew it, they were in front of the Kansas City Casino Hotel that was owned by the Caruso boss.
When Drago parked, Leo got out of the SUV quickly, opening it for them. Chloe, who was in the third row, got up to get out first but paused when Leo held out a hand.
Katarina only saw her pause for a split second, and even though she could get out of her side of the door like Maria did out of the passenger side, she instinctively scooted out the back seat taking Leo’s hand in hers. “Thanks, Leo.”
“No problem.” The young teen shook his head, clearly remembering something. This time when Chloe got out, he just held the door open without giving her his hand.
“T-Thank you.”
Walking toward the door, she could see confused looks on Maria’s and Drago’s face while they looked at her.
“How’d she….” Maria’s voice trailed off when Chloe came closer.
It was Leo who opened all the doors and led the girls into the huge casino and pressing the button for the elevator while Drago followed close behind.
Katarina couldn’t help but think how sweet Leo was, Lucca’s brother, knowing full well he would never be like his older brother despite his hopes.
With all of them getting
into the elevator, she found it strange when Drago stood close to the buttons, blocking them from her view as he pressed a button to take them to their destination. Figuring he was doing it for safety reasons, she smiled. It was as if he didn’t trust his ‘future wife’ with that information, like maybe he hadn’t made his decision at all yet.
As they got off the elevator, it was Drago who led them this time. When he opened a door, she went in, but no one else followed her. Instead, they opened the next door.
“See ya later, Kat,” Leo told her with a wink before going in.
“Later.” What?
Chloe waived, actually, with a smile.
“Good luck, Kat.” Maria gave a chuckle before closing the door.
Huh?
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Drago told her, wanting her to stay here.
She was confused, “Um, ok—”
Thud.
She stared at the door that was just shut in her face and started to get pissed. Why does he do that!
Walking into the apartment that sat next to his, he passed right by Maria and Chloe. “We need to talk,” he ground out to Lucca, who was walking toward his woman, making him stop in his tracks.
Heading straight for the office in the boss’s family apartment, Drago had a scratchy feeling under his skin the second that pink-haired girl had come into his presence today, and he had yet to shake it.
“Did you know she’s a fucking math witch?!” he spat out the second Lucca shut the door to the office.
His underboss looked at him like he was crazy. “A math witch?”
“Yes, a math witch. She can fucking answer any math problem in a second without a damn calculator ’cause she is the fucking calculator!” Drago was pacing the room at this point, his voice turning more irate with each word passing his lips. “Did you know?”
“No, I didn’t.” Lucca seemed to be slightly impressed and amused but truthfully didn’t appear to know. “It makes sense though.”
Drago (Made Men Book 6) Page 3
