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 how 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.