Dropping the hair held between his fingertips, his eyes went to her full lips. “I don’t throw stones.”
Was it bad that the idea of Kayne beating someone to a bloody pulp made her hot? Who fucking cared if it did? It was hot as fuck.
Bridging the sliver of distance between them, she decided to take a cue from her dream and initiate the kiss he hadn’t yet taken. Kayne didn’t pull away, but he didn’t exactly respond the way he had in her dream.
Thinking his brain had finally outgrown his bravery, she let her lips lightly hover over his. “What’s wrong, Mr. Evans? Afraid someone will see?”
The whispered taunt against his lips had him grabbing the back of her head to tangle his fingers through hair spun like gold. “There’s only one thing about you that scares me, Maria Caruso … and that’s how I’m starting to feel about you.”
The kiss he laid on her beat the one he had given her in her dream, fucking hands down. Not only did Kayne show her that he wasn’t scared of her, but that she should be scared of him.
Twisting his mouth over hers, he parted her lips to thrust his tongue inside, driving hers to the side to explore and sending any idea that she would ever be able to bring him to his knees, plummeting to the region of her body that wanted to jerk him back to the forest of trees to hide exactly how she wanted to touch him.
She had to grip the front of his camel-colored coat to fight for air when he lifted his head.
“Something tells me I would have liked that boy who got into fights.”
Placing an arm over her shoulders, he started walking them up the path again. “Oh, you would have.”
Maria snuggled under his arm, laughing. “What makes you so sure?”
“All the girls did.”
“Cocky, I see ….” Damn, I like it. “Well, there isn’t any particular girl besides me now, is there?”
He looked over at her in confusion.
“Kendra?” Maria raised a fluffy brow. “The woman I saw you with at the movie theater.” That was the supposed substitute teacher that Leo had warned her about when he told her she wasn’t his type.
“No,” he promised her wholeheartedly. “I’ve taken her out a couple of times, but there’s nothing between us. I haven’t seen or spoken to her for some time now.”
Sorry, Kendra. Maria genuinely wished her well.
Kayne was turning out to be one of the good ones … At least, so far.
“Good. Then I guess you can ask me out on another date.”
Kayne shot her his own look. “That depends. Are there any men, besides your father and brother, I should worry about?”
Shaking her head, an image of a dimple-faced, tattooed god came to her mind that she blatantly ignored. “Nope.”
“Then, how’s tomorrow?” Kayne hadn’t noticed her lie, since she herself believed it.
Maria had to mentally think of another way of getting away from Jerry. There was only one thing that big man refused to do. “How about meeting me for brunch at Sky’s”
“Is that the restaurant that revolves on top of the Plaza Hotel near here?”
“That’s the one.” A conniving Maria grinned.
Kayne stopped their stroll. “Any particular reason you chose that place?”
Playing the sweet, innocent blonde with him was no longer an option. “Possibly ….”
Poor Jerry was terrified of heights. He would puke up his left kidney if he had to go up the hundred floors or so on the elevator that had another elevator piggybacking on top.
The gold in his eyes churned. “How long do you plan to keep us a secret?”
“For now.” Maria didn’t blame him for looking a little bit relieved by her answer. She wasn’t looking forward to her family finding out, which was why she sneaked out of a spa.
“I’m a patient man, Maria.”
A gust of wind blew the beautiful, delicate cherry blossoms, dusting the ground ornately while Kayne stole her lips in a deadly kiss.
“As long as I get what I want in the end.”
Eighteen
Do I Look Like I Watch Hockey?
Opening the big house door, Maria waved goodbye to Jerry, whose car revved off before she even closed the door. Still not sure how she got away with it, her cheeks hurt from how much she smiled. Hell, she was still fucking smiling.
Practically floating on air, she felt like this was what it must feel like to be high. To be so fucking happy and content.
Walking toward the living area, she heard laughter filling the space. Leo, Nero, Elle, and Chloe sat around the couch, playing Monopoly at the huge coffee table.
Smelling the sweet, spicy scent of spaghetti, her stomach growling from hunger pains, Maria went in the other direction, toward the kitchen. She didn’t do carbs often, but tonight she planned to make an exception.
“Is it ready yet?” she asked Lucca who was behind the counter.