Kayne, however, wasn’t only different than the Mafiosos, there was a presence about him that made the air around him thicker. Being within that one-foot vortex now, she could feel the air being slowly sucked out from her as she stared up into those molten gold eyes of his.
Reaching up to take the phone from his hand, she was sure to let her fingers touch his, wanting nothing more than to touch him again since their first meeting and repay the favor …
…Fiddling for another minute after hearing her bodyguard incessantly banging on the girl’s bathroom door, she decided it was time to step out. It was Nero’s high school graduation. She grabbed her purse, then put one pump in front of the other.
“Shit! Goddamn …” The cursing from the deep voice trailed off as the man started mumbling to himself.
She quickly dropped her purse and touched a man’s raised arm, which was holding the side of his face. “I am so sorry. Are you okay? I completely forgot those doors fly open like that.”
Hearing the muffled laughter, she shooed her watchdog away to go laugh somewhere else.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He said it like he was trying to shoo her away, as well.
Dang, I hit him really hard.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Here, let me see.” She grabbed his wrist with her other hand so she could assess the damage she’d done to his face.
“I said …,” he began harshly as he dropped his hand from his face to look at the woman who’d nearly knocked his brains out. Looking at her, he seemed to have lost his train of thought. It took him a moment before he cleared his throat to change his tone. “I’m fine, really.” He smiled at her.
She stared helplessly up at him, her eyes unwilling to move away from the liquid gold.
Feeling his strong arm under her hands, she realized his body definitely wasn’t bad, either.
Oh gosh. She quickly pulled her hands away from him, trying not to smile in embarrassment from touching him longer than she should have.
She finally moved her eyes away from his. “I-I’m sorry. I feel terrible that I hit you.”
Did I just stutter? Being flustered in front of men was something that never happened to her.
“It’s really okay. It was my fault. I usually walk farther away from the door, but my mind was somewhere else.”
She smiled back at him. It made her feel instantly better to hear his genuine apology. “There’s no mark yet, but I hope it doesn’t bruise on you.”
“If it does, it wouldn’t be the first.” He started to lean down toward the floor. “Here, let me get that for you.”
She watched him pick up her purse off the floor and felt his gaze on her brand-new nude pumps that she had pulled out of the box that morning. Her body slightly tingled as his eyes rolled over her as he stood up straight. Thank you, Christian Louboutin.
He held her purse out, and when she grabbed it and touched him, she noticed the size of his hand spanned the whole purse.
“Thank you.” Her hand began to tingle when she slid it off his.
“You’re very welcome ….”
She swept her gold-colored hair behind her ear, smiling. “Maria.”…
…“I’ll be sure to talk with Leo,” she promised sweetly, a promise she might or might not keep.
Still holding on to the phone, it was Kayne who pulled away this time. Seeing his lingering touch, she knew he didn’t want to pull away any more than she did. It had felt so wrongly right every fucking time their hot skin touched.
“Thank you,” he said after he did that thing again where he cleared his throat.
Not wanting to press her luck any longer that Leo could keep her bodyguard on the other side of the door, she stood, showing off her best feature yet again—her legs that made her practically as tall as him in her heels.
She had to give the teacher credit as she took her time putting on her faux fur jacket. He had the willpower to keep his eyes tastefully above her neck, which made him a fucking saint on account of the tiny bead of sweat that was beginning to form at his brow.
“I hope to see your father here in the future.” He made it clear it was a one-time only deal for Leo. “But I’d love to see you again under different circumstances.”
“Me, too.” Maria smiled before walking away. She would give the one-of-a-kind designer purse away just to have his eyes on the back of her head right now.
“Goodbye, Ms. Caruso.” The words left his mouth when she opened the door to the possibility of prying ears.
The way he said it held a promise that this impromptu meeting wouldn’t be their last, and it had sent a shiver down her freshly shaven, exposed legs until it pricked every hair up.
Considering the crown on her head, this was a very dangerous game she felt was beginning to start in her bones, but … she could play it.
Turning back, she gave him a wink that only he could see. “Goodbye, Mr. Evans.”
Three
The Urge to Punch His Cute Little Face
Leo’s eyes had been permanently narrowed the second she exited the classroom, carefully studying her and ignoring the phone she held out to him.
“Take it,” Maria snapped.
Finally, he took it out of her hand but with a suspicious look as he did so. She wanted to get on with it.
“What?”
“I … don’t know yet.” It seemed as if his suspicions were mixed with a bit of confusion.
With a roll of her eyes, she walked back down the school hallway.
“Oh God! Maria!” Her little brother hissed while hurrying to catch up with her.
She quickly turned around to see her suit was too close behind for her to have the conversation she was about to have.
“Todd, what have I told you? Nine steps behind me at all times!”
“Yes, sorry.” Todd nodded his head, quietly counting her steps before walking behind her again, this time at the greater distance that she had coached him on the first day he started working for her. He was definitely one of the better ones she’d had, not on a protection scale, but on a give-me-some-fucking-space scale. Some of her previous bodyguards had the proverbial stick shoved so far up their asses that she had to be cunning to get what she wanted. Todd, however, was like a love-sick puppy dog that was far too easy to train. She only hoped the poor sucker would last.
“Maria, I swear if you—”
“Shhhh!” she hissed back at her brother to keep his fucking voice down.
“—have a crush on my teacher,” he continued in a harsher but quieter voice, “I swear I’m never going to be able to go to school again!”
“I”—she tried to lie—“don’t.”
Not believing her for a fucking second, Leo’s feet cemented themselves to the floor. “You’ve never liked anyone before! We all thought you were probably a lesbian!”
Her heels suddenly halted next to him. “Excuse m—” Shrugging, she had to agree, especially since she thought she might have been one too. “Okay, yeah, that’s probably fair.”
This time it was him rolling his eyes as he walked off.
“It’s come as a shock to me, too, you know. I didn’t expect the first person I’d ever feel anything toward would be your fucking teacher! It’s not exactly ideal for me, either.”