Maria (Made Men 7)

Walking around the desk again, he now stood over her, holding out the phone for her to take.

There was just something about Kayne … It was the way he carried himself that made him different than all the men whom she had ever been around, and in her father’s line of work, there were a lot. There was no shortage of good-looking men around her, but none had piqued her interest even slightly. Sure, she might have thought she was too good for them … but so fucking what?

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.”