Matthias couldn’t keep his eyes to himself either. “Hey, princess.”
Any stupor Maria had put him under from seeing her again quickly vanished when a suit barreled through, pushing his brother out of the way like he owned the goddamn place. Standing up, Dominic wasn’t about to be disrespected by a no-name Caruso in his home.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“He’s with me.” The boss’s daughter entered without permission to save the poor fucker’s life.
Dominic couldn’t help himself when she stepped between them, his hazel depths begging him to look at her legs since she stood much taller than any typical woman. Dominic had always been tall, outgrowing most of the female teachers since sixth grade. By the time he had gone to high school, he looked like he belonged in college. When she stepped in front of him and stood just a few inches shorter than him, his eyes traveled down her lengthy body.
Her champagne dress hugged all the right places, at least what he could see of it under the big fur coat. But the best part about it was how short it was, showing off just how fucking long her tanned legs went on. The cherry on top… her high stiletto heels. Normal “good-looking” people either had a great face and a nice body, or a nice face and a great body. Maria, of course, had both. And it gave him all the more reason to get her the fuck out of here and back on her side of town where she belonged before the effect she had on him put him six feet under.
“Why the hell are you here?”
When her green eyes, that somehow shined brighter than emeralds, gave him their own once-over, Dominic’s heart stopped when she appeared to like what she saw.
Shit, shit, shit.
“I, um …” Maria paused for a moment before answering, “… to see Kat.”
Crossing his arms over his chest at the mention of his sister, he hoped it would send a polite message to her that, if they came to collect, she should have brought someone besides the dipshit who stood behind her. “And what do you want with her?”
“Well, I thought she needed a wedding dress.” She slightly raised her brow. “Doesn’t she?”
Oh. He didn’t know what he had expected her to say, but it wasn’t that.
“Cassius, go get Kat.”
Dominic never turned his head from hers, even though she did to study the youngest Luciano brother. Even her fucking side profile looked goddamned perfect.
Matthias must’ve wanted to see what the dress underneath really looked like because he asked, “Can I take your coat?”
Maria looked him dead in the eyes with a precious smile on her lips. “Touch me, and I’ll kill you.”
He might’ve actually laughed if it wasn’t for the fact that every second she was here could cost them their lives.
Dominic stepped closer to her. “Does Lucca know the princess is out of her castle?”
“Do you think I would be here if he did?”
Dom lifted his eyes from hers to the Caruso soldier behind her. “Certainly not, if this is the one who brought you.”
The dumbass suit proved to be dumber than Dominic thought when he didn’t catch the insult at first.
“I hope the poor sucker knows whatever you promised him won’t be worth it by the time Lucca gets done with him.” Dom placed his eyes back on her.
“What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. It can be our little secret.”
Dominic had to flex his jaw to keep it from dropping to the floor at the sound of her voice dropping an octave. The brave princess had even taken her own step forward until the tip of her toed heels were just a few centimeters away, showing him that she wasn’t the least bit frightened of him or his last name. Hell, Dominic might’ve been offended if he didn’t want her to be scared of him.
The two were practically eye-fucking each other when Kat walked in.
“What are you doing here?”
It took Maria a hard second to look away from him. “I thought you might want a wedding dress for when you walk down the aisle.”
“I have a white dress, but it’s shor—”
“Absolutely not,” Maria scoffed. “I am taking you shopping right now.”
“O-Okay,” Katarina warily agreed, clearly partly out of fear.
Before Dominic knew it, the words slipped right out of his mouth, “I’m going with you.” Grabbing his coat, he had to let Matthias down. “Matthias, you stay here with Cassius.”
Frankly, Dominic didn’t trust Maria not to kill him. She could see right through his playboy façade.
Maria tried to be polite. “That won’t be necces—”
But Dom had stopped her. “I’m not having Lucca find out I let you two go alone with this fucking idiot.” He didn’t fucking trust him to water a plant, much less watch his sister and the Caruso boss’s daughter.