Maria and the guy gave each other a kiss on each cheek.
“I know. I’ve missed you.”
Why does it seem like she comes here once a week …
“Ken, I need a dress for my friend, Kat.” Maria took his hand in hers to introduce them.
Dominic couldn’t help but think the two looked like Barbie and Ken had come straight to life as they stood next to each other. However, in this Barbie dream house, Ken didn’t like Barbie.
“And who might this handsome man be?”
Well, that definitely explains why Maria likes this man.
The mafia princess grinned at him smugly. “This is her brother, Dominic.”
“Nice to meet you, Dominic.” Ken gave him a wink.
Joke was on her, however, when he smiled at Ken, because it didn’t bother him one bit.
Ken continued when he looked at his sister. “And you are gorgeous. Spin for me, honey; let me take a look at you.”
Awkwardly, Kat spun, and Dominic had to keep himself from laughing. His sister wasn’t your typical “girly girl.” She loved the color pink, just as much as he did on her, so much so that she even died her hair a cute baby pink. But she also loved the color black. She appreciated girly things, but Dominic had ultimately rubbed off on her. Kat was the perfect mixture of hard and soft, sweet and badass, and Dominic couldn’t be prouder of how she turned out.
“Maria, you take her to the dressing room to get her undressed while I go pull some dresses. And you, handsome, can go take a seat in the sitting area.” Ken finished the orders with his eyes back on Dom.
“Thanks.” Dom gave him a polite smile, not wanting him to think his nerves had anything to do with Ken’s harmless flirting. Hearing him give the orders had made everything real. He was about to watch his little sister, who he raised, try on fucking wedding dresses for a man she didn’t want to marry, making him feel like he was about to be vomi—
“May I offer you some champagne?” a woman offered when the three entered the dressing room area.
Dominic picked up the flute without a second thought, throwing it back like the disgusting gold liquid was a shot of fucking tequila. Picking up the second glass, he gave it to Maria before grabbing the third, this one to nurse until this hellish experience was over.
“She’s not old enough to drink,” he told the woman holding the tray out for Kat. It only made the woman look at him in concern when she then glanced over at Kat. “But not too young to get married,” he said, not only for her but to remind himself.
Needing to go sit down before he passed out, he took a seat on the expensive, ridiculous-looking. grand velvet love seat, while Maria rolled her eyes, then took Kat to a dressing room.
Wiping his brow he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He could handle killing men and his father, so he should be able to handle this. Dom didn’t know the last time he felt this sick, on the verge of throwing—
Maria coming back and taking a seat beside him miraculously kept his stomach contents down.
She took one look at him and chuckled. “Nervous?”
“No, not at all,” Dominic badly lied, taking another sip of the champagne.
“Uh-huh.” Maria smiled. “You sure about that?”
“Yeah.” Dom shrugged. “I just had to choose death upon my whole family or marrying off my eighteen-year-old sister.”
Maria had been in the middle of taking a sip of her champagne when she suddenly stopped to stare at him in disbelief.
“What?” he mocked, unafraid that he had told her something he wasn’t supposed to. Dom couldn’t care less about much at this point, and it wasn’t like Maria was an innocent, little angel anyway. “Does Daddy not tell you the family secrets?”
“No,” Maria answered simply, still staring at him strangely. “I find things out other ways.”
“If you knew, then why are you staring at me that way?”
“Because my father and his men don’t exactly just come out and tell me family business,” she said softly, her eyes boring into his.
Dominic could see it then, in her emerald eyes, that she was slowly starting to see him a bit differently, like her mind was beginning to change about something … and then they heard the dressing room door open.
Clearing his throat, he looked to where he heard the sound of a dress dragging on the floor. Seeing Katarina in a white wedding dress brought his sick stomach right back.
“Hmm.” Kat looked at herself thoughtfully in the mirror on the pedestal that made the dress fall perfectly around her.
Even though his stomach was doing somersaults, Dom only had to give the dress one hard glance to know it wasn’t meant for her.