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She didn’t like the look in his eye. It was the same one he had when he had come to her house before his sister got married.
“What do you want?”
“To see you … To see if it’s true.”
If what is true? She narrowed her eyes on him as she got to one of her walls where she was finally able to steady herself.
“If you really were falling in love.” He had just as much trouble saying the L-word as she usually did. The green in his eyes burned her skin when they gazed over the slight glow on her cheeks. “I suppose it is true.”
“I don’t know what you’re ta—”
“Don’t. You. Dare,” Dominic commanded her silence. “Don’t you dare play the fucking stupid blonde with me.”
Maria’s fierce green eyes that were glowering up at him helplessly softened from finally seeing it. He looked furious and sad. Too serious but broken. Like he was hurting. In so much pain and anger all at the same time. She had only noticed the anger when he had come here about Kat. Now she could see that she had missed the pain when he first walked in all those weeks ago, only having seen the sadness in him when he was leaving. Unlike herself and Lucca, Dominic appeared to feel everything ….
Watching his pain-filled face carefully, Maria wondered which of their fates were worse: to feel nothing? Or to feel everything at once?
“How many dates did it take? Two? Three?” he asked curiously when she said nothing.
She didn’t have the heart to tell him that they had already been on four.
“I told you what would happen, Dominic.” She knew the source of his feelings he was unable to hide. Not in a million lifetimes would she have guessed Dominic Luciano felt so strongly about her—the daughter and the sister of the men who were the source of all his problems. The last name that adorned her first should have had him detesting the very thought of her, making him spite the Caruso name for all eternity. Yet, she was seeing the complete opposite in his eyes when he looked at her … Except, she had warned him. “But you locked the door.”
She didn’t know if the flash in his eyes from her admission was more from his pain or anger, but both knocked her breathless that she didn’t even realize she had somehow plastered her back to the wall.
“You don’t know me at all.” He furiously spoke the words that held such sadness. With his fist, he lightly hit the wall closest to the door beside her, blocking her in and keeping her from escaping. Shaking his head over hers, he gave her a pitying look. “And you’re not the woman I thought you were at all …”
Maria’s body cried out, why? finding disappointment even harder to take on Dominic’s face than on Lucca’s.
There was no sadness in his next words, only anger. “… not if you’ve chosen Kayne Evans.”
She should have screamed bloody murder from the top of her lungs while she lunged at what men held most precious, but hearing that name come out of his mouth stunned her, having her softly ask, “You know him?”
“I own Blue Park, princess … Or did you forget that the second you left my worthless home?” Watching her shake her head he didn’t wait for the white lie that was about to come out of her mouth. “Kayne and I went to the same high school, and I know the real him. I’ll know him more than you’ll ever know.”
It was true, then. If his pinky hadn’t been proof enough, she knew now. Kayne Evans had been just as bad as he told her.
“So, what then?” Maria tried to speak sarcastically, but she wasn’t sure it was coming out that way. “You’re telling me Dominic Luciano is the better choice?”
Reaching up, he caressed her face with a curved hand, using the front of his fingers and letting the tops of his nails lightly graze her perfect skin, while his eyes danced over every inch of her face. It seemed like he was memorizing it, just like he had in her dream. “I know I am.”
Maria had never made a mistake in her life, so why did it feel like she might have? The only thing that told her otherwise was her heart had yet to beat around Dominic and only around Kayne. The rest of her body, however, told her that she did.
Looking up at him, she wasn’t even sure that, if his lips came in for a kiss, she would stop him. Truthfully, she didn’t think she would. She wanted to know if he tasted just as hot as he smelled and if he kissed like he had in her dreams.
He removed his fingers from her skin to pick up the strand of hair that was covering the top of her breast. Unlike Kayne who had wrapped it around his finger, Dominic rubbed the spun gold between three fingers. It were as if he wanted to see what it felt like or if what he held was even real. “You’ve haunted my dreams every night, Maria.”
