Maria hit his shoulder. “This is my youngest brother, Leo, who likes giving me a hard time.”
Leo held out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Lake.”
Who the hell did these people descend from?
The dirty-blonde boy was already a charmer and way too good-looking for his age. She figured he was early in his high school years, but he was definitely much better-looking than the seniors in her school.
Lake shook his hand back. “Nice to meet you, too, Leo.”
They all quickly sat back down as the second ceremony started to begin. Lake was relieved by the distraction, because she didn’t understand what she had said to make everyone gawk at her.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lake thought someone was still staring at her. Stupidly, she looked at the row behind her to see a man she really wished she hadn’t.
Her head snapped forward as chills ran down her spine. Fuck-fuck-fuck that guy. She didn’t know who he was, nor did she ever want to know. Lake was going to keep her head forward; under no circumstance did she ever want to see his crazy eyes again. Surprisingly, she didn’t dare look back throughout the whole beginning of the ceremony.
“I need to run to the restroom,” Maria whispered in Adalyn and Lake’s direction.
As Lake turned her legs with Adalyn’s for her to pass, she saw Maria turn around then whisper to the guy behind her, and damn if it wasn’t the guy who scared her shitless.
As Maria stood up and began to quietly squeeze through, Lake watched two guys start to follow behind. One of them was the scary guy who was staring at her.
Oh, my God, does Maria seriously have bodyguards?
Lake was honestly starting to feel like she was missing something, so she thought carefully about whether a girl really needed a bodyguard.
Pssht! No, that’s crazy. I bet they won’t even come back with her.
If they did, that meant they were her bodyguards. But they’re not.
That thought didn’t stop Lake from sitting on the edge of her seat and staring down at the door Maria had just walked out.
Chapter Thirteen
The Mob Princess of Kansas City
Opening her small envelope purse, she grabbed her favorite Angel lipstick tube from the bottom. Looking in the mirror, she swiped it over her plump lips then rubbed them together. Happy with the results, she put the tube back in her purse.
She started to run her fingers through her curls, giving her legs more time to stretch. I’m sure he wants to finish his cigarette, anyways. She laughed, thinking about how he’d had it halfway lit before he had walked out the door.
Fiddling for another minute, she decided it was time to go out before the other one knocked down the girl’s bathroom door.
She grabbed her purse then put one pump in front of the other and swung open the door.
“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 arm which was raised, his hand 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 had done to his face.
“I said—” he began harshly as he dropped his hand from his face to look at who had almost knocked his brains out. Looking at her, he lost his train of thought. It took him a moment before he could clear 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. She had been around countless good-looking men since she was born, but he was a different kind of handsome altogether. He had blondish-brown hair which was cut almost to his scalp and traveled down to his short-kept beard. The eyes, though, were what she couldn’t quit staring at. They looked like 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 him. “I-I’m sorry. I feel terrible that I hit you.”
Did I just stutter? Being flustered in front of men was something which 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 to the floor. “Here, let me get that for you.”
She watched him pick her purse off the floor and felt his gaze on her brand new nude pumps she had pulled out of the box that morning. Her body slightly tingled as his eyes rolled over her coming up. Thank you, Christian Louboutin.
He held her purse out and when she grabbed it, she noticed the size of his hand spanned the whole purse, making her touch it.
“Thank you.” Her hand began to also tingle when she slid it out of his.
“You’re very welcome…”
She swept her gold hair behind her ear, smiling. “Maria.”