Page 25 of Precious Hazard

I arch an eyebrow. He noticed my outfit at Drago and Sienna’ssvadba? I thought he might have been too busy dodging the hors d’oeuvres I threw at him. However, considering he just described what I wore that day in exact detail, I can’t help but think that he did. “I’ll make sure it covers me from head to foot. Wouldn’t want to offend your delicate sensibilities.”

“Glad we’re on the same page. Thursday. I’ll pick you up at noon, for lunch. Dress appropriately to be seen in public, and”—he looks pointedly at the top of my head—“preferably, keep your hair…accessory… free.”

“Of course. If that’s all, I’ll see myself out. Don’t worry, I’ll call a cab.”

“That. Is. All,” he growls. “But I’m driving you back.”

Chapter 5

One week later

“Sometime this century, Tara, if you’d be so kind.”

I glance up, meeting Keva’s scowl. She’s leaning on the edge of the stove with her arms crossed over her chest. The steam rising from the pot of stew behind her makes it seem like she’s fuming.

“What?”

“Potatoes.” She points a long wooden spoon toward the bowl before me. The one I used to prop up my book so I could read. I guess I got a little sucked in by the story.

“Oh. Sorry.” Putting the paperback away, I resume peeling the spuds.

If it was anyone but Keva interrupting my reading I would have told them to eff off. But I can’t do that to Keva. She’s practically a mother to me.

After our parents and sister died, Keva brought Drago and me to the US, fleeing Serbia to protect our lives. We too might have ended up dead if she hadn’t smuggled us out. Working multiple jobs, she put a roof over our heads and made sure we had food on our table. Until Drago’s business kicked off and his successes allowed him to purchase this house, only then did Keva finally quit her outside jobs. But instead of putting herfeet up and enjoying a well-earned rest, she took over managing the household filled with almost half of Drago’s people. Every day, she feeds over fifty mouths, tends to everyone’s wounds, and on top of that, launders the money for Drago’s operations. She’s been doing that for years, all while nurturing a pseudo-adopted daughter who’s given her more than a few gray hairs along the way.

I smile. It’s the times when Keva calls me out on my shit that I truly appreciate how incredible she is. There’s no way I could love her more than I already do.

“Are you ever going to take that vacation Drago has been bugging you about?” I ask, grabbing another potato. My brother has been trying to send Keva on an all-expenses-paid trip. Every few months, he buys a first-class plane ticket and books the most luxurious accommodations for her, only for Keva to cancel the whole kit and caboodle.

“Ha! Do you know where he tried to send me last month? The Maldives!” She laughs while stirring the stew. “What the hell would I do in the Maldives? Those fancy overwater resorts are not for me. And anyway, you lot would starve to death or kill each other without me around.”

“I’m sure the girls could manage. And I would help.”

Keva glances at me over her shoulder. “Tara, you don’t even know how to makepasulj.”

“Of course I do!”

“Sure. But it tastes like dishwater, dear.”

“That’s not my fault! Every time I asked you to teach me, you just shooed me out of the way.”

“Because your nose was always in one of your romance books! You didn’t listen to a word of my instructions, too busyogling those half-naked men on the covers. Besides, it’s hard to cook with one of those things glued to your hands. You almost never actually put down your book.”

“That’s not true.”

Her eyebrows jump toward her hairline, and her gaze moves pointedly to the paperback on the counter. I didn’t even realize I had reopened it. It’s just… Sienna got me this one yesterday. She said it’s the best enemies-to-lovers novel she’s ever read. And I’m at the climax of the story!

“You need to get your head out of those and into the real world, girl. That kind of obsession is not healthy.”

“I know.” I shrug. “But it’s so easy to lose myself in the fantasy where characters always, somehow, manage to make the right choices. Especially the cute but shy heroine. She doesn’t let anything drag her down, just calmly deals with her shit while holding her head high. And everyone can’t help but love her because she’s so damn perfect. And then, there’s her superhot, brooding love interest. He’s so rough around the edges and totally unyielding. But that’s just a front. Secretly, he’s crazy about the sweet, perfect heroine, and can’t wait to steal the stars from the sky so he can lay them at her feet. I mean, what’s not to love?”

“There are plenty of good,realmen around here, Tara.”

“Yeah, sure. And all of them are just waiting for me.”

“You could find out if you’d break up with the Italian grump.”

I snort. Keva is not a part of Satan’s fan base.

---