by Apryl Baker
“Milo would make a good guard,” Sera chimes in. “He’s capable.”
“This doesn’t concern you,” Marco says, not turning to look at her. “You’re the reason Ben and I are having this conversation.” Sera clenches her jaw and looks out across the yard. “If you’re going to be out here, you’ll keep your mouth shut while the grown men talk or I’ll ground you for another week.”
Jesus Christ. The way he used the term “grown men” has me sweating. This keeps getting worse and worse. Grounding? She’s grounded? How fucking old is she? I’m assuming she’s not twenty-five, like she said. My stomach turns. Fuck. Please be older than eighteen. She has to be. Her body…there’s no way she’s younger than that.
“I’m not a child,” she bites out, pushing away from her father’s chair.
“You are as long as you live under my roof,” Marco shouts after her before turning his sights on me. “Don’t have kids. More stress than they’re fucking worth.”
I chuckle nervously. “How old is she?”
Please, be older than eighteen. Please be older than eighteen. My feet warm up in my shoes. I can almost feel the heaviness of concrete chained to my ankles already.
“Seraphina? She’s twenty.”
Oh, thank God. My relief is short-lived. Twenty is still a hell of a lot younger than what I’m comfortable with. She lied to me.
“What’s it going to be, Ben? I don’t have all day.”
He shifts uncomfortably, reaching for something in the waistband of his pants. With a heavy hand, he places a handgun on the surface of the table and I hear the threat loud and clear. Either he’s only trying to intimidate me or I’m not leaving this house alive. I’d say my odds are fifty-fifty.
“All right.” I say, regretting it the second the words come out of my mouth. “When do you want me to start?”
A devious grin plays on the lips of my new boss. “In exactly two weeks. Six a.m. sharp.” Standing up, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small set of keys. “You’ll stay in the guest house while you work for me until further notice.”
I didn’t realize I’d be a live-in bodyguard…but I guess it’s too late to dispute that now. I glance over my shoulder. The large stone guest house is an entire house in itself. I don’t think it’s a good idea for Sera and I to stay on the same grounds, but what can I do? It’s not like I can fight him.
“Okay.”
“Stay for the food if you want. I’ve got work to do.”
He walks off and his men follow, some breaking off to play a game of pool under the large awning to the left of the house. I sit for a while, watching.
What the fuck have I gotten myself into?
Chapter Seven
Ben
Two weeks later
I feel like an idiot, dressing the way they want me to. I straighten my black sports jacket and undo the top button of my white formal shirt. Apparently, it’s important to Marco that people know who I work for just by looking at my outfit. I feel like I’m going to some elegant event instead of guarding some girl on a night out with her friends. How do they expect me to do anything in these black slacks and leather shoes? What if I have to chase her? Or climb a fence? These shoes provide no grip—or at least, not the kind of grip I’m used to.
I’m hoping, when I prove myself, they’ll let me dress more my speed and less theirs.
According to Marco, he’s putting Sera through a test tonight. He’s letting her go to any one of his nightclubs, provided she doesn’t drink and stays where I can see her. It’s a test for me too. That’s why he’s making me watch her in a place where he has eyes everywhere. If I fuck up…I bet I’m done for.
I follow her through the halls of her house, her heels clicking against the white marble floors. We haven’t spoken yet—not since the night we spent together—but I’ve put a lot of thought into what I want to say to her the minute we’re alone, and none of it is pretty. Judging by the way she’s been glaring at me from across the room all day, I’m gonna guess what she has to say isn’t nice either.
Sera walks fast to get away from me, but my strides are bigger than hers and I manage to keep her in my sight the whole way to the front door. She looks absolutely breathtaking in a cute red party dress with a flirty sweetheart neckline that draws attention to places I wish it wouldn’t.
When she entered the backyard while her father briefed me on what to expect earlier tonight, my gaze roamed her entire body of its own accord. From her black heels to her elegant hair bun, I completely devoured her. Unimpressed, Marco jabbed a finger into my chest and said: “Watch her, but don’t watch her. If I ever catch your stare lower than her face, I’ll have them ripped from your skull.”
All I could manage was a nod because, admittedly, the girl took my damn breath away.
She’s pretty, Sera Ventilli. Prettier than I remember every time I see her. I’m almost ashamed to admit that she fills me with a primal need I know cannot be quenched by the sweat of anyone else. I didn’t expect it to be easy, working for the mob, but with Sera as my sole responsibility, it’s going to be harder than I ever imagined.
Outside, she bounces down the stairs, and James, her driver, opens the door of her town car for her. Without a glance over her shoulder, she slips inside, sliding along the leather seats to the far window. Her short dress glides high on her thigh and my gaze slips. I can’t help it.
Swallowing hard, I slip right in next to her, earning a big frown from James and an even bigger scowl from Sera.
“No,” she says, her perfect lips pouting. “You have your own car.”
Her annoyance amuses me. I’m aware it’s customary for me to follow her car in one of my own, but I know how this works. The last time she went out, she was able to give her guard the slip. Then, she met me and we were all over each other by ten p.m.
That’s not happening tonight. She’s not leaving my sight.
“I’d rather ride with you.” I turn to James, the mature, white-haired driver, who looks to Sera for approval. “We’re fine.”
He closes the door and Sera’s sweet perfume engulfs me. It dances along my pores, teasing. Taunting. I recall it from the night we spent together and it does things to my blood that it shouldn’t.
“Don’t get used to this, Ben. You’ll lose me tonight and in turn, lose your job.”
I smile at her. She seems so certain. “I don’t think so, princess.”
Sera tosses her bag to the floor and snaps closer to me. Her firm breasts press against my arm and I try hard to force my thoughts elsewhere. “How’d you find me? Do you think this is a game?”
Her well-shaped eyebrows pull together, her dark eyes flashing dangerously.
“I didn’t find you. I’m just as shocked as you are.”
“Bullshit.”
“You’ve got some fucking nerve to be mad at me, Sera,” I point out. “You lied to me. About your age, about everything.”
The driver door opens and Sera reaches across from me, slapping a button to pull up the partition. I hold my breath as her chest touches mine. She’s your job, not your plaything. I tighten my jaw against the urge to touch my lips to the slope of her neck—which I hate that I know she likes.
“It was supposed to be one night,” she retorts, screwing her face up in a way that tightens my stomach. “I don’t have to tell a fling my whole life story.”
“I didn’t want your life story. Your correct age would have been nice though.”
“You wouldn’t have cared anyway. As long as they’re getting what they want, men don’t care about age.”
“I care,” I shoot back, louder than necessary, making her flinch. I’ve always been a law-abiding citizen. I decided on what I believed to be right and wrong a long time ago and I’ve stuck by it…until her. “I bought you alcohol.”
“Yeah, you bought me alcohol. A lot of it.” She leans close, a sinister quirk on her red lips. “You got me drunk, then you took me back to your hotel room, and you fucked me.”
/>
I flick my stare to the partition. Is it soundproof? Can he hear? I don’t think she’d be saying these things if he could. James rolls the car slowly down the drive and I force my attention back to Sera. Fuck her for trying to put this all on me, like she wasn’t a consenting adult the night she grabbed my cock in her hand and pulled me into her greedy, little body.
“If I recall the event correctly, you were the one on top fucking me.”
Her lips part, my choice of words forcing her to remember the night we shared.
“Doesn’t matter how you phrase it. My father is only gonna see it one way.” She reaches out with her manicured hands and touches my top button. “You’re going to fail tonight, Ben, and you’ll tell my father you’re not capable of doing the job. He’ll let you go, unharmed, I promise…but if you stay…and you drag this out too long, it won’t end well for you.”
I meet her eyes and, dare I say, they glisten with concern. She wants to keep me safe? What about her? Who’s going to keep her safe?
I pull my button out from under her grasp. “I can take care of myself.”
Frustration returns to her stare and she’s fucking tormenting me with those pouty lips.
“Fine.” She huffs, sliding back to her side of the car. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
My blood burns with the challenge. She thinks she’s getting away from me tonight, I can see it burning in her pretty eyes, but she’s in for a rude awakening.
Sera
When I enter my father’s most popular club, Ben is nowhere to be seen. I’d like to think I lost him, but I seriously doubt that’s the case. Somehow, I can feel his stare on me. The hair on the back of my neck hasn’t settled since the car ride. God, if James wasn’t driving, I’d have taken Ben in my mouth right then and there. He has that effect on me. He has this arresting magnetism that completely immobilizes me and…and if my dad ever finds out…Ben is as good as dead.
I try to forget all about Ben when my friends arrive, but I can’t. I’d drink to help, but no one is going to serve me at this club. They all know my face. They all know what Marco Ventilli will do to them if they supply his underage daughter with booze.
While my friends drink and have a good time, all I can do is sit and stew on my frustrations.
Until I’ve had enough.
I snag Naomi by her elbow, spilling a few drops of her drink on her pink halter dress. “Let’s go somewhere else.”
She tilts her head to the side and her large, gold hoops twirl in the lobes of her ears. “You’re not having fun?”
“Do I look like I’m having fun? Everyone else is halfway to wasted and I’m bored out of my brain. I want to go to a different club.”
“Okay, let me find the girls and we can go.”
I nod. “I’ll wait by the bar.”
I perch on a cushioned stool by the bar, ignoring the way the bartender gives me uncomfortable side glances, pluck a clean toothpick from its dispenser, and run it in circles against the wood grain surface.
“You look depressed.”
Ben’s voice is low and coarse, sending a tidal wave of shivers down my spine. I don’t realize until I straighten my posture and drop my elbow off the edge of the bar that I was slouching.
“You’re supposed to watch from a distance,” I point out, continuing to circle the toothpick until the very tip breaks off.
“I was until Naomi bailed on you.”
I flick the toothpick over the edge, somewhere, and turn my attention to him. He stands tall beside me, his dark eyes soft and amused, the corner of his mouth slightly turned up.
“She didn’t bail on me. We’re going someplace else.”
Ben’s amusement evaporates off his face, replaced by displeased straight eyebrows and lips. “No, you’re not.”
Across the floor, I see Naomi and Karen, their arms linked together, laughing as they make their way toward us. They haven’t spotted us yet and I know Naomi is going to lose her shit if she sees Ben. She’s only just stopped asking me about the night we spent together and I’d rather not open that can of worms again—definitely not in my father’s club where anyone can hear.
I slip off the stool and my body slides against his. He doesn’t step back and my heart races. I tilt my head on an angle as Ben glares down at me. A dangerous position we’ve caught ourselves in, but he refuses to move. It seems he isn’t as afraid of my family as he should be.
“I’d like to see you physically stop me.”
He remains still, searching my face for something. If he’s expecting me to stand down, then he’s out of his mind. Simpering, I step around him and he clamps his large hand around my forearm and tugs me back. I gasp. None of my father’s men have ever touched me. They’re too afraid to, but Ben? He touches me like he has every right to.
Dad would kill him.
I pull against him, but he doesn’t release me. A couple standing behind Ben murmur and move out of the way, giving us privacy. Do we look like bickering lovers? The thought awakens butterflies in the pit of my belly.
“Why are you so selfish?” he demands, his voice as cold as ice, and I flinch.
Is that how he sees me? Selfish? A spoiled princess? A liar? I imagine I’ve fallen far from the pedestal he put me on that fateful night. I don’t want to upset him or tarnish the long, passionate moment we spent together, but he’s left me with no choice. Unless he throws me over his shoulder and carries me home, I’m going to do whatever I want.
“I’m trying to help you, Ben.” It takes all of my energy to keep my voice calm.
“I don’t need your help.” His eyes flick between each of mine and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pair so fierce, so determined.
And it scares me.
“Ben? Oh, my God.” Naomi’s shrill excitement sends chills down my spine. “Hey, Sera, look. It’s Ben!”
He releases my arm and cold air sweeps in, cooling the fire under my skin.
“Yeah,” I deadpan. “It’s Ben.”
He offers an abrupt and impatient hello, excusing himself before she can ask about Chad.
I glare after him as he effortlessly disappears into the crowd across the room, like he has somewhere to be.
“What’s his problem?” Naomi asks, reaching out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear.
“I don’t know.” I fan my face with my hand, desperate to rid myself of the heat our conversation caused under my skin. “Can we get out of here?”
“I found Karen, but not Hannah.”
Karen, my petite brunette friend, wearing heels taller than the Empire State, flicks her long ponytail over her shoulder. “Screw Hannah. She’s more interested in finding a new boy toy than hanging out with her friends.”
“So, she’s not coming?”
They shrug. Ugh. Good enough for me. I push off the bar and head for the exit. The security guards, a.k.a. my father’s men in disguise, watch me closely, but none of them stop me because, well, it’s not their job.
Outside, James relaxes against the hood of the town car, reading a newspaper under the bright red and white neons. He flicks his attention up for a second, hesitating when he sees me, before stuffing the newspaper under his slender arm.
He clears his throat as he approaches. “Miss Ventilli?”
“Take us to Beat, please.”
He rushes alongside the car and opens the passenger door. Naomi and Karen throw themselves inside with a rich giggle and I grab the doorframe in my hand.
“And Ben? Will he be riding with you?” James wonders aloud and I pause for the briefest second, glancing over my shoulder.
Ben is nowhere to be seen.
Interesting, considering I told him I was leaving. Did he give up? Did he finally take me at my word? Tonight is his first night on the job. No one expects much from him—not even my father. If Ben fails, he fails. No handsome faces will be beaten, no fingers will be lost. I’m doing this for him. He might never see it that way, but I’m not having his death on my consci
ence.
I lower myself onto the seat.
“Just go, James.”
Chapter Eight
Ben
She thinks she’s lost me.
I let her think that.
For some reason, she’s pinned me as a weak party boy who can’t handle men like her father. I was in the fucking military, for crying out loud, and the things I did during my service…they make me no better than Marco.
I peer out into the streets of Las Vegas, ignoring the stench of vodka and puke in the back of the taxi. I rarely think about what I had to do when I was overseas. It doesn’t matter if the life you take is that of your enemy. It affects you all the same. Sometimes, you get caught up in the battle and you do things that prevent sleep later that night and for many nights to come…I shiver at the thought. Anyway, that’s not my life anymore, and while I have to live with the hard decisions one has to make in combat, I refuse to let that part of my service define me.
“You haven’t given me an address.” The taxi driver bites out as he’s caught in another red light. “How am I supposed to know what lane to get in?”
“Just follow that town car,” I tell him for the umpteenth time. “It’ll stop soon. When it does, give it a little breathing space. Pull over only when I tell you to.”
“That’s awfully cryptic,” he mutters, his southern accent coming through. “You’re not going to do anything illegal, are ya?”
I chuckle. “Not tonight.”
I glance out into the street, the drops from the light spattering of rain has created a bokeh effect on the glass. We’re in need of a decent downpour, but the clouds filled with promise have long since gone. They drizzled enough rain to make Vegas look like it’s been dipped in glitter, but not enough to make its reckless inhabitants slip and fall on their asses.
I peer between the driver and the passenger seat as Sera’s town car slows to a stop and pulls alongside the curb. I instruct my driver to hang back a little and I catch his gaze as he analyzes me through the rearview mirror.
