Bene (The Guzzi Legacy Book 5)

by Bethany-Kris

She shook her head. “Don’t apologize just because you pity me or anything.”

  “Nah, I’m sorry I asked. Wasn’t my business unless you wanted to tell me, you know?”

  Vanna swallowed hard, shifting in her tall, strappy heels. She could have gone for something simple to dress in, and comfortable. She seriously doubted Bene would care seeing as how he looked at her the same in her t-shirt, strappy heels, and boyfriend-style jeans that were rolled up at the ankles, as he did her sexy two-piece, crop-top dress from their first meeting. But she didn’t do simple, and if heels were always a choice, then she would forever pick them.

  “I …” Vanna sighed, glancing over her shoulder and across the bar to stare at the gleaming bottles lining the cedar shelves behind the bartender. It was easier to admit something when she didn’t have to look someone right in the face while she did it. “Sorry, it wasn’t you or what you said that made me sharp—just my mom does that, in general. She was gone before I could even sleep through the night, I guess.”

  “So when your dad died … shit.”

  “Yeah.” Vanna chewed on her inner cheek, wishing it hadn’t been as easy as that just was to spill some of her deepest secrets—even if they weren’t the kind of secrets Bene could use to hurt her—to tell him that. She looked back at him, arching a brow and offering him a small smile. “Can we just … get back to talking about pool, or literally anything else but all that? A little too deep for a second date, is all.”

  Bene chuckled. “Anything?”

  She nodded. “Yep.”

  “What were you doing when I texted?”

  That was random.

  It kind of made her smile, too. It wasn’t the question she expected him to ask, but it shouldn’t really shock her at all that Bene could keep her on her toes. He consistently did that, right from the moment they met. She expected him to be one thing, and he turned out to be something different. Even if he was still a Guzzi.

  She couldn’t forget that.

  “Cleaning up after a meal I cooked, actually. Showing off what I learned last year at George Brown College.”

  Something appreciative and approving colored up his handsome features. “A chef?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to be.”

  Another one of those low whistles split through his lips.

  “And she cooks …” He pressed his hands together in front of his chest as though he were praying while glancing upward. “Killing me here, Jesus.”

  Vanna’s laughter lit up their small corner of the bar again, and Bene grinned lazily as he moved to drop his hands to his sides again. It was then that she noticed the bandage on his right palm, covering most of the surface.

  “What happened there?”

  Bene didn’t even glance down like she did. “Nothing.”

  “Doesn’t look like nothing.”

  He used the injured hand to grab the pool cue he’d rested against the wall before doing his fake prayer, nodding to the table as though his next words would make her forget that she had even asked her question. “So, since you whooped my ass, and not the other way around, does that mean I still won’t get to take a bite out of yours later, or …?”

  His tone dipped suggestively.

  Vanna blanked.

  Damn him.

  His words did make her momentarily forget about her question, but only because her mind was suddenly filled with the image of this man biting her ass before he ate her pussy on his knees like a king kneeling for a queen at her throne. It was quite the picture, and she gave her mind credit for its efforts.

  Bene smirked as he pushed away from the wall, the one stride between them closing in a blink as he leaned forward to put one hand somewhere behind her on the pool table. It was kind of hard to know what he was doing with him close enough that his chest pressed against hers, and the slight scruff on his jaw tickled her cheek when he tipped his head down to let his lips brush against her skin.

  Then, she heard the telltale sound of the coin slot on the pool table being pushed in after he’d tossed in a couple of quarters.

  “Another game?” he asked.

  Vanna let out a shuddering breath. “Who’s killing who here?”

  Because this man …

  He was something else.

  Bene winked when he straightened. “Good to know I’m not the only one, then.”

  “Definitely not.”

  And she hated that was the case.

  Even if she would never say it out loud.

  Right then, though Vanna had no doubt it would be bad for her—if not for her body, then for her heart later—she stood up on her tip toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. That’s all it took—one soft, innocent kiss for his hands to find her waist, the wood of the pool cue biting into her hip as he pushed her against the edge of the pool table. His tongue darted into her mouth, slashing against hers in the best way while she was once again made to forget where they were because they’d simply kissed.

  She didn’t mind it at all.

  Until, of course, she heard someone mutter, “If you’re gonna do that, could you fucking move it outside to the alley like every other bitch that’ll get on her knees does, and give someone else the table?”

  Vanna stiffened the second Bene’s lips stilled against her own. She physically felt the change in his posture, and sensed it, too. Like his playful, sexiness had left him just like that, and the heat in his gaze suddenly burned with more rage than it did lust when his stare met hers.

  She didn’t know why she thought to speak to defuse the situation, but she still did. Or at least, she tried. “It’s fine. Just ignore him. It’s o—”

  That was all Vanna managed to say before Bene pushed away from her. He spun sideways, as though he had just known the asshole came up to his right without even looking that way when he had been distracted with her. His fist was already flying, crashing into the face of the man before Vanna even had time to think about what was happening.

  And then as fast as it happened, it was over. Bene spun on his heels, a dark grin tugging at his lips when her wide—slightly amused, but also terrified—gaze met his. Yes, she’d seen a man hit another man over her before. But no, she had never quite liked it the way she did right then.

  The man hadn’t even hit the floor before Bene’s hand found hers, and he pulled her off the pool table, grabbing her bag from the floor at the same time, and moved them toward the back entrance of the bar. She peeked over her shoulder in just enough time, right before they darted out the back doors, to see the bartender coming around the bar.

  They were already gone.

  It was over.

  That’s how fast it happened.

  Her hand stayed tucked tightly with Bene’s as he pulled her through the back alley behind the bar, and through the maze of another three. He didn’t stop until they were one block down, and she recognized the familiar brick design of his building. Except it was the side, and not the front. Not that it mattered to her when he pressed her into the brick, his body crowding hers in the best way, leg slipping between her thighs to give her pussy something to grind on while he kissed her harder than ever.

  Until her lungs burned.

  And all she saw was him.

  His hands skimmed over the front of her jeans, unsnapping the button and pulling down the zipper before sliding underneath. She stared down the alley to the busy street where people bustled on by. Not to mention, all the windows around them. What were the chances that this alley would be empty at this time of night? And still, anyone could see them there, if they just thought to look.

  Vanna still didn’t care.

  “That was crazy,” she breathed against his mouth.

  Bene chuckled, lips curving with hers. “Worth it.”

  “Shouldn’t make a woman run in heels, Bene.”

  “Can I fuck one in them?”

  Vanna groaned. “Yes.”

  That was all he seemed to need. Her consent. Like the fact she was willing to say—out loud, and clea
rly—yes, you can fuck me in this alley, almost got him off. He wasted no time turning her around to face the brick, while yanking her jeans down her thighs until they pooled at her heels. His hot left palm drove up under her shirt, smoothing over her spine while his other worked at the zipper and button on his jeans.

  She saw stars when he finally freed his length, asked if she was good with bare, and then stretched her full with that first thrust. There was no mercy, no slowness, in the way he fucked her. Just rough, fast flexes of his hips snapping against hers while her palms scrapped against the brick.

  He tucked in closer behind her, hands flattening to the roundness of her ass, so he could clench his fingers into her cheeks while his teeth grazed her jawline. “Fucking love that cock, huh? That hot pussy of yours can’t get enough, Vanna.”

  He wasn’t wrong.

  And his dirty words only edged her along.

  The funny thing was … the guy at the bar hadn’t been wrong. She was doing exactly what he said in an alleyway with a man she’d only met once before in her life. It was fucking crazy. And yet she didn’t care that nothing about this was sane.

  She just wanted to come.

  Even better that Bene would make her do it.

  Was that a betrayal to her cause?

  Probably.

  Vanna would deal with it later.

  “Come on, come on, give me what I want, baby. Fucking love it that you’ll let me fuck you like this, yeah.”

  His harsh moan filled her ears, and she swore she felt that right in the center of her bones. Deep in her stomach. Aching in her pussy. Even her damn toes curled because God … this man was sin to her. Pure, but so good, sin.

  She came hard.

  And it was bliss.

  Bene followed soon after, his lips sucking against her throat and then his teeth biting into the same spot as his hips stilled against hers. He was quick about pulling out, and fixing her pants, but he didn’t seem to care about moving them away from the wall, or even turning Vanna around after he’d fixed himself.

  Instead, he nuzzled his face against the side of her throat. “What are you doing this weekend—anything important.”

  Vanna cleared her throat, trying to let the emotional war inside her head calm as she replied, “Nothing, really.”

  “What if I asked you to spend it with me?”

  “Oh, where?”

  “I don’t know. How about a mansion?”

  Vanna smiled over her shoulder, and he grinned back when he tipped his head up to stare at her. “Really?”

  “My penthouse is a mess, that’s all.”

  “You know, I didn’t really mention that you clearly have money, but now you say mansion … and I don’t want to make it awkward by not acknowledging it, but also it might because I say something and—”

  Okay, now she was rambling.

  Vanna stopped that abruptly.

  “You don’t have to mention it at all,” he said, “I’m just used to wealth … was born into it, basically, so it’s never me showing off as much as it is me just stating my life.”

  “It’s not the wealth … well, not really. My dad left me money, not a lot, but enough to give me a few comfortable years, and it bought me a penthouse.”

  His dark laughter soothed her overheated skin. “Oh?”

  “But you said mansion and it took a second to sink in.”

  “I get it. Point is, I want you to spend the weekend with me if you want to.”

  Vanna didn’t even have to think about it.

  She knew it was crazy.

  Stupid.

  Mario would probably wonder where she was … he liked to stop by on the weekends. She barely even gave him a thought, though.

  No, she didn’t think at all when she said, “I would love to.”

  “Is this yours, or—”

  He put the Lambo into park. “My parents’ place.”

  Vanna nodded slowly, her appreciative gaze taking in the Swedish-style eaves of the mansion before drifting to the large trees lining either side of the driveway. “They’re not home, right?”

  Bene laughed. “Hell no. My father would kill me for bringing someone here like this.”

  Not a lie.

  Gian had rules.

  For the most part, Bene tried to follow them. One of those rules centered around the Guzzi brothers bringing home women. To which, they shouldn’t bring one to their parents’ home unless she was the type of woman they intended on keeping. The respect of the matter, his father would say, as if that made any fucking sense at all.

  Thing was, his father and mother headed to their vacation home in Quebec for the weekend, wouldn’t be back until Monday, and Bene knew just enough about his parents’ security system to make sure everything was deleted from the security cameras. Any enforcers that stayed posted at the house while his parents were home always left when the owners did, usually to follow them to wherever, not that one of them would say anything, either.

  It wasn’t the first time one of the brothers broke the rules. They simply didn’t talk about it when they did it.

  Plus, why not?

  Bene felt reckless.

  Time to have some fun.

  “Come on,” he said, unlatching the driver’s door of the Lambo. “I’m sure you want to see the inside.”

  Vanna laughed, following his lead. Outside of the vehicle, he rounded the front, and met Vanna in the middle. She took his hand with her own, letting him lead them toward the grand entrance of the mansion, its sloping roof hanging overtop a large outdoor fountain more than big enough for cars to drive under and park.

  She stopped to admire the fountain while he went for the front door, and the panel right beside it. The only way his father wouldn’t get a notification for the security was if he punched in the correct code, and the fingerprint reader scanned a print it recognized—like his, or any one of his other brothers’—and only then could he put the key into the lock. He was sure his father hadn’t given his sons the codes and ability to get inside for Bene to do what he was doing, but he would deal with that at another time.

  “Are you coming?” he called to Vanna.

  She came his way as he unlocked the front door, following him inside. If one didn’t get to see anything else but the grand entrance of the Guzzi mansion, it would still be more than enough to amaze them. As large as most people’s homes, with two curving staircases on either side, and with a large indoor fountain featuring a naked statue to give it just that extra bit of … excessiveness, it was quite a sight.

  White marble floors clicked under Vanna’s heels as she walked in ahead of Bene, her eyes wide as she looked all around, taking in the paintings hanging on the walls—probably ten of hundreds in the place—although some of the most expensive rested in this hall.

  “Wow.”

  “Yeah,” he said, “it’s a little much.”

  Her laughter colored up the space, echoing back to them.

  “But is it, though?”

  He grinned, saying nothing.

  Frankly, he hadn’t been sure what she would think about the mansion. Sure, he could have just as easily grabbed them a hotel in the city for the weekend, but it wouldn’t be quite the same as this. Besides, he liked familiar spaces. This home was certainly that, and if it meant he got to spend the weekend with a beautiful woman in bed with him, then he didn’t see a problem. His father might, but if all went well, then Gian wouldn’t even know when they left on Sunday.

  Simple enough.

  Bene kicked off his shoes at the door—habit from hearing his mother repeat the order for him to do it for as many years as he had been alive—while Vanna walked over to the fountain. He watched her as she leaned over the side, admiring the sight of those boyfriend jeans hugging her pert backside, and remembering how good it felt to dig his fingers into her ass as he fucked her deeper. She really did look like an angel, with the body of a sinner. He didn’t have the first clue what he was doing with this woman, but he liked it.

/>   Wasn’t that good enough?

  Vanna let her fingers drift through the sprinkling, dancing water while she peered back at him with a sly smile. Clearly catching him looking at her ass, but he didn’t have shame, and she didn’t seem to mind, either. He winked when she just shook her head.

  “Was this your childhood home?”

  Bene nodded, now shoeless and heading for her. “Yeah, we used to have the best games of hide and seek in this place.”

  “I bet. You must have loved growing up here with your twin, and other brothers.”

  He blinked, taking in her words. His mind flooded with a dozen different memories, most of him and Beni running after one another through the house, or across the large back property. From sliding down the banisters to putting a slip and slide in the upstairs hallway which had not impressed their parents in the slightest. They even had their own hiding spots and things they liked to do together in the mansion that they’d never told anyone else about because well, twins had to have some secrets, right?

  It made him smile.

  For a brief second, Bene realized that was the first time he’d thought of his brother all day. In fact, the last two weeks had been so busy for him, and he was enjoying himself so much right now, that all the shit he’d been dealing with his brother getting married and moving to Chicago had become nothing more than an afterthought.

  Oh, his chest ached now.

  Was that a betrayal?

  To not think about his twin?

  Bene didn’t know.

  Now was not the time.

  “Bene?”

  He hadn’t realized it until she spoke, but he had come to stand right next to her beside the fountain. Entirely lost in his thoughts and the memories he shared with Beni, his entire demeanor and mood shifted just like that.

  Except all it took was her calling his name. A pretty smile curving her sexy lips, and a glimmer in her eye that said they were about to have some fun together.

  Just that.

  And his mood was gone.

  “Hmm?” he asked.

  Vanna flicked her hand in the water, making droplets fly up and splatter across his chest and face. Her laughter echoed all around them again as she turned and darted away from the fountain. She’d said earlier that he shouldn’t make a woman run in heels, but fuck … she was damn good at doing it. He supposed his distraction at watching the way her hips swayed gave her a decent head start to run from him.