Benson Siblings Series: A Dark Romance Boxset

by Sarah Bailey

  He looked away and fiddled with his phone for a moment before music tinkled out of the speaker. He laid it down on the table before standing up and putting out his hand.

  “Dance with me.”

  The romantic atmosphere had me standing and taking his hand, allowing him to lead me away from the table. His fingers drifted over my lower back, landing just above where my dress began. The touch of his bare skin on mine made me shiver as he tugged me close enough so our bodies were brushing together. We swayed to the music. Brent stared down at me with a tentative smile on his face.

  “I’d give you the world if I could.”

  I shook my head.

  “I don’t need the world. Just you is more than enough.”

  He leant down and rested his forehead against mine.

  “You have me forever, Jen.”

  I felt tears prick at the corners of my eyes. Stupid pregnancy hormones making me emotional. I could blame it on that, but really, it was everything about this evening. He’d made me feel special and that rarely occurred in my life. No one except Fi and perhaps Dante had cared for me in the way Brent did. Although this was so much more than just caring. He loved me, completely and irrevocably.

  “No more sappy shit,” I muttered. “I won’t have you ruining my makeup.”

  He bit his lip.

  “If you allow me one more thing, I promise I’ll stop after that.”

  “Ugh fine.”

  He pulled away and stared down at me.

  “I know you hate romantic bullshit so I’m not going to make some grand gesture, although this was probably too much as it is.” He waved his hand around at the setting. “I wanted tonight to be special for you.”

  “It is.”

  He put a finger over my lips, silencing me. I wondered why, but he clearly wanted me to listen rather than make comments. Dropping his finger from my lips, he cupped my cheek.

  “You can tell me to fuck off if this is too soon and I’ll understand. Hell, this whole thing between us has been crazy, but I’ve always known how I feel about you. I love you. Your fire, your passion and most of all, your beautiful soul.”

  He reached inside his trouser pocket and I swear I just about died on the spot. My heart threatened to explode out of my chest and my breath caught in my throat. He flipped open the small little box and held it up to me. Nestled inside was a white gold band, a single round diamond in the centre with sapphires either side. It was so beautiful and I couldn’t even begin to form a sentence let alone an answer to a question he hadn’t even asked yet in my head.

  “I want you to be my wife, Jen. I know things will be tough and we have a rocky road ahead of us, but you’re the one. You’ve always been the one.”

  His thumb brushed over my cheek.

  “Marry me.”

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Brent

  She stared at me for the longest time without taking a breath. And when she finally did, tears fell down her cheeks, streaking her mascara. Was it too much? I had no idea. I had to ask her though. I had to know. Was she as deep into this relationship as I was? Did she feel the same? I knew she loved me, but that wasn’t the issue at hand. Did she love me enough to tie herself to me for life?

  I could feel her trembling where I was holding her face and willing her to say something. Jen very rarely had nothing to say on a subject. Her silence made me nervous. My stomach churned and my skin prickled, but I couldn’t push her for an answer.

  “You’re serious about this?” she choked out.

  I nodded, trying to keep my own emotions in check. My throat felt tight and it took a supreme effort just to keep breathing.

  “I… this is too much. I can’t… we’re together then we’re having a baby and now marriage. Where are all the steps in between? The parts where we’re just you and me. It’s so fast. I’m already so overwhelmed by everything. How can we get married in the middle of all this mess? For fuck’s sake, I love you and I want to be in this with you. Damn it, Brent, this is too bloody perfect. You’re too fucking perfect and I can’t deal with it.”

  She choked back a sob. My heart was in a vice. Yes, it was too soon, too fast and our lives were a mess, but none of it mattered. I loved her and she loved me.

  “Fuck. I must be insane but put the damn thing on my finger before I change my mind.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She shoved me weakly in the chest.

  “Yes, I want to be Mrs Coleman.”

  I couldn’t help the smile spreading across my face as I dropped my hand from hers and took out the ring. She held her hand out for me and I slipped it on her finger. Seeing it resting there made everything feel right. Jen and I were meant to be together like this. She was meant to be my wife. My partner in crime. My everything. Just as I was hers.

  “You’re annoying, sometimes I hate you and sometimes I want to hit you for all the shit you give me, but I love you all the same.”

  She cupped my face and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around her, tugging her closer as the kiss became more frantic. Like we were trying to dig our way inside each other. My hands ran down her bare back until I cupped her arse, pressing her against me. She moaned, practically grinding against me. Fuck, I needed her. Directing her towards the patio doors, I kept kissing her, quite unable to stop so I could take her to bed. We practically fell into the conservatory. I pressed her up against the table, grinding into her. Shit if I didn’t get my cock inside this woman, I’d go insane.

  “Brent, please,” she whimpered.

  Damn it.

  My hands were at her dress, tugging it upwards until it pooled at her waist. I sat her on the table, my fingers trailing up her inner thighs. When I realised she wasn’t wearing any underwear, I growled. Jen would be the death of me. Absolutely maddening as she was.

  She clawed my back as I tried to work at getting my trousers undone so I could sink into her. That was until I heard a loud cough to my left. Jen and I both froze and looked over at the source of the sound. Dante looked equal parts annoyed and disgusted.

  “Can you just maybe not fuck my sister on the table in my conservatory?”

  Next thing I knew, Jen was sniggering and I couldn’t help smiling too.

  “I’m going to suggest you turn around and pretend you didn’t see anything,” she said, trying to keep her laughter at bay. “After all, didn’t you force Brent to watch Liora on her knees for you in here?”

  His eyebrows shot up and he looked at me.

  “You told her about that?”

  I shrugged but didn’t make any effort to move away from Jen. I was hiding her modesty right now after all.

  “I tell her a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them.”

  “Liora may have told us when we were out on her hen do,” Jen said with a twinkle in her eye. “But don’t worry, she refused to say anything else on the subject of your sex life, although from what I gather, she’s very satisfied.”

  Dante’s mouth set in a hard line as if he was trying to hold back from taking his sister to task. Jen always loved to push his buttons.

  “Christ, just fucking clean it when you’re done, you hear me?”

  He stormed off, muttering to himself under his breath.

  “Don’t you want to know if I said yes or not?” she called after him.

  A second later, he stuck his head around the door again.

  “Did you?”

  “Are you happy Brent is taking me off your hands?”

  “I still have to deal with your bratty behaviour regardless.”

  Jen pouted and Dante rolled his eyes. Then she stuck her hand out, showing him she had said yes to my proposal. Something I was still a little surprised about since she’d told me it was too soon. I wanted her to be sure, although Jen would never agree to something if she wasn’t on board with it.

  “Congratulations. Now I’m leaving. I’d rather not think about what you’re about to do on my fucki
ng table.”

  He stalked away, leaving the two of us alone. Jen looked up at me, her eyes bright with amusement.

  “Do you really have to wind him up like that?”

  “He needs to chill out and stop being so grumpy all the time.”

  Her arms wrapped around my neck and she nuzzled her nose against mine.

  “Now, I think my husband-to-be was about to give me his cock which I’m pretty fucking desperate for right now.”

  How could a man resist? Especially when she’d just called me her husband-to-be. I reached down and started working myself free again.

  “Did Liora really tell you that?”

  “You don’t know the story? Oh my god! We got her so drunk that night. You should’ve seen Dante’s face when we dropped her home. He was fuming… well, up until she told him loudly to take her to bed as she was, and I quote, ‘so horny, she felt like she might die if he didn’t fuck her right then’. Fi and I were falling about laughing at him picking her up all caveman style and carrying her upstairs, telling the two of us to fuck off.”

  I bit my lip as I freed myself and pushed her legs open wider. No wonder neither of them had brought it up. Liora was probably too drunk to remember. She’d stayed in bed for two days after that night, complaining about Fi and Jen ruining her for good.

  As amusing as her little anecdote was, I really wanted her mouth occupied with mine. I wrapped my hand around her neck and kissed her as I thrust inside her tight, wet heat. She moaned, the sound vibrating across my lips. Nothing about this was gentle. Her fingers gripped my collar as she thrust back against me stroke for stroke. I drowned in her just as she did me.

  Her cries of pleasure were muffled with her face buried in my neck. It didn’t take me long to follow her over the edge. There was nothing and no one like this woman.

  I picked her up and took her down to my flat, laying her out on my bed whilst I undressed her fully before discarding my own clothes. I’d deal with the table later. Right now, I wanted to spend the rest of the night making love to Jen. Especially now she’d agreed to marry me. I just had to work out whether she’d be okay with how fast I wanted this to move forward. I wanted to make her mine completely before the baby arrived.

  Pinning her hands above her head, I leant over her.

  “I belong to you, Jen. Now and forever.”

  “I belong to you too.”

  “I don’t want to wait.”

  She raised an eyebrow.

  “To get married?”

  “Yes… I want you mine.”

  “You’re crazy, you know that? We haven’t even told everyone yet, about this or the baby.”

  I cocked my head to the side.

  “So? We don’t need their approval.”

  “Let me think about it, okay?”

  I smiled and closed the distance between us, my breath fluttering across her lips.

  “I suppose I can give you that.”

  Not letting her respond, I kissed her and she melted against me. I spent the rest of the evening between her legs, making sure she knew just how much I loved her for saying yes to becoming my wife.

  ***

  Coming to the prison again was the very last thing I wanted to do, but I needed the information Zach would provide. Hell if I knew how he’d get hold of it. No point asking anyway since he wouldn’t tell me. I sat back and waited for him in the visitor room with my arms crossed over my chest. The sooner I got this over with the better, then I could get home as we were going to be telling everyone this evening about the baby and our engagement.

  Zach strode in with some other prisoners and made a beeline for my table. His blue eyes were hard as he sat down and appraised me.

  “Hello Brent.”

  “Zach.”

  “I suppose you’re wanting to know what I discovered.”

  “That’s why I’m here.”

  The only reason I’d come back to this place to see him again. Whilst I’d been caught up in the mess that was my nieces going missing, Jen getting pregnant and us getting engaged, the need to deal with Max hadn’t slipped my mind. He’d not contacted Jen since she told him she’d bring him down with her, but I knew a man like him would be biding his time. Waiting to strike against her. There was no way he wouldn’t keep coming after her.

  “How is my daughter?”

  I gritted my teeth.

  “Jen is fine.”

  His eyes narrowed as if he didn’t believe me. I didn’t come here to talk about her and I sure as hell wasn’t about to tell him about the engagement or the baby. When this was over, I’d still have to deal with the fallout of telling Dante what I’d revealed to Zach in order to keep their family safe.

  Zach rested his hand on the table and started to drum his fingers along it. The tapping noise soon became irritating.

  “And my grandson?”

  “Also fine. All your kids are doing well.”

  He gave me a sharp nod.

  “I have learnt some rather interesting information.”

  “And that is?”

  His lips curved up at the side. The sight of his smile made me feel ill. There was a certain coldness to it which sent a chill up my spine.

  “It seems you can’t trust anyone these days. Loyalty means nothing, but what can I expect when I’m forced to live out my days within these walls.”

  I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Zach loved the sound of his own voice too much.

  “So you’re saying someone betrayed you.”

  “In a sense, yes.”

  “Who?”

  His fingers stilled as he looked around the room, seemingly not wanting to meet my eyes for a long moment. I wondered why he was so reluctant to tell me. After all, he’d been adamant he didn’t want the company he’d built going down in flames.

  “I might not know this Max Graves, but it seems Marcus does.”

  I stiffened as his fingers resumed their drumming and his eyes found mine.

  “Whilst my movements might be limited in this prison, information isn’t hard to come by when you know the right people. And I know the right people.”

  He cracked his neck and straightened in his chair.

  “Your little blackmailer has visited Marcus on numerous occasions over the past six months. It seems they’ve planned this for a long while. Revenge, if you will, for Marcus going to prison because of me.”

  “And why would Marcus want revenge? I thought you two were thick as thieves.”

  His lip twitched.

  “Who do you think testified against him at his trial?”

  I raised an eyebrow. Dante didn’t particularly care about Marcus going to prison so neither of us had followed his trial or even looked into the details.

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Marcus is the slippery kind. If left unchecked, he would’ve done untold damage. Besides, he refused to take responsibility for what he’d done. Tried to plead not guilty. If he’d owned up to it all, perhaps he wouldn’t have fallen so far. You see, when you know each other’s secrets, you have leverage. I had no reason left to keep his.”

  That was pretty cold, but this was Zach. He had no moral compass. He did as he pleased and destroyed everyone around him. So him testifying against Marcus? Not particularly surprising.

  “So Marcus is pissed off and decided to destroy your legacy, is that it?”

  “In a nutshell.”

  I clenched a fist under the table.

  “And he just thought it was okay to drag your daughter into this mess, did he?”

  “Marcus doesn’t care about who he hurts. He never has.”

  “Neither do you.”

  “Why do you think we were friends?”

  The gleam in his eye when he said that chilled me to the bone.

  “Marcus might be behind this, but that doesn’t help me stop Max.”

  He cocked his head to the side, appraising me for a long moment


  “Pay Marcus a visit. I guarantee he has dirt on the boy. It won’t be hard to get it out of him. After all, he wouldn’t want anything happening to his own children now, would he?”

  “What exactly are you insinuating here, Zach? Because I don’t want any part of shit involving other people’s kids.”

  Zach chuckled and the sound made me feel worse. I hated this man. What he’d done to his kids made me wish he was dead.

  “Oh no, Brent, I don’t expect you to do anything other than tell him I send my regards. He’ll know what that means.”

  “And what makes you think he’ll see me?”

  Zach didn’t speak for several minutes. I wondered what he was thinking. Did I even believe a word he’d said? Was he throwing Marcus under the bus? Zach didn’t give a shit who he walked over to get what he wanted. Then again, Marcus had always made me uncomfortable. The way he’d looked at women like they were property and kept pets as Zach had done was sickening. Those parties Zach used to throw were only the tip of the iceberg. The horrifying way they’d treat women behind the curtains was what set them apart from others.

  I shook myself. I didn’t want to think about that shit and I would never reveal those details to Jen. Dante and I already knew more than enough to last a lifetime. No one else needed to be exposed to the worst parts of Zachary Benson.

  “He’ll see you if he knows what’s good for him. Trust me, Marcus hasn’t got a leg to stand on. Being my accomplice wasn’t his only crime. You should look up the charges they brought against him. Then you’d understand why he’s serving a similar sentence to me.”

  I swallowed. Honestly, I really didn’t want to know. Seeing the numerous ones they’d brought against Zach was enough to last a lifetime. And he pled guilty to them all. Sick bastard.

  “I have no interest in knowing what he did. All I want is to keep Jen and the company safe. The rest is insignificant.”

  If Zach cared about me not wanting to know, he didn’t show it.

  “Yes, I’m well aware all you care about is my daughter. Those girls aren’t as empty headed as I thought, especially if Jen has finally seen sense about you.”