I don’t regret a single thing. How could I when he was the one guy I daydreamed about for years? My childish fantasies could never match the real deal. And my limited sexual experience couldn’t prepare me for a man like Ben. Nothing could. I knew he would ruin me for all others, and I was right.
I can’t imagine any man coming close to measuring up.
No night will ever be as magical as last night.
But I’m no longer some naïve thirteen-year-old, and Ben is no longer the same Ben I knew. We didn’t talk last night—Ben’s rough commands and his dirty talking don’t count—and I have questions I need answers to. Like how he knows Saverio Salerno? Who are those men with him, and why does everyone call him Bennett Mazzone now? Where has he been all this time?
After my shower, I blow-dry my hair and get dressed in my clothes from last night before stepping out of the bedroom into the main body of the large suite with my high heels dangling from my fingers.
I spot Ben first, perched at the island unit in the kitchen. His face is buried in a laptop, and he’s oblivious to my approach. He is wearing a white shirt and black pants, but his feet are bare. There is something so incredibly sexy about a man with no shoes or socks on that gets me horny like you wouldn’t believe. My nostrils twitch as the scent of his spicy cologne slaps me in the face, and I can’t contain my grin.
Coming up behind him, I wrap my arms around his torso, pressing the side of my face against his warm back. “Good morning.” I place a kiss to the side of his neck, savoring the feel of his skin against my lips.
He visibly stiffens, lifting his head from his laptop but not turning around. “What do you think you’re doing?” His voice is brusque and laced with an undercurrent I can’t decipher.
I pull away, gulping over the sudden lump clogging my throat. Nerves fire at me from all angles as I move around the island unit so I’m facing him. “What do you mean?” My brows furrow in confusion.
His eyes narrow as he stares at me. One corner of his mouth tilts into a sneer. “Why are you still here? What makes you think you can talk to me? Touch me without invitation?” Hostility seeps from his pores like fog, and I take a step back as if that will protect me from the horrible vibes he’s emitting.
My mouth opens and closes, but I can’t form words.
“Cat got your tongue?” he taunts, and there is no warmth in his expression. No sign of the dark lust from last night evident in his cold ice-blue eyes.
“Why are you being like this?” I fold my arms protectively across my chest, feeling vulnerable.
“You told me you weren’t a virgin, so I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept of a one-night stand.” His tone suggests he’s already bored of this conversation, and he ignores me, lowering his gaze as he refocuses his attention on his laptop.
I bristle at his words and his clear dismissal of what we shared. Anger ignites a fuse inside me, and I glare at him, wishing he wasn’t such a handsome fucker and my heart wasn’t such a pitiful organ with minimal self-respect. “I know what a one-night-stand is, asshole. And last night wasn’t one.”
He lifts his head again, and the venomous look in his eyes forces me to take another few steps back out of sheer instinct.
Saverio is a man who prides himself on the monster within. A man who revels in displaying everything he is. As I look at Ben now, I see the same monster lurking behind his gorgeous exterior. I thought Saverio was the only man I needed to fear, but I see the error of my ways. Ben is everything Saverio is. He has just chosen to hide it. Most likely, it’s on purpose—to lure unsuspecting victims in.
“You seem to be suffering from some delusions. Let me clear it up for you.” Ben stands, and in my bare feet, he appears to tower over me like a dark shadow obscuring all the light.
Tension bleeds into the air as he steps toward me, and I take a step back.
“Ben.” Someone calls his name, and my head whips sideways, only noticing the other four men now. His friend stands, walking toward us. He’s the guy who escorted me out of the basement room last night. He didn’t speak, regarding me with equal parts curiosity and wariness, but he didn’t seem unkind. “I don’t think—”
“If I want your advice, Leo, I’ll ask for it,” Ben says in a clipped tone. Leo stops walking, leaning against a pillar in the large open-plan room. “This is betweenFireflyand me.”
He uses his pet name for me in a derisory manner, and it hurts. Ben has never spoken to me like this before, and I don’t understand why he feels the need to be hurtful now. It was clearly just a one-time thing for him, and it’s not like I had huge expectations. I live in Chicago and he lives…who the hell knows where. I wasn’t anticipating walking hand in hand into the sunset, but I did expect respect and that we would at least part ways as friends.
This crap is bullshit, and he doesn’t get to humiliate me.
Heat creeps up my chest and onto my neck, but I stop retreating, holding my chin up and fixing Ben with a deadly look of my own. Fuck him. He doesn’t get to intimidate me. Not after everything we did last night. “Set me straight then,” I hiss. “If you’re such a big man.”
An ugly sneer dances across his handsome face. “You’re still just a little girl trying to fit into a world you don’t belong in.”
He knows how to hit hard, and those words penetrate deep, stabbing me clear through the heart. “You know nothing about me. About the person I am today.”
He steps right up to me, drilling me with stony eyes, devoid of any human emotion. “I know you’re a stupid little girl who found herself trapped in the lion’s den. Tell me, what would you have done if I hadn’t been there last night?”
I gulp, unable to answer, because the truth is, I was all out of options and we both know it. Some of my anger fades, remembering how he saved me. “Thank you for saving me,” I say because I don’t think I said thanks last night.
He scoffs. “You already thanked me.”
I frown because I honestly don’t recall saying those words.
