Page 99 of Where Wild Hearts Dance
“But you like someone,” I muse behind her. “And you speak so highly of the guests…”
She stops suddenly and spins around. “Here’s your room,” she says brightly, the flush still evident in the apples of her cheeks. “Your dress is inside, and your luggage has been put in there too.”
“Why are you being weird?” I frown. “So you like someone, it’s no big deal.”
“It’s nothing.” She shakes her head, bouncing her hair about, but it doesn’t shake the smile from her eyes. “So drop it, Tess, please?”
There’s something slightly pleading in her voice and I instantly empathize. I wouldn’t want anyone prying into the ‘thing’ I have with Benito, even if that ‘thing’ no longer exists.
“Sure, no worries. And thanks for bringing me to my room. Will you be at the dinner too? Or will you be working?”
She wraps her warm hands around mine as if to say a silent thank you for not pushing her. “I’ll be at the dinner,” she says with a smile. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Then she walks past me and heads back downstairs leaving me to ponder the very real possibility I actuallywouldmiss it for the world.
Benito
I chew my lip while Cristiano gets it off his chest. It’s only slightly annoying that he knew I’d had Tess tied up in the basement all along—the reason he’s giving me shit is because he kept it from Trilby. That was his choice not mine.
“I’m getting married inthreedays, for fuck’s sake, Benny,” he groans, rubbing his eyes. “And she thinks I’m keeping secrets from her.”
I don’t say anything. I know if I open my mouth, declarations of my innocence in that regard would come flying out, and this is neither the time nor place for the don of New York to hear some key home truths.
“What can I do?” I ask instead. “Do you want me to talk to Trilby?”
Cristiano barks out a bitterlaugh. “Good luck with that. She’ll grind your balls off the mood she’s in right now.”
I narrow my eyes at the thought.
“Just… promise me you won’t tie any more of her sisters up in a basement again, okay?”
I ignore the urge to shrug nonchalantly. “I won’t.”
What I don’t say is, Tess has only told Trilby the half of it. She clearly hasn’t told Trilby that, regardless of the way she left, Tess enjoyed every single thing I did to her in that basement. I can still taste her come on my tongue and feel her peaked nipples on the tips of my fingers. Her soft skin still ripples beneath mine whenever I close my eyes. Her tight little pussy still grips my cock possessively whenever I let my mind wander back to that moment.
“The Federico thing,” Cristiano says with a begrudging sigh. “Do I need to worry?”
My chest bristles at the sound of his name and I hate that it has infiltrated first my relationship with Tess and now the equilibrium I’ve worked hard to maintain with Cristiano.
“No,” I reply. The last three weeks have been preoccupied with getting eyes on him and monitoring every move he makes, every breath he takes, every wipe of his ass. Which reminds me, I haven’t heard from Nino in a few days, the guy I sent out to California to do just that. I make a mental note to check my phone and follow up the second Cristiano finishes telling me off.
“He’s just a kid anyway. A bitter kid who can’t accept the truth.” Assuming his papa actually gave himthe truth. Enzo was always a good guy before he wasn’t. Maybe I overestimated him.
“Okay, fine.” Cristiano settles a weary pair of eyes on me. “Listen, keep your distance from Tess. I don’t care how much you might want to speak to her, if Trilby sees you anywhere her sister, she’ll bust a blood vessel, and I can’t have that so close to the wedding.”
One of my vital organs thuds into the bowels of my belly. I was planning on trying to talk to Tess, to talk some fucking sense into her, but that’s off the table now.
“I will,” I concede, reluctantly. “Anything else?”
“Figure out where the Marchesi’s are. They’ve gone awfully fucking quiet. They know what’s happening this weekend and I don’t want them bursting in here and fucking up my wife’s day.”
I nod.
“In fact, get more security around the perimeter and double check all the staff IDs. I don’t want there to be any cracks for these bastards to fall through.”
“I’m on it.”
I get to my feet and re-button my jacket.
