Page 75 of Where Wild Hearts Dance
I release her chin and she swallows as the door closes. Her bottom lip shivers before she bites down onit with her teeth. “I guess you know women's bodies pretty well.”
I stroke my hand around her nape and push my fingers through her sleek, dark hair, tugging her toward me. “I know yours.”
She scowls. “You’ve only had your hands on it twice—the time in your apartment doesn’t count.Twice, Benito.”
I fist a handful of her hair and smile. “Yeah, but I’ve watched you forsix months. I know what fucking size you are.”
I hold her stare, daring her to argue but she doesn’t. She just lifts herself onto her toes and presses her sweet little mouth to mine. Oh God, this simple soft touchundoesme, and I have to force myself to pull away.
Only a minute or two later, the waiter returns with a bag containing a pair of gray sweatpants and a t-shirt. Luckily for him, he’s left by the time we’ve opened it and discovered the contents. I might have wrung his fucking neck. My phone rings before I can go after him. It’s Beppe with a report on the rogue soldiers in Newark.
I keep it short, not wanting anything to cut into this time I have with Tess. When I locate her in the bedroom, she’s already changed into the outfit from hell—or, more likely, the outfit from the depths of some lost and found laundry bin. Fresh hate for the cretin who thought this would be acceptable fills my mouth. Without saying a word, I turn and leave the room.
“Where are you going?” she calls after me, and Idon’t miss the thread of fear in her tone. I must look ready to kill someone.
“To run you a bath.”
“Why? Do I smell?”
I walk back to her wiping a smile from my face with a calloused thumb. When she tilts her face up toward me I have to fight to keep my lips fromconsumingher.
“Tess,” I say, with gentle seriousness, “I made you crawl across a floor. I fucked you over a balcony and filled you with my come. I managed to get you dressed in some cheap sweats that belong to someone else and possibly haven’t been washed...”
Her eyes round, her lips part and her pupils widen. Each time she blinks, a shot of hot blood is mainlined to my dick.
“You deserve perfection. Let me give it to you.”
I leave her standing, speechless, in the center of the room while I run her a bath, then I lead her to it, help her undress and leave her to soak while I make a few calls.
First up, Cristiano.
“Hey…” No capacity for pleasantries because I know where they’ll lead and I’m not in the mood for being teased over a girl. “Is Trilby with you?”
Cristiano: “Yeah.”
“Can I talk to her?”
“Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine, but I have a message to pass on.”
Trilby takes the phone. “Benny? What’s going on? Have you seen Tess?”
I hear Cristiano groan in the background.
“Yes. She’s with me. She’s safe. Can you let your father know?”
“Of course. Where are you?”
“The city,” I reply. If Cristiano finds out I’ve booked us into the most expensive hotel in Manhattan—into the penthouse no less—I’ll never hear the end of it. “She’ll be home Monday.”
“Inthree days?”
“Yeah.” That’s how long I’m keeping her. “Anyway, that was all. Thanks Tril.”
I hang up before she can interrogate me any further. Next up, the hotel concierge.
“Signor Bernadi, what can I do for you?”
