Nico (Ruin & Revenge #1)(74)
He held her after the rush, possessing her with a gaze of intense pleasure and satisfaction as they panted their breaths, sweat soaked clothes clinging to their bodies.
“Not how I imagined a wedding night to be.” He pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.
“Me either.”
“Fucking perfect.”
Someone thudded on the door. “Hey! Get out of there. Some of us have to pee. Go fuck in the bar where everyone else does.”
Nico gave her a quizzical look. “People fuck in the bar?”
“I’ve seen some X-rated scenes.”
A slow, sly, sensual smile spread across his face. Pure mob boss. “You want to see another?”
NINETEEN
“You okay, Kat? You need anything?” Ben paused in the doorway to his living room. He’d brought Kat to his place after Nico’s and Mia’s wedding, and, after watching some television with her, he was ready for a cold shower and then bed.
Fucking hell. He hadn’t been able to sleep since that encounter with Gabe and Mia, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to sleep with a beautiful woman in the next room. Although he was pretty sure he’d managed to talk his way out of Gabe’s big reveal about his work as a cop, worry niggled at the back of his mind, and he had planned to meet Jack tonight to talk through his options. After a call with his lawyer, he realized his plan to wait out a custody hearing wasn’t in the cards. He’d been thinking days, but his lawyer said it could take months
“Actually, I need help changing the dressing on my back if it won’t squick you out.” Kat looked up from the black leather couch and smiled.
Ben melted. God, she was beautiful. Tall and willowy, with long, chestnut hair, dark eyes, deep olive skin and a body to fucking die for. Die being the operative word. Nico had instructed him to protect Kat until it was safe for her to go home, and he had a feeling taking advantage of Nico’s innocent nineteen-year-old sister-in-law didn’t count as keeping her safe.
“No problem. I did a first-aid course back in the day.”
Kat pulled a first-aid kit from her overnight bag. “Back in the day? You aren’t that old.”
“Twenty-nine,” he answered honestly.
“Not that old at all.” She handed him the kit, and turned on the couch, lifting her filmy blouse. Ben tried not to look at the gentle curve of her hip, the smooth skin, the narrow dip of her waist. Instead, he focused his gaze on the large white bandage taped to her lower back.
Very carefully, Ben peeled it away.
“What the hell?” Her skin beneath the bandage was seared red in the shape of a letter C, the edges black and starting to scab.
“Sorry. I thought you knew. My dad ordered my brother to brand me. C for Cordano.” Her voice tightened. “That was after he had Dante beat me with his belt. I’m popping the pain killers or I wouldn’t even be able to sit down.”
Bile rose in Ben’s throat. What kind of family would do this to a beautiful young girl? “That’s criminal assault,” he blurted out without thinking.
She gave a resigned shrug. “I suppose if we lived in the normal world, it would be. But we don’t. We live in a world where things like this happen, and no one can do anything about it.”
Ben was tempted to assure her there were people who would do something about it, but who the fuck would that be? As with all the crime families, the Toscanis had cops on their payroll from Vegas all the way to LA—cops who would turn a blind eye to flagrant breaches of the law. It had been an eye-opening experience when Ben first worked his way into the mob, and it had taken him years to get a handle on his anger. Last year, he’d given Jack a list of all the dirty cops he knew. But big surprise, they were all still around.
“Well, nothing is gonna happen to you on my watch. I promise you that.” He carefully examined the wound and replaced the bandage. “It isn’t infected, and unless you want it to scar worse, it’s best just to leave it alone.”
“Thanks for looking at it.” She dropped her blouse and turned to sit beside him on the couch. “Do you know what hurt worse?” She rested her hand on his thigh, rubbed her thumb back and forth over the rough denim. Desire shivered across Ben’s skin, and he resisted the urge to knock her hand away. Maybe she was just needing some comfort. Lord knew, the poor girl needed it.
“What’s that?”
“It was knowing that I’d spent my life in hiding for nothing. I was the perfect daughter. I did and said everything my father expected of a Mafia princess. But the other night, I realized it was a wasted effort. He hurt me to get to Mia, and it didn’t matter that I had been everything he wanted me to be, because what he wanted me to be was nothing. I should have just been me. Like Mia.” With her free hand, she undid the first two buttons on her blouse, and Ben’s pulse kicked up a notch.
“Can’t imagine a father doing what he did to you.” He slid sideways across the couch, dislodging her hand, and reached for a pillow to put a barrier between them. She was so incredibly lovely, graceful, soft and gentle. Like an angel. And she’d been living in Hell.
“Well then I won’t tell you about all the other things that went on in our house.” She undid another button. “We are about as dysfunctional as a family can get. My father is a tyrant, a monster in every sense of the word, and so are the men who work with him.”