He straightened then cocked his head. “What makes you think there’s a ‘since’ in there?”
“Because I’ve been watching you very closely over the last two weeks, and this is the first time you’ve looked uncomfortable.”
Benoit looked down at his hands, then licked his lower lip, and I knew I was right. Someone had hurt him in the past. Someone had made him avoid relationships, and I wanted to know who he was—and why he was still breathing.
“I had a bad breakup, that’s all. I confided in him about certain things, and when it was over, he used it against me. See, nothing that dramatic. Plus, it was years ago.”
“He betrayed you.”
Benoit nodded. “He did.”
I shook my head and closed my eyes, my mentor’s face flashing behind my lids in that final moment we shared when he flipped open his knife and lunged?—
“Dimitri?”
My eyes snapped open and focused on Benoit, who reached over to place a hand on top of my fist.
“Are you okay?”
The concern in his voice told me I looked anything but. However, not about to bring up that bastard’s name in Benoit’s company, I merely nodded and drew my hand from his.
I reached for my wine glass. “There’s nothing worse than a betrayal. If there’s a snake in your life, you need to cut off its head.”
Benoit stared at me for a long moment before nodding and reaching for his own glass. “I couldn’t agree more.”
8
BENOIT
AFTER DINNER, WE lounged by the fireplace and opened up a second bottle of wine, but the constant interruptions from members of his team had us retreating to our bedroom for the night.
Finally.
I wasn’t just curious about Dimitri’s moves between the sheets—I was also horny beyond belief. I hadn’t expected all the teasing and delayed gratification coming from the monster himself, not when that wasmyMO.
Before this went any further, though, there was something I needed to take care of.
When I entered the room, I picked up a small carry-on from my line of luggage and turned around, giving Dimitri a sensual smirk.
“I’m going to change into something more…enticing,” I said, running my finger down the length of his chest. It was like steel to the touch, and my cock twitched impatiently.
Dark eyes stared down at me, deep and intense. “Or you could just take everything off.”
“I could. But then you’d miss unwrapping the gift I brought to wear just for you.”
When his gaze dropped further down my body, I knew I had him. He was curious and all in on drawn-out pleasure.
“Be right back,” I sang, sashaying into the en suite and shutting the door behind me. Once I was alone, I reached for the lip gloss and unscrewed the bottom. A compartment opened up and I quickly unfastened the hidden cameras in my cuff links, my heartbeat picking up with Dimitri on the other side of the door. It was always a risk wearing any kind of recording device, since he and his team would no doubt be familiar with the usual tech. Thank God Alessio was always changing things up and creating new ways to keep our actions secret, or I would’ve been a lot more worried.
Hopefully the cameras had gotten a good view of the maps that had been laid out and marked up when I barged into the dining room. We needed to know the locations of his meetings and whom he was meeting with. That would go a long way in letting us know whether Dimitri Stavros’s reign could be trusted.
I popped the tiny cameras into the compartment, twisted the bottom back on, and set the gloss back in my makeup bag. Then I listened at the door for any sound, but it was dead quiet in the bedroom. I was tempted to make a quick call, see if the videos went through okay, but that was pushing it too far. Besides, I had more pleasurable tasks to get to tonight.
Starting with this,I thought, pulling out the emerald-green thong I’d purchased specifically for Dimitri to enjoy. Green, the color of money and jealousy, something I figured a man like him would appreciate.
After stripping off my clothes, I put on the tiny scrap of material and admired myself in the mirror. This was the sort of thing I’d enjoyed wearing in my twenties during my performing years, when my body had been at its peak, with none of the effort it required now to look this good.
But I still had it. Thank God, or none of this would be working out to my advantage.
