“Gabriele, it’s me, Enzo. You don’t remember?”
I glared down at Benoit and waited for him to respond, but when he said nothing and the other man took a step forward, I moved between them.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“We’re friends.” He went to step around me, and that was it.
I reached out, took the guy’s wrist, and twisted it at an unnatural angle. He cursed, but the beat of the music turned loud and hard at just the right moment, as I moved in until our toes were touching.
“You are not friends. You don’t even know his name. So how about you turn the fuck around and walk away?”
“But I?—”
“Turn. The. Fuck. Around.Now.” I added more pressure to my hold, and finally he nodded.
“Okay, okay.”
I let him go with a shove, and he quickly disappeared into the crowd as I turned back to Benoit.
Gone was the sexual high he’d been floating on minutes ago, and in its place was a look of shock that he quickly hid.
He placed a hand to his chest and let out a small laugh as he moved up on his toes and said by my ear, “My hero.”
But that wasn’t enough. I wanted more. I wanted to know who the fuck that was, and why he was calling Benoit that name. “Who was that?”
Benoit shrugged and went to walk away from me, but I reached out and took hold of his arm, spinning him back to face me.
“He clearly knew you. Or thought he did. Gabriele?”
“No.” Benoit laughed and waved a hand through the air. “It’s dark, and he’s probably been drinking. He got me confused with someone else, that’s all.”
I narrowed my eyes as Benoit brushed a kiss over my lips.
“Come on, don’t let some stranger ruin our night.”
I stared down into his hazel eyes, that gnawing in the pit of my stomach back from earlier, when we’d gotten off the water taxi.
I wanted to believe Benoit that the man was nothing but a confused drunk, but it sure hadn’t seemed that way. In fact, he’d been pretty damn positive that Benoit was this Gabriele, almost lookedhurtwhen Benoit responded the way he did.
“Dimitri?” Benoit held his hand out to me, and as I took hold of it, he gave a sensual smile. “You want to get out of here?”
Yes. Yes, I did.
Then I was going to work out why and what else Benoit was lying to me about.
21
BENOIT
I’D DODGED A bullet last night, there was no doubt about it. In all the years I’d spent going undercover and pulling missions, I’d never actually been as close to getting busted as I thought I was last night when Dimitri rudely awakened me. My heart had actually stopped at one point, but then the fog of sleep disappeared and I remembered that should anything happen, my brothers would show up in a flash.
IfI wasn’t taken out before then. But no matter. Dimitri’s prickly demeanor had only stemmed from being uncomfortable, because last night was sonothis scene. But he’d done that for me, gone out of his way to surprise me with a night out dancing, and that had me feeling some type of way deep down.
With my toes, I flipped the hot water back on and relaxed into the tub. Sure, I’d been lounging in the bath for a half-hour already, but my sore muscles deserved a good soak. Dimitri was just the right kind of rough in bed, and I enjoyed the fact that I could still feel him the next day. I really shouldn’t be enjoying my time with him as much as I was, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. I didn’t reallyneedto—I mean, I knew my limits. Just because the man was hot and fucked like it was his last night on earth didn’t mean I wasn’t fully aware of who he was or thatdanger lurked around every corner. Thatwasthe reason I was here—to figure out whether Dimitri could be trusted.
I closed my eyes, turned the water off, and tried to clear my mind long enough to enjoy the amber-scented oil I’d poured into the bath with a heavy hand. But every time I tried, all I could see was his face, and all I could feel were his hands stroking over every inch of me.
Fuck it.
