~Benny~Kai’s lips were gentle, almost feather-light. He nibbled and sucked and licked, coaxing me to forget everything else and focus on his touch.He trapped my face between his rough palms, taking a better angle at kissing me.A sob wracked my chest. I fisted his shirt on the waist. A war waged in my head. We shouldn’t be kissing. We should be talking with words and not with our bodies. But I was a putty for Kai. One touch, and I was a goner.Spearing his fingers into my hair, he grabbed a fistful, tugging my head back. I moaned, my lips parting. He shoved his tongue inside my mouth. He tasted of beer and sin and my downfall.I resisted giving in to his teasing tongue. He lapped at my lips, tasted every nook of my mouth, searching for the responsive girl he’d been with for the last couple of nights.She’s here, just scared to give in. She knew something big would go down tonight, and Kai was diverting my attention to sex.Fisting his shirt, I took strength from it to keep myself g
~Benny~ On autopilot, I put on Kai’s shirt, made the bed, brushed my teeth, tied my hair in a messy bun, and walked out of our room. I hoped to find Kai in the kitchen, making breakfast while sipping his coffee - black with a pinch of sugar- just the way he liked it. We had fallen into a domesticated routine, one I became comfortable with. I was in denial, but I knew something wasn’t right. I could feel it. The house was eerie, apart from a hushed conversation in the living room. Reaching the end of the hallway, I saw two men sitting on the couch. One had his back on me, occupying the single sofa. I had the side profile of the other, who quickly lifted his brown eyes to mine. I recognize him from Granada, one of Klaus’ men. He looked much older than Kai; I’d put him in his early forties. He stood once he saw me, flashing a friendly smile. “Berenice,” he murmured, brown eyes darting to the other guy. “You’re finally awake.” Hostility swirled in my veins. I might recognize him, b
~Benny~ The first break of sunlight in the mountain range blinded me. I pinched my eyes, barely blocking Markus’ right front kick with my palm. Leaning my body backward, I evaded Markus’ jab. His one-two combination was a hoax, a trick he does before he throws a sidekick. Sidestepping, I smirked and circled Markus. Today was hand-to-hand combat defense training, but I badly wanted to retaliate. Maybe old age was catching up with him. His movements were slower, or I could be getting faster. Whatever it was, I could read his movements better than the first day of training. We circled each other, counting our breaths, eyes watching one another. Markus feigned a push kick and aimed for the kill with a right spinning kick. I blocked both, wincing at the power of his attack. ‘Damn. The old man is getting serious.’ Following the momentum of his spin, he aimed at my face with a jab. I caught his knuckles, smirking. “You’re in a good mood,” he commented, as if he was expecting me to be
~Benny~ “He was giving you a leeway,” Markus said, unfurled the foldable chair, and sat beside me. “Klaus?” I asked. He hummed, pulling out the content of his fishing bucket one by one. “You’re lucky he lasted two years without kidnapping you or tying you up in a chair in his house,” he said with a chuckle. I was on the wooden platform by the lake. I spend most of my time here, fishing, thinking, reading or just sipping coffee. The temperature was slowly plummeting as the sun sets. My mouth salivated at the aroma of coffee as Markus poured a cup from his thermos. He handed me the coffee and filled another for himself. I sighed. The mug warmed my palms. The soft spring wind rocked my fishing line floater. Markus expertly set up his fishing rod, put a bait, and tossed it on the water. Fishing taught me patience. It cleared my head, and I enjoyed doing it with Markus. It became our thing since Klaus hated fishing. He accompanied Markus and I once, and he’d fallen asleep in his sea
~Kai~ “There you go, bear,” Markus said, gently setting down little Mikael on the mat with cartoon owl print. He carefully set the overhead gym with dangling fluffy owls. Mikael’s small hands stretched up, drooling as he blabbered something like ‘woo woo owo.’ Unlike Mikael, who’s still high on energy, Ramona was peacefully asleep in my arms. In fact, she’d fallen asleep in the middle of the chatter in the gazebo. Once Mikael was occupied, Markus stood and took Ramona from me. “I got you, princess.” Markus set her in the pink crib, making sure she was comfortable. I watched the boss, fascinated. Seeing this side of him, a gentle and loving grandfather, was a breath of fresh air. “I got everything covered here,” he said, sitting crossed leg beside Mikael, wiping his drool with a fluffy white towel. “Go enjoy your break from work.” In my time working for the Martinellis, this was the longest I spent with Markus. And the smile ghosting his lips as he glanced over his shoulder sent
~Kai~Sundown blanketed the blue sky with pink, orange, yellow, and red. It made the clouds beautifully dark. I wish I could also call dark clouds looming over my head a beautiful splendor, but no. I don’t believe half of the shit I’d seen with Benny.Nursing my sixth refill of Macallan, I eyed her as she laughed with the girls at the poolside.Confused? That would be the biggest fucking understatement of the century.After the cutting of cakes - done by Rylee and Klaus holding Mikael and Ramona - the pastries were gone before I could even snatch one, the kids enjoyed the parlor games Rylee and Rain planned.Before five o’clock hits, the cleaners expunge the evidence of the party. All that remained in the pool were Klaus and Rylee’s inner circle. Evan and Devin’s kids were already knocked out from playing the whole day. Even Griffin - who had the energy of a man twice his age - was already snoring before the sunset.‘Adult time,’ as Klaus called it, started. The girls move to the pool
~Kai~Klaus was fuming, his jaw ticking as he reached the gazebo. He glanced around, motioned Hunter to come near us. My brows furrowed, shoulders relaxing a bit when I realized he wasn’t going to swing his fist at my face.I hadn’t noticed Ghost, Ash, and Ro tailing Klaus until they were already in the gazebo.“There’s a possible breach of security,” Klaus murmured, his eyes held no fear but a danger to whoever dared walk into his property and threaten his family.“One security saw this,” Ash came forward, showing us a picture on his phone. A clean-cut hole in the fence and a pair of muddy combat boot tracks. “It’s on the south fence,” Ro added.“South?” Hunter asked, looking in the said direction. There was nothing but a mountain range in the south, too far from road access. We went hunting there last summer, and the vegetation was as thick as a virgin forest.No wonder those prints alerted Klaus.“There’s an intruder on my property,” Klaus gritted his teeth, glancing over at Rylee
~Benny~Great. Kai kept his distance from me all day, and now he knocked down a door while I was in the middle of a rough make out with Artemio.Artemio was an eye candy, tall, dark, and handsome with a filthy mouth. He chased me all day like a dog in heat. As soon as Klaus left the pool, he went for the kill and invited me to go somewhere quiet with him so we could talk.I stood and smoothed the white knitted cover-up. “Don’t you know how to knock?”I eyed Artemio as he pulled himself together. He couldn’t look me in the eye. Poor guy was confused by the sudden shift in my mood. Honestly, I had all the intentions of sleeping with him. But when Artemio kissed me, all I could see was Kai’s face. Every touch, every caress, every part of me yearned for the man who broke my heart.When things between Artemio and I started to heat up, a nagging feeling in my belly grew. He knew what he was doing, but something didn’t sit right with me. Everything felt wrong. I took over, hoping taking th