The Benedetti Brothers Discreet Edition Paperback 5-Book Bundle

Silk tickles my skin, and it takes me a moment to realize it’s the blanket sliding off me. I reach for it, still half-asleep, but when I hear a “Tsk-tsk,” my body goes rigid and my eyelids fly open.

In the light coming through the sheer window curtains, I see the outline of a man.

He’s huge and standing at the foot of my bed.

“You left before coffee,” he says casually.

I know who it is. I recognize his voice, his build. His aftershave.

Giovanni Santa Maria.

I sit up, or try to, but he grabs my ankle and tugs on it and stops me. 

I want to cover myself, but the blanket is out of reach, so I lie there, naked. Giovanni smiles. His gaze slowly travels over me. 

“Were you expecting me, or do you always sleep naked?”

I kick the leg he’s got, but when I do, he tugs me down the bed. Turning me slightly, he spanks my a**. 

“Ow!” He’s not smiling when I look back at him.

“You deserve more than that.”

I realize he’s not wearing his suit jacket anymore but has his shirt sleeves rolled halfway up his powerful forearms. I wonder how long he’s been here watching me. There’s a dusting of dark hair on his arms, and the only jewelry he’s wearing is a heavy, expensive watch. 

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, come on, don’t pretend to be surprised. You knew I’d come.” 

He lets me go, and I scramble back up the bed, sit up on my knees, and grab the pillow to cover myself. Giovanni walks patiently around the bed. He switches on the light. I see he’s grinning. Moving much faster than I expect, he grabs the pillow from me and tosses it across the room. 

“What are you doing?” 

“I didn’t get to have dessert,” he says, placing one knee on the bed, catching me as I try to scramble off, tugging me into his chest. “Now lie down and spread those beautiful legs, so I can get my dessert.”

“You’re a freak!” I scream, shoving at his chest, but he only laughs it off and tosses me on my back onto the bed like I weigh nothing.

I flip over onto my belly to get away, but he easily catches me by the ankle and tugs me flat and this time, presses a knee to my back.

I know I screwed up because he stops. I hear him suck in a breath—or maybe that was me—because I know what he’s looking at. 

It takes me a minute to turn my head to look over my shoulder and see his eyes, his expression dark as he eyes my back, the ugly crisscrossing of lines.

“Get off me," I tell him.

He drags his gaze to mine. “No,” he says, as he keeps me in place with his knee on my back. He just studies me for a long time. Not touching, not moving, Just taking in every inch of my back. And I feel myself shrinking. Feel his power over me growing. 

I make a sound, wriggle beneath him, but he easily keeps me pinned and ignores me as he trails his fingers along the thin silvery lines that mark me where the skin broke, where my back was opened, and I feel my face burning because it’s private, this thing, it’s more private than any part of me. And it shows my weakness. And I don’t want him to see it. I don’t want him to know it’s there at all.

“Who hurt you, Emilia?” he asks so quietly I’m almost not sure I hear it...