Page 78 of Beni

August laughed. “Well …”

“I knew it!”

Camilla’s crow brought the attention of several people in the café their way. The bustling business had great sandwiches, according to her friend, but they were still waiting for their order to show up on their table, so August was holding off on making any rash statements like they were the best. Some people forgot that spices and flavoring was needed and depended on only salt and pepper to do the job.

Right.

“Details, details.” Cam smacked the table with the palm of her hand. “I need them now.”

“You really are the absolute worst.”

Camilla preened. “And yet, you’re still going to give me all the details.”

Obviously.

“He certainly made my morning worth while,” August admitted, “a couple of times over.”

Camilla pressed her lips together and squealed under her breath like they were two teenage girls talking about their first time fumbling around with a boy. All she could do was shake her head and laugh along with her friend’s antics.

“You know, I honestly didn’t think someone like Beni was your type,” Camilla noted.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Connected. Affiliated. You do know his father is a major crime boss in Canada, right? Gian Guzzi—has controlled Canada for years. And his mother? Sister to Tom’s father, so he comes from … well, I mean he’s a principe, by all standards. A mafia prince. I just didn’t think you would go for a mob guy.”

Oh.

That was not what August thought her friend meant at all.

“I guess I just never thought about it.”

Camilla’s brow dipped. “Or was it that you chose to ignore it? Because even though you like to act as though you don’t know about this life, you know … you really do, August.”

“That’s fair. And maybe, yeah. It did cross my mind, but …”

“What?”

“I was more interested in the man than the details. He makes that really easy.”

Too easy, maybe.

“So, what you’re saying is that you like him, right?”

That question was so fucking easy to answer that it was sickening. Yes, she liked Beni. Far more than she probably should, if she were being an honest woman about it all. There was something about that man drawing her in, and the more time she spent with him, the harder his invisible hold became around her heart.

He gave a shit.

He didn’t push.

He was just the right amount of confidence mixed with sensitivity and good fucking genes. Like an all-in-one package of the perfect man. They weren’t even supposed to exist, but August was pretty sure she found one in Beni.

Her curiosity about the people who raised him, and where he came from had grown tenfold simply because she wondered … were they the reason he was like he was? Was his family as accepting and kind as him, and yet still as enigmatic and charming, too?

He was supposed to be fun.

Something to do while she was here.

And yet, there August was, thinking about if she might someday meet his family, and if she could get in one more chance to see him before she left to go back to New York.