Page 34 of Benjamin and the Thief

“I could say the same of you,” Damian retorted. “So, aren’t you gonna introduce her? Or were you planning on hiding her?”

Catalina felt heat shoot through her core. There were at least twenty people in the flat. A large banner hung in the living room that read: Happy 37th birthday, Damian & Benjamin.

There were so many things that popped into her head now, and she didn’t even know where to start. For starters, she’d had no idea that Benjamin had an identical twin, nor that he was turning thirty-seven years old today. Both he and his brother looked at least a decade younger.

But none of that was really that important. What was really making her nervous was the fact that all these strangers had seen her and Benjamin making out in the elevator. She felt as if she’d been caught doing something that would get her expelled from school. Everybody was staring at her. What were they thinking? Were they judging her? She wished she could hide in a hole in the ground, but no such convenient hiding place was available in Benjamin’s flat.

“Hey guys, this is Catalina,” Benjamin finally introduced her. “My girlfriend.”

As several of his friends greeted her, she smiled back and said, “Hi.”

Benjamin pointed to Damian.

“And that’s my twin, Damian. But I guess you already gathered that by looking at him. But you’re lucky, I’m the more handsome one of the two of us.”

The crowd laughed. One of them, a young man with dark hair, pointed at Benjamin.

“So that’s the girl you didn’t wanna share.” He addressed the crowd. “You know what he said to me: she’s not your type.” He smirked. “I beg to differ.”

“Adam,” Benjamin said to him, “hands off. I saw her first.”

She felt his arm around her tighten, pulling her closer to his side. For some reason, she appreciated the gesture.

“Okay, let’s crank up the music,” Damian suggested, and somebody followed his command.

Rock music came from several speakers in the living room.

“Let me introduce my friends to you,” Benjamin said, leaning in. “Don’t worry; they don’t bite.”

“Are you sure I should be here? I mean, you probably weren’t planning on me meeting your friends yet… you know…”

Most guys didn’t introduce their new girlfriends to their friends for several months. She and Benjamin had only known each other for barely three days.

A soft laugh came from Benjamin, and he brought his mouth to her ear. “You’re not getting out of this one, baby. Everybody in this room has noticed my hard-on, so you leaving would just add insult to injury.”

“Oh.” She instinctively looked down at his lower half, where a bulge, though diminished now, was still visible. “Sorry.”

“Come on,” he said and took her hand. “They’re all gonna love you.”

He pointed to one guy with ultra-short hair and a toned physique. “There’s Cooper. You met his wife today.” He slapped him on the shoulder. “Great to see you. Where’s Anita?”

“At work, as so often,” he replied, then smiled at her. “Nice to meet you, Catalina. How come my wife met you before the rest of us?”

“Oh, we just needed to look at some police files,” Catalina said vaguely, not wanting to let everybody know who her brother was.

It was best if nobody knew, or they might get the wrong impression of her. Benjamin was already dragging her to the next person.

“Grayson?” Benjamin asked, surprised. “You flew in for this party from New Orleans?”

The handsome dark-haired man grinned. “Of course not. We flew in for the formal party at Scanguards next week.”

“So, Monique is here too?” Benjamin cranked his neck before adding, “Catalina, that’s Grayson, the son of the founder of Scanguards. He runs the New Orleans office together with his wife, Monique.”

“Nice to meet you, Catalina. And I brought the triplets.”

“The triplets? You have triplets?”

Grayson laughed out loud. “No, that would be exhausting! Monique and her two brothers, David and Zach, are triplets. They all wanted a little break to party in San Francisco.”