Page 8 of My Italian Stepbrother

He sets me down on his dresser and pins me there while he continues ravaging my mouth. I’m ready for him. I’ve never been ready for any man before, but if he wants to take me right here, I would let him.

Benito’s hands graze my curves, and I know he desperately wants me.

I say his name breathlessly as he bites my lip. I want more, so I run a manicured finger down the length of his chest.

As if he’s just been electrocuted or something, he pulls himself away from me and walks across the room, furiously rubbing his face.

“Did I do something wrong?” I ask, still trying to catch my breath.

“We can’t do this right now,” he says, turning away from me. “I need you to go back to your room.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Just do it, Brie,” he commands.

I hop off the dresser, walk through our bathroom, and lock my door behind me, touching my lips softly with my fingers.

What just happened?

The red spot on my rear is slowly fading away, and goosebumps rise on my skin as I trace my finger across it. I turn and look at myself in the mirror, not believing what just happened was real.

“You can’t have these feelings,” I whisper to my own reflection. “He’s your stepbrother. He just got out of prison. This. Has. To. Stop.”

I nod at my reflection as if to acknowledge the sage advice I’ve given myself. Who else am I supposed to talk to about this? My college friends won’t understand, and I sure as hell can’t go to my mother with this. I’m going to have to figure this one out on my own.

A door slams in Benito’s room, and I jump at the sound. Not long after, I hear a car start outside and rush to the window to see if it’s him leaving. Sure enough, it is.

I need to figure out what the deal with his arrest was. Benito lives in a room directly conjoined to mine, and even though admitting it makes me feel kind of ashamed, I have a strange attraction to him, and I just need to know he’s not dangerous. He was arrested for murder, but I can’t wrap my head around how he only served four years.

Was new evidence found clearing him? Is the bribe the reporter mentioned true?

“Enio’s office,” I mumble under my breath.

A smile crosses my lips, and I quickly change out of my bathing suit and slip into a casual day dress to leave.

I know Enio left early this morning, and I don’t know when he’ll be back. My mom is probably out shopping, and Benito has just driven off. If I’m going to do this, now is as good a time as any.

Surprisingly, Enio’s office isn’t locked. You would think that someone in his line of business might take the extra security measure, but apparently not. His desk doesn’t have many drawers, so I begin rifling through them as quickly as possible.

There are a lot of documents and ledgers that I don’t really understand the purpose of, but nothing about Benito. I almost give up my search when I see a small divot on the bottom of the top drawer. I slide my finger in and lift it. A false bottom.

“How original,” I mumble.

Inside the drawer are a large envelope and a folder with the initials B.B. on them. I open the file to see if it might tell me anything about the details of what he was put away for. What I find, though, are a few money order receipts for exorbitant amounts of money. There are four, all with different names on them. I take pictures really quickly.

There’s nothing else in the envelope, but I search the names while I’m still here. All of the names belong to the members of the parole board responsible for releasing Benito.

7

BENITO

Ihave to get out of the house. After the kiss, being that close to Brie would send me spiraling, and I don’t want to get into a situation either of us will regret. She’s my stepsister. I need to protect her. That’s all. No more than that.

Who am I trying to fool? I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind since I was released, and now... she tastes even better than I imagined she would. Her lips are soft and plump; kissing her drove me half-mad with desire. I’m still surprised I had the strength to pull away when I did. She was in front of me practically naked and kissing me, and I made her leave.

What an idiot.

My run isn’t doing as much to clear my mind as I hoped it would. At least my desire to strangle Carlo has subsided.

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