Page 21 of Immoral (Park Avenue Kings #3)

DIMITRI

M Y ENTIRE BODY remained tense as the gondolier navigated the narrow passage that led to our final destination. The only light came from the lanterns hung sporadically along the walls, but they didn’t pierce far enough into the fog to do much good.

None of this made for an ideal situation, but it had to be done, and it had to be now.

Benoit was quieter than usual, not a cheeky remark to be heard as he sat beside me, my guards positioned at our backs. I wondered if he had any clue what was about to happen next.

He was smart, though, and he’d been to Venice before. No doubt he knew exactly where we were headed, which would piss me off to no end. I wanted the element of surprise when it came to him. He deserved that much.

“Up ahead, sir,” the gondolier said, but as I peered through the darkness, I couldn’t see a thing. Guess I’d have to take his word for it, something I didn’t fucking like. At all.

Benoit cleared his throat. “And just what, exactly, is up ahead?”

“A surprise,” I said, but didn’t elaborate. The less I said, the better this would go for him.

My hands curled into fists where they rested on my thighs as blue lights up ahead did their best to shine through the fog, lighting our way.

Before every meeting with buyers, the potential for danger made my adrenaline spike, but tonight my heart hammered louder and faster than on any of those nights.

Because the man sitting beside me was more of a threat to me than any of those armed, paranoid clients.

The loading dock came into view only as we pulled up alongside it, several men in suits standing there silently, staring down at us. The blue lights we’d seen lined the doorway behind them.

“Don’t move,” one of my guards said gruffly behind us, before stepping up onto the landing, his hand staying close to the gun tucked into his side.

“Dimitri.” Benoit kept his voice low, and it didn’t escape my notice that he called me by my name and not the nickname he preferred to use. “What is this?”

After a brief talk with the men on the dock, my guard looked back at me and nodded.

“Let’s go.” I stood up, offering my hand to Benoit, who looked at it with a puzzled expression, like he didn’t know whether he should take it.

Good. He didn’t have a clue where we were or what we were doing. Or, apparently, if he should even trust my intentions.

That was a first. It also proved he was sharp enough to sense danger, and that wasn’t something he needed to forget with me. I wasn’t a good man. I wasn’t safe. Which meant he wasn’t either.

Benoit took my hand, rose to his feet, and threw his shoulders back, almost like he was steeling himself for whatever was ahead. He stepped up onto the dock and I followed behind, grabbing hold of his hand again as we were led to the entry.

I side-eyed him and arched a brow. “Ready?”

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be ready for, mon monstre. ”

Ah, there it was. Even if there were nerves overriding him, that confidence was there, back to taking the lead. It was one of the things that had attracted me to him in the first place, and why I’d arranged this late-night escapade.

The second the massive doors yawned open, we walked slowly into the darkness, a guard in front of us and one behind. Once we were inside what felt like a small room, the doors were slammed shut, and only once they were secured did the ones in front of us open.

Benoit squeezed my hand at the ear-piercing techno remix that filtered out, along with the blinding beams of multicolored lights flashing in every direction.

All I could see were multitudes of writhing bodies, sweat-soaked and heads lolled back in ecstasy as they danced to what the DJ played.

Instantly, my stomach clenched, this scene not at all what I was comfortable with. But then I glanced down at Benoit to see his reaction, and the surprise on his face made it all worth it.

“ This is what you got me out of bed for?”

I glanced around at the gyrating bodies then back to him. “You don’t like it?”

Benoit laughed and then stretched up to put his lips by my ear. “Like it? I love it. But if you’d told me where we were going, I would’ve dressed more appropriately.”

I leaned back and ran my eyes down over his black cowl-neck sweater and pants. “What’s wrong with what you’re wearing?”

“For this place? Everything. But mainly the fact there’s too much of it. Why didn’t you just tell me where we were going?”

I grinned at his put-out expression and drew him into my arms. “I wanted to surprise you. Are you?”

“Surprised?” Benoit looped his arms around the back of my neck and shifted in close. “ Oui , very. But can I give you a tiny pointer?”

“You may.”

“Maybe smile a little next time. You know, when you’re ordering me out of bed after midnight. It might help ease the sheer panic that something terrible is about to happen.”

A frown pulled between my brows. “What did you think was going to happen?”

Benoit patted my chest and let out a trilling laugh. “My mind was full of wild scenarios. But I have to admit that this was not one of them. Do you frequent dance clubs often, mon monstre ?”

“Never.”

“Oh…” Benoit slid his hand down my shirt to the hem. “So this is all for me?”

I took his wandering hand, brought it to my lips, and kissed his palm. “For the most part, but selfishly, I want to watch you dance for me.”

“Oh no you don’t. You brought me here,” he said, and interlaced his fingers with mine. “So you’re going to dance with me.”

“I don’t dance.”

My words were clear, so I wasn’t sure why he kept on pulling me toward the crowd of people.

“Benoit,” I growled, looking over my shoulder to my guards, who had their eyes glued on the two of us.

“I’m not taking no for an answer. You dragged me out of bed and ordered me here, so you are going to dance with me.” He stopped on the edge of the other dancers and turned, then started to slink his way back into my arms. “Don’t act like you don’t want to.”

Fuck , he wasn’t wrong. The idea of him moving in my arms was tempting. But I was well aware how unsecured the area was and just how easy it would be for someone to get to me if they wanted to.

“Dimitri…” Benoit purred as he swayed away from me, his fingers going to the edge of his sweater. Then he slipped them under the wool and the material was gone, leaving him in nothing but his black pants. “Don’t walk away from me. Not yet.”

And that was the fucking problem. I wasn’t sure I could walk away from him, ever.

“I don’t dance,” I reiterated with a lot less determination.

“Fine,” he teased with a sexy smirk, then slinked up to me again, looping his sweater around the back of my neck and pulling my face in close to his. “Then how about you just stand there and I’ll grind all over you.”

How in the hell was I supposed to say no to that? Instead, I sent up a prayer that my guards had eyes in the front and back of their heads, because there was no way I was walking away from this man.Not tonight.

I reached for Benoit’s hips, and the second I got a hold and pulled him in, he flashed a triumphant smile and tipped his head back.

“Yesss,” he moaned, before taking hold of my shoulders and running a leg up the side of mine to my hip. Then he leaned back and rocked his erection up against mine, and I struggled to hold him upright.

The music throbbed all around us, and as Benoit moved that sinful body against me, my cock became as hard as a steel pipe. Damn, this just might’ve been the best idea I’d had this entire trip. It was one of the most reckless, but I couldn’t find it in me to care with Benoit so close.

“Can’t dance, huh?” he shouted as I began to move with him to the music.

“I’m just following your lead,” I said, holding on to him, my only movements a direct response to the feel of his grinding against my dick.

“Well, I’ll take it. You move very well, mon monstre .” He grabbed hold of the sweater and pulled himself up until our lips were inches apart. “Now stick your tongue in my mouth, would you, since I can’t very well have your cock out here on the dance floor.”

“Says who?” I growled, thinking about our exploits on the train.

I could shut this place down in less than ten minutes, but maybe the excitement from the train had been the audience, in which case…

I dug my fingers into his ass and hauled him up my body. “I can have it in you in seconds—just say the word.”

Benoit crossed his ankles at my lower back and rolled his hips forward. “I don’t think so. You dragged me out here, so before you get that , I get this .”

He crushed his mouth to mine. I wanted any part of him I could get, and if this taste was all I would get, then I was going to take it.

I tangled my tongue with his, teasing and tasting every inch of him—and judging by his harder, faster thrusts, he was enjoying me as much as I was him.

I nipped at his lower lip and started to kiss my way down his neck, uncaring of the people around us, oblivious to any kind of danger that might be near.

In that moment, if someone had taken me out, I would’ve gone with a smile.

Benoit slowly leaned backward, letting his hold on the ends of the sweater slip until he was leaning back from me at a horizontal angle, showing off the strength in his abs and that spectacular fucking body.

Jesus Christ. What was he doing to me?

I wasn’t the kind to grind on a dance floor, and I certainly wasn’t the kind to let someone grind all over me. But as he righted himself and then slid those long legs down my body, I knew I’d dance with him here until the sun came up if that was what he wanted.

“You’re so damn sexy,” I said, and reached for the back of his neck, dragging him forward. Then I leaned in and licked a path from his neck up to his ear. “Sweaty, sexy, and all fucking mine.”

Benoit turned his head and bit at my bottom lip, tugging on it as he slipped his hands under my shirt. “Undo this.”

With my eyes on his I unbuttoned the material, but with his sweater around my shoulders, the shirt stayed in place. That didn’t seem to bother Benoit, though, as he slid his hands up my body and pushed it out of his way. Then he dipped his head and dragged his tongue over my nipple.

“Fuck,” I said as he aimed his eyes up at me and I grabbed the back of his hair. “Don’t be a tease.”

Benoit licked his lips and then went back to doing just that. He flicked that nimble tongue over the tip and then took it between his teeth and bit down hard.

I twisted my fingers in his hair and dragged that tortuous mouth away from me.

“Careful,” I warned, but he merely smiled and moved to my other side, giving that nipple the same treatment, all the while making my dick jealous of the attention. I tipped my head back as the blue lights flashed around us, letting him kiss his way further down my body.

I knew we should stop. The train was one thing—a controlled environment where I could see my surroundings and had a door between us and the rest of the world, and any potential threats. But out here there was no divide, and when his hand went to the button of my pants, I stopped him.

I glanced down and saw the question in his eyes. “Not here.”

Benoit pouted but nodded, and when he spun around to back up into me, a dancer from the crowd stopped moving and started to stare…at Benoit.

What the fuck?

I was about to muscle past him and tell the gawking creep to keep moving, but then a smile split his lips and he walked right up to Benoit and said, “Gabriele?”

Gabriele? My entire body froze, including my feet, as Benoit looked up. Who the hell was this guy, and why was he calling Benoit Gabriele ?

As the strange man opened his arms and pulled Benoit into an embrace, Benoit’s entire body tensed and he reared back. Every thought about who this guy was and what was going on left my brain in that instant and was replaced with a possessiveness I had no right feeling.

“Let him go,” I barked, and shoved the stranger back from Benoit.

He reached for his shoulder and rubbed it, a frown forming between his brows before he looked back to Benoit, who stood silent beside me.

“Gabriele, it’s me, Enzo. You don’t remember?”

I glared down at Benoit and waited for him to respond, but when he said nothing and the other man took a step forward, I moved between them.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“We’re friends.” He went to step around me, and that was it.

I reached out, took the guy’s wrist, and twisted it at an unnatural angle. He cursed, but the beat of the music turned loud and hard at just the right moment, as I moved in until our toes were touching.

“You are not friends. You don’t even know his name. So how about you turn the fuck around and walk away?”

“But I?—”

“Turn. The. Fuck. Around. Now .” I added more pressure to my hold, and finally he nodded.

“Okay, okay.”

I let him go with a shove, and he quickly disappeared into the crowd as I turned back to Benoit.

Gone was the sexual high he’d been floating on minutes ago, and in its place was a look of shock that he quickly hid.

He placed a hand to his chest and let out a small laugh as he moved up on his toes and said by my ear, “My hero.”

But that wasn’t enough. I wanted more. I wanted to know who the fuck that was, and why he was calling Benoit that name. “Who was that?”

Benoit shrugged and went to walk away from me, but I reached out and took hold of his arm, spinning him back to face me.

“He clearly knew you. Or thought he did. Gabriele?”

“No.” Benoit laughed and waved a hand through the air. “It’s dark, and he’s probably been drinking. He got me confused with someone else, that’s all.”

I narrowed my eyes as Benoit brushed a kiss over my lips.

“Come on, don’t let some stranger ruin our night.”

I stared down into his hazel eyes, that gnawing in the pit of my stomach back from earlier, when we’d gotten off the water taxi.

I wanted to believe Benoit that the man was nothing but a confused drunk, but it sure hadn’t seemed that way. In fact, he’d been pretty damn positive that Benoit was this Gabriele, almost looked hurt when Benoit responded the way he did.

“Dimitri?” Benoit held his hand out to me, and as I took hold of it, he gave a sensual smile. “You want to get out of here?”

Yes. Yes, I did.

Then I was going to work out why and what else Benoit was lying to me about.