“Sorry. I thought you knew. My dad ordered my brother to brand me. C for Cordano.” Her voice tightened. “That was after he had Dante beat me with his belt. I’m popping the pain killers or I wouldn’t even be able to sit down.”
Bile rose in Ben’s throat. What kind of family would do this to a beautiful young girl? “That’s criminal assault,” he blurted out without thinking.
She gave a resigned shrug. “I suppose if we lived in the normal world, it would be. But we don’t. We live in a world where things like this happen, and no one can do anything about it.”
Ben was tempted to assure her there were people who would do something about it, but who the fuck would that be? As with all the crime families, the Toscanis had cops on their payroll from Vegas all the way to LA—cops who would turn a blind eye to flagrant breaches of the law. It had been an eye-opening experience when Ben first worked his way into the mob, and it had taken him years to get a handle on his anger. Last year, he’d given Jack a list of all the dirty cops he knew. But big surprise, they were all still around.
“Well, nothing is gonna happen to you on my watch. I promise you that.” He carefully examined the wound and replaced the bandage. “It isn’t infected, and unless you want it to scar worse, it’s best just to leave it alone.”
“Thanks for looking at it.” She dropped her blouse and turned to sit beside him on the couch. “Do you know what hurt worse?” She rested her hand on his thigh, rubbed her thumb back and forth over the rough denim. Desire shivered across Ben’s skin, and he resisted the urge to knock her hand away. Maybe she was just needing some comfort. Lord knew, the poor girl needed it.
“What’s that?”
“It was knowing that I’d spent my life in hiding for nothing. I was the perfect daughter. I did and said everything my father expected of a Mafia princess. But the other night, I realized it was a wasted effort. He hurt me to get to Mia, and it didn’t matter that I had been everything he wanted me to be, because what he wanted me to be was nothing. I should have just been me. Like Mia.” With her free hand, she undid the first two buttons on her blouse, and Ben’s pulse kicked up a notch.
“Can’t imagine a father doing what he did to you.” He slid sideways across the couch, dislodging her hand, and reached for a pillow to put a barrier between them. She was so incredibly lovely, graceful, soft and gentle. Like an angel. And she’d been living in Hell.
“Well then I won’t tell you about all the other things that went on in our house.” She undid another button. “We are about as dysfunctional as a family can get. My father is a tyrant, a monster in every sense of the word, and so are the men who work with him.”
Ben willed himself to look away from the exposed crescent of her perfect breast, the gentle slope, the lush swell of the forbidden fruit. He stared at the television, tried to focus on the screen and not the pulse of desire pounding through his veins.
“I’m not going to bite.” Kat laughed lightly. “You can come closer.”
“I’m good. Gonna take a shower and head off to bed.” He fisted the pillow, breathed through his mouth so he wouldn’t inhale the fresh, floral scent of her perfume. Something definitely wasn’t right here. Did she think she owed him for looking after her? Or was she looking for some comfort?
She let her shirt slide down her arms to reveal a lacy, pink bra.
“Whoa.” He held up his hands in a warding gesture. “I’ll just go in the other room if you’re wanting to change.”
“I don’t want to change.” She tugged the pillow from his lap and clasped his hand. “I want to have some fun. With you. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. What you see … this package … the girly clothes … it isn’t me. It’s what I did to survive. I want to find out who I really am with you.”
Ben’s stomach tightened and he gently released her hand. If he’d been another man in another place at another time he wouldn’t have turned her down. But she was a vulnerable, young woman who had just been through a traumatic experience. It wasn’t the right thing to do.
“Sweetheart. You’re a beautiful girl, but I gave Nico my word I’d keep you safe, and that includes keeping you safe from me. He’d have my head if he knew I touched you.”
She leaned across the couch; lay her head on his shoulder. “But he won’t know. No one will know. I’ve never been with anyone. I was always too afraid after what happened to Mia’s boyfriend, Danny. I’m free now. I want my first time to be with you.”
Jesus Christ. His pulse thundered in his veins, and his erection pressed painfully against his jeans. He had never felt temptation like this before. And it wasn’t because a beautiful half-naked virgin was begging him to be her first time; it was because he liked her. She was sweet and honest and genuine and kind. She was everything Ginger was not, everything he hoped little Daisy would grow up to be.