Page 38 of Beni

“Well, good. Not that you wouldn’t have kicked his ass, if he tried anything stupid with you, but I wanted to make sure.”

God knows it, she thought.

August had been able to take care of herself for as long as she remembered. She had to. Life hadn’t given her another choice, really. Some people saw her as an easy target, and she had to learn how to handle herself in many unpleasant situations. Men didn’t scare her. They were just … typical assholes, normally.

Well, some.

Not Beni, it seemed.

“And thanks for watching my back.”

“Always,” Camilla said quietly. “Do you want to meet up later?”

“How about lunch?”

Because she had a feeling that delicious scent wafting in from the opened bedroom doorway was Beni cooking her breakfast—or that’s what she was hoping, anyhow. She wasn’t about to cut that short, not if it meant she had the opportunity to get in a round two with that man before she left his place.

“Lunch is good. I’ll text you the address to a place I like in the city. Okay?”

“You got it. Later, babe.”

“See you later, Aug.”

Click.

August rolled to her side again, grabbing the bag from the bedside table, and dropped her phone inside. She also grabbed her small kit, as she liked to call it, which was really just a small makeup bag with a few trial-sized hygiene items, a clean pair of panties, and extra cash as a just in case. She always kept it in her purse, whether she got stuck in an airport, or she had a night like the one before.

It was good to be prepared.

Or, that’s what her ma liked to say.

Ada.

Yeah, she had to call her mom, too. She promised to keep her updated on how she was doing in Chicago, otherwise her mother would get worked into a panic. With a mental note in her mind to do exactly that when she had time later in the day, she forced herself out of that comfortable bed as her bladder was making itself known, used the sheet on the bed to wrap around herself, and picked up the clothes that were now in a neat pile on the chair in the corner.

Had Beni done that?

He really was sweet.

August made quick work of using the bathroom, noting how the vanity held a side for each man that lived in the apartment. She had to blink at the way their things had been set up on the counter—identical on each side, and all items in the same location.

By the time she was done pulling on her clothes—including a clean pair of panties—splashing her face with water, brushing her teeth, and fixing the wrap in her hair as it was better to just keep it on for now, she heard the sizzling pop of bacon in a frying pan when she came out of the bathroom. She followed the aromas guiding her down the hallway until she came to stop in the entryway of the small apartment kitchen.

The man at the stove with his back to her, and black boxer-briefs riding low on his hips had her clearing her throat, and grinning a bit when he tensed at the stove. Ha. She had managed to sneak up on him.

Well, at first she was amused.

Then, he turned around.

Cocking a brow at her, a man who looked like Beni with a spatula in his hand didn’t bother to hide the slow perusal of her standing in the doorway. It really was uncanny how much the twins looked alike. Clearly, they were identical, but she had met other twins before in her lifetime. Not all twins mirrored each other perfectly in everything from looks, to behavior. Sometimes, it was just an inch or two of height. Sometimes the color of the eyes would be slightly different. Or even the way their features rested in a neutral state.

These twins, though?

A woman could easily mistake one for the other, and not realize it.

Except her, apparently.

“Morning to you,” he said, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a smirk. “Wondered when you were going to crawl out of bed.”