Page 87 of Bene

As though he didn’t already know she’d been here before.

Funny thing was, the weekend she spent with Bene here hadn’t given Vanna much insight to the mansion, or the history within it. He had been far more interested in getting her back flat to any surface that he could, and enjoying it, rather than giving her a grand tour. She hadn’t seemed to mind, so …

Unsurprisingly, Bene found the kitchen to be organized chaos. Not unusual when his parents threw a decent-sized dinner party like the one tonight. The catering company his mother favored—one that had no problem with signing nondisclosure agreements and regularly having their staff checked when inside the mansion—moved all over the space, passing each other like ships in a very crowded harbor.

And yet, they didn’t bump into one another. Hands tossed high in response to the orders the head chef threw out to her people, and there in the middle of it all was his mother, helping right along to keep everything on track, and making sure everyone knew what they had to do or go to next for the evening.

“We need those bottles of champagne ready, Kassie,” Cara told the head chef.

“Working on it, ma’am.”

“Thank you. Oh.”

His mother’s gaze fell on him in the doorway, and while Bene had a good mind to slip out of the space, and let her get back to work, he didn’t. Instead, he smiled when she grinned his way, and moved toward him.

“Did you get that done upstairs?”

“All moved,” he assured.

“It looks better in the hallway, doesn’t it?”

He shrugged. “Makes sense to put the cabinet there, sure.”

“Because it looks nicer.”

Bene laughed, knowing better than to argue with his mother over something like decorating. Sure, she had a whole team that regularly came in to decorate her spaces, but they always worked with her to do it. She had an eye for that sort of thing, and frankly, Bene had very little interest in it. He was fine to just do what he was told in that case.

Cara reached up to stroke his cheek with her soft fingertips. The same action she used to do to him when he was a child, and she wanted him to know she was giving him special attention even when the room was full of his brothers. Her fingers would drift over the side of his face, up into his hair, and then she’d give him a little smile from the side. She didn’t do it nearly as much as she used to when he was little, but it still reminded him of that every single time.

Her soft smile had him reflecting the same thing back.

“Looking for her, are you?” his mother asked.

As though she just knew.

Bene tried to play it off with a, “Well, I was going back to the party, but—”

“Yes, you were looking for her.”

“Do you like her?”

Cara lifted her brows, as though she was actually contemplating his question. And just as fast, she let out a light laugh. “I see how much you like her, that’s for sure.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you’re happy. A lot happier than you have been, yes?”

For a moment, he forgot that he was standing just beyond the kitchen entry. A room full of other people who could undoubtedly hear their conversation just fine. In that second, it was simply him, and his mother.

He could always be honest with his ma.

It was the love she fostered for them.

“She helped a bit with that,” he admitted, “but I just needed some time to figure things out on my own about shit, too.”

Cara rolled her eyes at his choice in language. “She makes you smile.”

“Does she?”