the sensual, expectant smiles of two men I had already encountered on my trip.
Franco and Benito Bassani.
********************
The brothers were dressed the same -- which was barely dressed at all. They wore leather sandals and the steel studded war skirts of Roman soldiers, the black leather cut into a dozen or more strips that revealed the absence of any undergarment whenever they moved.
The only difference between them was that Benito had replaced the discreet nose ring with a thicker, bigger ring that ended with two ball caps and a gap.
Stunned by their presence, I let each brother capture one of my wrists. They lead me through the expansive house. I couldn't keep track of the corridors or rooms we passed through, but whenever we were presented with a choice to go down or up, they chose down. The air became more humid and I thought I could smell the Venetian lagoon around us as salt water pinched my nose.
Every time my steps stalled, they coaxed me forward with tame caresses and soft murmuring until at least we came to a room of shadows and flickering candlelight. In the center of the room was a long, gilded bench covered in a metallic fabric of buttery yellow. Next to it on the floor rested a silver bowl with gold-foiled packets that answered the question I hadn't yet had the sense to ask.
Beyond the weak circle of light was darkness except for the dancing reflection of the candles' flames in a lattice of burnished metal that stood opposite the door. The smell of the bay was thick in the air, and, if I stayed motionless, I could hear the gentle lapping of water over rock. Caught in the loose embrace of the Bassani brothers, my body moved with the sound of the water.
Franco placed me on the bench. One of his long legs slid behind me as he straddled the seat. Fingertips cascaded down my back, the sensation of their light touch sparking out in a million directions. I arched my spine, my breasts pressing upward as my eyes drifted shut.
Sightless, I could hear everything. Franco taking slow, steady breaths from where he sat behind me, the brush of flesh against the stone floor as Benito knelt at the foot of the bench, the water somewhere on the other side of the screen, not just lapping over stone but dripping from where the moisture collected against a vaulted ceiling I could only guess at.
I heard other bodies breathing, harsher than the brothers who touched me but at a greater distance, one off to each of my sides so that I was the center point on a compass. Opening my eyes, my vision adjusted to the near darkness. The ceiling above me was ragged, so were the walls. The floor was smoother but uneven. I looked left and then right to the points were I heard the heavier respiration.
Two uneven alcoves emerged from the darkness, each one populated by a solitary shadow.
Was Parisi one of them?
Slowly, I shook my head, denying the possibility.
"Please, bella ," Franco whispered in my ear as he removed the bustier. "Don't deny us. Our eyes have been starving for just a glimpse of you since we departed, our tongues for the faintest taste. Look at my brother, the bull, and see how much he aches."
My gaze drifted to Benito. He was on his knees in front of me, but his height ensured that I could see his cock fighting to part the leather strips of his war skirt and fully reveal itself.
"Can you see the ache?" Franco asked, his lips warm against my ear.
I nodded. Water licked at stone somewhere beyond the screen. Was Parisi there, watching through the metal lattice, remote and unattainable?
"You see how much he wants you, but still you deny him, bella. " Franco punctuated the accusation with a kiss to the curve of my neck. "Are you a cruel beauty, then? A heartless queen?"
I shook my head. This was a game to them, a game to Parisi, something rehearsed and played over and over with one woman after another. Whatever cruelty existed on that island, it wasn't mine.
"Then open to him." Franco's fingers danced against the