Dangerous Beauty: Part Two: A Mafia Princess (18 page)

“Mama, it’s more than that,” Carter said, seemingly amused by her mother.

Anastacia frowned. “Well, let me see then. I want to see.” Anastacia turned toward Nathan and Angelo. “This girl claims she has the ability to catch a knife coming toward her full force.”

“Bullshit.” said Nathan in disbelief. That couldn’t be possible. Shit like that only happened in movies. Yes, he believed Carter was well-trained in combat. But catching a flying knife?

Carter raised an eyebrow. “Bullshit?”

Nathan shrugged. Yep, he called bullshit.

The laugh that broke from Carter’s lips was one Nathan had never heard before. It was dark, menacing, full of mischief, and very, very sexy.

“My, my, my …” She feigned disappointment and ran a distance ahead of them to stand on the big staircase leading up to the house. Looking to the sky, she spoke to her deceased father. “Did you hear that, Daddy? They have so little faith in your baby girl.” Her gaze then traveled back to her mother, Angelo, and Nathan. “I would show you my talent, but I can’t.”

“Why not?” Anastacia asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Carter laughed. “In order to teach me combat effectively, my father had to fight me. He hit me— full force— to build my tolerance for pain and ensure I could endure in a fight with a man three times my size. To sharpen my reflexes, he put me through some very painful reflex tests. And to teach me how to dodge a bullet, he had to shoot at me with a real gun. I’ve been cut, stabbed, shot, and bruised. I’ve had ten broken bones and one chipped tooth from training. But when it came to the moment I was faced with an actual enemy, when I had to fight to survive— like just a few months ago when I had three guns aimed at my face— I got through it. Daddy had to steel himself. It wasn’t easy for him to cause hurt to his own child. It took a little time for him to talk himself into it.” Carter pointed at them. “Are any of you willing to te— ?”

Carter barely got the question out before a large gold knife was streaming through the air, headed directly for her face at a high speed.

Nathan’s heart stopped beating. He was pretty sure he yelled, “What the fuck?” and nearly lurched forward to take the knife in his chest for his wife. But he didn’t really have time because— she caught it. She fucking caught the knife! And the catch was smooth and effortless. Not only did she catch it, she laughed and flipped it around in her hand like it was a fucking baton.
What the hell?
Nathan was literally panicking because he thought she was going to die, and she was laughing? Nathan looked at his father and saw that he was pale as well.

“Both of my parents are psychos. Good to know.” She laughed and studied the knife. Looking at her mother, she asked, “Can I keep this?”

Anastacia nodded. “That and anything else you want. Quite an impressive skill, baby girl. Your father was truly talented.”

“Yes, he was,” Carter agreed. She flipped the knife in the air and caught it while she looked down in thought. After a moment, she looked up at her mother with excitement. “Do you wanna see what I can do with a gun?” she asked with a big smile.

The moment Anastacia nodded her agreement, Nathan stepped in. “Are you insane, woman?”

His father laughed. “I was wondering when he’d say something.”

Carter frowned at Nathan in confusion as he stormed toward her, muttering angrily in Russian.

Was she out of her mind?
Did she really think he would stand out here and watch her play with guns and knives? Fucking crazy! Nathan had told her over and over how much he hated to see her put her life in danger, yet she continued to pull shit like this.

“What’d I do?” she asked innocently as she laid her new knife down on the stone railing of the staircase. She let out a squeal of surprise when Nathan scooped her up in his arms. “Bubby!”

Nathan ignored her and the two intruders as he carried his wife into the safety of their home.

“Carter, baby, I love you— madly, deeply— but if you keep scaring me like this, I’m going to lose my mind!” Nathan yelled as he walked into the bathroom, shedding the remainder of his clothing.

Carter sighed and shamelessly ogled him. As she unbuttoned her shirt, her gaze flowed down her husband’s gorgeous body. His broad shoulders, the now tense muscles in his back, and his arms— dear Lord Jesus, his arms— so big and all muscle. Carter let her gaze lower to Nathan’s ass. Nathan had the sexiest ass. When he turned, she took in his masterfully sculpted chest and abs, that
insanely sexy
tattoo, then lowered her eyes to his semi-erect co—

“Carter!”

Carter jumped as her eyes snapped up Nathan’s. Oops…She’d just been caught checking out his naked body, but she wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed. He was her husband after all. She could check him out if she wanted to. She was actually a bit upset that he’d so rudely interrupted her perusal of his body.

Carter frowned and let her shirt fall to the floor. “What?”

“Did you even hear a word I said?” he asked angrily. “Or were you too busy looking at my ass?”

Carter laughed. “I don’t know why you’re so upset, Nathan. I’m fine. My father and I used to toss knives around like they were baseballs.”

“That’s crazy, Carterina! I’m not okay with you tossing around weapons like they’re toys. All it takes is one mistake, and you could lose your life!”

Carter frowned at that. ‘One mistake’— she got it. She knew she wasn’t invincible, but she had already made her one mistake that day in the elevator. She didn’t plan on making another one. But she understood that Nathan still didn’t trust her to stay out of trouble. Why else would he be keeping her locked away in their home?

She went to walk past Nathan, but was halted when he reached out and caught her arm. She turned to him with a huff, unable to hide the frustration she was feeling at the moment.

Nathan sighed. “I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I couldn’t take it if something happened to you again, baby.”

The pained look in his eyes caused Carter to immediately soften toward him. She reached up and took his face in her hands. “I’m sorry, honey.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his body. Carter smiled, looking into his eyes. “I can’t promise that I won’t do something to startle you again, Nathan. You know I can’t. But I can promise that we are going to grow old and fat together.” That got him to laugh. Carter smiled and gave him another kiss. “You’re stuck with my crazy ass, Bubby,” she teased. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby,” he whispered against her lips.

“Good,” Carter said brightly while wiggling out of his embrace. “Now let me go before this leads to sex.”

Nathan laughed, but Carter was serious. They didn’t have time to get caught up like they normally did. She hadn’t even started cooking yet. She stepped into her side of the double shower and reached for her shower cap.

“When has make-up sex ever been a bad thing for us, Carter?” Nathan asked, playfully wiggling his eyebrows. He stepped over to his side of the shower and turned on the water.

Carter smiled. “We have no time, Nathan. Plus, sex in the shower has never been a good thing for my hair. I can’t mess this up any more than it already is, or I won’t make it to my own birthday dinner.” Carter secured her shower cap. “You know what happens to my hair when I get it wet.”

Nathan chuckled. “I always thought it was stunning, and soft, and—”

“Unmanageable,” Carter interjected. “No water on this hair today, Bubby. I mean it,” she warned.

Nathan put his hands up in surrender and turned back to his side of the shower. Carter flipped on a light spray and began to soap her body. They were silent for a moment before Nathan asked her a question.

“Why do you think Anastacia and Angelo showed up together?” Nathan asked.

Carter’s brows furrowed as she continued to wash. “What do you mean? They’re here for my birthday,” she replied.

“I know that, Carter,” he said dryly. “But I mean they showed up together, just the two of them. Aren’t you the least bit curious about their sudden closeness?” Nathan asked.

Carter paused for a moment— thinking about it— and then chuckled.

Nathan frowned. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

Carter stared at him blankly. “Are you serious? Nathan, I know you. You already have this figured out, just like I do. Why are you in denial about it? They’re both adults, and there’s obviously some history there.” Carter shrugged. “I say more power to them.”

Nathan looked at her in confusion and shook his head. “Wait. What the hell are you talking about, Carter? What am I in denial about? And what do you mean by history?”

“Ummm … We’re talking about the same thing, right?”

Nathan shook his head. “I know you’re not saying what I think you’re saying …”

Carter bit her bottom lip nervously. “Uhhh … Nathan. Our parents are sleeping together,” she said slowly, then giggled. “Well, not sleeping … screwing. They’re screwing each other. But they probably go to sleep afterwards,” she said with humor. “Eww!” she laughed.

She laughed harder when Nathan’s complexion paled. “Nathan, it’s okay, honey,” she said through her laughter. He looked very distressed and shocked, and it was hilarious.

Abruptly, he turned, lifted his detachable shower nozzle, and turned the spray on her.

Carter screamed and scrambled to protect her hair. “You son of bitch!” She quickly reached for the extra shower caps she never had to use and put all three of them on her head. “
I’m gonna kill you, Nathan!
”

“Take it back!”

“If I did, it wouldn’t make it any less true!”

Nathan continued his merciless water attack. Carter turned around and felt for her own shower nozzle, and once she found it, she turned it on him, making sure she had it on the setting that would shoot out the most water. And thus the water war began.

Carter quickly came to the realization that she wasn’t winning. The sad truth was that she had the most to lose— a really cute hair style, which she already had to do some maintenance on because of the wild sweat-inducing sex in the car. She could only imagine how it would look if Nathan got it all wet.

Carter dropped her shower nozzle and went for Nathan’s. “Give it to me!” she screamed.

“Absolutely not, Carter! I can’t believe you’re okay with this!”

He finally let up on his attack and glared at her.

“Nathan, it’s not that big of a big deal!”

Nathan made a sound of disgust. “It’s not that big of a deal that our parents are fucking each other?” He looked at her like she was out of her mind.

“Shouldn’t you want to give your father a high-five, or whatever you guys do? Anastacia is hot! I don’t see what’s so bad about it.” It was true— her mother was insanely gorgeous. Carter didn’t believe she was anywhere near as pretty as Anastacia Stone.

“
Are. You. Insane?
What if it ends badly? Then what? My father is fucking my mother-in-law. Hell, your father-in-law is fucking your mother!” he shouted.

“We don’t know for sure, Nathan. I’m just guessing. Why don’t you ask him?” She put up her hands. “In a more respectful way, of course. If you ask your father if he’s fucking her, he’ll probably kick your ass for being disrespectful. Just ask him if he’s still with Cynthia, and if not, is he seeing anyone right now?” Carter said with a shrug. Last she’d heard, Angelo and Cynthia— his longtime girlfriend— were going to live together. She was nice when Carter had met her, and she was an attractive woman. But if Angelo was with Anastacia romantically— in any way— right now, Cynthia didn’t have a chance in hell. She didn’t have shit on Carter’s mother.

Nathan made another sound of disgust. “I can’t believe you don’t think this is odd. Am I the only sane person in here, Carter?”

Carter sighed. “I admit it’s a little weird. But we don’t have to think about it, Nathan. Honestly, I think there’s been something there since before you and I were even thought of. Let them work through it, Bubby.”

“Let them work through what? In the story he told you about your mother, he said he was eighteen when they first met, and she was with Paolo Luchini,” Nathan said as he recalled the conversation from Carter’s first day in New York.

Carter frowned in thought for a moment. “He didn’t say that she and Paolo where romantic,” she reasoned.

“But he did say that if anyone even thought of touching her, Paolo would cut off their hands. So they couldn’t have been together then,” Nathan countered.

Carter bit lip then shook her head. “I don’t know, Nathan. I think they were together once. It must have ended when your father met your mother.” Carter turned off her side of the shower and opened the shower door to step out. “Did your father ever tell you how he met your mother? He and Anastacia could have dated then.” She grabbed her towel from the rack and wrapped it around her body. “Maybe it ended badly. Maybe your father fell madly in love with your mother, and they ran off to America together.”

Nathan exited the shower with a bitter laugh. “Yeah, right,” he said scornfully. He took his towel from the rack and wrapped it around his waist, tucking in the sides to hold it up. He went to the mirror and stood next to Carter as he grabbed his toothbrush and toothpaste. “The last thing I think of when I remember my parents together is love,” he said right before he began to brush his teeth.

Carter heard the bitterness in his tone, and she looked at him with concern. “Nathan, they had to be in love once. They made you. Just because it didn’t work out in the end doesn’t mean they didn’t love each other once upon a time.”

Nathan finished brushing his teeth just as Carter began brushing hers. He turned and leaned against the counter as he thought about his childhood. He tried to think of a time when he had seen his parents smile together, or laugh. Had he ever heard them say I love you?

“No,” he said as he turned back around to look at Carter in the mirror. “No love, not any. It was almost like they hated each other by the time I was five. Honestly, I think they argued the day you and your father came here. That’s all they did. They tried to hide it, but they were bad at it. It got to the point where they couldn’t even be in the room together. Pop would take me to New York and Italy, but Mama wouldn’t come with us. I lived with her, but he took me away every chance he got. That’s why I thought they were divorced already the night they told me they were getting a divorce— the night she died,” He finished softly. He cleared his throat uncomfortably.

He looked away, frowning. Carter finished brushing her teeth then turned and sat on the counter. She reached for Nathan and took his hand in hers, pulling him over to her until he stood between her legs. She wrapped her arms around his waist and placed soft kisses on his chest. “Nathan?” she whispered against his skin.

“Yes?”

She closed her eyes and kissed him again. She didn’t know how he was going to respond to what she was going to say next, but she was still going to say it. “Honey … Why don’t you talk to him, you know, ask him about this stuff?”

When their eyes met, she tried desperately to find some kind of emotion. Something to tell her what he was thinking, how he was feeling. But she saw nothing. He didn’t do this often, but every time he did, Carter knew that something was really wrong. Nathan could hide his emotions so well, but the trick worked against him with her. She knew that he only did it when he didn’t want her to see how much a situation was affecting him.

“Nathan, don’t,” Carter whispered.

“Don’t what, Carter?” he replied.

She touched his face, and his eyes softened. “Don’t hide from me. It’s just a suggestion.”

“I know, baby, I know. I just don’t understand what talking to him would do for me.”

“It would do a lot to help you move on, help you heal. You two could talk about your mother. He could tell you that he did love her. He had to, Nathan, I know he did. Your father is a good man. Even if it was only because she gave him you, he loved her.”

Nathan took a deep breath and exhaled. “Carter, talking to him won’t change anything.”

“Yes, it will.”

“How?” he asked, sounding irritated.

Carter didn’t care. “Things have already changed, Nathan. Talking to your father about your mother will make things better for you. You two need each other. You have to stop tiptoeing around the subject of your mother,” she said firmly. “You need to heal.”

“I don’t need any more healing, Carter.” He wrapped his arms around her. “You are my healing— you’re all I need,” he said, and then he kissed her lips slowly, passionately.

Carter melted into him as he deepened their kiss. She sighed into his mouth. Every time she kissed him like this, it felt like the first time.

Carter could feel things getting heated, and that wasn’t where she wanted this to go. She wanted him to talk to his father because he needed it. He needed to hear his father’s side of things in order to move forward without all of the bitterness.

“Nathan.” She pressed against his chest to push him back. “Nathan, stop.” she said softly.

Nathan groaned and stepped away from her. “Carterina, I’m not speaking about this anymore,” he said sharply as he turned to leave the bathroom.

Carter threw off her shower caps and jumped from the counter, running after him. “Nathan! I didn’t mean to make you upset. That’s not what I’m trying to do.”

Nathan disappeared into their large closet, and Carter followed. “Nathan, please.” She walked up behind him and touched his back softly. It stung when he jerked away from her touch, but Carter continued to try and soften him. “Nathan, I’m sorry,” she said softly, her voice almost a whisper. “I’m just worried, Bubby. That’s all. It’s okay if you’re still not ready to talk to your father about her. I won’t push you. Don’t you remember what I told you that night on the beach? I know how much it hurts. I know how hard it is.” When he still didn’t speak, she touched him again, happy that he didn’t move away this time. She moved closer to him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and kissed his back softly. “Please talk to me, Nathan. Don’t shut me out.” She kissed him again, and again. “I love you,” she whispered. “I love you so much, and it makes me worry about you. When you’re hurting, I’m hurting, Bubby. I love you,” Carter whispered her love for him over and over until she felt his strong hands touch hers. She silently prayed that he wouldn’t push her away and storm off. She let out a sigh of relief when he lifted her hand to his lips. He kissed it softly.