“You two never stop being adorable, do you?” Anastacia laughed softly.
Carter pulled back from their kiss as heat rushed to her cheeks. Crap. She always got a little carried away with Nathan. It always felt like they were the only two in the room even when they weren’t.
“Oops,” she whispered.
Nathan chuckled.
Anastacia smiled. “Giving your husband a kiss isn’t something to be shy about, baby girl.” She winked at Carter and wiped her hands with a towel from the counter. “I will leave you two. I must go and get the rest of Carterina’s gifts.”
“Mama, you didn’t have to get me anything.”
“Are you out of your mind? It’s your birthday, baby girl. I want to sit next to you and watch you open the gifts I gave you. This will be the first year that you will actually know what’s from me. I …” Anastacia paused and cleared her throat. She was feeling a little too much again. She didn’t like to cry, but this was the first time she would get to be with Carter for her birthday. She wished Carter’s father could have been here. “Anyway, I just want it to be special.”
Nathan placed her back on her feet, and she turned to her mother. “You sent me birthday gifts?” she asked.
Anastacia laughed softly to avoid showing her emotion. “Of course, I did.” Her voice came out a hoarse whisper. It was getting harder and harder to hold this in. “Every birthday outfit you ever wore. Do you think you father could pick out clothes like that?” She shook her head.
Carter laughed, fighting emotions of her own. “I should have known,” she pouted. “Oh, Mommy—” She scurried over to her mother and hugged her. “You’ve already made my birthday special. You’re here with me. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for as long as I can remember.” Carter suddenly chuckled, thinking of something funny. “What do you think Daddy would say, seeing us here, together like this?”
Anastacia placed a hand on each side of Carter’s face. “He would be happy.” She kissed both of Carter’s cheeks. “I miss him, too, honey … very much,” she whispered. “I will be back. I love you, sweetheart.” Anastacia turned to leave the kitchen just as Carter muttered something softly. She turned back around. “Did you say something, Carterina?”
Carter’s body tensed, and she clasped her hands in front of her. Lowering her eyes, she shook her head no. It didn’t take her long to realize what she had done wrong, and she quickly met her mother’s eyes with an apologetic smile.
“No, Mama. I didn’t say anything,” she lied. “I’ll see you when you get back,” she said softly.
Her mother stared at her for a moment then nodded her head and left the kitchen.
Once she was gone, Carter turned back to Nathan. “Shit …” she sighed, disappointed in her weakness. “I’m such a coward.”
Nathan crossed his arms over his chest and slowly strolled over to her. “Baby, you’re not a coward. You and your mother are making progress. Do you remember how it was the first week?”
Carter nodded. She did. She had been extremely shy around her mother then, and now they were dancing around the kitchen together. They’d come a long way. It had been fast— too fast for Carter to completely trust it. She just couldn’t shake a bad feeling she was starting to have.
“Carter?” Nathan touched her face, and she looked up into his concerned eyes.
She touched his hand. “I’m all right. I am. I just …” she frowned. “I feel like she’s keeping something from me.”
“About what?”
“My dad … their relationship,” she sighed. “I told her some things today, and she completely shut off. I mean, one second she was warm, and then I revealed something, and she went completely blank. It’s like she’s reacting, but she doesn’t want me to know her reaction.”
“And you think that means she’s hiding something?”
“Doesn’t it?” Carter asked, looking for Nathan’s input. He knew how to read these situations just as well she did. He could tell on the spot if someone was holding something back. That’s how he had gotten her to open up about Anastacia in the first place.
Nathan let out a long breath and nodded. “Yes, but not just her— my father, too.” He was sure they were keeping secrets. He hoped to God they weren’t the life-altering kind, for both his and Carter’s sake.
Carter groaned and wrapped her arms around Nathan’s waist. He wrapped his around her and held her close.
“And what did your father say about their relationship?” Carter asked.
“He said it’s complicated … She was his first love— and a pain in the ass, or something like that.”
“They’re going to kill each other, Bubby,” she whined.
Nathan sighed and rubbed her back. “I know.” He lifted her chin so their eyes could meet. “But promise me something, baby. We don’t get involved in their bullshit. I know what it’s like being stuck in the middle of two people you love. I’m not doing it, and I don’t want you to, either. What happens between them is their business. We stay focused on us. Agreed?”
Carter looked at him for a moment then nodded her head. “Agreed, Bubby.” She stood on her toes and kissed him. “Will you promise me something, too?” she asked.
“Anything,” Nathan replied.
“I know they’re keeping something from us, Nathan. Whatever it is, I want you to promise me that it won’t affect what we have. Promise it will always be you and me against the bullshit.”
Nathan smiled. “I promise. I’m sure it’s not all that bad, baby, but whatever happens, we’ll get through it together.” He kissed her to seal the deal. When their lips parted, he confided, “I talked to him about my mother.”
Carter’s eyes lit up. She opened her mouth to ask him how it went, but Nathan placed his finger to her lips.
“We’ll talk about it later. I promise,” he said softly.
Carter smiled and nodded and continued preparing her birthday dinner. “That fight? That was intense, Bubby,” Carter said over her shoulder. “I was terrified. Do we fight like that? God, please tell me we don’t.”
Nathan laughed. “Well, I still have scars from some of our fights,” he joked.
Carter looked up from the food with a naughty smile. “Nathan, you and I both know those scars you have aren’t from the fights— they’re from after the fights,” she reminded him. She had a few scars herself. The outline of Nathan’s hand was damn near imprinted on her ass.
Nathan smirked then closed the distance between them once again. “You’re so sexy, Carterina.” He came up behind her and pressed his body against hers.
Carter leaned back against him. “I know I am,” she teased. She turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Just wait until you see my performance as your ice cream sundae tonight,” she said with her most wicked smile.
Almost immediately, Nathan’s entire demeanor changed, and his gray eyes darkened with lust. Carter could feel his body responding to her game. She knew he wanted to take her right there in the kitchen, and he probably would have had Angelo not walked in at that moment.
“It smells heavenly in here.”
Carter glanced over to the kitchen entrance, a little disappointed that she and Nathan were no longer alone, but still happy to see her father-in-law. She tried to leave Nathan’s arms, but he held on to her tighter and growled.
Carter giggled. “Nathan,” she whispered. “If you’re good now, I’ll be bad later.”
He immediately let her go.
She laughed and ran as quickly as her feet allowed into Angelo’s waiting embrace. “Hi!” she squealed as Angelo picked her up into a warm hug.
“Happy Birthday, sweet girl.” He kissed her cheek and set her back on the ground.
Carter looked up at him with concern. “Not that I’m prying or anything, but … are you okay?” Carter asked. She hated seeing Angelo and her mother so mad at each other. She hoped they had worked through it.
Angelo smiled and pinched her nose. Carter scrunched
up her face and tried to get away from his torture. He chuckled at the face she made and set her free. “Well, at least Ana’s clone likes me,” he teased.
Carter had to laugh at that. “I’m sure you’ll charm your way back into her good graces, Angelo Salerno. If your words don’t work, you can just use that devastatingly beautiful Salerno smile. Apparently Stone women have a weakness for it,” she said as she walked back over to the food. “I know I do.” She winked at Nathan, and he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Jesus,” Angelo said, drawing Carter’s attention away from her husband’s bad behavior. “You sound like your mother, child. Are men described as beautiful now?” He walked over to the half-circle table by the window.
“Well, is there any other way to describe a Salerno man? I don’t think so. There’s nothing wrong with a beautiful man, Daddy Salerno. You should listen to my mother more. Apparently— much like my husband— she’s always right.”
Angelo rolled his eyes and Carter chuckled.
17
Happy Birthday Carterina
The Originals were the first to arrive. Carter clung to Cesare’s arm and scowled at her mother— who had made it back not too long after she’d left— when she had the audacity to greet him with a kiss on his cheek. Leading him to the kitchen, she proceeded to try to feed him food she had prepared from her hand.
He laughed. “Carterina, stop this,” he said, trying to fight off her efforts.
Carter insisted. “Stop fighting me, Cesiebear. Let me feed you.”
“Why do you call me ‘Cesiebear’ every time, eh?”
“Because I know how much you love it. Now eat.”
She caught him off guard and popped the food in his mouth. He laughed and chewed at the same time. Carter reached up and touched his face softly, and he quickly backed away from her touch.
“Jesus Christ, Carterina!” he groaned. “Why do you insist on teasing me like this?”
Carter shrugged her shoulders. She didn’t know why she did it. She just had fun teasing the guy.
A little while later Carter found herself feeding a much more willing man. Her man. Nathan tasted each of her hors d’oeuvres with exaggerated moans of pleasure. She sat on his lap and fed him while simultaneously blocking his hand from slipping under her skirt.
“Aww … look at the happy couple.”
Carter looked up with a smile when she heard Kyle’s voice. She stood from Nathan’s lap and scrambled over to his open arms.
“Kyle!” she screamed.
Kyle laughed. “You miss me, beautiful?”
She placed a kiss on his cheek. “You know I did.”
She looked into eyes to find him staring at her lips. A sly smile appeared on his face.
“What kind of lip gloss are you wearing, Carterina?”
Carter cocked her head to the side with a look of confusion.
“If you keep looking at my wife’s lips like that, the next greeting you get will be from the bottom of my shoe.”
Kyle chuckled and looked up at Nathan. “I don’t know. The kiss I want to give her just might be worth it Nathan.”
Nathan arched an eyebrow. “I’m going beat your ass, Kyle.”
Kyle’s smiled wider. “Bring it on, Russian.”
Carter raised her hand between them to get their attention. “Now, while I do agree with Kyle that my kiss is worth a good beating, I must say I’m disappointed that no one even asked me if I wanted to be kissed.” That made them both smile. She let out an exaggerated sigh. “Because of your disregard for my wants, I will not be kissing either of you. I’ll just leave you here to kiss each other.” They frowned, and Carter smirked. “As for me? I’ll be leaving to find someone else to kiss.” Carter started to walk away. “Has anyone seen Cesare?”
Both Nathan and Kyle reached for her at the same time and pulled her back. Carter laughed.
“As you can see, Carter’s still crazy,” Nathan said as he brought her to his side.
Carter wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest.
Kyle chuckled. “Well, she’s been living with you, so I expected as much.”
Nathan chuckled. “Fuck you, you blue-eyed son of bitch.” He and Kyle slapped hands and pulled each other into a hug, sandwiching Carter between them.
Umm…hell yes, Carter thought.
“I do have blue eyes … and my mother is a bitch,” Kyle said. They both laughed and completed their hug with loud slaps on the back. “How’s married life treating you?” he asked.
“Very well,” Nathan replied with a nod. Kyle slipped a cell phone into Nathan’s hand, and Nathan put into his pocket.
Carter caught the exchange, but didn’t react. It was one more thing Nathan was keeping from her, but she wasn’t going to ruin her birthday by going off about it. Her mother was right— everything was not for her to know. It probably had nothing to do with her. She tuned back into Nathan and Kyle’s conversation.
“Are you enjoying all of the power you’ve been given in my absence?” Nathan asked Kyle.
“Fuck no,” he said, walking over to the beer and appetizers.
Kyle’s response amused both Nathan and Carter. They looked at each other and laughed.
“I believe they’ve developed an appreciation for their mean Russian underboss,” Carter said as she rested her head on Nathan’s chest.
Nathan nodded. “It’s about damn time.”
“Damn legs!” Mickey’s voice sounded from the kitchen entrance. “Did you dress that sexy just for me, baby?” He wiggled his eyebrows in playful suggestion.
Carter smiled. “Depends … did you dress that sexy for me, Mikilo?” she said with her sexiest smile.
Mikey sauntered over to her and took her from Nathan’s possessive embrace. Surprisingly, Nathan let her go.
“You know I always have to look good for you, Legs. You’ve had to stare at Nathan’s ugly ass for the past couple of months—”
Carter burst into laughter. Mickey brought her up into a hug and gave her a big smooch on her cheek.
“— so it’s the least I could do,” he said with a wink.
Carter smiled wide and kissed his cheek. Damn, she had missed him.
“Kiss my ass, Mickey,” Nathan said, trying to hide his amusement, but Carter caught it.
After letting Carter go, Mickey walked over to Nathan and gave him a good-natured slap on the back.
“It smells damn good in here, Carter,” Mickey said, walking over to the food.
He bypassed the appetizers and went straight for the roasted chicken.
Carter gasped and scurried over to the food. “Mickey, stop!”
Mickey didn’t listen, but she made it over to him just in time to slap his hand away.
“Dammit, Carter, I’m starving!” he yelled. “Feed me, woman!”
Carter glared at him. “If you touch this chicken, I’ll kick your ass, Mickey.”
“From the looks of this chicken, the ass kicking just might be worth it!”
They argued until she gave in and gave him a taste of the chicken. Then she convinced Mickey to go flirt with her mother for a while.
***
It was finally dinnertime, and Carter was more than ready to dig into her masterpiece.
She noticed that when the older family members entered the dining room, there was some tension between them, but she didn’t dwell on it. As her mother had said, everything was not a puzzle for her to solve. Carter agreed with her mother, so she shook off her curiosity. Everyone took their seats at the table, and Carter sat happily between Nathan and her mother.
The whole scene before her was dream come true. She had dreamed of having an amazing family, a beautiful home, a gorgeous husband, and she had it all. Her family wasn’t what many would consider normal— everyone at this table, including herself, had a body count— but she loved them nevertheless. This was the perfect life for her. Now all she and Nathan needed was a child. Not yet though, Carter thought. She still had a
few things she needed to handle before she could take time off from her bad-ass life to be fat and pregnant with a Salerno baby.
Once everyone was seated, Angelo blessed the food, and everyone present made the sign of the cross. Their lifestyle didn’t necessarily reflect it, but every man present was very much Catholic. Carter had learned more about the religion when she and Nathan first moved in together. Her first and only experience with church had been with her ex, Henry. He’d attended a Baptist church.
When dinner finally began, Carter was quite pleased with the reaction to the meal she’d prepared. The moans of delight put a satisfied smile on her face. Everyone told Nathan how lucky he was to have such an amazing woman. His pride in their admiration of her was almost palpable. Carter loved to give Nathan reason to be proud she was his.
She loved that they were all enjoying the meal. She’d prepared all of her father’s favorites, feeling the need to be close to him since this was the first year she’d celebrated her birthday without him. She really did miss him.
Once the conversations started, everyone settled in comfortably. The Originals spoke about their travels, and her mother spoke about where she’d been in her absence. The guys told hilarious stories about Kyle’s stand-out moments as their boss and had Nathan and Carter in stitches. Carter and Nathan shared the appropriate moments of their honeymoon, and Carter told the story of Nathan’s trip to the grocery store. She related how Katherine had saved Nathan from the group of rabid females and how her daughter said he resembled a Ken Barbie doll. Carter had never seen Angelo laugh so hard. Before she knew it, it was well past midnight, and they still relaxed at the table, visiting and having drinks. They had been in the dining room for hours laughing and telling stories, and Carter had been showered with numerous extravagant gifts from all over the world.
Eventually, the conversation eased into talk about business— and New York. Bruno asked a question Carter knew pissed Nathan off because as soon as the question was asked, Nathan’s expression went from warm to ice cold. “So when will you two be coming back to work?” he asked. “I know I’m not the only one who wants to know— just the only one brave enough to ask.” Bruno continued coolly, “There are many matters in Las Vegas that could use the attention of the actual underboss, not the acting one. Not to mention that in the short time she’s been with S.O., Carterina’s influence has become quite important to many of the men I do business with. I have associates that refuse to meet unless she’s present. I’m not the only one affected by your absence.”
Dangerous Beauty: Part Two: A Mafia Princess Page 24