Dangerous Beauty: Part One: Destiny

by Michelle Hardin

  Nathan’s arms tightened around her and she melted into the warmth of him as she continued. “Right when I got out of the window I heard a click and my dad fell to his knees and turned over quick, I heard another click and I knew it was the sounds of silenced guns so I screamed for my dad, I needed to know if he was alive. I heard him scream telling me to run, and that’s what I did. While I was running away from the house I heard Chrissy scream and I stopped. I heard things crashing and men yelling, but I didn’t hear my dad, and then all of a sudden all the yelling stopped,” Carter swallowed, it was getting close to the hard part.

  “I went back because I saw the living room light come on, so I went to the window where there’s a small crack in the shade. I saw my father, he was in a chair and five men were surrounding him, I found out later that my dad had killed one of them. I recognized two of the men as Patrick and Kent, two men my father introduced me to before. I was shocked because when I met them they were so nice to me. I heard my dad say, “Take it all, take everything, just please leave her alone. She has nothing to do with this, she’s just a kid.” Patrick had my dad write something down on a piece of paper, which I now know was the number to his safety deposit box where he keeps all of his important information, including access to our finances. It turned out the person who hired them to kill my father told them that they could have my father’s possessions on top of what they were already getting paid, and he gave everything we had to them, they promised they wouldn’t go after me.”

  “Did they say all of this to him? How did you find out?” Nathan asked.

  Carter took a deep breath. “I’m almost there. Not even two seconds after they got the safety deposit box number, Kent slit my father’s throat. I didn’t cry because I didn’t feel sadness at the time, I was just really pissed. I wanted to make each one of them suffer for the pain that I had yet to feel. I was numb, just standing there watching them walk around my house with my father’s lifeless body in the middle of the floor, like he was nothing. I knew right then that I wasn’t going to leave.”

  “What do you mean? Carter, you had to have left because you’re here and still alive.” Nathan didn’t understand where this story was going.

  “Yes, you’re right I did leave, eventually. But I knew those lying assholes weren’t going to let me run, especially since I heard them say find the girl after they killed my father. If I ran they would have caught me and killed me, Nathan. I had nothing to fight them with, so my best bet was to ensure my freedom by making a… statement.” Carter took another deep breath before continuing. “Kent and Patrick left to go to the safety deposit box, and the other three guys stayed behind to clean up any trace of their presence there, and to find me. They figured I didn’t get far. Once Kent and Patrick left, one of the men started to clean the place and the other two said they were going to look for me outside.”

  Nathan furrowed his brows and shook his head in disbelief. “Wait a min—”

  “The first one came out back,” she continued cutting him off, “I caught him by surprise and broke his leg before I did this little trick my dad taught me, and broke his neck. Since I caught him by surprise it didn’t take more than ten seconds to shut him up. It gave me time before his friend came running in the back to see what was going on, and before he even saw me I shot him in the head with the gun I took from his friend.”

  Nathan’s eyes widened in shock. “But—”

  Carter held up her hand silencing him. “Let me finish, Nathan, then you can tell me whether you love me or not.” Nathan stopped talking, but he already knew his reply to that, she was only making things more clear.

  “The third guy was still in the house, but he had made his way upstairs to my father’s room to wipe it clean of their blood from the fighting, so that gave me time to make my statement.”

  “Your statement?” Nathan asked confused.

  Carter frowned. “Yes Nathan, my statement. Stop interrupting.”

  “Fine. I’m sorry, continue,” Nathan said.

  Carter rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I knew I needed to make a statement because if I didn’t they would never stop looking for me. I dragged the bodies into the house, which took forever because they were fucking bone crushers, and I lined them up next to the chair with my father’s body. I heard movement up stairs so I went up there. Since I’m small I was able to get upstairs and get what I needed without making any noise. I wanted to make the last man suffer, so I had to make a plan. I got my knives.”

  Knives? Nathan thought, but he wouldn’t dare interrupt her again.

  “Long story short, I waited until his back was turned and threw two knives into his back. That gave me my chance to approach him and enact my plan. He’s the one I got the information from. I don’t need to get into exactly what happened in that room,” Carter cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably. “I just want you to keep in mind that I was grieving in my own way. Anyway, I left a note for those fake assholes Kent and Patrick. I told them to take that damn money, which I didn’t want anyway, and go as far away as possible because soon I was going to find them, and the scene would be way worse than the one upstairs.”

  Nathan didn’t know what to say. It really wasn’t often that he found himself in a situation like this. Actually, he’s never really found himself in a situation like this before. Okay, he thought nodding his head. Turns out the woman I have just confessed my love for is a…umm. What the hell was he supposed to say to that? He could see she was waiting for his response so he settled for, “I still love you?”

  Carter shot up from the ground. “Nathan! Didn’t you just hear a word I said!” she screamed.

  Nathan got up from the ground and stood, towering over her small body. Jesus Christ! He couldn’t believe someone so small could be so lethal, he also couldn’t believe that he was turned on by the fact that she was so lethal…well yes he could, he knew he had issues.

  “Carter, what is it that you want me to say?” He asked calmly to her as he looked down at her shocked face.

  “That I’m a fucking psycho. I don’t know! I just told you I’m a killer!” she yelled while she paced back and forth in front of him.

  Nathan chuckled. “Baby, that’s probably not something you want to yell out here in public.”

  “Nathan!” she screamed.

  Nathan rolled his eyes. “Carter, I don’t know what you want from me. You killed the men that murdered your father, they deserved it,” he said with a shrug.

  Carter frowned and shook her head. “That’s not the point, I just told that I killed those men in cold blood. Jesus, I practically turned the one upstairs inside out and I didn’t even give a shit. I’d do it again in a heartbeat!”

  “Good! The bastards deserved it. They came into your house and killed your family, when you get a hold of those other assholes Kent and Patrick, I’m going to make sure I have a front row seat to the damn show!” Nathan yelled.

  Carter stared at him in disbelief. “So, you still love me after everything I just told you?”

  “Yes!” Nathan yelled. He was confused, he didn’t get this woman. Didn’t he just tell her that he loved her? It’s not like he said that shit to women every day, or that he had ever said it to a woman ever.

  Carter still couldn’t believe it. “But—”

  “But nothing, Carter,” Nathan said cutting her off before she started questioning him again. “I already know what you’re going to say, and yes it’s true you are a killer, and some may consider you to be psychotic, but I don’t give a fuck, so am I. That’s just the fucked up world we live in. Why would I stand here and criticize you for something I would have done? Shit, for something I have done way more times then you have. The Salerno family is the Mafia, honey. I learned how to kill a man a long time ago.”

  “Mafia?” She whispered.

  “Yes, Carter” Nathan replied.

  “And you’ve…killed a man before?”

  A man? Damn, it’d been a long time since Nathan could say that.
He looked in her eyes and saw her shock and confusion, and he was determined not to freak her out too much. He didn’t want her to run from him. He couldn’t imagine how difficult it’d been for her facing the world alone for five years. Not only did she face the world alone, she’d resisted her true nature and pretended to be someone she wasn’t. Nathan couldn’t even put into words how much he admired her for that. He’d tried to do that and failed miserably. He didn’t even make it a full year in college before he went back home to work for his father full time. He excelled exceptionally at killing men he didn’t particularly care for, but he didn’t want to tell her that. She wasn’t ready to hear it yet. He decided he’d better talk about something other than his rapidly increasing body count.

  Nathan sighed. “If I knew who killed my mother I would have done worse.” Nathan saw shock and sadness flash through her eyes. “Yes, my mother was murdered. It happened in Manhattan, and my mother and I were staying in a hotel. My father and mother took me out to dinner, where their main goal was to tell me that they were getting a divorce. I was shocked, but that was because I thought they had already gotten one. While they were talking to me they started to fight, and my mother went upstairs to the room. I stayed and talked with my father about visiting him in Manhattan more, since he would never be coming back to the house. After we talked one of his bodyguards took me up to my mother. She wasn’t in the living room so I checked her bedroom. I wanted to make sure my father hadn’t hurt her too badly at dinner. When I walked in her bedroom I heard the shower running so I went to the bathroom and right when I walked in the door I slipped and fell. It was blood. I looked around and the entire floor was covered in it. I looked in the corner and that’s where my mother’s body laid broken, beaten with scars from head to foot, it was like someone had just taken a knife and sliced her everywhere over and over again.” Nathan’s eyes glistened with tears.

  “I could tell that she suffered, that she screamed and no one heard her, and it killed me. I sat in that room staring at her dead body in complete silence for hours before my father sent one of his men to check on us.” Nathan moved closer to Carter. “I still see it sometimes, when I close my eyes. The scene plays in my head like a movie, and I didn’t cry either, when I saw her, haven’t shed a tear, until now,” he said as a single tear fell from his stormy gray eyes.

  He cupped her face. “Carter, stop trying to convince me that I don’t love you.” He reached for her hand. “Give me your hand.” Carter did as he asked and he pulled her closer to him. “Do you feel that?”

  She did. She felt it from the moment they locked eyes earlier that day. It was an undeniable magnetism drawing her to him. It made her heart beat quicken and her body shudder involuntarily. Carter couldn’t resist it, she was powerless against it.

  “Every time I look at you, every time we touch, every time we kiss, I feel it. I’ve never felt so drawn to one person in my entire life, Carter. What else does one call this feeling that is consuming us? What else, but love? I love you.”

  Carter stood in silence stunned by the truth she saw in his eyes. He really loved her, she couldn’t believe it. Her bubby was standing right in front of her telling her that he loved her. This is what she wished for when she was freaking thirteen years old. But she wouldn’t tell him that.

  Carter stared at him a moment longer before she grabbed his face and slammed her mouth against his, desperate for his kiss. She heard him groan and when her lips parted and his tongue entered her mouth, caressing and tasting her as he deepened their kiss. She needed more. She needed to be closer to him, so she pressed her body against his and threw her arms around his neck.

  She was so lost in their ravenous kiss, she had barely noticed when Nathan lifted her from the ground and lowered them both back to a sitting position on the beach with her straddling his lap. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist to pull him closer and he growled against her lips. She moaned when his big strong hands moved between them and he cupped her breasts squeezing them through her shirt.

  He really had an obsession with her chest.

  His mouth left hers and made its way to her neck kissing and sucking, while continuing his masterful assault on her breasts. A wave of sensation rushed through her. She tried to catch her breath but it was pointless. Never has she felt such an overwhelming desire to give herself to a man. Her hand moved to his beautiful, thick, blond hair, and her body began to grind against his. She wanted him, right then, and right there.

  Carter pulled Nathan back from her neck and he looked at her, face flushed, and his grey eyes filled with desire, matching her own. She pressed her forehead against his.

  “Make love to me, Nathan,” she whispered against his lips.

  Nathan gripped her hips, stilling her movements. She could see he was battling with himself about whether or not this was the time or place for them to make love. But honestly, Carter would be more than happy to make love to Nathan on the beach under the starry summer night sky. She pleaded with him silently even as she felt his grip tightening on her hips. She knew that he wanted this too. She could feel his erection pressing against her behind. She moved her hips again and Nathan took a sharp breath. She could only move a little because of the hold he had on her hips, but she knew that it was enough, so she moved again, brushing her behind against his hardening member. Nathan groaned and Carter tried to hide a smile.

  “Stop,” he growled against her lips.

  “Make love to me, Nathan, please.” She started showering him with soft kisses. She kissed every part of his face and his neck before she returned to his lips for another deep passionate kiss.

  She felt him shift under her, and one of his hands left her hip while his other arm wrapped around her tight. By the time she broke the kiss, Nathan was walking toward the parking lot with her still in his arms, and her legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

  “Nathan, what the hell?”

  He just chuckled. “What?” he asked against her mouth, she felt his smile.

  “Where are we going? I want you to make love to me,” she said giving him a confused look.

  He placed a soft kiss on her lips and smirked. “I promise you I will, just not here. I want you in a bed where I can take my time and enjoy exploring every part of your beautiful body,” he said, his voice was deep and smooth and so sexy.

  “But we can’t go to my house. Jenna doesn’t like company,” Carter whined.

  He let out another soft laugh. “We’re going to the beach house. That’s where I’m staying.”

  Carter paused. “Do you mean Kyle’s beach house where you and four other guys are staying?”

  “Yep,” Nathan replied casually.

  Carter shook her head firmly and frowned. “Uh, uh, hell no, Nathan. They don’t know who I am, and that we…well, you know, know each other. And we’re about to…” Heat rushed to her cheeks as she thought about what she and Nathan were going to do when they got to Kyle’s beach house. “What will I do in the morning when I leave? I can’t walk passed them. I am not a walk of shame type of girl, Nathan. I’ll look like a big ol’ hoe!”

  Nathan burst into laughter, he couldn’t hold it back.

  Carter blushed furiously and looked away from Nathan. “It’s not funny, Nathan. I’m serious,” she pouted.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” he said kissing her cheek, still laughing.

  Carter frowned. “No, you’re not, you asshole.”

  Nathan chuckled. “Yes I am, and you’re not a hoe. They’re all going to find out eventually, it might as well be sooner rather than later. And who the hell said you were leaving in the morning? Once I get you in my bed you’re not leaving till I do,” he said confidently with a shrug.

  “Nathan, I can’t spend all my time in bed with you,” Carter said.

  They made it to the car and Nathan pinned her against the door and put his lips close to hers.

  “We won’t be in bed all the time. There’s also the shower, the Jacuzzi tub, the pool, and the balcony
too,” he said, smiling against her mouth.

  Carter smiled and moved her hips against him. “I still have a job, Nathan, and a Jenna that I have to take care of. There are many things that I can’t leave unattended.”

  Nathan shrugged. “Fuck the job. Quit. Give me your bank information, I’ll make sure you have what you need, more than you need, whatever you want. And as for your Jenna, who I’m assuming is the tall redhead from the garden, — she may not be as tall as I think you are small, what are you like 5’4? Anyway, I’m getting off track. You and your Jenna can spend as much time together as you want, shopping, spas, all that shit women like to do. I don’t care, as long as you come back to me when you’re finished.” Nathan smiled. He told his mother that when he found Carter he would keep her forever. He was ready for it all. He knew exactly where this relationship was going, and he wasn’t going to pretend or fight what he knew was inevitable. He wasn’t going to let her fight it either. He knew he wanted Carter, and he’ll never stop wanting her, she was his, and Nathan takes care of what’s his.

  Carter frowned and shook her head. “No, Nathan, I can’t just quit my job. I need money and that’s what normal people do when they need money, they work. I’m not going to let you give me money.”

  Nathan looked into her eyes. “There you go with that, ‘let you’ again. Carter, you will soon find out what kind of man I am. No one lets me do anything, I just do it, and if you won’t give me your account information I’ll get it myself. I was just hoping you would give me the information freely, but I see this one will be a fight,” he shrugged then kissed her lips and her neck and whispered against her skin. “And just so you know, I will win.” He would win, she just didn’t know it yet.