Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War (86 page)

“Out-side, Da-da …” Maksim added.

He had switched to the other side of Carter’s shoulder so that he could grasp on to Nathan’s shirt without leaving Carter’s arms. It was Maksim’s way of saying ‘I love you, Papa, but I’m not leaving Mama’s arms no matter what’.

Nathan leaned over and kissed the top of his head. “You want Papa to go get the monster’s outside, bambinos?”

They both nodded in reply to Nathan’s question.

Aleksandr stood in Nathan’s lap, tugging on his shirt. “Maksi crying, Da-da. Some monsters.”

“Just Maksi was frightened, bambino?”

He shook his head. “Sandr …”

Carter turned Maksim to sit him down on her lap as she brought her legs under her body and curled in closer to Nathan. She and Maksim leaned into his side and listened to him and Aleksandr’s conversation. Aleksandr became more and more animated as he relayed the harrowing events of the night in full—somewhat unintelligible—detail.

“I sleeping, Ma-ma,” Maksim said softly.

Carter turned him back around in her lap and he clung to her. “You sleepy, babe?”

He nodded. “Sleeping, Ma-ma …” He yawned. “Night-night in Da-da bed?”

“Of course you can sleep with Mommy and Daddy.” As if she’d let them sleep anywhere away from her and Nathan right now. She looked over to the chatty two next to her and gave Nathan’s shoulder a nudge. “Come on you two. Maksim and I are sleepy.”

“Ma-ma go sleeping,” Aleksandr said in soft voice.

Carter smiled. She loved when he did this. Every time she, Nathan, or Maksim said they were sleepy, he would sweetly rock them to sleep the way she rocked him to sleep whenever he was tired. She nodded her head and rested on Nathan’s shoulder. “Yes, baby, Mama is very sleepy.”

He reached his tiny hand over and touched her face. “Sleepy, Ma-ma,” he whispered. “Shh, Da-da. Shh …” Nathan nodded his head firmly in mock agreement while Aleksandr rocked Carter to sleep. “
Sleeping Ma-ma, sleepy baby
…” He softly sang his own little lullaby to her. Most of the words came from the song she sang to them at naptime and bedtime, and the other words were his own original style added.

Nathan rested his head on top of Carter’s as they both smiled at their singing little boy. Once he hit the last note of the song they both clapped softly, as to avoid waking the now relaxed and sleeping Maksim, and gave him kisses on his chubby cheeks.

“Are you ready to go upstairs and go to sleep with Mama and Papa now, bambino?”

Aleksandr held on tightly to Nathan and nodded his head. “
Tired
, Da-da …”

Nathan stood first, then held out his hand to help Carter get up from the couch since she still held Maksim. They walked upstairs and through the house until they reached the front door. Aleksandr had wanted to stop so that Nathan could check outside for the presence of any monsters. To appease their son, Nathan opened the front door only to find that the rain had begun to pour down once again. After convincing Aleksandr that the monsters had gone and weren’t coming back, they finished the short walk to the stairs.

They were just about to ascend when they spotted a shirtless Lucca, walking out of the kitchen eating an apple. Gasping, Carter stopped abruptly, sadness and concern overtaking her. “Lucca,” she whispered, rushing over to him.

He had one big bandage wrapped around his waist, and another that went around his shoulder and down half of his arm.

“What happened to you?”

Lucca opened his good arm to draw her to him. “Shh, shh. Come here and hug me.”

Carter did so as gently as she could with her free arm. “Are you okay?” she asked, looking up at his face.

Smiling that gorgeous Salerno smile, he gazed down upon her with beautiful stormy gray eyes so much like those of her husband and her sons.

“Just a couple of scratches, sweetheart. A small price to pay …” He reached forward and ran his hand over Maksim’s hair.

Fuck it.
Carter had fought the damn things long enough tonight. She let the tears fill her eyes and spill down her face. Her shoulders shook with soft sniffles as she stood on her toes to kiss Lucca’s cheek. He met her halfway so that she could reach him.

“Thank you,” she cried softly, hugging him once more. “I love you” she whispered.

“Stop that,
cugina,
” he said softly into her hair. “I love you too.” When they broke their hug he kissed her forehead and gently wiped the tears from her eyes. “Stop that crying now. I may be mean as hell, but I have a soft heart like my uncle, Angelo. Nobody wants to see a six foot four and a half man crying.”

Carter laughed softly. “You’re not mean, Lucca Salerno.”

He smirked. “Well not to women that can throw knives I’m not.”

She softly hit his non-injured arm playfully and shook her head in mock exasperation. “You should go rest. I’ll be up later to make everyone a meal fit for a royal family.”

“Mmm.” He kissed her forehead once more then walked past her to Nathan. “Truly a woman more than fit for the Salerno name, cugino.”

Nathan smiled and gave his cousin a nod. “That’s why I gave it to her.”

Lucca chuckled and hugged Nathan. Aleksandr slipped his arm over Lucca’s shoulder, too, hugging him and lightly patting his back.

“Hi, Wucca,”
he chirped.

Amused, Nathan and Lucca laughed as they began talking to each other in Italian. They both asked each other how they were, then agreed to talk about it after they’d gotten some rest. Carter walked over to stand on the first step and wait for Nathan.

“Thank you, brother,” Nathan said, hugging Lucca once more.

“No thank you, all right? We’re family Nathan.”

“Always …”

As he always did often, especially after a battle or something involving Nathan nearly losing his life, Lucca cupped the back of Nathan’s head and kissed the side of his forehead.

“I love you,” he said, sounding so much like his father.

“Love you, too.”

Literally every time Carter saw him do it she couldn’t help but smile. It was the cutest big brother move she’d ever seen. Alessandro did it to Angelo often, too. It always made her want to have another son in hopes that Aleksandr and Maksim would be as good of big brother as Uncle Lucca and Uncle Alessandro were to Nathan and their grandfather.

“Get some rest you all, and I’ll talk to you later,” Lucca said.

Lucca was just about to walk back to the guest room he occupied when Aleksandr stopped him in his tracks.

“Wucca me, too,” he whined, hanging over his father’s shoulder. “Me too, Wucca!”

“All right, all right …” Lucca chuckled.

Aleksandr poked out his lips and Lucca kissed them, then ruffed up his curly black hair.

“
I wove vou, Wucca.
” Aleksandr smiled.

“Love you, too, Sandr.”

Once Lucca went off back to bed, they finally made it upstairs, and Carter exhaled a deep breath when they walked into the room. Giving Nathan a kiss, she walked to the bed. Much too his delight, Nathan tossed Aleksandr on the bed and went to the restroom. He giggled as he crawled to the head of the bed and got under the comforter.

“Ma-ma!” he called her from under the blanket. “
Ma-ma. Come fine-ju.”

“Shh, please stop, Aleksandr. Maksim is sleeping.”

“I come fine Ma-ma …”

“We’ll play find Mama after we take a nap, baby.”

“Play, Ma-ma!”

Maksim whimpered in her arms and Carter rocked him back and forth. Maksim was her cranky one if he didn’t get his rest. Carter knew if his sleep was interrupted again he’d wake up crying.

“Aleksandr Salerno, I said no. We’ll play later. Enough now. Maksi is sleep.”

Of course their little ball of energy had absolutely no plans of stopping. He had no mercy on her and she blamed herself for it. The hyperactive, disobedient behavior was inherited from her. Carter had to learn discipline and obedience because they damn sure didn’t come naturally.

Just like she knew he would, Maksim became irritated by Aleksandr’s loud behavior and began to weep. He hated to be woken up before he was ready, and the louder his brother became, the louder his crying got.

“Aleksandr, I’m not going to tell you again. Get from under there right now!” It was a sharp whisper that she had to use with Aleksandr often. The boy only listened to his father. Carter had to be honest with herself … she had yet to establish herself as the authoritative parent. She was just like her father in that department. He didn’t get tough with her until training started. Before that, he spoiled her rotten.

Thank God she had Nathan.

The comforter was pulled back until the tiny boy beneath was revealed. When he looked up and his eyes met the intense glare on his father’s face, his mischievous smile instantly fell from his face.

“Naptime.”

It was completely ridiculous. After everything Carter had said to get him to behave, all it took was one damn word from Nathan. Suddenly, Aleksandr was scrambling to the head of the bed and lying back on the pillows.

Carter’s mouth dropped open as she continued to rock the crying Maksim in her arms. Shaking her head in disbelief, she plopped down on the bed, looked up at Nathan, and rolled her eyes.

He chuckled. “I’ll go get Maksim’s favorite blanket …”

Carter nodded and focused on calming Maksim back down. “Shh… it’s okay, baby. Mama’s sorry, go back to sleep.” Meanwhile, Red Bull baby was crawling behind her. “Aleksandr, where are you going, babe?”

“Mom-meee …”
He stood up on his feet and came to rest his chin on her shoulder. “Kiss, Ma-ma.”

When he poked his little lips out, she gave him a kiss. He blew a raspberry on her lips and giggled. Carter couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Stop that silly.”

“Some kiss, Ma-ma?” he asked, again sticking out his lips.

Carter gave him another kiss and of course, he blew a raspberry again, this time grabbing her face with both little hands when he did.

“What are you two laughing about?” Nathan asked when he entered the room.

Carter smiled at Aleksandr. “Give your Papa some kisses, Sandr.”

The second Nathan sat on the bed, Aleksandr went to him with his lips already puckered. Just as Nathan kissed him, he blew the cutest raspberry on Nathan’s lips.

Nathan laughed. “Aleksandr …”

“
Da-deee.”
He grabbed Nathan’s face in his palms and blew an even bigger raspberry on his cheek.

Nathan tickled Aleksandr’s sides and caught him when he fell back with a big belly laugh. Carter laughed softly as she watched them play. Nathan tickled Aleksandr and gave him raspberry kisses on his tummy. Aleksandr laughed so hard he turned red …

“Da-da!”
he laughed over and over again.

Carter shook her head at their antics and looked down to her little Maksim to see what he was doing. He looked up at her with red-rimmed, tired eyes and popped his thumb in his mouth.

“Are your brother and Daddy getting on your nerves?”

He nodded his head. “
Nurs, Ma-ma.”

“Aww, baby …” Carter settled on to the bed and laid Maksim next to her. Turning his little body to face her, he placed his hand on her cheek. “You rocking Mama to sleep?”

“Go sleep, Ma-ma…”

Yawning, Carter nodded. Yes, she was ready to go to sleep.

Maksim turned toward Nathan and Aleksandr. “Sleeping, Da-da.”

Nathan laid the still giggling Aleksandr on the bed. “All right, bambino. It’s time for nap. Let’s stop torturing your brother.”

“My brother sleeping, Da-da.”

“He’s trying to.” Nathan settled in, and extended his arm to Maksim and Carter.

They scooted closer to his embrace as Aleksandr curled up on top of his chest. Carter rested her head on his shoulder and looked up into his eyes. “Hi,” she whispered with a smile.

Nathan ran his fingers through her hair. “Hi, beautiful girl …”

“My bubby …”

“
Моя красивая роза
…”

The kiss he leaned forward and gave her resembled the soft, sweet kiss that he’d given her after she gave birth to their sons. He stole her breath just the way he always did. So much love and passion in everything he gave her. An amazing husband, man, and father, and he was all hers. She had no idea what she’d done to deserve him, but she’d never question God’s decision to make them fated lovers. From the moment they met—from the moment she took his hand and followed him without even knowing who he was—she’d felt that pull, that undeniable magnetism.

Carter laid in bed with her now sleeping husband and two beautiful sons, looking around her bedroom in awe of what her life had become. She rubbed her hand over her belly and smiled.

She was once a broken seventeen-year-old girl, lost, confused, and suffering from addiction; then she was a waitress in a vacation spot for the rich and famous, still lost, still heartbroken, and nearly pushed to the point of losing her mind. Nothing in her life seemed real then, nothing
was
real.