TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire Book 1) by Kallypso Masters (the false prince TXT) 📕

she needed to think about whether she wanted to start dating seriously with thoughts of marrying and starting a family. Or perhaps she would choose to stay married to her career. In the past, the thought of raising kids both appealed to her and terrified her. What if she chose the wrong guy the way her late Aunt Emiliana had? Carm liked to believe she was a good judge of character, but shuddered at the thought of what that evil man had done to Mama.

Carm centered herself in the present again. Or was it the future? She wouldn’t want to screw up her kids the way Marc had been messed up by family secrets.

Her kids.

It had a nice ring to it. She could almost picture herself a mama to a little girl or boy—maybe one of each.

The girl in her mind looked a lot like she did as a child and the boy looked like…Tony?

She shuddered.

“Cold?” Sandro asked.

“No. Just thinking about how cold it’s going to be on Capitol this week compared to those sunny beaches.” She lied before banishing thoughts of Tony from her mind once more. It occurred to her they hadn’t talked about Sandro’s taking time off. “Now, what about you, Sandro? You need to think about your own getaway for after I get back. We’ve both been working too hard this past year.”

“Things do seem to be running pretty smoothly now,” Sandro said, taking a sip of coffee as he appeared to give it some thought. “Actually, I’ve been considering a trip to Italy, mostly to see how our Tuscany and Lombardy counterparts do things at their ski resorts.”

“That’s still job-related.” They were both such workaholics.

He shrugged. “New surroundings will help me refill the well.”

“Well, if you do go, promise me you won’t be all work and no play over there. Take a week or more to explore, sightsee, eat, drink, and just do whatever you’d like—away from the major resorts.”

“I’ll see what I can come up with.”

Suddenly, realization dawned about her stray thoughts earlier. Her biological clock had shifted into overdrive this weekend. It must have been the wedding or seeing Savannah nursing her baby, which would totally account for her unwanted fantasies about Tony. Nothing but hormones.

Good, because twenty-eight was too young—and Carm too career driven at the moment—to cave in to her body’s need to procreate. She could wait a few more years before getting serious about someone, if that was the path she chose to take.

But if she were in the market for a potential baby daddy, would Tony be the worst candidate? He loved his family, which was an imperative trait for any prospective husband of hers, and with his looks, he’d make beautiful babies.

Ugh. Stop it! Remember he’s also bossy, opinionated, and oddly carefree. In fact, the man didn’t seem to take anything seriously.

Carm needed someone who would be staid and steady when it came to important matters, who would encourage the decisions she made, and would help her to find a work/fun balance in life.

Did Tony even like to travel, which was important to her?

Sandro broke into her thoughts. “After hearing all the stories Mama and Papa shared with us, not to mention Gramps’s wartime adventures, there are several places important to our family history that I’d like to visit.”

“Yes! You have to do that, Sandro! I might even follow in your footsteps next year, because we totally need to make vacations an annual thing from now on.” Balance. The two of them needed to prioritize finding balance in their lives.

Sandro became introspective for a moment, then nodded as he met her gaze. “Why not? We’re only a cell phone call away if we need each other.”

She held up her hand midair between them, palm outward, to halt him going any farther down that path. “Speak for yourself, Brother! If you think I intend to answer phone calls or check e-mails during my getaway, you need to think again.”

The two of them laughed.

“Be careful on Capitol.”

“Always am. There’s no rain predicted for our second day, so we should be fine on Knife Edge. Most of Nick’s group are seasoned climbers, but you know I won’t let them make any beginner mistakes like take a shortcut back to the lake.”

Sandro nodded, gave her a peck on the cheek, and said goodbye before they parted ways. Before going to bed, Carm texted Sara asking for the vacation rental link to the villa. Her friend’s almost immediate reply placed it on an island in the Turks and Caicos. Carm spent the next half hour immersed in the photos on the villa’s rental listing. She could picture herself on that beach, by that pool, cooking seafood and fresh veggies in that amazing gourmet kitchen, and all in all, living a life far removed from her Aspen condo or the resort she barely enjoyed anymore because of all the work. There was even a hammock under the palm trees! Carm planned to load up her iPad with lots of novels to enjoy in that hammock.

That villa would be a little piece of heaven on earth during the week she spent there.

In the past few years, she’d fallen asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. Well, except for last night when Tony had invaded her thoughts. She shook off the memory.

And she needed to clear her mind of thoughts about a vacation still six weeks off too. She’d get her break soon enough. Fortunately, the next few days would keep her busy—in both body and mind—so she wouldn’t give the villa or Tony another thought.

Close to midnight, Tony parked near the front door of daVinci’s. After searching the riverbanks for close to four hours, new SAR members had come on-site and the ones who’d been out looking for hours had been told to get some sleep and come back at eight tomorrow morning.

Sleep was out of the question. While his body was exhausted, his mind churned a mile a minute trying to