Billionaires: The Hero: A Deal for the Di Sione Ring / The Last Di Sione Claims His Prize / The Baby Inheritance

“Have you ever considered taking martial arts?”

She frowned. “I’m not sure it’s my thing.”

“You should consider it. It’s very empowering for a woman to learn how to defend herself.”

“Do you do it?”

He nodded. “Karate.”

“How good are you?”

“A black belt. But you don’t have to be skilled to defend yourself. You just need to know the basics.”

“That’s very impressive,” she told him as he guided her off the elevator and into the penthouse. Also sexy.

He undid his jacket and shrugged it off. “I grew up in a rough neighborhood. I needed to protect myself. There were two ways to do that—with weapons or as your own personal weapon. I eventually chose karate.”

“Eventually?”

His dark lashes fanned down over his cheeks. “I had a few iffy years before I made that choice.”

She absorbed that piece of new information. She’d imagined being a Di Sione or half of one would have meant being brought up in luxury. The fact that he hadn’t had an entitled upbringing seemed to better reflect the man. The uncivilized edge beneath the veneer Franco had taken one look at tonight and walked away from.

He threw her a glance as he loosened his tie and undid the top couple of buttons of his shirt. “So? I could sign you up for some classes at my gym in New York.”

“I don’t know,” she said dubiously. “I’m not a very physical person.”

“You’re a gladiator, remember?”

Not much of one tonight.

“I can show you how you would have gotten out of that situation with Silvio if that would make you feel better.”

Her brow creased. “How? He’s far bigger than me.”

“If you knew self-defense, you could have. Show me what happened that night. I’ll teach you a couple of simple self-defense techniques.”

“Now?”

He gave her an amused look. “Now.”

She chewed on her lip. The desire to take back control, to wipe the fear from her head, was too strong to resist. “Sì. Please show me.”

He nodded. “Tell me what happened that night.”

“We were in my mother’s salon. I had just poured Silvio a drink. He was angry with me for telling him I had cold feet about the marriage. He—he grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward him and started kissing me. I was...surprised. He hadn’t been aggressive with me before. The kiss—it started to get...intimo.” Her gaze dropped away from his. “I didn’t like it so I tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t let me go. Then he hit me across the face.”

Nate stepped toward her. “Show me how close you were to him.”

She stared at him. “What?”

“I need to know how far apart you were. How much room you had to maneuver. That determines what self-defense techniques you use.”

“Oh.” She thought back. “We were very close.”

“Like this?” He took her wrist and pulled her to him. The brush of his tall strong body against hers sent heat rushing to her cheeks. Every nerve ending in her body flickered to life, making her so utterly aware of him she could hardly look at him.

“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” she murmured.

“Show me, Mina.”

“We were closer than this.”

“How close?”

She stepped into him until every centimeter of their bodies were touching from chest to knee. Her breasts brushed against his chest, her hips rested in the cradle of his, and Dio mio, this was not good. He was too overwhelmingly male. And she was having the opposite reaction to him than she’d had to Silvio.

“Where were his arms?”

“One was on my waist—well lower,” she corrected hesitantly. “The other, I don’t remember.”

Nate slid his arm around her waist. “We’ll go with this. This about right the way we’re standing?”

“Sì.”

He lowered his head and brought his mouth to within a centimeter of hers.

Her heart stuttered. “What are you doing?”

“Push me away.”

Right. Dannazione, Mina—focus. She lifted her hand and pushed hard against his shoulder. It was like trying to move a brick wall.

“When you are this close,” he told her, “you lose power. You have no room to maneuver. You either have to make space so you can attack him, which you aren’t going to be able to do in this situation, or go for the vulnerable points.”

“Vulnerable points?”

“My groin,” he said pointedly. “Try bringing your knee up hard and fast.”

“No.”

“You’re a gladiator.”

She gritted her teeth and tried to lift her leg. She got exactly nowhere.

“Not enough room, right?”

She shook her head.