“Who are you and what have you done with my son?” His old eyes gleamed at me.
“Do not even start, Father.”
“What are you both whispering about?” My mother eyed us carefully when she finally reached us.
My father smirked, kissing her cheek. “World domination.” She rolled her eyes at him while Mel just raised an eyebrow at me.
“You had your chance and failed. Time to step aside and let the new blood step up,” my mother said. My father pretended to be hurt, before pulling her into his arms. That was what I wanted to do with Mel, but she would most likely shoot me for showing public displays of affection . . . or any type of display.
As if to prove my thoughts, Mel stared at them in confusion before meeting my gaze as if to tell me, your family is so odd.
“Don’t you have an interview, oh new king and queen?” my father asked us with a smirk. He had officially given up his title on the night of our wedding, and since then I . . . Mel and I ruled, and he was more relaxed, happy even. He had been waiting a long time to step down, and here I thought this whole time that he just didn’t want to give up his title, but he did. He just wanted to make sure he would never have to step back in again.
After offering my arm to Mel, we both headed toward the living room, and I laughed when I saw her working on relaxing her face.
“Shut up. God knows how long we will have to smile for these people,” Mel retorted as I stopped at the door.
“Just be like Evelyn.”
“Be like your mother? You’re a sick fuck, Liam Callahan.” She winked, making me want to both strangle and kiss her.
“Be unlike yourself,” I replied through my teeth, before opening the door.
When I did, she stepped forward. “We’re so sorry we are late. Tearing Liam away from his work can be difficult. He’s shy about these things,” she said kindly, as the crew smiled at her.
It never failed to amaze me how quickly she could switch on and off. She had the ability to disarm people so easily.
“Oh, don’t be, Mrs. Callahan. We are just so glad you could make time for us. I’m Jan, and this is my crew. We were just making sure the lighting and whatnot was okay.” The woman grinned, obviously already figuring out that she was getting the interview of a lifetime. Walking up beside my wife, I wrapped my arm around her waist.
“Do you need anything? I’m sure we could have someone come to help out,” I said softly overusing my Irish accent. She froze, staring into my eyes. Without fail it happened to every fucking woman I met except Mel. The one person I wished it did happen with.
“Liam, stop before you give the poor woman a heart attack.” Mel smiled up at me, but all I saw were knives in her eyes before she turned back to Jan. “Please don’t mind him. He doesn’t know the full extent of his Irish charm.”
I rolled my eyes and kissed her cheek affectionately. I felt her stiffen just slightly, but she didn’t break out of character. “All I needed it for was to catch you.”
I still needed it to catch her.
“This is going to be a great interview. I can feel it. Are you both ready?” Jan asked. Nodding we walked over to the chairs that were staged for us. I waited for Mel to sit down first before taking mine right next to her. The moment I did, she leaned in like a fucking pro and placed her hand on my knee. For someone who had never done an interview before she was doing well. Crossing all the t’s and dotting her i’s. But that was my wife, a master manipulator.
“First of all, it’s my pleasure to be sitting across from America’s Royal Couple,” Jan said to us, leaning forward.
Mel looked at me, and I knew that if Jan wasn’t careful, my wife would kill her.
“America’s Royal Couple?” she smiled before letting out a small fake laugh.
“Yes, Mrs. Callahan, all of America loves you, and I have to say I personally loved your wedding dress. After your wedding, orders came flying in all over the country,” Jan said, gushing.
“Oh, my God, really?” Mel blushed, looking innocent and doe-eyed while she held on to my knee with a grip from hell. “That is so odd to me. Suddenly, everyone cares about my clothing and hair. I feel like a celebrity or something.”
“Believe me when I say there are no bigger celebrities than you two. My friends are even trying to figure out the secret behind the Liam Callahan sex hair,” she continued, and it took all I had not to groan instead of smile for the fucking camera.
“Honestly, I do nothing,” I said, laughing.
“Because he is Liam Callahan and is naturally sexy,” Mel continued, before sticking her tongue out. So I leaned in and kissed her lips.
“See why I can never win a fight?” Mel frowned back at Jan, before grinning again. “He just kisses me, or worse takes off his shirt, and I’m completely dumbfounded.”
If only that was fucking true.
“Yes, because I’m Liam Callahan and naturally sexy,” I said, throwing her words back at her before turning to Jan. “Do you think we can get that on a bumper sticker?”
Mel hit me, laughing softly, and I disliked it simply because it wasn’t her. This bubbly, preppy faker was not my wife. It was odd, because I had wanted her to be like this before we met. However, my Mel, both in private and with our men, was stronger, ruthless, and sexy. This Mel was cute, but it wasn’t her, and I wanted her to be who she truly was when she was with me.
“So the very first question the world wants to know is . . . where did you two meet?” Jan asked.
MELODY
I groaned as we walked into the study. “Thank motherfucking God.”
Liam handed me a glass of brandy, reminding me, once again, that I needed to have someone set up my wine in here. “I’m surprised you didn’t kill her when she asked if you were pregnant,” he said, watching me carefully as I drank.
“Me, too. Apparently, marriage has made me soft,” I replied, turning back to the paperwork on the desk before us.
He wrapped his arms around me slowly, and I felt my body automatically begin to relax into him. I wasn’t sure when it started, or if it was due to all the sex, but it did that now. My body now knew his touch and was accepting of it, in fact, it enjoyed it. I enjoyed it.
What the fuck was happening to me?
“Liam, we need to make sure everyone believes Amory killed my father and prepare for Italy,” I murmured, but he just kissed along my shoulder and neck. “I’m serious. Cork your cock, and let’s finish this before Evelyn drags us out for the dinner.”
He groaned, pulling away, and my body instantly missed his warmth. Drinking some more, he sat down, looking at the file after I pushed it toward him.
“Six of Vance’s most prized cars will be en route from Suvereto to Lucignano. It’s about one hundred and four miles, but they will take the back roads because it’s safer and the roads are clear of police. I don’t care if they are Vance’s men or not, they are still men,” I replied, showing him the map.
He looked at me with an eyebrow raised and with a twinge of lust as always. He was such a fucking sex addict.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means if they have dicks, they are male. If they are male, and you put them behind the wheel of a multimillion dollar sports car, they will break the speed limit. They will race each other, because males have to prove they are better in everything.” I rolled my eyes.
He glared up at me as he gripped my arm. “You know I hate it when you refer to any other man’s dick but mine.”
“Get over it, it’s not like I’m sucking it,” I said, glaring at his hand. He had one second to let go before I cut it off.
“Fuck, Mel. Why must you always try to piss me off?” His eyes narrowed before he finally let me go.