Melody's POV

They left quickly after that, and when they did, I let the door slam behind them before I walked over to Liam and kissed him deeply. He lifted me up and carried me to the desk laying me out on it. He spread my legs with his knee as his hands traveled up my stomach and then to my breasts while he kissed the side of my face.
But before he could rip my shirt off, I grabbed a gold-plated letter opener and held it to his neck. He froze, staring at me in shock and confusion.
“Remember how close you came today to having me in this office,” I said, pressing the opener just a little bit harder into his neck. “Then remember you do not own Chicago. We own Chicago, which you forgot in the heat of your roaring. We! Next time you forget, I will cut you from the tip of your pretty chin to your heart. Now off.”
He glared into my eyes, grabbing my wrists and squeezing until the letter opener fell from my grasp. His hands went to my neck, and I saw the very monster I lusted over staring at me back in the eyes. Even then, I still found it sexy.
“I’ve told you once—but I will tell you again seeing as how you are my wife, whom I trust and care for in too many twisted ways to describe—do not ever hold a weapon to me.”
He kissed my lips hard again before letting go of me and stepping back. I began fixing my dress, as he went straight for the brandy.
“We are going to have to kill the Vance mission,” I replied, walking up to him to fix his tie.
He looked angry, frustrated, and bloodthirsty. “And why the fuck is that?
That bitch and his sidekick have nothing to do with Italy.”
“Liam,” I hissed pulling on his tie. “We are about to go to war. We will not be stuck in the middle of Vance and the Chicago PD. Especially when our men are acting like children and fucking up every time we look away.
They hate each other.”
“Hate is a strong word.”
“Since I’ve gotten here, has there been one night where either of our men haven’t insulted or tried to kill each other?”
His pink lips parted for a quick second before closing again.
“Exactly.”
“We Irish have been fighting you Italians for generations. Of course they are not going to stop just because you’re sprawled out in my bed.”
The grin on his face, like an obese cat after a meal, made my blood run hot. When was he going to get it?
“You are a fucking . . . it is this thing you Irish do that pisses us off. You don’t think before you speak. Sei in ottone, idioti maleducati, egoisti e cazzo, razza di mangiare, dormire, uccidere e gobba come cani!”
“I’m sorry you lost me after speak.”
Talking a deep breath I took a few steps away from him, trying my best not to just . . . ah. “How can someone with your IQ not have taken the initiative to learn Italian?”
“Have you seen the Sleeping Dictionary?”
“The what?”
“In the movie this Englishman goes to a foreign country in the nineteen thirties to help colonialize the area. But he doesn’t know the language so they give him this beautiful village girl whom he sleeps with and shares words until he knows the language.”
I . . . I couldn’t even. He had to be a masochist or just enjoyed fucking with me. I didn’t have the energy for this.
“Let me guess, the movie was written and directed by men. Voi tutti mi fai schifo.”20 The corners of his jaw turned up as his shoulders relaxed leaning on the front of his desk.
“So, dear wife, what shall we do about our men?”
“Tonight we go to dinner and tomorrow we prepare for camp,” I said with a smile of my own.
He stared at me as though I had lost my fucking mind. “Camp?”
“When I took over as Boss my men didn’t trust me. They didn’t think I could lead them and when I brought in new people, they didn’t trust them either. I bought a stretch of forest near Cascadia, Oregon and made it into sort of a camp. It’s their moment to let their guard down, because the place is like a fucking fort. The hackers all spend time playing with the newest toys I provide them. All I ask is that they don’t get on any FBI lists. The very fact that I have to tell them that is beyond me. The woods are filled with targets to challenge snipers. The gym is for the hand-to-hand knife nuts, and there are seven chefs there around the fucking clock to feed them.
They kill things together, they eat together, and they sleep in the same houses. By the end of the week, they are brothers.” It was genius on my part, and I could see it in his eyes as well.
“One week? That’s it, and then we will be the Brady Bunch?”
“Well, they won’t be trying to kill each other as often. That’s a start.”
He shrugged. “Well, wife, to camp we go then.”
I grinned almost wanting to take more pride in his words. “No women allowed other than Adriana and me.”
“What the fuck is with this Adriana?”
“She is part of the crew, Liam, and if you saw past the physical looks, you would know that. She is a trained marksman, expert profiler, and a damn good personal dresser,” I added, pushing away from him to grab my phone off the desk.
“I still want to take out Vance’s cars.” He frowned. Men and their cars.
“We can, and we will.” I smirked, already loving the plan forming in my head. “Except this time we will have to steal it from Vance’s estate before he gets there.”
He looked at me, grinning like a mad fool, and stepped forward brushing the side of my cheek.
“Fucking perfect,” he said to me before kissing me once again, and I knew this time there was no stopping him.