If Mina stabbed me in the heart right now, I too would still hold onto her.
I moved over to the couch and she still didn’t notice until I shut the laptop down. Her head snapped at up me, her dark brown eyes on mine when a pout formed on her lips.
“Five more minutes?” she begged.
“Nope,” I said offering her my hand.
She sighed and I pulled her up and spun her into my arms.
“Hello.” She smiled.
“Oh, now you notice me? I’ve been staring at you for at least ten minutes.”
“What? You should have said something!”
“I’m saying something now,” I replied, my hands slowly pulling down the zipper of her dress. When it dropped to the ground and she stood before me in only a lacy baby blue bra set that had bows on the mounds of her breasts, she blushed. When we first made love, she was so shy. Over the years, she’s gotten bolder, but I still loved how she turned pink for me.
“We have to get up early in the morning,” she reminded me.
“Or we could just never go to bed,” I said. I lifted her off her feet and threw her over my shoulder.
“NEAL!”
Smacking her ass, I laughed and took her to the bed.
“Yes?” I asked when I dropped her in the middle. She sat up on her elbows.
“If I fall asleep in church in front of all you clansmen, the amount of rumors—”
Leaning over, I kissed her quickly on the lips. “Let them talk. No matter what they say, it doesn’t change the fact that you are my side, you, Mina, are a Callahan.”
When I kissed her again, there was nothing quick or innocent about it.
FOUR
“The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants a woman, as the most dangerous plaything.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
MELODY
“We had a plan Liam,” I said slowly as I made myself comfortable on his lap, reaching up to wipe the beads of sweat on his forehead. His shaking hand grabbed onto my wrist tightly and his nosed flared with rage, but that didn’t stop me from simply using my other hand to cup his warm cheek. “According to our plan, Liam, our son would spend the first eleven years of his life just learning how to become the next Ceann na Conairte at home. When he turned twelve, he would visit both our families as the future boss, at thirteen he would go to work with us…you’re three years early, so what happened sweetheart?”
He inhaled deeply through his nose and his jaw tensed as he managed to say, “Poison…not…fair. Scared to fight me now?”
“Liam!” I snapped, grabbing his hair and pulling his head back. He had no idea how badly I wanted to hurt him. “Not fair? You go around my back? You make our son see you as a fucking god and that makes me what? A burden? An embarrassment? And now you have the nerve to talk to me about being fair? The only reason I didn’t take a bat to your head when you walked in was because—”
“Melody. Enough.”
Annoyed, I reached into the pocket of my robe, dropping the antidote next to him before getting up.
My hands were shaking as I opened the door to the balcony. I shivered as the wind blew through me. Gripping the rail, I breathed in slowly. Calm down Mel. Calm down.
“Ahh! Fuck!” I yelled angrily.
“Mel breathe—”
“Don’t touch me,” I snapped, feeling him behind me.