“A queen?” Gabriella rose but didn’t move to the door. Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip.
My dick went fully erect at the sight.
“What are you talking about, Liam?” she demanded.
“I’m going to my family’s country house. Tonight. We’ll have a picked crew of men to witness.” My fingers curled to fists at my side. Determination flooded my veins as the reality of the situation became very,veryreal. “I’m the new boss of the McDonagh Clan.”
Gabriella’s brows relaxed. A look, part fascination, part awe, swept over her beautiful face. “You’d let a woman come?”
It was my turn to be confused. “You’re my wife.”
And if she thought she could skip the part where I made this Roman goddess the queen of the underworld, she was going to punished. Severely.
A hoarse laugh passed her rosy red lips. “Made Men don’t allow women into the inner workings of their organization. They’d never let a wife witness a don taking command.”
Her incredulity made sense. The fucking mafia. Leave it to the traditional, holier-than-thou-art Italian factions to keep such patriarchal customs.
“Go,” I clipped out. “Hurry.”
Gabriella scooted out of the room, but not without another eye roll. I went to take the pup outside, scooping the shopping bag from the dining room table as I passed. When Storm was done with his business, I followed her upstairs.
Standing in the walk-in closet, Gabriella frowned at the nearly empty rack opposite my full one. I knew she didn’t have anything grand enough to fit the occasion. That was why, when Da brought up the idea to me a few weeks ago, I’d done some shopping.
“Here.” I set the bag on the bed.
Storm, the wee shite, hopped on the bed and tried to shove his snoot into the bag. I batted him away, shooing him off the bed.
“You cannot allow him on the furniture like this,” I grumbled.
I looked up to see the muscles at the corner of Gabriella’s mouth twitching hard. But she bit her lip to keep from smiling.
Just give it to me, cailín.
She didn’t.
The silent groan sliced through my head with a dizzying agony. My muscles shook from the strain to keep from snatching her, throwing her onto the bed, and driving into her all while screaming at her to smile at me. I was reduced to threads, barely clinging to my sanity. She would scream in terror if I pounced now.
Gabriella didn’t seem to sense how bothered I was as she came to the opposite side of the bed and dumped the contents of the white and gold paper sack onto the mattress. She pawed through the tissue before straightening with a gasp.
“Liam, this is—” She stopped short, plucking up the leather and lace.
“Put it on,” I urged.
She tipped her head to the side to see around the garment. “You can’t be serious.”
My answer cracked through the room. “Deadly.”
“These aren’t even clothes,” she protested. “It looks like a Halloween costume or something they wear at cosplay.”
“Put it the fuck on.” I was two seconds away from tearing off her red and white striped pajamas and dressing her myself. I’d dreamed of what she would look like in that dress. But I knew once I had her naked, I wasn’t strong enough to keep from touching her.
If we did that, there would be no stopping the crazed beast inside from showing her my true colors.
“We’re already late,” I barked, going to the bathroom. I took my time, brushed my teeth, and then waited like a sop with my ear pressed against the door.
There was a good deal of rustling, some minor cursing, and hot strings of Italian that made my blood burn. When she finally huffed, I flung open the door.
Standing in the middle of the room, looking like the goddess of vengeance, was my wife.
