Page 110 of Riding the Edge

“I don’t know what I’ll do if something happens to you,” she whispers to her mother.

“Nothing is going to happen. Well, I’m not going to be going bra shopping anytime soon but other than that…”

“Stop making jokes,” Lauren insists.

“Oh, honey, sometimes we gotta laugh,” Maria says softly. “Now, stop worrying. You’ll give yourself wrinkles.”

“She’s already got a few,” Anthony quips.

“Yeah and you’ve got like twelve gray hairs.”

Shaking her head, Maria smiles at the two of them.

“Take care of each other and while you’re at it,” she trails off, glancing at me. “Take care of him too. The three of you look like you’re going to need each other today.”

“Only thing we need is you,” I rasp. “Ain’t that right?” I ask her children as I step towards her. Face to face, chest to chest, I take her hand and pull her into my arms. “You and me, Lady,” I murmur against her hair.

Clutching my vest in her hands, she buries her face in my neck and I feel her body quiver against mine as she holds back a sob. It takes everything in me to hold my shit together in front of Lauren and Anthony.

This woman.

She’s everything.

She’s what you live and pray for.

Breaking away, she bows her head and quickly brushes the tears from her cheeks. Lifting her chin, I cup her face and force her eyes to mine. With a wink and a quirk of my lips, I find my voice.

“Go kick some ass, baby.”

She gives me a small smile.

“I got you,” I add, glancing over her shoulder. My eyes meet Anthony’s as he drapes his arms around his sister and consoles her. “And I got them, too,” I say, diverting my gaze back to hers. “You just go in there and show cancer hell hath no fury like a woman who is loved.”

“Mrs. Bianci, we’re ready for you.”

Fuck.

Dipping my head, I find her lips and kiss her softly.

“I gotta tell you, Lady,” I say against her mouth. “I’m over the whole Mrs. Bianci thing.”

“What?”

“You can hyphenate that shit if you want but when the time comes, you take my name.”

“Are you asking me to marry you?”

“What if I am?”

“That would be crazy.”

“Then, yeah, I’m asking you to marry me.”

At least this time, it’ll be forever.

Every once in a while, in the middle of an ordinary life, something extraordinary comes along and knocks you on your ass.

If you’re me, you hold on tight.

You embrace the next chapter.

You turn the page.

You write the rest of the story.

And you do it with your queen right at your side.

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