Page 73 of Riding the Edge

“It did not,” I argue, standing up. “I’m going to check and see if I shut the oven off,” I say, walking backward into the kitchen.

Once out of sight, I grab the bottle of wine from the fridge—so much for no more day drinking. Swinging my head back, I take a swig from the bottle and nearly choke when I feel two strong hands grip my hips from behind.

“Nice save,” he rasps against my ear. Reaching around me, he pulls the bottle away from my hand and sets it on the counter in front of me. “Look at me, Lady,” he says, releasing his other hand from my hip.

Drawing in a breath, I turn around and lean against the counter. Lifting my chin, our eyes lock and for a brief pause, everything else fades. I get lost in the intensity of his stare and I forget all the reasons I’ve been avoiding him.

“What’s going on with you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“C’mon, Lady,” he whispers. “Don’t do that,” he adds, taking a step closer to me. “I’ve been calling you off the hook.”

Glancing over his shoulder, I look towards the dining room.

“Can we do this later? I don’t want someone to walk in—”

“Why not?”

My eyes snap back to his.

“What?”

“Go in there and tell them the truth, Lady. Tell them it’s you and me.”

“Al—”

“The doctor call you?”

“No,” I whisper, looking away.

“Go, tell them,” he demands softly.

“Please, listen to me,” I say hoarsely. “I can’t do this with you, Al. It’s not fair to you.”

“You don’t get it, do you? I don’t give a shit what those test results say,” he whispers harshly. “I want you, Maria. All your beauty and all your class. Your sarcasm and your regrets. In sickness and in health, I want you.”

There’s this old saying, maybe you’ve heard it—when a man wants a woman, he will literally come and get her. He will do everything he can and exhaust every possible opportunity until she’s his. I never believed in that kind of stuff until now. Staring into Wolf’s eyes, I know he’s not lying, that, he truly doesn’t care if I’m sick or not but, I do.

“You say that now,” I tell him, swallowing the lump in my throat. “You don’t know what’s going to happen or how you’re going to feel when it does and neither do I. We had a good time and yeah, if things were different, I would’ve loved to see where this could go.”

“So, that’s it?”

“We just forget this thing between us exists?”

“For now.”

“Oh, so when you get a clean bill of health, you’ll return all my calls?” he sneers, taking a step backward.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “I know that you’re a good man and for whatever reason, you’ve decided to wake up and find what makes you happy. That’s a beautiful thing, Al. You deserve to be happy. You deserve a woman who can fill the parts of you that are empty.”

“Is everything okay in there?” Anthony growls from the other room.

“Yeah, false alarm,” I call over Al’s shoulder. Diverting my gaze back to his, I lift my hand to his cheek. “I’m sorry our timing was bad.”

His hand grips my wrist as he closes the distance between us and leans his forehead against mine.

“Learned a long time ago, if life throws you a curve, you lean into it. Lean into the curve, Maria. I got you,” he says huskily. Closing my eyes, my body involuntarily does as it’s told, and leans into him. His arms snake around my waist and he drags me closer to him. “I got you,” he repeats.

“Grandma!!” Victoria calls, jolting me away from Al’s strong embrace. My little granddaughter comes into the kitchen, skidding to a halt. “Uncle Riggs is leaving, and daddy needs the grated cheese.”

“Okay, sweetie,” I say, stepping around Al. Opening the refrigerator, I grab the container of Locatelli-Romano and look at Al.

“I’m going to leave,” he says finally. “You know where to find me,” he adds, shoving his hands into his pockets. As he moves to brush past me, he comes to a stop and leans forward placing his lips on my forehead.

“I’m not going anywhere, Lady.”

Yet.

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