Chapter 248: _ Believe in Her
María José and I... we’d do anything to remain closer but the universe still wants us apart. For now, that is.
I closed my eyes, forehead pressing to hers again, letting her scent soak into my lungs. Sweet and warm, like rose petals dipped in sunshine. I could feel her heart thudding against mine; too fast and too scared.
"I don’t want to either," I whispered, brushing my nose along hers. "But we have to do this. For us."
Her hands gripped my shirt harder, as if her fingers could claw through the fabric and find the certainty she needed buried inside my ribs. "Why does it always have to be this hard? Why can’t we just... I don’t know... run away to Portugal and sell churros on the beach?"
Oh, there it was again; the sense of humor.
"Because," I said with a dry laugh, "I’m terrible at deep-frying. You’d end up widowed by a churro explosion. And... my dear wife, we don’t want to end up as feral carnivorous rogues, do we?"
She huffed a breath. It was half a sob, half a laugh, and I felt her relax just a little beneath me. I kissed her nose—light, staying there for as many seconds as I could before I pulled back just enough to see her eyes.
"In four days," I said, steadying my voice, "we’ll be married."
María José blinked. "What?"
"In four days," I repeated, brushing a stray strand of hair from her face, "you’ll be standing beside me at the altar. Not Rosa. You."
She jerked upright, our bodies still entangled on the couch but her spine suddenly stiffened. "You’re marrying me? As in... four days from now? Are you having a stroke, Axel?"