“I promise you my worst days. The mornings where I’m difficult, where I haven’t slept, where I don’t deserve you.” My voice drops to something that scrapes the bottom of my chest. “I promise you my midnights. Every part of me I thought I had to hide.”
She’s crying now, tears falling unchecked. I don’t care who sees. I don’t care about anything except her.
I cup her face in my hands.
“You’re my home, Cassia.” The words scrape out of me. “And I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you never doubt that.”
She squeezes my hands. Steadies herself. I watch her fingers press tight around mine, watch her lips move. Counting.One, two, three.I know this about her now. The numbers that ground her when the world tips sideways.
“I spent my whole life being the one who stayed. The one who was safe. Steady. Forgettable.” Her voice is quiet but clear. “I thought that was all I’d ever be.”
She steps closer. Our bodies near touching.
“Then you looked at me like I was dangerous.”
A nervous laugh escapes her. My chest aches.
“Me. Dangerous. The invisible sister in the secondhand dress.” Her thumb traces my knuckles. “But you looked at me like I could wreck you. Like I already had.”
Her eyes lift to mine. Burning.
“I want to wreck you, Dante. I want to be the thing you can’t control. The variable you didn’t plan for.” Her voice drops. “Let me be the reason you stop bracing for loss and start believing you get to keep something.”
Her hands slide up my chest.
“I’m not promising you easy. I’m not promising I won’t fight you on everything.” A smile breaks through her tears. “But I’m promising you me. All of me. The parts I used to hide. The parts I didn’t know existed until I met you.”
Her voice cracks. Softens.
“I love you. Not the Don. Not the danger. You. The man underneath all of it.” Her fingers hook into my jacket. “And I will spend the rest of my life making sure you believe you deserve this. Deserve us.”
Dio.My vision blurs. I blink it back. Fail.
Her forehead tips against mine.
“You’re my choice, Dante. My only choice. And I’m never going to let you forget it.”
The officiant says something. I don’t hear it. All I hear is the blood rushing in my ears, the catch of her breath, the hammering in my own chest.
“You may kiss the bride.”
I don’t rush.
I cup her face, tilting her chin up. Her eyes flutter half-closed. My thumb traces the line of her jaw, feeling her pulse jump beneath my touch.
“Mia moglie,” I murmur. My wife.
Her lips part on a sharp inhale.
I close the distance between us. Soft at first. A brush of lips, testing. Then her hands fist in my jacket and pull me closer, and something inside me gives way. Just collapses.
Fuck.
I kiss her like no one is watching. Like she’s the only thing that exists and the only thing that matters.
Her lips part beneath mine and I taste salt from her tears, champagne from this morning, something underneath that’s just her. My fingers slide into her hair, scattering pins. She sighs against my mouth and I swallow the sound, keep it for myself.
Her body presses into mine, warm and real and here. I could stay in this moment for the rest of my life. I need to.
