Intense (Beneath Blaze #3)

by Luna Mason

“I did say I’d die for you, love. Dying inside of you doesn’t seem so bad.”

“The annulment?” I whisper. Tears sting as I step closer. Both our signatures are scrawled across the page, mocking me, promising an end I can’t survive. “You signed them?” I can’t hide my hurt. “Not for the reason you think, love. Turn around.” I spin around to face him, my throat burning, only to find him on one knee. “You’re a brave man.” I shake my head, choked between a sob and a laugh. “I was about to punch you in the balls. I never want to see those papers again.” “Me neither, love. Me neither.” He chuckles, opening a velvet box in one hand, covering his crotch with the other. My gasp echoes through the room. A massive diamond, twined with a black-diamond snake wrapped around the band. Deadly. Beautiful. Ours. “Finn—” “Stephanie Quinn.” His voice is steady. “You might have proposed first. Said you love me first. But, I want to do this properly and get down on one knee with a ring you deserve. Will you do me the absolute honor of marrying me a second time? Only this time, we both remember saying our vows?”

I want mornings where the only thing I’m studying is the rise and fall of your chest while you sleep beside me.

“Finn…” My voice breaks. “You’d give that up for me?” “For us,” he corrects softly, tipping my chin up until my eyes lock on his. “Because all the control, all the precision, all the power—none of it meant shit until you walked into my operating room and lit me on fire. You’re my obsession. You always were. The rest was noise.”

“I’d like you to read out loud the very first page. My first ever observation about you.” Her brows rise. “Is this the book? I get to keep it?” I chuckle. “It’s one of the books, yes. I have four.” Her jaw drops. “I’m really that interesting?” she teases. “To me? The most fascinating person on the planet, love.” She flips open the little black book, and her breath stutters into a sob. My collar feels too fucking tight as I tug at it. “Stephanie Miller. This is our second interaction. She scowls at me, a lot. I think she might find me attractive. I’m not sure. I will observe her behavior further. Note. Her smile is infectious, and so is her scowl. She’s the brightest person in the room, including myself.” The crowd breaks into soft coos. Stephanie’s sobs rack her chest, but she steadies herself and reads on. “I’m fascinated. I need to be in a room with her on my own to assess further.” She flips through more pages until she finds a folded piece of paper. Her face pales as she unfolds it. “What is this?” Her voice trembles. “Finn. Tell me what this is.” Fuck. “No. No, it’s all good, love. It’s healthy. Just the scan results. When I was falling in love with you, I had brain scans done. I needed to be sure I wasn’t sick. It all felt so alien.” Her lip trembles. “You thought loving me was making you sick?” I shake my head, firm. “Loving you is the only thing that makes everything in here okay.” I tap my temple. “That day was confirmation of what I already knew. That I love you....

“We bleed for each other.”

I kiss her with everything I am. Everything I’ll ever be. Everything she’s healed inside me. A love like this burns eternal. And I vow to spend every day of my life making sure my wife knows she saved me. That she brought me back to life. And that I would die for her. She is my purpose. My fucking world. Our love is intense. Some might say it’s crazy. But, it’s perfect, and it’s ours. Forever.

Finn slides his gold skeleton mask over his face, and the sight steals my breath. “Fuck. Finn. That’s hot. Don’t get it dirty, I wanna use that later.”