Beyond Promise by Karice Bolton Read Free Book Online Page A

wedding.
    “Truthfully, my suspicion is that your own
terms would’ve included waiting until after you stepped out of the
ring declaring victory. Then you’d smother me with kisses to
distract me and it’d all blow over,” I blabbed.
    He threw me a sideways glance, and he
shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe you know me better than I
realize.”
    “I hope so since we’ll be stuck with one
another for the next ninety years.”
    “Ninety? That’s a lot. Are you sure about
ninety?” he teased.
    “I don’t think I like the alternative so
ninety it is,” I countered.
    “True. There’s nothing wrong with being a
hundred and twenty. I’m sure there’s plenty of activities we can do
to keep us young at heart.”
    “Like get out of the bed every morning?”
    “Not quite what I was thinking, but yeah. I
guess at a hundred and twenty, getting out of bed is a good
goal.”
    “Probably one of the most important ones of
the day.”
    Ayden smiled and squeezed my knee.
    “Listen, don’t think about it for one more
second. You’re going to do what you always do when you step into
the ring, and I’ll be there rooting for you every step of the way.
We all will. And before you know it, one of us will be sipping
cocktails while hanging out on a beautiful beach. Sand between the
toes, warmth cascading over our skin, and amazing food morning,
noon, and night.”
    My stomach growled again and Ayden chuckled.
“I’m going as fast as I can. I promise, I’ll feed you soon.”
    I nestled into the seat and grinned.
    “Can you believe we’ll be married by
Thanksgiving?” I asked.
    He shook his head. “Hey, did you know we are
going to Bermuda during hurricane season?”
    “Argh. Why does everyone keep bringing that
up?” I rested my head on the seat. “It’s very unlikely that a
hurricane will happen during our wedding.”
    “It was also very unlikely that you’d get
pregnant while on antibiotics.” His smile widened and I couldn’t
help but laugh.
    A truer statement could not have been
said.

 
     
     
     
    Brandy figured out I hadn’t asked Ayden
about his estate planning so she took it upon herself to talk to
him about it that night after he came in from training with Derek.
It was good they were such close siblings. A conversation like that
would never happen in my family without wild accusations. Come to
find out, Ayden had already been in touch with his attorneys, and
things had been updated over the last few weeks.
    Hearing the news did nothing to settle my
worries. Instead, it made me realize Ayden, too, had doubts and
concerns he hadn’t shared with me about the outcome of the fight. I
actually wished I hadn’t heard that he’d updated his affairs.
Granted, it was the responsible thing to do, but it painted an
alternative ending I refused to think about.
    And here it was the night before he was
about to step into the ring, and I was deliberating whether I even
wanted to go to the match. I was almost sick to my stomach with
fear and apprehension.
    “I promise you this time tomorrow, we’ll be
home in front of the fire, watching a movie. Me stepping into the
ring will be a thing of the past, and we’ll never have to—” Ayden
began.
    I shook my head and placed my fingers on his
lips. “Enough talk about the fight. I’ve spent too much time over
the last week focusing on it. I want us to have a nice, normal
night without some epic battle going on in my mind about you
fighting that monster.”
    We were sitting in the family room, and he’d
just shut his laptop down and sat next to me on the chaise. My
guess was that he’d run a few more scenarios through Jason’s
program while he’d been sitting there glued to his laptop.
    “You know, you’re absolutely glowing,” he
interrupted my thoughts.
    “I think it’s a hot flash. I’m burning up
from the fire and hormones,” I confessed. “Not to mention this
flannel nightshirt I’ve got on.”
    He laughed, shaking his head.
    “Sorry. Not very