Love for the Luchador (A Modern Romance) Read Free Page B

thought it would be best to wear what I did when we first
met."
    "You
remembered my name?" she said in surprise.
    He handed
her the perfect single rose. "María, I have saved many men and women in a few
short years, but you stood out. I remembered you and to my surprise, saw your
name in the papers every week. I am a huge fan of your reports, they bring a
little light and hope into this city. I like to think I have gotten to know you
through them. Besides, you are the only person in this city with the drive to
hunt a man such as me. No policeman or crime reporter has ever gotten as far as
you have."
    "Luchador,
I have dreamed about you since that night."
    "I have
dreamed of you as well, María."
    "You
know, you don't need to save my life to walk me home again," she said coyly as
she stepped closer to him, lifting her face toward his.
    The
luchador held her gaze but held her fast with one hand on her shoulder, her face
inches from his own. "I apologize for being old fashioned, but I could never be with a woman without first being married," he said softly.
    Up until
this point she had always tried to live her life logically, taking her time,
ensuring she knew what she was doing, but something about this man led her once
again to do something she wouldn't normally do. "Then let us marry! We have a
church and a priest, what else do we need?"
    " Señorita ,
you don't even know who I am, what I look like."
    She had
not come all this way to let him slip through her fingers. She told him, "I do know you! You are the man who saved me. You are the man who once ran into a
burning building to save strangers, the man who has stopped more thugs and
rapists than any single policeman! You are the man who has thrown himself into
danger time and time again to help others. You are the man who defeated the rudo Santiago in the second round, and persevered after suffering through the
luchador Diablo's Grande Mask Slam. I know you, Luchador, and you are the
bravest and most selfless man I have ever known."
    "You do
not even know my face."
    "I don't
care. I don't love your face. I love you ."
    He paused
for a long moment and finally took her hands in his. "I too, am in love with
you, María. You are the last person I think of every night and the first person
I think of every morning. Are you sure about this?"
    She
nodded emphatically. "I am more sure than I have ever been before."
    "Then I
have something for you." His hands went to his neck, unclasping a thin gold
necklace and lifting it out of his shirt to reveal a bright set of gold rings
dangling from the end, diamonds flashing in the sunlight. "María, these
belonged to my mother. I have carried them always since she passed away."
    He
dropped to one knee on the grass of the church yard, looking up at her. "If you
will accept me as I am, it would honor me, María Peña, if you would be my wife.
Will you marry me?"
    María
looked into those soft brown eyes, eyes she could just melt into. She felt
light headed and short of breath. She had never experienced a moment where she
had felt so pure and yet so physically desirous at once. She wanted to tackle
this man and kiss him, to take him, to love him.
    "Yes!"
    The ring
slipped on her finger like it was made for her, and the masked man was barely
on his feet before she had him by the hand, dragging him straight for the
church. In her excitement, she shoved the door open with unexpected force. The
startled priest stared at the unusual couple from the tabernacle as she marched
them forward.
    "Marry
us. Now!"
    " Señorita ,
this is most unusual."
    "I know.
This isn't exactly how I pictured my wedding day either, but God has his own
plans for us."
    "Do you
feel this is God's plan for you as well, señor ?" he asked the masked
man.
    " Si, Father
Reyes. María Peña Rivera is my true love, as improbable as that sounds."
    "Very
well. Under the circumstances, I will allow it. I am assuming you will have a
proper wedding for your families later, with an