Page 40 of The Hellion and the Captain
She shrugged. “No one. Everyone. There is no one for you to fight, Rhys.” Her violet eyes bored into him now. “Besides, are you not one of them? You just told me that a taste of me should be enough to ‘let your desire go’ as I believe you referred to it.”
He was instantly flooded with regret for his words. For she was right. He had hoped that he would be able to do so, mostly for her sake. But it had nothing to do with her being forgettable. Far from it.
“This had nothing to do with you and everything to do with me,” he said. “If I were to ever commit to someone, it would be to a woman like you. But I cannot.”
“Why not?” she asked, her face open.
“Because you are on the football field with me. Because you deserve more than a man like me, one who comes from nothing.”
“That’s what Colin said too,” she said, waving her hand around. “Old news.”
He couldn’t help but gruffly laugh at that before reaching out and taking her hands again.
“There is one thing you need to understand, Emmaline.” He gazed into her eyes, feeling like he could see directly into her soul. “You are worth more than any woman I have ever met. You are determined. You let nothing stop you. You look out for those around you. You care about them and have more courage than anyone I have ever met.”
She scoffed. “That is kind, but I just wanted to play football.”
“You chased a dream,” he said. “Most people sit around wishing, hoping, regretting the decisions they made or didn’t make. You look yours in the face and do everything you can to make them come true. That is admirable.”
“Thank you,” she said, finally accepting his compliment. “But that does not make me any more desirable than another woman.”
“That,” he said firmly, “is where you are wrong. Those are the very reasons that make me want you more than I have ever wanted another woman.”
“Then why don’t you go after what makes you happy, Rhys?” she challenged him. “Especially if you find such a quality so admirable?”
And just like he had found her vulnerabilities, she touched upon his.
“Because I am not as brave as you,” he murmured, as ashamed of himself as he was proud of her.
“How can that be true?” she asked, the breeze sweeping alock of hair across her face, and she lifted their joined hands to brush it away, his knuckles trailing along the soft skin of her face. “You have come so far. You are a bank manager, the captain of a football team.”
“I am,” he agreed. “I have come far from where I began, and I am successful by society’s standards, yes. Yet… I would like more in my life.”
“Like a family?”
He hesitated, wondering if he had been wrong to share that with her, for in this moment, he could see one way to fill the hole he desperately longed to fill in his life.
With her.
“I am lonely,” he admitted tersely. “Despite all of the people who surround me – my teammates, my coworkers – I do not enjoy eating dinner or going to bed alone, nor waking up each morning to an empty apartment.”
“You have said as much,” she said, inching closer. There wasn’t much room left between them, so now, her upturned face was near to meeting his. He only needed to tilt his head to meet her halfway. “I would like to challenge you, Rhys.”
“Would you now?”
“Go after what you want. Take the chance. Create the life you are longing for. I know that you can.”
He paused, wondering if she understood what she was asking him to do. For what he wanted right now… was her.
She stared directly back at him, and he realized she knew exactly what she was doing. And that she wanted this as much as he did.
“I accept your challenge,” he said to her, his hands wrapping around her waist as he tugged her closer toward him, their bodies almost touching, “but I need you to promise me one thing.”
She waited.
“You need to understand your worth. To know that anyman would be lucky to have you, and if he doesn’t understand that, then you are too good for him. Do you hear me?”
She nodded briefly.
