Page 62 of The Hellion and the Captain
“I couldn’t have done it nearly as well without you, Rhys. Having you here, supporting me… it means everything.”
“I followed your lead,” he said. “All I ask is that next time you give me some warning.”
Emmaline looked over his shoulder, seeing Lily wave to her before she and Minnie and Ada followed the other women off the field. They would ensure that all of the women were seen to their carriages. Emmaline had told her parents to expect guests as she was hosting a picnic with a few of her closest friends.
They had seemed pleased, if disinterested, before leaving for a dinner party of their own.
Finally alone, Rhys skimmed his fingertips over her cheek in the barest caress. She shivered before he captured her lips in a searing kiss that made her toes curl. They lost themselves in each other for a few stolen moments, the world fading away along with the setting sun, until it was just the two of them, wrapped up in one another, finding their way back together after too much time apart.
Breathless, Emmaline finally pulled back, resting her forehead against his broad chest. “We probably shouldn’t stay together here for too long.”
“I know,” Rhys sighed, but he made no move to release her from his embrace. “But I hated being apart from you this week. I needed to see you.”
“I felt the same,” she confessed. “But we must be careful, Rhys. I couldn’t bear it if my actions cost you everything you’ve worked so hard for.”
“You’re worth any risk,” he vowed fiercely. “I told you, Emmaline. I have my job, this club, yes, but I want more from my life.”
“You honestly think that… thatIcould be the one to fill that space?”
“I do,” he said, his eyes searching her face.
Emotion clogged her throat. This man, so strong and steadfast, was willing to risk everything for her.
She couldn’t help that small tug at the back of her mind questioning whether he meant what he said, whether this would go beyond the time they spent together and if he could see himself with her for any considerable length of time, but to ask would gain nothing. She could see the sincerity in his eyes, and knew that his intentions, at least, were true.
She was reminded of why she was falling in love with him.
She reached up, touching his face, running her fingers over his beard. “Where do we go from here?” she murmured.
“It’s up to you. If you want to continue with Manchester Central, we need to keep what we have secret until the end of the season. I could not balance having my… woman and a player on the team never in the same room together. It would be all the worse if you were ever to be discovered. Depending on whether you continue with the club, we can decide what to do after the season.”
She bit her lip. She loved football, but her feelings for Rhys were growing stronger every day. Was one worth risking for the other?
“How about this?” he said, obviously realizing her indecision. “Let’s take it one day at a time. No decisions at this moment. How does this sound?”
“Thank you, Rhys,” she said in a low voice. “But there is one thing you must know.”
“Yes?”
She lifted her head to his. “No matter what happens, in the end, I choose you.”
He leaned in, sealing their promise to one another with a kiss. Sharing soft words and tender touches, their close, intimate moment grew in heat until they practically breathed the same air, Emmaline clutching his shirt to hold herself upright.
“Rhys?” she said, looking up at him. “I have missed you. All of you.”
He looked around them, at the field before them, and Emmaline gestured to the pile of items beside her.
“I have a picnic blanket,” she said, smiling up at him, and he didn’t have much resolve to hold back from her as she broke away from him only to spread the blanket behind one of the trees, hiding them from the rest of the clearing.
Once it was down, she practically jumped on him, her legswrapping around his waist as he took them both to the ground, laughing.
Emmaline’s hands quickly worked the buttons on Rhys’s shirt, pushing it off his shoulders to reveal his sculpted chest. He groaned as her fingers skimmed over his heated skin, trailing lower to the waistband of his trousers.
Rhys captured her wrists, stilling her movements. “Slow down, luv,” he rasped. “I want to enjoy every moment with you.”
He laid her back gently on the blanket, the soft material cushioning her from the hard ground. Hovering over her, he began placing open-mouthed kisses along the column of her throat, working his way down to the swell of her breasts visible above her neckline.
Emmaline arched into his touch, craving more. “Please, Rhys,” she whimpered.
