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“Of course not,” Rhodes bit out, shaking his head. “Finley had a good reason for feeling the way she did, which was why I agreed. And I would never describe our relationship as a mess. She’s a fucking miracle.”
“That’s the first accurate thing you’ve said all night.” His chin firmed. “But it’s another example of why you don’t deserve her. Finley is special.”
“I’m not gonna disagree with you about that, Lennox.” Rhodes glanced down at me, his dark orbs filled with emotion as his voice softened. “I don’t deserve Finley, but I’m going to spend every day of the rest of my life doing my best to make sure she never regrets choosing me.”
I smiled up at him, tears welling in my eyes over the sweetness of his declaration. “You’re wrong. The past two and a half weeks have been amazing. You treat me so well. And you make me happy. I’m the one who’s lucky to be with you, Rhodes.”
“We’re going to have to agree to disagree on that, baby.” He brushed his thumb across my bottom lip. “I’m lucky as fuck that you chose me out of all the guys you could be with.”
I shook my head with a soft laugh. “You do realize that I could say the same about all the women who I’m sure throw themselves at you on a regular basis?”
“Maybe that’s true, but you’re the only one I see.” Rhodes lifted his head to glare at my uncle when he made a strangled noise. “We can hash out whatever you want to do about me playing on your team later.”
“Why not right now? We’re all right here,” Lennox pointed out.
“Because I need to convince your niece to marry me first.” Uncaring of the people gawking at us, Rhodes dropped to a knee in front of me. Then he lifted my left hand and pressed a kiss to my ring finger. “Finley, I wasn’t exaggerating when I told your uncle that I would spend the rest of my days proving that you chose right. And I want to do that as your husband. Please say you’ll make me the happiest man in the whole damn world by becoming my wife.”
My breath caught in my throat, and I felt as though everything came to a sudden stop. We might have only been together for a short time, but I could easily picture spending the rest of my life with this man as my husband. But I didn’t want him to ask just because he felt like he’d been backed into a corner by Lennox.
“You don’t need to propose to me right now just because my uncle is giving you a hard time.” I tried tugging Rhodes to his feet, but there was no way to budge him when he didn’t want to move. “Ask me again when you’re ready, and I’ll say yes. I promise.”
“At least buy the damn ring first,” Lennox grumbled, looking slightly less pissed off as he sighed.
“Fuck, the ring,” Rhodes groaned.
Giving his hand a squeeze, I shook my head. “Just so you know, when you buy one, I don’t care what the ring looks like. Just that you picked it out for me.”
“You’re so damn perfect.” He got to his feet and cupped my cheeks with his large palms. “It’s no damn wonder I fell in love with you. Or that I already have a jeweler’s box waiting at home for you. I would’ve brought it with me if I’d known you were going to be here.”
“You love me?” I gasped, pressing trembling fingers to my lips. Although I felt the depth of his caring each day, neither of us had used that particular four-letter word yet.
“More than you can possibly know,” he confirmed, brushing his mouth against mine in a quick but heartfelt kiss.
“I love you, too.” Tears spilled down my cheeks. “So, so much.”
“Well, shit,” Lennox sighed, drawing our attention back to him. “Now I’m going to have to give you my blessing, aren’t I?”
I sniffled and nodded. “Only if you want me to be happy.”
“It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted for you, Finley.” He shifted his gaze to Rhodes. “You’d better take good care of her.”
My fiancé—it felt so good to call him that, even just in my head—tucked me against his side. “I will.”
“Good, because I’ll be watching to make sure that you do,” Lennox warned.
“So you’re not going to trade me to some other team for ignoring what you said about staying away from Finley?” Rhodes asked.
“Nah, we both know I was never going to follow through with that particular threat. It wouldn’t be fair to you, the rest of the team, or our fans.” Lennox scraped his hand over his jaw as he shook his head. “You’re too damn good of a player to lose like that.”
Regardless of his contract with my uncle’s team, he was all mine.
EPILOGUE
RHODES
There were many reasons to appreciate working for a billionaire. Today, that reason was the luxury suites he’d purchased for his players’ families.
Ames, Jordan, Kellan, and I stood on the sidelines talking to Coach O’Hara during our warm-up, but my attention kept straying to the suites. I grinned when I saw Finley standing on one of the chairs, pointing at the number on her New York Nighthawks jersey.My number.
