CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
Whitney
“ W hitney. This is Lennox. Hardy’s agent. You don’t know me, but I’m going to beg you to get down here to the stadium before Hardy does something he’s going to regret. Conference room thirteen.”
Lennox’s message replays in my head.
During the drive to the stadium where I broke many speed limits, my entire search for room thirteen in the stadium, and during each and every unanswered text and call I sent to Hardy’s cell.
There are voices on the other side of the door to conference room thirteen. My heart is pounding erratically, and my thoughts are running a mile a minute.
What in the world is going on?
I push the doors open without thinking and am met with several curious stares. But the person most surprised to see me there is Hardy.
He sits with a thick stack of papers in front of him and a pen poised in his hand.
“Whit? What are you doing here?” he asks, his eyes flickering to Lennox and back.
“Hardy? What’s going on?”
“Everyone clear the room, please?” Hardy asks.
The lawyer-ish types on the one side of the table nod and clear out, but the woman at Hardy’s side stands but stares at him.
“Lennox. Go.”
“Hardy. This is a mistake.”
He looks at her and then signs the document in front of him. She emits a muffled gasp and stares at him dumbfounded.
“I need to speak to Whitney,” he says.
Lennox shakes her head and walks out of the room.
I wait for the door to shut. Things start to fall into place and dread fills me.
“Hardy. What did you just sign?” I ask.
“A contract to play here with the Miami Mayhem.”
“You what?” I gasp, my heart falling to the floor.
“You’re right. It’s not fair to ask you to uproot your life for me. That academy and those kids are everything to you and ... I can’t ask you to leave that all behind for me. It wouldn’t feel right. It’s not a bargaining chip.”
“Hardy. You just can’t do that without talking to me.”
“Yes, I can.”
“That’s ridiculous.” I brace my hands on the top of my head and struggle to breathe. The weight of his words and his actions are immense.
“Why is it ridiculous? It’s showing you that you and your well-being mean more to me. I have more money than I’ll ever be able to spend. I’ve played at the highest levels and won everything but a Champion’s League title. But you know what?” he asks as he moves toward me. “Dreams change. Dreams adjust. And then you find a new dream to chase. A life with you?” He reaches out and rubs his thumb over my bottom lip. “That’s my new dream.”
I struggle to speak. To think. To fathom that this man is willing to walk away from a career some tout as one of the best so I don’t have to walk away from my kids and my found family.
I lean forward and brush a kiss to his lips. There’s salt in the taste and I’m not sure if it’s him or me who’s crying.
“That is the biggest, grandest gesture ... the most genuine sign of love and respect that anyone has ever shown me.” I rest my forehead against his and just breathe in the enormity of the moment and the sacrifice he’s willing to make.
For me.
That he’s already made for me .
“Hardy, you’re an incredible man. More of a man than I ever deserved, and while it makes my heart fuller than it’s ever been knowing you’d give up a part of your dream for me, I simply can’t let you do this.”
“It’s done,” he murmurs against my lips.
But it can’t be. I can’t allow him to do this.
I reach out and take the contract with the ink still wet on it and tear it in half. “It’s undone.”
He looks at me with wide eyes and his heart on his sleeve as I let the pieces flutter to the ground. “Whitney.”
“I don’t want you to throw away a career when you still have your best years ahead of you. I want to be a part of that ride with you. I want to encourage you when you need it and then mutter curses at you when you don’t. I want to sit in the stands and cheer you on and then wipe away tears when you finally win that Champion’s League title. All it comes down to is this. I just want you . The good. The bad. The ugly. The beautiful. I’m so used to running away on my own, Hardy, but this time I have someone to run to and damn if that isn’t the most incredible feeling in the world.”
“You really mean that.” There’s awe in his voice. Reverence. Love . And for the first time in my life, I accept that love. I want that love . And yes, it’s scary and new and daunting, but it’s also euphoric and comforting and real.
“I really mean that.” I wipe away the lone tear that has streaked down his cheek. “You’re right. Dreams change. And you are the dream I never had that has come true.”
“Naturally,” he jokes with a boyish grin that warms me as he leans forward and brushes his lips against mine. “I don’t want to do this without you. Can’t.”
“You don’t have to.” I’ve never felt more settled in my life. “I’m not going anywhere, Alexander Hardy.”
He leans back and looks at me with mischief in his eyes. “You promise?”
I don’t break my promises.
His words from weeks ago float through my head. I believed him then. I took a chance on him and look where that got me.
Him.
It got me him.
I’ve never been surer of the words I speak or the man before me. “Yes. I promise .”