“Pfft.” I waved off Carlos’s comment. “I want to see him.”

“Okay.” He gently took my elbow, and I heard him mutter, “Dios mio, Jimmy is going to kill me.”

We took the back elevator to the second floor. It seemed to take forever. I found myself tapping my foot.

“You nervous?”

I glanced over at Rhys’s best friend, a denial forming on my lips. However, it didn’t come out. The truth was, I was beyond nervous for Rhys to fight. I hadn’t slept a wink the night before worrying about it.

Not just because I was concerned about some guy punching the hell out of him, or vice versa, but because I was still anxious about what this fight might do to him. I knew now Rhys had gone to see Marcy because he needed closure with her before he could step back in the ring. Her permission, which from the story he’d told me, she’d given with grace and compassion.

She sounded like a lovely person and someone I wanted to meet. She was important to Rhys, and anything important to him was important to me.

I froze against the elevator doors as they opened.

After all these years, all the running away, I’d finally found someone I wanted to love. Someone I wanted to love me back.

Not wanted.

No … I loved him.

The feeling crashed over me, and I suddenly felt annoyed with myself for not having said it to him. Sure, I’d told him I was crazy about him and I’d alluded to it… but I hadn’t said those actual words. I loved him. I couldn’t sleep for worrying about him. That’s why the prehistoric butterflies in my belly hadn’t disappeared even after I got news of Fairchild’s demise from Horus.

I loved Rhys.

And he needed to know that. Not tomorrow or the next day… but now.

“Hey, you okay?” Carlos’s face appeared in front of mine.

No, I was not okay.

I was in love.

People were a million things when they were in love but “okay” was surely not one of them.

Pushing a strained smile, I nodded. “Yeah.”

Carlos didn’t look like he believed me, but he didn’t badger me. Instead he led me out of the elevator and down the hall to Rhys’s office. He knocked and opened the door, sticking only his head around the jamb. “Got a delivery in a very cute fucking package out here.”

“How about you not notice that shit from now on?” I heard Rhys say. “Jimmy, give us a minute. Let my girl in.”

“No funny business,” I heard Jimmy warn just before the door opened fully to reveal the trainer. His eyes dropped down my body, and he rolled his eyes. “For fuck’s sake.” He cut me a look. “That goes for you too. Jesus.”

He strode away, taking a chuckling Carlos with him. When I turned back from watching them go, I found Rhys sitting on the edge of his rosewood desk. He wore long boxing shorts and boxing boots in black and gold. His ripped torso drew my attention for a second because, well, it was magnificent, until my eyes were drawn to his hands all wrapped up.

My stomach somersaulted.

I could not lose him to this fight. Emotionally or otherwise.

“You coming in or not, Tinker Bell?”

Swallowing hard, I strode inside.

Rhys’s gaze drifted down my body, and his hands curled around the edge of the desk. When his eyes met mine, they were full of heat. “Did you wear that dress just to torture me?”

I smoothed a nervous hand down the pleated skirt. “It’s just a dress.”

He cocked his head. “You worried about this fight?”

It was somewhat disconcerting how perceptive he could. “I know you’ll do great.”

“But you’re still worried. That why you’re still standing all the way over there?” He pushed up off the desk, and I crossed the distance between us.

As I slid my arms around his waist and rested my head on his warm, hard chest, Rhys wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. “I’ll be fine, Tink.”

“I know.” I squeezed him and then lifted my head from his chest. “I have good news.”

Rhys gave me an affectionate smile. “Yeah, what’s that?”

I told him about my confrontation with Fairchild and about the board buying him out of Horus. “Jackson gave me a permanent contract. Fairchild can’t touch my job. And I have leverage on him now. I think … I think we might be out of those particular woods.”

His smile widened and this time he squeezed me. “Baby, that’s not good news, that’s fantastic news.”

My own smile fell. “I blackmailed him.”

Sobering, Rhys nodded. “And I know how you probably feel about that. But I think you’re pretty fucking brave. Thank you. Not just for me and Dean, but for doing it for yourself. Proud of you.”

My breath caught. “Really?”

His hands coasted down my back as he studied me. “Yeah, really.”

Gazing up into his too-handsome face and those beautiful, warm eyes, emotion welled inside me with such force, I couldn’t have stopped it even if I’d wanted to. “I love you,” I blurted.

Rhys’s eyes widened, his nostrils flaring, his lips parting and he—

“Right, time’s up, lovebirds,” Jimmy burst into the room.

My boyfriend’s arms tensed around me as I attempted to retreat. “Jimmy—”

“Nope, nearly time and Parker here needs to take her seat. Go on, darlin’.” He gestured toward the door with his hand.

“It’s okay,” I reassured Rhys, even though I was trembling with the magnitude of what I’d just confessed. “Uh, well … break a leg.” I frowned and shot a worried look at Jimmy. “No, that’s not right. What do you say to a boxer for good luck before a fight?”

The trainer’s lips twitched. “Good luck.” He threw Rhys a teasing look. “I thought you said she was smart?”

Rhys apparently wasn’t in the mood to be teased. His tender gaze fell on me. “She’s the smartest fucking person I know. But thankfully, she’s got a big blind spot when it comes to me.”

Grinning, I shook my head. “Not true. I see you clearer than anyone.”

Something big flickered across Rhys’s expression, and that was when I found myself being gently guided toward the exit and summarily dismissed by Jimmy. “Enough. I need him juiced, not fucking sweet on his girl.”

“Parker,” Rhys called my name.

Jimmy let me go, and I glanced over my shoulder at my boyfriend.

“You’re the first person I want to see after this fight. Yeah?”

Nodding, I let out a nervous sigh. “Yes. Good luck. And Rhys?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I’m proud of you too.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I took off before I could throw myself at him and ruin the words by asking him not to fight. On shaking legs, I hurried down the hall toward the doors that led out into the main room of the second floor.

As soon as I burst into the space, I halted. Laid out before the main ring were rows and rows of folding chairs. Catering staff moved up and down the aisles with canapés and champagne, offering them to the high society guests who had dressed up in their finery.

“Parker, darling.” A soft voice somehow cut through the loud murmur and the music blaring through the PA system. My gaze followed the familiar voice—my mom. She stood by the front-row seats where my father, Easton, and her fiancé Oliver were sitting. She waved me over, and I hurried to take the seat next to her after stopping to kiss everyone’s cheeks.