His Secretary's Surprise Fiance

The rare compliment surprised him. The complaint really didn’t. There was a chance Henri was correct.

“I’ll take that under advisement.” He accepted the input with a nod and tucked his clipboard under one arm to head inside.

“So where’s Adelaide?” Henri asked, stopping Dempsey in his tracks.

“Running her own business. Having a life outside the Hurricanes.” Without him.

The knowledge still gutted him.

“Since I’m on a real roll with advice today, can I offer a second piece?” Henri brushed some dirt off his helmet.

“Definitely not.” Pivoting away from his brother, he noticed some of his players were lying on the field.

Were they that tired? Had he run them that hard?

The idea bothered him. A lot.

“Dude, I’m not claiming to be an expert on women.” Henri hovered at his shoulder, carrying the water cooler inside. “Far from it with the way my marriage is going these days.”

The dark tone in Henri’s voice revealed a truth the guy had probably tried hard to keep quiet.

“Sorry to hear it.” Because even though Dempsey was waist high in self-pity right now, he felt bad for his brother.

“My point is, I know enough about women to know you’re going about it all wrong.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

Henri laughed, a loud, abrupt cackle. “How much time do you have, old man?” Then, tossing his helmet and the water cooler on the ground, he pantomimed a quick right hook to Dempsey’s gut. “Seriously. Don’t let Adelaide go.”

And then he was gone, scooping up the helmet and shouldering the cooler to go hassle the slackers left on the field. No doubt reinstalling the team morale that Dempsey had single-handedly shredded.

He wasn’t sure what had shocked him more. He’d never been particularly close with Henri, sensing that the guy had resented Dempsey more than the others as kids because Henri had been close with their mother. The mother who’d left as soon as Dempsey had set foot in the Reynaud house. But that was a long time ago, and maybe he needed to shake off the idea that he was a black sheep brother. Figure out how to be a better brother.

How to show he cared about people beyond stilted words about being good teammates.

Henri was right. It was time for Dempsey to stop expecting Adelaide to read between the lines with him. Just because she understood him better than anyone didn’t excuse him from spelling out his feelings for her. She deserved that and much, much more.

So damn much more.

But he was going to lay it on the line for her again, without any distractions or big gestures. And hope like hell he got it right this time. Because the truth of the matter was he couldn’t live without her. His championship season didn’t mean anything if he couldn’t share it with her.

The woman he loved.

* * *

Adelaide dug to the bottom of her pint of strawberry gelato while seated on her kitchen counter in the middle of the afternoon, wishing strawberry tasted half as good as chocolate ice cream.

Except everything chocolate reminded her of Dempsey after their chocolate-sauce encounter, and if she thought about Dempsey, she would cry. And after three days back home alone in her crappy apartment, she did not feel like crying anymore.

Okay, she did a little. Especially if she thought about how much effort he’d put into romancing her on Sunday after the game. How many other women would trade anything to be treated the way Dempsey treated her? Yet she’d discounted all his efforts in the hope of hearing he loved her.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Except that she’d do it all over again because she was one of those romantic girls who believed the right guy would hand her his whole heart forever and ever. She didn’t think she could go through life if that turned out to be a myth. Then again, she wasn’t sure she could go another day without Dempsey.

But she could probably go through a few more single-serving-size gelatos. She’d bought every flavor that didn’t contain chocolate, determined to find some new taste to love.

Her doorbell rang as she was on her way back to the freezer.

No doubt her mother on a mission of mercy to lift her spirits. Little did Della know that Adelaide was only going to stuff her with gelato to avoid hearing any kind platitudes about waiting for the right one to come along.

She yanked open the door, only to have the safety chain catch, and remembered too late she was supposed to look through the peephole. She didn’t live in Dempsey’s ultrasafe mansion anymore.