Tap! Tap! It's late, so I gently tap on Clara's door with the noisy beats of my heart in my ears, cutting through the quietness of the night. I just hope that I'm not scaring her. I think she's still up, because soft lights can be seen through the downstairs curtains from where I stand on her darkened stone doorstep. Listening, I keep my baseball cap really low on my forehead, not wanting anyone to recognise me should they happen to be passing by at this pretty late hour. Tap! Tap! I gently tap again, worried that Clara now won't open the door to me at all. But then to my right, I hear a gentle rapping on the downstairs window. With my head turned but hanging low, I look towards the sound. Clara is looking at me, only a pane of cold glass now separating us. Quickly closing her curtain, I wait for her door to finally open as I shove my nervous hands deep within the front pockets of my jeans. As soon as her door is opened up to me and the light of her home hits my shadowed face, I feel the need to hurriedly explain why I am here beneath my baseball cap. "I'm sorry...I needed to see you."

"Come in." Is all that Clara says, her expression so very slack with the shock of my very unexpected late night arrival.

Unable to take my eyes off her, so inwardly ecstatic to see her again; I can't help but smirk at her amusing choice of nightwear. "Cute." I'm referring to her polka dot onesie, the one that makes her look too damn adorable right now.

Looking down at it, she smiles with sweet embarrassment. "Thanks." Closing her front door on the coldness of the night, she then shyly pads her bare and dainty feet out of her small and chilly hallway, into her much warmer feeling lounge. She's been watching a film, so grabs the remote and pauses it before snuggling up on her couch. "Why do you need to see me?" She's cuddling her knees that are tightly bent against her chest, cuddling them because she's just as nervous as I am.

Slowly sitting beside her on the couch, all of my movements are thoughtfully done. I've had this conversation all planned out in my head, but my mind now seems totally blank with silent worry. "I figured some stuff out." Taking off my cap and running my fingers through my hair, it gives me just a few important seconds to articulate all that I've figured out today as I gaze into her waiting eyes. "I have figured out that I am someone who doesn't want for anything...but I want you, Clara." Sage upon teal and teal upon sage, our eyes are deeply locked in a mutual stare. "I don't know how this might work, but I'm willing to give it a go, if you are?" I don't have all the answers, I only have what I feel. All I am asking from this beautiful woman, is for a chance. " Reaching out to touch her, because I need to feel her womanly warmth, my hands rest on Clara's elbows that are still sitting on her bent up knees as I shuffle in just that little bit closer. "Say something." She's not saying anything, she's only staring at me. I just want her to say something...anything!

From between her stunned lips, a quiet question soon slips out. "Are you wanting us to try and be together?" Her voice is shakily just as stunned as her overwhelmed stare is.

Wanting her to believe me and all that I say, my cherishing fingers begin to lightly brush across the velvety skin on her right cheek. "Yeah, I do." Now smiling, I need to say more. "I can't go back to America without knowing that you're a part of my life, Clara." Taking hold of both her hands, I cling to the growing hope that she'll want what I do, in the same way that I'm now clinging to her fingers.

Yet Clara is still running scared. "You are leaving, Rhys. I thought you had already left, but now you are here. But soon, you'll be leaving again. We barely know each other. When would we see each other? I live here. You live there. I work here. You work everywhere!" She suddenly stops dead, needing a second to make me understand. "You're Rhys Ryan." She wants to be with me, I know it, but who I am, scarily stands in her way. Gripping my hopeful fingers with her far less hopeful ones, her next words are weighted with such raw emotion. "We have so much against us, Rhys."

Knowing that I could be losing her, I just kiss her. I need to remind Clara of how it feels when our mouths passionately become one.

My kiss is firm, desperate and assuasive. I don't want Clara to think about why we shouldn't be together. I want her to think about why we should be together.

This, this kiss.

Our compelled bodies and our attracted minds...all proof that we are fighting against the inevitable.

Me and Clara.

We are inevitable.

With pressured and precise persuasion, I feel Clara wanting me just as much as I want her.

Her mouth is hungry; devouring mine.

Her receptive body; pushes against mine.

Not wanting to fight against common sense anymore, she throws herself into my arms. Knowing that I now have the beautiful breakthrough that I've been longing for, I wrap my arms possessively around her.

I have my girl.

I have Clara.

The tighter I hold her body, the tighter she holds me. Then from out of nowhere, she begins to cry. The sound of her tears literally rip right through me. Pushing her back slightly, I search her tear-filled eyes, wanting to never see her beautiful spheres full of such things ever again. "Why are you crying?" Catching every tear that slips from off her lower lashes, I need to know why. Once I know why, I can do something about her falling tears.

Sniffing back all of her emotions, Clara lowers her head. "I'm okay...just emotional, that's all."

I know she's trying to make me feel better, even when she's not. Taking control of her precious, emotional face, I hold it between my affectionate hands. "The tears in your eyes tell me that you're not okay." Nose to nose, I then softly whisper. "Tell me the truth, Clara?"

"I want this to work, Rhys, really I do...I just don't think it will."

Knowing that she's scared, but having it confirmed that she wants me...gives me confidence. Looking deeply and honestly into her eyes, my reply remains soft and convincing. "Hey, there's no never in happily ever after."

Still emotional, Clara beautifully giggles. "That is so cheesy!"

Feigning how terribly offended I am, I wear a dramatic furrowed brow. "I don't care if it sounds cheesy. You're my girl, Clara Thorn. I'll do everything I can to make this work." I mean that. I mean every word. So I seal my promise with a tender kiss. Every audible word, is now being sensually laminated with a plump pledge by my very adoring lips. As the passionate pledge comes to an end, I smile at Clara. "In a world full of faces, yours is the only one that I want to look at right now."

Now laughing, no longer in the overwhelming grip of her emotions, Clara simply says. "Okay." Looking kind of at peace now.

"Okay? Meaning, you will give us a try?" I quickly ask, because I quickly need her answer. Removing my jacket, my thoughts start clambering over one another; restless and excited.

Is this why she looks so outwardly tranquil?

Is she really happy with her decision?

"Yes." Comes her excited answer.

Hell to the yeah! I grab my girl. I sweep her up in my strong and grateful arms, falling back on the couch because I want my girl right against my happy body. "You know what, Clara?" I ask, playfully rubbing my nose against hers.

"What?" She asks, the tip of her nose being just as playful with mine.

"I want to sleep with you." I've been so moodily exhausted. Now, I'm happily exhausted. I just want to get some rest with my girl. But I think Clara has totally misconstrued what I've just said. Her gorgeous face looks suddenly mortified. Amused, I lazily begin to smirk. "As in, I want to actually sleep with you. I want to get in your bed, hold you in my arms, we both close our eyes and we fall asleep...together." Closing my aching eyes, I kiss her rosy lips in a tired and sumptuous way. Damn, I could kiss her lips until the end of time. I'm so tired, I may even sleep until the end of time. I need sleep, just like I need Clara. Now that I know that we are giving us a chance, I will close my eyes with a contentedness that I've never known before. I will wrap my arms around a woman tonight, knowing that I'll care enough to still be holding her in the morning.

"Let's go to bed." Clara looks just as tired as I do. Small dark circles curve themselves beneath her pretty teal eyes. "No snoring, right?" She jokes, her tired eyes suddenly becoming bright with mischief as she pulls me from out of her lounge and up her creaky hall stairs.

"I'll try not to snore if you promise to keep your hands to yourself. This body has a desirable effect on women, you know?" Now in her comfortable looking bedroom, I start undressing by removing my T shirt first, carefully watching Clara, who is carefully watching me continue to undress.

"I'll really try." Is her sarcastic, lustfully loaded answer.

Yeah, she really will have to try.

Her sinful oceanic eyes are currently roaming over every bare inch of my well worked-out body, probably imagining what lies beneath my underwear.

But Clara is different.

So things with her are going to be different.

Completely different.

**DID YOU LOVELIES ENJOY THIS CHAPTER? I CERTAINLY HAD FUN WRITING IT. FOR ME, IT'S SO INTERESTING HOW THE SAME STORY CAN BE READ SO DIFFERENTLY WHEN TOLD FROM ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW. KEEP YOUR WONDERFUL VOTES AND COMMENT COMING, MYSELF & RHYS DO LOVE EM'** 💋