The removal of all risk
"Because of the life I lead, I just think it is best not to be with someone I can really care about"
He knows as soon as the words leave his mouth that they are lies. And he knows that she knows. Felicity Smoak could always see right through him.
He wonders though if she knows the real reason is that he has always been and would always be a coward.
Oh, sure give him someone throwing knifes or shooting bullets at him, and he has no problem facing them head on. But at the first whisk of a true lasting connection with a woman, he freezes. His first instinct is always to burn every bridge, and then run as fast and far as he can.
She stands there being brave, beautiful, brilliant and remarkable, and so far out of his reach. He wonders not for the first time what it would be like to touch her, to kiss her, to have her smile at him first thing in the morning.
"I just think you deserve better than her".
No, he doesn't.
The Isabel Rochevs of this world are all he deserves. Women he can never hurt because they mean nothing to him, and he means nothing to them.
He tried with Helena, Mackenna, and Laurel. All he did was hurt them. He refuses to do the same to Felicity.
He won't risk hurting her.