Vicki tried not to grip the stem of her glass of champagne too hard, even though she was tense enough to snap it in two. She and Ryan had just stepped inside the Bently Reserve building in the heart of downtown San Francisco and all eyes had immediately turned to them as glasses of bubbly were thrust into their hands. Ryan’s arm was warm and steady around her as they moved deeper into the large group of players and their wives and girlfriends. The toasts and congratulations came from one and all. She hadn’t been able to eat much all day, and now her head was spinning from the seemingly unending supply of sweet liquid.
“So,” one of the women asked, “how did you two meet? Wasn’t it in high school?”
Ryan gave her waist a little squeeze as he said, “Vicki moved into town when I was fifteen. I noticed her right away, even though she never seemed to look my way.”
The men all rumbled with laughter at the image of a hard-up fifteen-year-old Ryan, while Vicki worked to mask her surprise that Ryan had noticed her before she’d pushed him out of the way of the car.
“Of course I noticed you,” she said softly. “How could I not?”
This was all supposed to be for show, but in that moment as he turned to look at her, his own surprise evident in his eyes, everything became completely real.
“As I remember it,” he replied, “I had to step in front of a car for you to pay any attention to me.”
“Whoa, hold up a sec,” one of his teammates said. “What’s this about getting hit by a car?”
Despite the way her head was spinning over Ryan’s version of the story, Vicki quickly clarified, “There was an out-of-control driver in the school parking lot and he was headed straight toward Ryan. I helped get him out of the way.”
“Thanks again for that,” he said softly as he brushed her hair back from her face with his hand, gently stroking her jaw.
Ryan was so good at this, at both playing the crowd and making everyone believe that his feelings for her were real. How on earth was she supposed to hide what she felt for him in front of all these people who were looking at her so carefully?
“So if you guys were teenagers when you met, what took you so long to make it happen?” one of his teammates asked. “I thought you were known for speed, Sullivan.”
Ryan didn’t take his eyes off Vicki as he said, “She moved away and the next thing I knew, she was marrying some other guy.”
She swallowed hard as his hand moved down to gently caress her neck and then her shoulders, before settling in again at the small of her back.
“I should have gone and fought him for you.” He wasn’t telling the story to the group now. Instead, he was speaking every word directly to her. “I regret every single day that I didn’t chase after you. Now that you’re mine, I’m never going to let you go.”
All of the players’ wives and girlfriends, along with the women from the back office, sighed as Ryan put words to every one of their fantasies.
Sadly, Vicki found herself doing the exact same thing. How many times over the years had she wondered what Ryan was doing, who he was with, whether he missed her?
Stop it, Vicki! Ryan was playing his part so beautifully he could have given Smith a run for his money on the big screen.
Cool.
She needed to keep playing it cool.
“So,” one of the prettiest women Vicki had ever set eyes on said, “how does it feel to have tamed the ultimate bad boy?”
The cool she’d been struggling for was quickly replaced with a hot rush through her veins. Vicki bristled not so much at the question, but at that hint of knowledge in the woman’s eyes and voice.
Clearly, Ryan had slept with her.
It shouldn’t matter. Vicki knew that on a rational level. After all, she and Ryan were just friends and he could do whatever he wanted, both before and after their fake engagement. But right here, right now, and for as long as they were pretending to be engaged, he was off limits.
Vicki heard the smoky laughter come from her throat as if she were across the room watching another woman in a sexy zippered dress standing with Ryan’s arm around her.
“Are you kidding?” She looked straight at the beautiful woman Ryan had slept with. “He’s nowhere close to being tame.” She put her hand on Ryan’s chest and felt the heat of him through her palm before she added her final zinger. “Thank God.”
When the other woman faked a laugh, Vicki let herself relish the flush of victory.
Unfortunately, she didn’t get to enjoy it for very long. Because mere seconds after the words left her lips, everyone in the room started chanting for a kiss to seal the deal.
Oh no, she thought as she looked up into Ryan’s dark eyes, what have I just done?
* * *