say to her, but first he needed to take her mouth with his. Needed to kiss her with every ounce of passion, and love, so that she’d know how much her offer meant to him.
By the time he made himself draw back, her eyes were dark with need, her skin flushed, her breath coming fast. “I love you,” he told her, his voice thick with emotion.
“I love you too.”
He was amazed by her generosity, by the fact that even though she clearly thought he was taking her up on her offer, she didn’t seem at all upset at the thought of putting him first. But though it meant the world to him, it was his turn now to step up to the plate and hit a game-winning ball for her.
“But I can’t let you do that for me.”
Confusion whipped across her face. “Wait…when you just kissed me, I thought that was your way of saying you agreed with my plan.”
“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world and you’re on my lap. Not kissing you is impossible.” He stroked the pad of his thumb over her lush lower lip and was rewarded by a shiver. “But you’ve already given up enough for me. Starting with a major museum fellowship in Italy three years ago, followed by so many other opportunities that you’ve said no to. Too many. It’s my turn now, sweetheart. This World Series is going to be my last. I want to be with you, whether we’re in San Francisco or traveling the world. And as a bonus, it will give me more time to take my foundation for bringing sports and arts back into schools to the next level. But most of all, I want to marry you and finally start the rest of our life together.”
She stared at him as if she couldn’t quite believe what he’d just said. “You’re still in your pitching prime. The team will never let you go.”
“My contract is up. Three years ago, when I said I would trade every single win to have spent the years we were apart with you, I meant it, and I still do. They could offer me all the money in the world to keep playing, but that won’t change my mind. Or change my choice. You. I choose you, Vicki. Today. Tomorrow. Forever. I don’t want to keep waiting. I want to start a family with you.”
“We’re already a family,” she said. “We always have been.”
“I know we are. But I want more—and I know you do too. Kids. Lots of them. Maybe even a dog that we know we’ll actually be here to play with.”
As a pitcher, Ryan was known for speed, but even though he’d asked Vicki to marry him only weeks after they’d come together again as adults, they hadn’t rushed into a wedding. Not when he’d known that she still had healing to do because of the scars her first marriage had left on her heart. But he couldn’t wait anymore—and he hoped she felt the same way.
He slid his hands into her hair and tangled them there as he told her, “Conflicting schedules have kept us apart for too many years. I won’t let it happen again. I don’t want to wait any longer. I want to get married right after the World Series is over.”
Her eyes grew even bigger than when he’d told her he was going to leave the Hawks. “And here I thought I was going to surprise you today. You want to plan a wedding in two weeks?”
He grinned. “Actually, I was thinking about asking my mom and sisters to plan it.”
“You were not.” She raised an eyebrow when he didn’t stop grinning. “Okay, so you clearly were, but you won’t. Two weeks is going to be tough, especially with you needing to focus on the World Series, but I’ll pull it off.”
“Is that a yes?” he asked, desperate for that to be her answer.
She gripped his shirt in her fist and tugged him in for a kiss. God, she tasted so sweet and felt like heaven as she moved her curves closer on his lap. “Of course it’s a yes. I can’t wait to marry you. I’ve wanted to be yours since I was fifteen years old and I tackled you to the grass before that car could run you down.”
She was already beginning to undo the buttons on his shirt when he made his move, flipping them over so that she was lying,