Chapter Twenty-two

Ryan had waited fifteen years for this first date with Vicki.

Fortunately, the past year had been a master course in love as he'd watched his brothers and sisters fall one after the other. Regardless of how much he'd razzed each one of them along the way, he'd paid attention to their soul-deep emotional connections, the humor between the couples...and the sparks that lit and crackled between lovers like firecrackers.

Maybe it was too much to want a first date to do all those things. After all, he'd been happy with dinner and a movie and uncomplicated sex before. But there was no point comparing Vicki to any of the other women he'd dated.

And yet, Ryan knew that even if he pulled off the best first date in history, it didn't mean his work was done where Vicki's heart was concerned.

Because she hadn't let him say he loved her.

He understood that she'd been hurt so badly by the only other man she'd ever let herself trust that she was wary of taking the leap again with him. But Ryan would never hurt her.

Never.

By the time Vicki walked through his front door and smiled with obvious pleasure at seeing him, he was way past the first date they hadn't even had yet.

Unfortunately, he was pretty sure doing her up against the front door wasn't supposed to be in perfect first date plans.

Just like blurting out "I love you" wasn't going to fly either.

"How was your day?"

She looked radiant as she walked into the kitchen and dropped her bag on the counter. "Amazing. My project really started to come together today, in a really big way. Thank God."

How was he supposed to control himself when she was glowing like that?

He put his arms on either side of her, effectively trapping her against the kitchen island. "I can't wait to see it." He lowered his mouth to hers and said, "I couldn't wait to see you, either," before kissing her softly, forcing himself to remain gentle rather than giving in to the nearly overpowering urge to lift her up on the counter and take her right then and there.

"What about you?" she asked when he let her up for air.

"Life is good." She was so soft and sweet against him that he could hardly remember what he'd done all day. "Smith helped me convince a bunch more filthy rich people to clean up some by giving the schools money for sports programs. I don't know why I didn't think to pull him in before now."

She grinned. "I can only imagine the team the two of you must make. Those poor rich people didn't stand a chance, did they?"

Did she have any idea how pretty her mouth was when she was smiling at him?

"Are you ready for our date?"

She moved her hands around his back and pulled him closer. "Almost."

"Is there - " He had to clear his throat to push the words past the lust clogging them. "Is there something you need to do first?"

"Yes." She went up on her tippy-toes. "More of this."

Her mouth had barely touched his when he had her up on the marble counter, a fistful of cotton fabric in his hands. Still -  "You said you wanted to go slow. We can do this date without sex, Vicki."

The thought of walking away from all her heat, her sweetness, was almost unbearable. But he didn't want her to have a single reason not to go out on another date with him, couldn't let her think all he wanted her for was sex.

"If you need me to control myself," he promised, "I'll find a way to do it."

"I guess that means you're a stronger person than I am," she said as she took his shirt in her hands and yanked it over his head. "Because there's no way I can wait for the date to be over to have you."

She took his face in her hands to kiss him again, but even though there was nothing in the world he wanted more, Ryan had to make absolutely sure she wouldn't use their pre-date sex as a reason to back away from him later.

"You and me, we're about more than great sex."

She licked at his lips. "Of course we are. But the sex is a really fantastic bonus, don't you think?"

He had to kiss her again once, then twice, before saying, "The best bonus in the world."

* * *

An hour later, they were walking hand in hand onto the same wetland path they'd walked so many times before as teenagers.

"I can't believe you brought me back here." She squeezed his hand tighter as she pulled him toward the water, murky green as it slowly flowed along the peninsula south of the city. "Ready for the plunge?"

Side by side, they squatted down on the muddy edge to stick their hands underwater. Vicki looked down at their hands just under the surface, then back at him.

"This is a really lovely first date. Thank you."

"Even the part where I tore off your clothes the second you walked in the front door?"

She shot him a wicked - and well satisfied - grin. "Especially that."

"Do you know what I always wanted to do out here?" he asked her.

"Probably the same thing I wanted."

In perfect sync, they leaned in to kiss each other. But just as their lips were about to touch, Vicki's heels started skidding on the muddy bank.

Her wide, laughing eyes were the last thing he saw before she toppled into the water...and took him in with her.

Ducks scattered into the sky as they splashed their way to the surface. Laughing too hard to bother climbing out of the sludgy water, as they held onto each other, the ducks that had flown away settled back down to swim around them.

A clump of something green and gooey clung to Vicki's hair, mud streaked her cheek...and still, she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

"What are you looking at?"

"You," was all he could say. "Just you, Vicki."

And then he gave up on talking altogether to make good on the wet and dirty wetlands kiss he'd waited fifteen years to give her.

* * *

Twenty-four hours later, Vicki hummed along with the pop song she'd had on repeat for the past two days as she worked. Cheesy love songs performed by sixteen-year-old kids were her weakness. Serious artists, she knew, were supposed to behave accordingly. But she'd never been any good at looking, sounding, or acting the part of the serious artist.

Then again, she hadn't thought she'd be able to pull off the role of Ryan Sullivan's fiancee very convincingly, either.

Of course, that had nothing whatsoever to do with her acting skills...and everything to do with the fact that she'd lost her heart to him so long ago.

It wasn't hard to act besotted when you actually were. And when every night they spent together had been so special. Especially last night, when he'd taken her back to the wetlands.

She knew how busy his life was during the season, and yet he'd squeezed her into every free moment. As much as she loved it, she couldn't live with herself if she accidentally stole him away from his friends and family. Hopefully, she thought as she looked out at how low the sun was in the sky, he'd had a great practice and was headed out to have a beer with the guys.

Yes, that was what he needed. Some guy time.

She could darn well ignore her pangs of missing him in the eight or so hours that had passed since he'd kissed her awake that morning. She blushed at the delicious - and decadent - memory of the good morning Ryan had given her before heading out to the stadium.

Realizing her hands had stopped working at least fifteen minutes ago, and that her focus was slightly shot for the time being, she carefully moved her fellowship project over to her worktable against the wall.

Somehow, she realized, she'd let herself start to plan for the future. One that Ryan - and his family - were a big part of.

Her stomach clenched as she mentally looked down the road she'd been walking these past couple of days with Ryan. When they'd agreed to start dating, post tiled-shower-wall-banging sex, she'd told him they should take it slow.

And now, here she was having a hard time doing that herself.

There was no guarantee things would work out between them, despite how incredibly compatible they were. She didn't doubt her feelings for him, knew they wouldn't ever lessen. But Ryan had the whole world at his feet. And even though he was already one of the top athletes in the world, she knew he hadn't yet reached his peak. He would go from pitching to something even bigger, she was sure of it. She wouldn't stand in his way. And she would never - never - let herself be the albatross tied to him that he felt compelled to pull behind him as he climbed higher and higher.

Her studio light flicked on and she was momentarily blinded. A few seconds later, she realized Ryan was walking toward her. Before she could even register what was happening, he pulled her to her feet and gave her a hard, hungry, possessive kiss. She could taste his need. And, strangely, his relief as well.

"Jesus, Vicki, you need to answer your phone."

Her pupils were still trying to adjust to the bright lights at the same time as she worked to keep her balance after Ryan's brain-sizzling kiss.

"My phone?" was the best she could do by way of a response when she was at the perfect level to stare straight at his gorgeous mouth. She couldn't resist taking her own tiny little taste of him this time.

"You weren't at home, and I've been calling you for an hour." He pulled back, his dark eyes flashing dangerously. "No one was answering out front."

She wished her hands weren't covered in wet clay. Otherwise she could have stroked the worry from his face. "I lost track of time. You shouldn't have worried."

He abruptly let go of her and walked back to her door to kick it shut. Maybe it would have scared her if some other man had acted like this, but she didn't feel even the slightest bit of fear with Ryan.

Only the fast sizzle of arousal...and anticipation of just how he would take her this time.

Plus, she couldn't help but think she knew why he was acting this way. Until she gave him the commitment he said he wanted, how could he do anything but doubt her? One way or another.

He locked her door before moving to yank down the blinds on one of the big windows. "All goddamned day long I thought about you." He yanked down another blind, so hard it rattled against the glass. "Every second at the stadium, every second of my meetings, I was waiting for it all to end so that I could get home and spend my last night before leaving for the playoffs with you." Frustration fairly rolled off him. "But you weren't there."

She stood in the middle of her workroom, paralyzed by the desire - and possessiveness - in her normally calm and easygoing friend's eyes as he quickly covered the distance between them.

"We agreed to go slow," she reminded him, and herself, even though slow was the exact opposite of what she wanted right now. Fast and hard and breathless was all she could think about even as she told him, "We've spent the past six nights together. I wanted to give you space to go out with the guys."

"I've had a lifetime of space," he growled. "I don't need space. I need you, Vicki. You."

She was shellshocked by his intensity.

And honesty.

"Then take me, Ryan, because I need you, too."

He yanked off his shirt and then hers, stopping only long enough to run his fingers over the engagement ring hanging on the chain between her breasts. Her leggings were gone a second later and then he snapped open the clasp at the back of her bra and it fell, too. All that remained was for him to push his thumbs into the sides of her panties and shove them down over her h*ps and thighs.

Her hands were wet and covered with clay, but Ryan clearly didn't care as he threaded his fingers into hers and backed them up against the nearest wall. He lifted her hands up over her head and lowered his mouth to her breasts, roughly rubbing the stubble on his chin over her, making her flesh even more sensitive by the time he laved first one and then the other with his tongue.

Even lost in the sweet shock of arousal, Vicki realized she was surrounded by all of her favorite things.

Clay. Sculptures. Ryan.

Full to bursting with a joy she hadn't ever let herself believe could be real, the next thing she knew, Ryan was kissing her again and letting her hands go to press his now clay-covered palms over her breasts.

Every inch of skin he touched came alive beneath his fingers, marking her with clay, claiming her as his even more with every caress.

Wanting to mark him, too, desperate to feel his heat and strength beneath her fingertips, she laid her hands over his shoulders and slowly slid a path of clay down over his chest and then his abdomen.

He pushed himself between her na**d thighs so that the zipper of his jeans - and the huge bulge behind it - was a deliciously hard press of heat into the vee between her legs, making her gasp as he hit just the right spot. Always incredibly in tune with her body, he reached for one thigh and slid his hand down to grasp her beneath her knee and pull her leg up and around his waist.

Vicki was entirely sensation now, a bundle of nerves ready to spring apart at any moment. But she didn't want to go there alone.

Suddenly clumsy with desire, her hands shook, fumbling at the button and zipper on his jeans. He moved his hands from her br**sts just long enough to pull a condom out before his jeans fell to the ground. She was the one yanking off his underwear now and thank God his hands were clean enough from brushing over her skin again and again to slide on the condom.

So strong, he lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist just as he lowered her down onto him. Both of them breathed out hard at the sweet moment of connection, her body a perfect fit around his, and then he was cupping her h*ps hard in his hands and riding her against the wall while she kissed him with more than just her mouth. Her entire heart and soul were there in every slick of her tongue against his, in every gasp of ecstasy...and especially in the explosion of pleasure that soon took them both over in the middle of her studio.

They clung to each other for several long moments, working to catch their breath. She loved the way Ryan kept holding onto her as if it didn't even occur to him to ever let her go.

"I like dating you," he said into the curve of her shoulder.

She laughed before losing her breath all over again at the aftershocks that her body made jostling over his in laughter. Thirty minutes later, when they'd pulled their clothes back on over their clay-covered bodies and were sitting on the floor devouring the slices of pizza that had just been delivered, with Ryan's fake-engagement ring lying between her breasts, she realized it was the craziest second date she'd ever had.

Crazy...and so right.