Let Me Be the One (The Sullivans #6)(39)

But when his lips touched hers, she was so sweet, so pliant in his arms, that all of Ryan’s plans for the kiss immediately crashed through the window and flew out over the Bay.

He had to tilt her face to get a better angle on her mouth and as she opened her lips on a gasp of pleasure, his tongue stole into her mouth in a desperate search for hers. When he stroked over it, Vicki’s tongue immediately licked his back. He slid one hand down from her face to pull her closer against him and her hands tangled in his hair as they deepened the kiss together.

It wasn’t until the sound of the catcalls and hooting and hollering from his teammates broke through the blood pounding in his ears that he remembered where they were...and what he was doing to Vicki in front of a roomful of spectators.

She must have realized it at the same time, because she looked shocked, then horrified, as she pulled back from him at the exact moment he forced himself to stop plundering her mouth.

Half afraid she would run after what he’d just done to her, he forced himself to whisper, “That was perfect,” as if he’d just been acting, rather than feeling the kiss all the way down to his soul.

He kept her close enough to his side to cover his hard-on, but not close enough that she’d feel it digging into her hip. “Show’s over now, folks. Go get your jollies somewhere else,” he joked, before turning away with Vicki and heading out onto the balcony for a private moment.

“You okay?”

Her cheeks were deeply flushed as she replied, “Sure.”

Well, that made one of them, then, because he wasn’t even close to okay after that kiss. He wanted another and another and another. But even that one had been pushing things.

Way over the friendship line.

Which was why he tried to joke, “I think we really convinced them with that kiss.”

Her eyes went translucent for a moment and he thought he saw a surge of emotion rush through her before she tamped it down. “Great. I’m glad we’re pulling this off.” Her mouth moved up into a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “We should probably go back inside, shouldn’t we?”

Damn it, she wasn’t afraid to be alone with him now after the way he’d mauled her inside, was she?

He put his hand back under her chin and turned her face up to his. “Are you sure you’re okay? You can tell me if you’re not, Vicki. You can tell me anything.”

“I’m just not used to so much attention. I don’t know how you live like this all the time.”

“We’ll get out of here soon, I promise.”

“No,” she said with a small shake of her head, “this is your big party before the playoffs. We need to stay.”

That, right there, was one of the reasons he loved her. Where everyone else just thought about themselves, Vicki was never selfish. Whereas, even knowing how wrong it was to steal that hot kiss from her, he’d taken it anyway

Because he had to take it.

Hating himself for crossing the line he’d sworn not to cross, he said, “I’m sorry I kissed you like that, Vicki. I’m sorry I took advantage of the situation. And of you.”

She went completely still, her expression freezing on her face. “There’s nothing to forgive. They wanted to see you kiss your new fiancée, so you did.” She looked colder, harder than he’d ever seen her before as she said, “And since I kissed you back, I hope you can forgive me, too.”

A moment later, she was walking into the room and he was feeling like more of an ass than ever as he followed her inside. He didn’t know what he’d said wrong...just that he had definitely screwed things up even worse.

And he didn’t have the first clue how to fix it.

Chapter Fifteen

It was too much.

Ryan was too much.

They’d left the party ten minutes ago, but after the night she’d just had—and a kiss she didn’t think she’d ever be able to forget—Vicki simply couldn’t be this close to Ryan anymore.

She reached blindly for the silver handle inside the limo, but the door wouldn’t budge when she tried to push it open.

“Vicki?”

Her breath caught in her throat at nothing more than the sound of her name on Ryan’s lips, nearly choking her. So many times over the course of the night he’d said her name while reaching for her. And every single time, she’d tried to forcibly remind herself that it was all pretend, that none of it was real, that she wasn’t really his...and wouldn’t ever be.

Maybe, just maybe, she might have been able to succeed at heeding those constant reminders, if only he hadn’t added in the brush of his fingers over her shoulder, the stroke of his knuckles over her cheek, the press of his hand at her lower back as they moved through the room to talk with his teammates.

With every caress, every inch of his hard body against hers, she lost hold of her own body—and her heart—a little bit more. Until, at the end of the party, she’d been a quivering mess of nerves and lust and overwhelming need.

“I need to get out.” The desperation in her voice was painfully clear. But she was long past the point of being able to hide anything from anyone. Especially herself.

Which was precisely why she needed to get away.

Away from Ryan.

And away from her own desires.

“Stop the car, please!” Her voice was shrill as she teetered on the edge of shattering, right at the cusp of her breaking point.