Let Me Be the One (The Sullivans #6)(54)

With that, Vicki knew she had no choice. She let Anne drag her into her own studio and hand her a pretty summer dress made of dozens of light and colorful layers.

And, despite knowing better, she couldn’t help wanting to knock Ryan’s socks off one more time.

Chapter Twenty

Ryan stood in his brother Gabe’s living room surrounded by his family, a big group of strangers, and a dozen rambunctious eight-year-olds. And yet, all he could see was Vicki.

Summer had just barreled into Vicki's waist to give her a huge hug. Clearly, the eight-year-old girl loved the poodle sculpture Vicki had made her. She’d surprised Sophie and his mother with fun little sculptures, as well, and he knew they wouldn’t stop gushing over the unexpected gifts for a very long time.

As she chatted animatedly with Summer, there was nothing fake, nothing affected about Vicki, not from her soft hair to her unpainted fingernails to the sweet curves that had transfixed him since he was a teenager. To make matters worse for the hard-on he was working like hell to hold at bay, she was wearing another pretty dress that simultaneously hid and showcased her incredible figure as the breeze played through the fabric.

Ryan’s chest squeezed tight at her beauty.

Smith handed him a beer. “Some pretty big bets were going down today in the production offices for the playoff games. You ready to make us all some money?”

Ryan took a slug from the bottle, his eyes never leaving Vicki. “I’ll do my best.”

But instead of taking the hint that he wasn’t up for shooting the breeze tonight, Smith kept right on talking. “I enjoyed the shaking down we did today for your school sports fund. Kind of nice to be on the other side of the demanding, for once. Ever feel like everyone just wants something from you?”

Depending on his mood, Smith could be disturbingly blunt...or as opaque as it got. Clearly, he was in one of his deep—and talkative—moods.

“Well,” Ryan drawled, “considering my brother just told me to pitch a no-hitter so he wins his money back on a bet, yeah, I guess I do know how that feels.”

“You’re lucky to have her, you know.”

Ryan finally shot Smith a look to see what he was playing at. “Vicki?”

“You’ve been friends since you were kids, so you know she’s not hanging around because of what you could do for her, or for the fame that comes with being your fiancée.”

“She’s not my—”

“Right.” The one word was loaded. “Funny how the way the two of you look at and touch each other makes it hard for any of us to remember that it’s all just a lie.”

Ryan’s teeth clenched at the way his brother had just pointed out the obvious. He couldn’t keep from wanting Vicki. Loving her. Not even when she’d all but asked him to do just that this morning when she’d called their night together “weird” and then said her silent no to ever being intimate like that again.

Frustration had him lashing out at a brother who didn’t deserve it. “Not everyone is as good an actor as you are.”

Smith gave him a hard look. “Then maybe you should quit trying so hard to pretend.”

Finally, his brother left him alone again and Ryan’s gaze immediately went back to Vicki.

All day he’d been turning their situation over and over in his head. Yes, he knew she thought making love had been a mistake. A weird mistake. But he hadn’t forgotten the way she’d responded to his touch...and that there hadn’t been one single weird thing about the way she’d arched and cried out against him and begged for more.

The thing was, even before he’d known just how amazing it was to make love to her, Ryan had wanted more.

Everything.

He wanted everything.

Not just to give Vicki his heart, but to know that she wanted to give hers to him, too.

Ryan hadn’t had to fight for much in his life. School, sports, friends, women—they’d all come easily. Even his friendship with Vicki had always been natural, comfortable—easy—right from the start.

But he wasn’t satisfied with friendship anymore.

Not when he wanted what his parents had shared.

Not when he wanted what his brothers and sisters were finding for themselves, one after the other.

And not when he held Chase’s baby daughter, Emma, in his arms and wondered what his and Vicki’s children would look like.

All her life, Vicki had kept reaching, kept believing, kept trying to turn her most passionate dreams into reality.

Now, it was finally his turn to reach. To believe. And to try.

Ryan Sullivan had finally found something that mattered enough to fight for.

Love.

* * *

“I’m so glad you could come to Summer’s party,” Mary Sullivan said when Vicki joined her on the patio.

“You know how much I love spending time with your family. And Emma is positively gorgeous.” Zach and Heather’s dogs had clearly adopted the baby as they flanked her pink and purple vibrating baby seat. A moment later, Jake helped Sophie up from the nearby couch, her belly looking even bigger than it had just a day ago. “And I’m so glad things worked out so well for Sophie and Jake.”

Summer’s grandmother, who had flown out from Minneapolis for Summer’s birthday party, smiled and said, “Congratulations on your engagement.”