Let Me Be the One (The Sullivans #6)(60)

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 fiancée 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.