Let Me Be the One (The Sullivans #6)(66)

He hadn’t made it to the game at the high school that night. It was the only one he’d ever bailed on.

Just thinking about what he’d seen in Vicki’s eyes that morning—knowing she’d been thinking of leaving him again after what her ex had said—had all of those emotions rounding back on him. Only they were bigger, stronger now than they’d been when he was just a kid with a massive crush on his best friend.

“I’ve got a few things to take care of,” he said as they headed toward the locker room. “I’ll get something to eat later tonight.”

The gray-haired man he’d worked with for the past decade leveled a stare at him. “You need to talk anything over, give me a call. Doesn’t matter how late, I’ll be around.”

Ryan appreciated the gesture, but there was only one person he needed to talk to right now. He grabbed his bag without hitting the showers and headed for the hotel. His phone rang just as he was closing the hotel room door behind him.

“Hi, gorgeous.”

“Ryan.” Vicki sounded a little flustered and shy. “Hi.”

They’d talked on the phone a handful of times over the years they’d been apart, but this was the first time since they’d made love.

Damn, he loved the sound of her voice.

Even just the sound of her breathing.

“Hi,” he said again, grinning into the phone as he heard her putting her keys down on the kitchen counter.

“Are you in the middle of something?” she asked.

“Nope. The night’s all mine.” And he planned to spend it with her. “What about you?”

“I just got home.”

He’d never had anyone waiting for him before, and the thought of coming home to her kisses in a few days sent warmth moving through him. He loved picturing her in his house.

At long last, the frustration that had been riding him all day started to dissipate.

Of course he wanted to hear about the progress she’d made on her sculpture, and he needed to make sure she hadn’t let her idiot of an ex-husband derail her. But first he needed to make sure she understood that all the miles currently between them didn’t mean a damn thing...and wouldn’t stop him from loving her just as thoroughly as he would have if they were standing in the same room.

“Remember what you were about to offer me right before I left today?” He couldn’t wait for her reply before saying, “Your first naked night is tonight.” He grinned even wider at her stunned silence. “I sure hope you aren’t saying anything because you’re too busy taking off your clothes.”

Finally, she gave a little laugh into the phone. “Actually, I’m standing here wondering if you’ve been watching the X-rated channels in your hotel room.”

“I don’t need  p**n  when I’ve got plenty of triple-X pictures in my head of you in the shower, in your studio, and in my bed.” He let the images of what the two of them had done in all those places run through her mind for a few seconds. “Put the phone on speaker, place it on the kitchen counter, and take off your tank top.”

“You’re serious?”

“You have ten seconds to take it off, Vicki.”

“Or what?” Her voice was breathy now, and obviously aroused. “You’re all the way in St. Louis.”

God, he loved her. How playful, how strong, how loving she was. All the years they’d spent apart, he’d been searching for a woman like Vicki. If only he’d realized long before this week that he’d never find a replacement for her—that she was the only woman he’d ever love—then maybe they wouldn’t have wasted so many years apart.

They couldn’t get those years back.

But they could make the most of every single one they had left.

And they damn well would.

“You’re right,” he agreed in a deceptively easy voice that he intended for her to see right through. “But I’ll be back home in five days.” He let her register the sensual threat—and promise—in his words. “Your time is up. Where’s your tank top?”

He heard her swallow before answering. “In my hands.”

“Drop it on the floor.”

The sound of the fabric dropping to his kitchen floor got him so hard he had to adjust himself again in his shorts as he sank down on the hotel room couch.

“I want you to take your leggings off next. Tell me when they’re gone.”

He let himself picture Vicki balancing first on one leg and then the other to slide the fabric off.

“They’re gone.”

“What else do you have on?”

She paused just long enough for him to know it was going to be good. “Pink lace.”

“Your br**sts look incredible in that bra.” He could barely get his brain to function well enough to ask, “Are you wearing the matching thong?”

“I pulled that off along with my leggings. Wait a second and I’ll get the bra off, too.” He heard the click of the front clasp of her bra opening. “Okay, that’s everything.”

“Jesus, Vicki.” He slid his shorts off and reached for himself. “You’re killing me here.”

She laughed softly into the phone before saying, “Now that you’ve got me naked for the rest of the night, what are you going to do with me?”