She took the necklace from him. “You thought of everything. Even the fact that a sculptor can’t wear a big ring to work. No one else would have thought of that.” She paused, shook her head. “Even Anthony forgot about that when we got engaged.”

“You should probably wear it tonight to solidify our story, but if it brings up too many bad memories after that, you don’t have t—”

“The ring is beautiful, Ryan,” she said, giving him a small smile. The metal cage that had closed in around his chest loosened as she looked down at it again. “It’s just perfect. How did you know?”

Because I know you, sweetheart. Everything you are, inside and out. And I don’t ever want you to give the ring back to me.

“Lucky guess.”

She went up onto her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you for giving me the most beautiful ring in the world. Even if it’s just on loan for a little while, I still love it. I won’t be long.”

The next thirty minutes were hell for Ryan. He couldn’t stop thinking about Vicki in the shower with water sluicing over her curves, soap bubbles sliding over her beautiful skin.

His hard-on throbbed beneath his dark slacks and he worked to will it down before Vicki came out of the guest bedroom. By the time he heard the click of her heels coming down the hall toward him, he felt fairly confident that he wasn’t going to embarrass himself.

Until he saw what she was wearing.

Holy hell.

Vicki was wearing a dark red dress that made the most of her lush curves and sweet softness. All those zippers made him want to yank them open with his hands and teeth. It didn’t matter how he did it, just as long as she ended up naked...and he was allowed to touch her.

“You’re gorgeous, Vicki.”

A friend could say that to another friend, so he wasn’t worried that she’d take it the wrong way.

It was his ripping the dress off her and taking her against the wall that would screw everything up.

Her cheeks were beautifully flushed as she said, “Thank you.”

The limo had pulled up outside his house a few minutes earlier and he held out his hand to her. Her skin was extra soft from the shower and she smelled incredible, like soap and beautiful, perfect woman.

“Thank God everyone thinks we’re engaged, or I’d be fighting the guys off you tonight.”

Her smile was wide and oh so pretty. “No wonder the girls always went crazy for you in school. You always know what to say.”

He hated that she was acting like he was only saying it to keep her nerves in check. Frustrated enough by the whole damn situation, he didn’t control the urge to run his knuckles down the side of her cheek.

When she shivered beneath the stroke of his hand, Ryan knew if he didn’t pull away from her soon, they wouldn’t be going anywhere tonight...and then she’d hate him in the morning. But he couldn’t stop touching her entirely, so he picked up her hand and slipped his fingers through hers. Just like the close friend he was.

“Ready for tonight?”

“No.” She followed up her totally honest answer with a crooked little smile. “But I’m bound and determined to pull this off, so I’ve decided it doesn’t matter if I’m ready or not.”

Chapter Fourteen

God, she was such a fraud. Full of big claims she didn’t even come close to feeling.

Vicki tried not to grip the stem of her glass of champagne too hard, even though she was tense enough to snap it in two. She and Ryan had just stepped inside the Bently Reserve building in the heart of downtown San Francisco and all eyes had immediately turned to them as glasses of bubbly were thrust into their hands. Ryan’s arm was warm and steady around her as they moved deeper into the large group of players and their wives and girlfriends. The toasts and congratulations came from one and all. She hadn’t been able to eat much all day, and now her head was spinning from the seemingly unending supply of sweet liquid.

“So,” one of the women asked, “how did you two meet? Wasn’t it in high school?”

Ryan gave her waist a little squeeze as he said, “Vicki moved into town when I was fifteen. I noticed her right away, even though she never seemed to look my way.”

The men all rumbled with laughter at the image of a hard-up fifteen-year-old Ryan, while Vicki worked to mask her surprise that Ryan had noticed her before she’d pushed him out of the way of the car.

“Of course I noticed you,” she said softly. “How could I not?”

This was all supposed to be for show, but in that moment as he turned to look at her, his own surprise evident in his eyes, everything became completely real.

“As I remember it,” he replied, “I had to step in front of a car for you to pay any attention to me.”

“Whoa, hold up a sec,” one of his teammates said. “What’s this about getting hit by a car?”

Despite the way her head was spinning over Ryan’s version of the story, Vicki quickly clarified, “There was an out-of-control driver in the school parking lot and he was headed straight toward Ryan. I helped get him out of the way.”

“Thanks again for that,” he said softly as he brushed her hair back from her face with his hand, gently stroking her jaw.

Ryan was so good at this, at both playing the crowd and making everyone believe that his feelings for her were real. How on earth was she supposed to hide what she felt for him in front of all these people who were looking at her so carefully?

“So if you guys were teenagers when you met, what took you so long to make it happen?” one of his teammates asked. “I thought you were known for speed, Sullivan.”

Ryan didn’t take his eyes off Vicki as he said, “She moved away and the next thing I knew, she was marrying some other guy.”

She swallowed hard as his hand moved down to gently caress her neck and then her shoulders, before settling in again at the small of her back.

“I should have gone and fought him for you.” He wasn’t telling the story to the group now. Instead, he was speaking every word directly to her. “I regret every single day that I didn’t chase after you. Now that you’re mine, I’m never going to let you go.”

All of the players’ wives and girlfriends, along with the women from the back office, sighed as Ryan put words to every one of their fantasies.

Sadly, Vicki found herself doing the exact same thing. How many times over the years had she wondered what Ryan was doing, who he was with, whether he missed her?