“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.

Her studio light flicked on and she was momentarily blinded. A few seconds later, she realized Ryan was walking toward her. Before she could even register what was happening, he pulled her to her feet and gave her a hard, hungry, possessive kiss. She could taste his need. And, strangely, his relief as well.

“Jesus, Vicki, you need to answer your phone.”

Her pupils were still trying to adjust to the bright lights at the same time as she worked to keep her balance after Ryan’s brain-sizzling kiss.

“My phone?” was the best she could do by way of a response when she was at the perfect level to stare straight at his gorgeous mouth. She couldn’t resist taking her own tiny little taste of him this time.

“You weren’t at home, and I’ve been calling you for an hour.” He pulled back, his dark eyes flashing dangerously. “No one was answering out front.”

She wished her hands weren’t covered in wet clay. Otherwise she could have stroked the worry from his face. “I lost track of time. You shouldn’t have worried.”

He abruptly let go of her and walked back to her door to kick it shut. Maybe it would have scared her if some other man had acted like this, but she didn’t feel even the slightest bit of fear with Ryan.

Only the fast sizzle of arousal...and anticipation of just how he would take her this time.

Plus, she couldn’t help but think she knew why he was acting this way. Until she gave him the commitment he said he wanted, how could he do anything but doubt her? One way or another.

He locked her door before moving to yank down the blinds on one of the big windows. “All goddamned day long I thought about you.” He yanked down another blind, so hard it rattled against the glass. “Every second at the stadium, every second of my meetings, I was waiting for it all to end so that I could get home and spend my last night before leaving for the playoffs with you.” Frustration fairly rolled off him. “But you weren’t there.”

She stood in the middle of her workroom, paralyzed by the desire—and possessiveness—in her normally calm and easygoing friend’s eyes as he quickly covered the distance between them.

“We agreed to go slow,” she reminded him, and herself, even though slow was the exact opposite of what she wanted right now. Fast and hard and breathless was all she could think about even as she told him, “We’ve spent the past six nights together. I wanted to give you space to go out with the guys.”

“I’ve had a lifetime of space,” he growled. “I don’t need space. I need you, Vicki. You.”

She was shellshocked by his intensity.

And honesty.

“Then take me, Ryan, because I need you, too.”