Plus, unlike her ex, fame had never been what she'd gone after. She just wanted to be able to make a living with her art and know that she'd create a sculpture that made people feel something they might not otherwise have felt.

"I think it's awesome that you snagged the best looking man this side of anywhere, of course, although a little heads-up on the engagement would have been nice."

"Sorry." And Vicki really was sorry that she didn't know Anne well enough yet to let her in on the real situation. Still, she felt it was safe to tell her, "Does it make it any better if I tell you it was as much of a surprise to me as it was to you?"

Anne raised an eyebrow at that. "You didn't see his proposal coming?"

"No. Not at all." But since that was just about as honest as she could be at present, before her friend could ask for any more details, she said, "You wouldn't have anything cut and sewn for a non-supermodel, would you?"

The other woman grinned at her, a little wickedly. "Actually, I'm glad you asked. I've been wanting to see a couple of my dresses on someone with curves instead of prep.u.b.escent girls who look like they should be sucking on lollipops."

Anne walked to one of her hanging racks and pulled out a dark red dress. From the back Vicki could see that it was sleeveless and knee-length. It looked simple and comfortable and she'd always felt good in that color. The cut of Anne's dresses was spectacular, and the fabric looked stretchy enough that Vicki was hopeful that it would look all right on her. Better than anything she had in her closet, anyway.

It wasn't until Anne handed her the dress that Vicki saw the zippers criss-crossing the front.

Before she could protest, Anne waved to the small curtained area in the corner. "Go try it on with these shoes. They look like they're probably the right size."

There was no way Vicki could keep her underwear on under the dress, so after folding her bra and panties into a pile with her hip-length sweater, long tank, and leggings, she walked out from behind the curtain to take a look in the full-length mirror.

Anne started clapping. "I knew it. You look great in my awesome dress."

Vicki flushed as she took in her reflection.

Anne moved behind her and lifted her hair from her neck to pile it on top of her head. "Perfect. Absolutely perfect. Now all you have to do is tell everyone who asks tonight that the fabulous dress you're wearing is courtesy of a hot new designer." She grinned into Vicki's eyes in the mirror as she added, "Make sure they spell my name right when they take all those pictures of you and Mr. Gorgeous."

Ryan's heart had been pounding hard all afternoon...ever since he'd put the ring box in his pocket. Sure, he knew it wasn't a real engagement ring. But since he'd never given any woman a ring, it felt like a big deal.

And, real or not, he wanted Vicki to like what he'd picked out for her.

When he finally heard the front door open, he immediately left his bedroom, where he'd been doing up the final b.u.t.tons on his dress shirt, to meet Vicki. It had only been a handful of hours since he'd dropped her off at the studio, but he still had to pause for a few seconds to drink her in. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but reined himself in with a kiss on the top of her head instead.

"I'm all sticky and covered in clay," she said as she stepped away from him and clutched a garment bag to her chest. "I need a shower. You look so great, I'd hate to get you dirty."

He loved the smell of her skin when she'd been working all day. Especially when one of the things he wanted most of all in the world was to get dirty with her.

She put down her bags and looked up at him. "I ignored all of the calls and emails and luckily no one came by the studio. Or if they did, Anne scared them away before they could get to me," she added with a smile. "You never called, so I'm hoping that means everything was okay for you today?"

Ryan had been hounded with interview requests for both him and Vicki, but he didn't think she needed to know that. They'd get through tonight's event first and then they'd figure out the next steps to take.

"I spent some time watching game tapes with my pitching coach and getting in a workout."

Mostly, though, he'd sweated it out over the ring. For all his legendary cool on the pitcher's mound, he was going to lose it if he didn't give it to her already.

He reached into his pocket. "I got you a ring."

"A ring?" She looked at him with no small measure of alarm. "You got me a ring?"

He watched her work at pulling herself together before she said, "I guess that would help things between us look more real tonight, wouldn't it?"

He went to flip open the box and couldn't believe his hand was shaking. Jesus, he needed to get a grip before he completely freaked her out.

"I hope you like it." His voice was gruffer than usual.

"Oh Ryan." Her eyes widened as she stared at the ring. "It's beautiful."

But instead of reaching for the platinum band set with a scattering of dark red rubies and brilliant diamonds across a large, flat base, she simply continued to stare at it.

"Can I put it on you?" His voice was raw, his words rough.

She licked her lips, never taking her eyes from the ring. "Okay."

He took the ring from its velvet case and dropped the box onto the entry table before reaching for her hand. Vicki's fingers were shaking slightly as he slowly slid it onto the ring finger of her left hand.

"I-" She finally looked up at him and the emotion in her eyes had him wishing he could pull her into him and never let go. "I haven't had a ring on my hand since I left-"

Silently cursing himself for not realizing how conflicted she would feel about wearing a wedding band again, he said, "I know you won't be able to wear it when you're working, so I got you this necklace to put it on during the day."

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 h.e.l.l 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 embarra.s.s himself.

Until he saw what she was wearing.

Holy h.e.l.l.

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 G.o.d 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 d.a.m.n 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.

G.o.d, 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 gla.s.s 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 gla.s.ses 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?

Stop it, Vicki! Ryan was playing his part so beautifully he could have given Smith a run for his money on the big screen.

Cool.

She needed to keep playing it cool.

"So," one of the prettiest women Vicki had ever set eyes on said, "how does it feel to have tamed the ultimate bad boy?"

The cool she'd been struggling for was quickly replaced with a hot rush through her veins. Vicki bristled not so much at the question, but at that hint of knowledge in the woman's eyes and voice.

Clearly, Ryan had slept with her.

It shouldn't matter. Vicki knew that on a rational level. After all, she and Ryan were just friends and he could do whatever he wanted, both before and after their fake engagement. But right here, right now, and for as long as they were pretending to be engaged, he was off limits.

Vicki heard the smoky laughter come from her throat as if she were across the room watching another woman in a s.e.xy zippered dress standing with Ryan's arm around her.

"Are you kidding?" She looked straight at the beautiful woman Ryan had slept with. "He's nowhere close to being tame." She put her hand on Ryan's chest and felt the heat of him through her palm before she added her final zinger. "Thank G.o.d."

When the other woman faked a laugh, Vicki let herself relish the flush of victory.

Unfortunately, she didn't get to enjoy it for very long. Because mere seconds after the words left her lips, everyone in the room started chanting for a kiss to seal the deal.

Oh no, she thought as she looked up into Ryan's dark eyes, what have I just done?

Did Vicki have any idea how gorgeous she was when she blushed like that, the perfect combination of s.e.xy and shy? It was exactly the kind of expression that had a guy ready to do anything he could to amp up the s.e.xy so that she forgot all about being shy while she was calling out his name from under him in his bed.

Ryan knew what everyone was picturing after what she'd just said about not being able to tame him-her naked curves beneath his muscles, the two of them in a rough and sweaty tangle in his bed.

Every guy in the room thought he was the luckiest b.a.s.t.a.r.d alive for getting to make love to her. They all thought he was going to be unzipping her soon, and putting his hands, his mouth on her. No doubt it was Vicki they'd be picturing later tonight, regardless of who they were actually in bed with.

He put his drink down and then hers before turning to her and cupping her face in his hands. "Should we give them what they want?"

She waited to answer him for long enough that he thought she might say no, regardless of the show they'd come to give tonight. He didn't realize he'd been holding his breath until the moment she nodded.

All his teammates wanted was to see a kiss, but Ryan couldn't resist brushing the pad of his thumb over her full lower lip first. Her eyes held his as she shivered in his arms and her breath sped up.

When he lowered his mouth to hers he intended to give her a soft and simple kiss, similar to the one he'd given her at the c.o.c.ktail lounge. Hot enough to appease the watching crowd, but still just barely on the right side of the friendship line. He'd done it that first night in front of James, hadn't he? Lips, but no tongue. No one expected anything more in public, so he knew he couldn't use that excuse.