A million.

Ryan had conveniently turned the screen so I could watch him clean up. My pounding heart was finally slowing when he nudged his laptop back to display his face on my screen.

His satiated smile lit up my heart. “You should video-seduce me more often,” I said.

He laughed lightly, finger-combing his hair back off his forehead. “I’d much rather do that to you in person, but we do what we have to do in the meantime.”

“I didn’t realize watching you would be such a turn-on.”

His lips twitched. “Oh, I did. Just hearing your voice is a turn-on for me; everything else was just a bonus.”

I rolled over onto my stomach. “Yeah, right. My voice excites you that much.” His expression said he was dead serious.

“Future wife, we’ve had phone sex before and now not only can I see your face, I can also see your naked boobs. Trust me. Now tell me about Pete, unless you want to go for round two, which I must say I’m getting ready for.” I watched him stuff a few pillows under his head and then he flashed his semi onto the screen again just to show me his exclamation point to that statement.

After I regained my ability to speak, I muttered, “Pete’s miserable.”

“You iron out that crap with Tammy?”

“No. But I will. I’m presuming we’re still in the wedding. You still want to be a groomsman? He asked if you were still in. I’d understand it if you don’t want to. You haven’t known Pete that long and—” Ryan interrupted me. “I already told him I would. I gave him my word. They should know that my presence is going to cause a stir, so if they’re good with that, I’m in.

They’ve been warned. Besides, there’s no way I’d let some other guy walk you down the aisle, Taryn. No way in hell.” I loved his possessiveness. It made me feel safe and cherished. “Is that your final answer?”

He glared at me over my screen before saying, “That’s my final answer forever. You good with that, babe?”

Considering that Thomas had left me at a party once, not giving a shit who drove me home or even if I got home alive, I was more than fine with it. “Yes.”

“That’s my girl.”

Say what you will, but I was damn glad to be his in no uncertain terms.

“And what did he say to your other proposition?”

The memory of Pete’s reaction when I asked him made me smile wider. “You’d have thought I’d offered him a miracle.”

“So he’s on board with it?”

“Yes.

He

starts

training

with

me

tomorrow.”

Chapter 18

When It Rains

It was coming down in buckets outside. It was the kind of heavy rain that you swear just might come through the roof because it’s falling that hard. I wandered to the front door of Ryan’s parents’ home, cracking the door to watch the rain pour down.

Ryan had wrapped on filming Slipknot, and the cast wrap party was something else.

Pete was doing an excellent job managing the pub, so I was able to meet Ryan back in Vancouver. Nicole had gotten quite intoxic-ated, slurring at us and insinuating it was Ryan’s fault that her lover, Lauren Delaney, wasn’t there. I knew for certain that her love life wasn’t even on Ryan’s radar when we arrived at the party, but she was under the impression that he’d banned Lauren from the guest list.

Maybe he overdid it just a bit when he said she’d be lucky to get a job waiting tables once the media catches wind of her drug habit, but it definitely shut her up quickly.

So many people only see the smiling public photos of celebrities at premieres and junkets; if the general public only knew some of the shit that went down on major movie sets, they’d be shocked. Personality clashes, over-inflated egos, differences in acting methods and scene interpretations—it all happened.

But that was two days ago, Ryan finally had some downtime, and we had a family engagement party to brace for.

Ryan slid a hand over my khaki shorts and gripped my hip, peering over my shoulder.

“Go,” he nudged, pushing me on through the threshold. “Let’s go stand out on the porch.” The sky at 7:30 P.M. was dark and ominous; the heat of the day was being quenched, causing the steam to rise up off the hot macadam driveway. I held my hand out into the thick stream of rainwater that was flowing over the lip of the storm gutters that edged along the porch roof.

“Nick and I washed my dad’s car in a downpour like this once. We had a blast. Dad gave us a bucket and sponges and put us to work, though we didn’t know we were working at the time. We were all soapy and soaked but damn did we have fun.” The water pelting my hand was cool and refreshingly chilly as I imagined two mis-chievous boys running around with soap sponges. “Wow, it’s really pouring!”

“I’ll say. Last time I saw it rain this hard, we were—”

I instantly stiffened. Ryan stiffened up, too, stopping himself.

Streaks of car lights flickered through drops of rain in my thoughts; the sounds of tires screeching on wet road and a horn blaring at me to get out of the middle of the street in downtown Miami swirled into one painful flashback. That horrid memory, that feeling as if I’d just been eviscerated seeing him kiss Lauren, that wishing to have all the pain just go away washed over me. It was distant but instant. Thankfully, I was able to keep that memory separate from this current moment, not allowing those bad moments to pull me under.

“I shouldn’t . . . I didn’t mean,” Ryan fumbled, followed by the whisper of a curse to himself.

I gave him my attention, trying not to let it blow out of proportion. “It’s all right.”

Suddenly he snagged my wrist, pulling me to the opening on the porch. “I. Fuck. Come,” he ordered.

“Where are we going?”

Ryan stepped off the porch, then stood directly under the water overflowing from the gutter above.

“What are you doing?” I asked as the water poured onto his head. He smiled wickedly and shook the water off his head before bending and catching me behind my knees. I felt the whoosh as I was hefted over his bare shoulder and then cold rainwater pelted my hair, my shoulders, and my back, causing me to squeal.

“Ryan!”

“Come on, baby.” He walked us down the flooded driveway in his bare feet. He only had a pair of track shorts on since we were lounging around the house.

The rain was cold but refreshing and instantly blocked my thoughts out, giving me the space to only worry about getting soaked.