“Man, you are a good actor! He’ll do it again, Taryn. They all do,” Kyle yelled over the music. His attempt to convince me to agree with him goaded Ryan even further.

Ryan reached his limit. That last comment made him snap. He raised his hands, lunging for Kyle’s throat. Pete and Mike instantly intervened, quickly blocking Ryan from making contact.

“Kyle, you need to leave - now!” I scowled at him. “Get out of my bar.”

“Don’t you ever come near her again. You got me?” Ryan flipped out in a fit of rage. Pete had a hold of Ryan’s arm; Mike was gripping the front of Ryan’s shirt.

Kyle just stood there, appearing unaffected, hoping that he’d get a chance to take Ryan down.

“I said get out!” I stepped in between them, staring straight at Kyle.

I had enough. My customers were watching the action unfold, waiting to see if Ryan Christensen, the famous actor, was going to get into a fistfight. I turned and walked away, completely disgusted, and headed for my stairwell.

Ryan was at a run when he hit the first three steps to our apartment. He stopped abruptly when he saw me sitting on the top landing. He leaned up on the wall and let out a big sigh.

He tried to maintain his temper as his words came out through his clenched teeth. “I’m going to ask, and I want the truth. Did anything… ever… happen between you and that asshole?”

I scoffed, shocked that he would even question my fidelity. But then again, I really wasn’t surprised. Ryan and I both had trust issues.

“No. Nothing… never.” I stared directly into his eyes.

“Not even a kiss?” he growled.

“Never,” I whispered adamantly. “I hugged him goodbye once when he dropped me off from the airport at Thanksgiving, and I told you about that.” I put my head in my hand. “I suppose even that was a mistake,” I mumbled.

Ryan finished the climb up the steps and sat down next to me on the landing. We sat there in silence, both trying to calm down.

“I think it’s safe to say that neither one of us was a virgin when we met,” Ryan muttered. “I’ve never asked you about the guys that you were with before me, because hearing about it would just make me crazy. And you’ve never asked, so I figure the same goes for you. What difference does it make who we slept with before? We both have pasts.”

I nodded in agreement, knowing he was right.

Ryan drew in a deep breath. “The first week I was here I hooked up with one of the PAs,” he admitted. “I messed around with her a couple of t…”

“Ryan, stop,” I interrupted, trying not to visualize this new girl as being the lucky recipient of the missing condom.

He looked at me, confused by my order.

“Don’t lie to me,” I whispered.

“I’m not,” he confirmed.

“You told Kyle one girl, one time. You just slipped and said a couple. What’s the truth?” I breathed in desperation.

“Can’t you see he’s trying to rip us apart?” he said, almost pleading with me.

“He and a million other folks,” I corrected.

“Tar, I don’t have to explain myself to Kyle, but I am being truthful with you. So I had sex with some girl – twice – before I even knew you,” he stressed. “It was nothing. It meant nothing. And I ended it. I swear to God, from the moment I met you, I have not touched, been with, or even looked at another woman. Suzanne doesn’t count.” He laughed lightly, then collected himself. “I’ve been completely faithful to you.”

I stared at my feet, trying to keep a hold of my emotions.

“When we were out on the lake, you said it had been months since… I just assumed that meant sex,” I confessed.

Ryan exhaled loudly.

“Taryn, when we were out on the lake, I was already falling madly in love with you. And I didn’t lie; it’s been months since I had a girlfriend.” He collected my hand in his. “When I got to town here, I was… lonely. I took advantage of an opportunity,” he admitted.

I thought about why lovers lie to each other - feelings and egos are such fragile things.

“Do you have any more secrets or is this the last of them?” I asked.

Ryan thought for a moment. “I lost my virginity to Kelsey Bowman when I was sixteen,” he confessed.

I smiled and nudged him in the leg.

“Do you want to know how it happened?”

I laughed uncomfortably. “No!”

“What about you? Are you keeping any secrets from me?” he asked cautiously.

I looked him directly in his eyes. “No.”

He twisted my garnet ring to align it on my finger. “Do you remember what I told you Christmas morning when I put this ring on your finger?

Honey, there is no one else. There hasn’t been anyone else. I’m in love with you, Tar.”

As I watched the last minute of the year count down I resolved that his past and mine needed to stay there… in the past.

Ryan grabbed the belt loop on my jeans and pulled me off to the privacy of the dark kitchen. His arm wrapped around my waist; together we were ushering in a new year, a new chapter to our lives.

“Ten, nine, eight…” he counted backwards on my lips. I couldn’t help but be giddy at our closeness; my arms wrapped around his neck tighter, holding him fast to my body.

“Happy New Year Honey,” he whispered, his warm mouth kissed me passionately.

The bar was completely crowded, but at that moment in the darkness we were the only two people on the planet.

Our days together turned to just hours and then to mere minutes; Ryan was leaving for Florida to start filming his next movie.

“Call me once you get settled in,” I requested, trying to keep my extreme sadness of his departure in control. I turned my car ignition off.

His gentle hand rubbed my cheek. “I will. It won’t be for a couple of hours though until I land. Don’t be sad. I’ll see you in three weeks, I promise!”

Ryan looked over his shoulder nervously, expecting that at any moment photographers could rush up to my car.

“Three weeks.” I nodded. “I think I can make it.”

“You could always quit your night job and come stay with me?” he teased.

“I’m working on it!”

“I know. I’ll see you on the 22nd. Keep your calendar open,” he reminded.

Mike was already standing behind my car with their luggage, waiting patiently.