“I thought we would be getting hammered by now,” Marie huffed. “Where is the second wave of customers?”

One of the ladies sitting at the bar chimed in. “Ryan Christensen’s whereabouts were posted on the Internet. My girlfriend called to tell me that the cast is eating at The Synful Grill. It has a new nightclub attached called Synergy. She said the bar is so packed that you can’t even walk through the place.”

“I’ve been there once,” Cory said. “There’s a ten dollar cover charge just to get in. Drinks were really expensive too. I’m sure there are lots of women there tonight.”

Great! Apparently Ryan was occupying his time with other activities. I wondered if it was because I didn’t reply to his last text about seeing him tonight. Would he move on that quickly? Apparently… It was almost eleven o’clock when my phone rang instead of vibrating. I listened to my new ringtone, letting the song play out so I could hear the lyrics. My smile was huge.

“Hey you,” Ryan breathed out. “Are you working hard?”

“No, not really. We’re kind of dead, actually. What are you up to?” It was hard to hide my enthusiasm.

“I’m at some restaurant. We just finished eating.”

“Wow. This late?” I looked at my watch. “It’s almost eleven.”

“Sorry I didn’t call you earlier, but we had a director’s meeting at eight and then it took a while for all our food to come out. The food pretty much sucked. It was disappointing,” he snickered.

“I promise I’ll feed you better tomorrow.”

“Hmm, I’m looking forward to it!” he stated.

I thought about the song that he chose to put on my phone, wondering if his feelings were that genuine. I’m yours, the lyrics informed.

“I really like my new ringtone!” I smiled. Despite his motives, he managed to somehow find my favorite song.

“Good! I’m glad,” he sighed, sounding relieved.

“Pretty deep though, don’t you think?” I asked, prompting him to explain the reason why he chose that song.

“Maybe that was the intention,” he retorted. “I wanted to get a message across so there’s no confusion.”

I swallowed hard, my subconscious fighting to protect me from getting crushed again.

“I love Jason Mraz,” I continued, trying to stay on the lighter side. “He’s one of my all-time favorites.”

“I know. You have all of his CDs - minus the one that’s in my possession,” he said, laughing quickly.

I thought about how he held me this morning and how desperately I wanted him to hold me again…in his warm arms.

Could he be mine forever?

“So… am I to understand that you’re mine?” I asked teasingly.

“I can be yours if you want me to be, Taryn,” he whispered.

My breath hitched from his words. My pulse quickened and my fingers started to tremble.

“Is that your intention?” I asked, still skeptical.

Ryan cleared his throat. “My intention is to let you know where my heart is. The rest… the rest is up to you,” he said softly.

I took another deep breath. My own heart was thumping in my chest now. “So… now what? Where do we go from here?”

“We give it a chance,” Ryan declared quite convincingly.

Chapter 10 - Possibilities

It was almost midnight when Ryan secretly entered through the back door of my pub. The light was turned off, so the kitchen was dark when he arrived. He had his jacket hood pulled up over his head again and his trusty messenger bag was slung over his shoulder.

I had just locked the door behind him when he dropped his stuffed bag on the floor and slowly walked to stand in front of me.

“Hello,” he whispered and gently smiled, bending slightly to give me a hug. Without hesitating, he slipped one hand around my waist; his other hand pressed higher on my back.

This hug was different – way different from his normal approach. He always hugged me around my shoulders; my arms would go around his waist.

His new stance surprised me and naturally forced my arms to wrap around his shoulders. My nose skimmed across his chest when he pulled me in. God he smells good!

His fingertips pressed into my back as his lips softly kissed my forehead.

Fire burned through my veins; the touch of his lips on my skin sent a wave of arousal through my core. My hands responded instantly and instinctively and without conscious intervention I started to caress his neck.

The light from the bar peeked through the cracked kitchen door, illuminating his cheek in the darkness. My fingers reached to trace the light on his face. He looked down at me with smoldering eyes.

Slowly he leaned towards me and pressed his lips to mine. His first kisses were tender, pausing to rest his lips on mine (I suppose to measure my reaction) but my mouth encouraged him to proceed.

I felt his lips part as the soft tip of his tongue joined in with his kiss. His mouth was soft, wet, and completely hypnotic. Desire for him shot through every cell in my body, consuming my every thought.

He placed his warm hand on my neck to hold my face to his as he kissed me passionately.

My protective shell of self-preservation shattered into a million pieces as the entire outside world ceased to exist. Our lips moved together in perfect harmony as his tongue glided against mine.

His kissing was far better than I could have ever imagined. I tried like hell to remember why I had denied myself this type of pleasure for so long, but the heat from his ragged breath surged right into my head and melted my brain.

His hands were holding my face when he broke away from our kiss. He wrapped his arms around my body.

No, don’t stop! What was left of my brain pleaded for him to keep kissing me.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Ryan whispered.

My heart was beating so fast, I wondered if he could feel it pounding through his jacket. I took a half step back and bumped into the counter behind me; I was quite light-headed. My hand was clenched on the front of his jacket when I staggered back; my grip pulled his body forward.

Like a lightning flash, he grabbed me under my arms and lifted me up onto the counter; his forcefulness turned me on even more.

My fingers wove into his hair and my legs wrapped around his hips; our lips expressed our mutual desire. He pressed himself into me; I could feel through his jeans that he was completely aroused. My mind raced, thinking about having him inside me.

His fingers clenched and clawed at the back pockets of my jeans, pulling me forward and bumping me into him. I envisioned him making love to me right here on this counter. By the way he rubbed into me, I was sure he was thinking the same thing. I softly moaned as the hunger turned to passion.