Fifteen minutes later, when she’d arrived at the special lot behind the stadium that Ryan had told her to come to, she had to scramble around in her bag to find the special key card that would let her past the gate. By the time she’d dealt with the guard’s rigorous round of twenty questions and ID checking, a loud roar of applause from the stadium told her that the game had begun. A bead of sweat trickled down between her br**sts as she parked between two shockingly expensive imported cars. No wonder it was like Fort Knox getting in here.
She was making a dash for the stadium entrance when she felt buzzing against her hip. She rooted around in her bag again for her phone and was surprised to see several text messages and missed calls from Ryan.
Call me as soon as you get this.
Ryan’s first text had come in several hours ago, but she’d had her headphones on all day while she’d been working and she hadn’t thought to check her phone. He knew she always listened to music while she worked, but he probably didn’t realize she couldn’t blare it in a group studio the way she used to in her parents’ garage, and always had to wear headphones.
After fifteen minutes he’d texted again.
No cell reception for a while. If I don’t pick up, come by the stadium early and ask for me.
And then, five minutes ago, he’d sent one more.
Game’s about to start. Where are you?
Picking up the pace, she showed her ticket at the door. The bowels of the stadium were a maze of dark hallways and it took forever to find the right door and emerge into the light.
She was still hunting for her row and seat when she felt strong arms wind around her neck.
“Vicki!” She instantly recognized Ryan's sister, Lori. Aka Naughty. “I can’t believe how long it’s been since I’ve seen you. I was so psyched when Ryan told me you were coming today. He asked me to keep an eye out for you.”
As Lori grabbed her hand and pulled her down the steps to their seats, she quickly filled her in on everything in the same rapid-fire way she’d had as a girl.
“Sophie wasn’t feeling up to the game today. I swear she’s been pregnant forever. You know she’s having twins, right? Good thing she’s having two, because I’m totally out on the whole kid thing after watching her and Chase’s wife get so huge.” Lori stopped a step before their row. “You remember Zach, right? This is his fiancée, Heather. I won a bet that he’d fall in love with her.”
Vicki couldn’t hold back her laughter at Lori’s runaway-train-of-thought soliloquy as she said hello to Zach and Heather.
She was just getting settled in her seat when a low, instantly recognizable voice said, “Sorry I’m late.”
Oh God. Vicki couldn’t believe Ryan had neglected to tell her that Smith Sullivan was coming to the game. He was going to pay for that little surprise.
But before she could turn around to say hello to one of the biggest movie stars in the world, the inning turned over and Ryan walked out to the pitcher’s mound.
He stopped halfway out to look up into the stands, and she could see the relief on his beautiful face as he caught sight of her.
She waved before she thought better of drawing attention to herself like that. He winked at her before heading out to do his job.
As dozens of eyes turned to her—not only because Ryan had just winked at her, but also because Smith Sullivan was sitting right next to her—Vicki realized how surreal her life had become.
One week ago, she’d been renting a studio apartment in Prague while making a daily tradeoff between food and clay.
Now, not only was she living in an oceanfront mansion and driving a sports car around San Francisco, she was also hanging out with the coolest kids on the block.
On the surface it looked like she’d come a really long way from being the freaky-geeky art girl in high school.
Funny how deceiving appearances could be.
Of course, now that she and Ryan didn’t need to pretend to be dating for much longer, all of this strange fun of fancy cars and famous friends would soon be over.
Truly, she wouldn’t miss any of the luxury.
It was Ryan she’d miss.
“I can’t remember,” Lori said. “Did you ever meet Smith when we were kids? Or was he already in college?”
When all Vicki could manage was to shake her head like an idiot, Smith smoothly said, “It’s great to meet you, Vicki. So, how do you know this unruly lot?”
Smith was even bigger, even better looking in person than he was on the screen. But strangely, although his fame made her feel more than a little nervous, she was stunned to realize she wasn’t getting all hot and bothered for him. Only one Sullivan made her girly parts tingly.
Too bad that Sullivan was too good a friend to even think of screwing things up by adding any benefits to it.
“Ryan and I were friends in high school. I just moved back to San Francisco.”
Smith grinned at her and she lost her breath a little. Okay, so maybe she didn’t want to jump him, but she was only human. And billions of happily attached women around the world would have just gone breathless if they’d been in her flip-flops right then.
“Moved from where?”
“Prague was the last place I lived.”
“She’s a sculptor.” Lori shoved a handful of Jelly Bellies into her mouth. “An awesome one. Want some?”
Vicki took a few of the colorful candies, but didn’t dare put any in her mouth just in case she did something super embarrassing like start choking on them.
“What does Ryan think of your sculptures?” Smith asked.
Vicki felt caught in Smith’s gaze, was sure he could see exactly how she felt about his younger brother. She flushed as she finally replied, “He’s always been really encouraging.”
Lori leaned over to say, “He has a bunch of them and thinks her sculptures are the freaking bomb, Smith. And so do I. We all do.” She turned back to Vicki. “After Ryan mentioned you were back in town and working on the fellowship, Heather and I went by the fellowship gallery last night and bought a couple of those gorgeous river sculptures for my place. One day when I’m loaded, I want one of the big ones. I had to pull all my tricks to buy them out from under Heather, didn’t I?”
Heather smiled at Lori with what Vicki could only describe as affectionate irritation. “I saw them first and then she bought them when my back was turned.”
“Sorry my sister’s such a brat,” Zach said to his girlfriend, and Vicki couldn’t miss the way he looked at her like she was the most beautiful woman in the entire world.