Sullivans 06 - Let Me Be the One

marry her—and then was stupid enough to lose her—that he had to probe deeper.
    “Was the fact that your ex is also a sculptor part of the problem?”
    “Talk about stars in your eyes,” she said in a hard voice. “I was fresh out of art school and he was a legend.” She put quotes around the word legend . She took another drink from her bottle as if she needed the liquid courage to talk about it at all. “I was so flattered that he was pursuing me, and he made my life such a crazy whirlwind, that before I knew it I was married. Until one day I realized I would be way happier being single than I ever had been when I was married. Good thing I was smart enough, at least, not to take his last name. I could never stand the idea of drafting off his success in any way, even if he thinks he taught me everything I know.”
    All of Ryan’s protective instincts had already been roused tonight, and hearing the hurt vibrating in her voice as she talked about her ex ripped even deeper into him. Thank God he’d been there to protect her from James tonight, but she’d been all on her own with her ex-husband.
    “Did he hurt you, Vicki?”
    She shook her head, but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “ I made a big mistake with Anthony by focusing on him instead of moving my own career forward. I’m not going to be stupid enough to let a relationship sidetrack me again.” She shrugged as though it was all just water under the bridge. “I’m fine, really. C halk it up to being young and stupid.”
    “This is me you’re talking to,” he told her in an echo of what she’d said to him a few minutes earlier. “Just because we didn’t see each other for too many years doesn’t mean I didn’t think about you all the time. I’m still your friend and you can still tell me anything.”
    “I know. It’s just—” She licked her lips and took a breath. “I’m not trying to hide things from you, Ryan. Especially after what you did for me tonight. Ask me anything and I promise I’ll answer. Better than I have so far.”
    Damn it, he didn’t want to hurt her more by opening up old wounds. “Tell me about your sculptures. What are you working on right now?”
    The relief on her face was palpable and even though he knew there was more to the story with her ex—way the hell more, and most of it likely to piss him off and make him want to hunt the guy down—Ryan was glad when the darkness left her eyes.
    “I’ve been working on a piece called Overflow . I don’t know if you remember, but I was always so inspired by water. How it feels. How it moves. The way light and color play off it.”
    Some of his favorite memories as a teenager were of the two of them going hiking out along the wetlands at night. No matter how cold it was outside, Vicki always had to put her hands in the water. He’d known just how much she’d love his view of the ocean, and he’d always hoped he’d get a chance to show it to her in person.
    He scooted his chair back and reached for her hand to pull her off the bar stool and out the French doors in his living room. “Of course I remember. Which is why I’m taking you outside to catch the last of the sunset on the beach.”
    He grabbed a thick, oversized beach towel from a storage container on the deck and headed down the stairs after her. She’d kicked off her heels on the deck, and her bare feet and legs were gorgeous as she made her way down the staircase from his house to the beach below. When she got to the bottom, she gave a happy sigh.
    “I love the feel of sand between my toes.”
    It was the most natural thing in the world to wrap his arms around her from behind. She was stiff for a moment, before she finally relaxed into him and leaned her head back against his chest.
    “This is what I’ve been working on,” she said softly. “I’ve been trying to sculpt water.”
    “Sounds amazing.”
    “More like crazy, but I can’t stop wanting to do it anyway.”
    The wind blew the ends of her hair against his face and the sun was just falling behind the waterline. In that moment Ryan wanted her more than he ever had, with her soft curves in his arms, her passion for her art pulsing just as strong as her heart beating beneath his forearms.
    “I can’t wait to see it.”
    “It doesn’t look like much yet. Just a bunch of blobs I’m hoping it will actually come together at the end. Cross your fingers for me, will you?”
    He could feel her being pulled toward the ocean and said, “Go