Sullivans 06 - Let Me Be the One

her. She knew she needed to pull herself together, but how could she when her big fat lie had spiraled off in ways she’d never planned?
    She felt like everything was happening in slow motion as Ryan put his hand to his lips and blew her a kiss.
    The crowd cheered again, so loud this time that her ears actually started ringing. Smith put his arm around her, leaned over and said, “Smile if you can, Vicki.” His voice was calm. Soothing. “Look at Ryan and pretend it’s just the two of you here. One smile. That’s all you need to give him, and then you’ll be off the hook for now.”
    Somehow, Vicki managed to follow Smith’s step-by-step, all the while trying to convince herself that they’d probably look back and die laughing about this one day. Somehow, she managed not only to smile back at Ryan, but also to blow a kiss back.
    A total showman after all his years as a star athlete, Ryan reached into the air with his glove and caught her “kiss” as it blew by.
    “Well done,” Smith murmured, and she was beyond glad the big movie star been there to coach her through the most horrific moments of her life.
    “As soon as the game is over, I need to know everything,” Lori said. “Absolutely everything.”
    The temporary glow that had moved through her when she and Ryan had been smiling at each other immediately drained away. Vicki absolutely, positively hated lying to Ryan’s family. But she needed to talk to him first to figure out their plan together before she confessed everything to his siblings.

Chapter Eleven
     
    It was the longest baseball game of Ryan’s life.
    He’d never missed a pro game, barring being injured or sick enough for the team doctors to bench him, but he’d been on the verge of bailing on it to go out and hunt for Vicki. After he’d called the number for the art studio nonstop for a half hour, someone had finally picked up and told him she wasn’t there but they were pretty sure she’d been working all afternoon.
    But then when she hadn’t been sitting with his siblings at the start of the game, that elemental panic came back. For fifteen years he’d barely seen her and now he was flipping out if he didn’t hear back from her in a matter of minutes. He knew he was acting crazy, but he couldn’t help it. Not when he was now worried both about James getting hold of her and what a massive screwup it would be if she found out what he’d done before he had a chance to explain it to her.
    Ryan had been in the fame game long enough to expect the story of his engagement to hit the Internet pretty darn fast. But he’d figured some stranger at the stadium might say something to Vicki about it, maybe congratulate her, not that Hawks management would blindside her with the big-screen congratulations.
    He knew he shouldn’t be pissed at them. When one of their players was happy, they were happy. If he and Vicki had really been engaged it wouldn’t have been a big deal, apart from the fact that she was clearly uncomfortable being in the spotlight.
    But when it was all a lie—one he’d orchestrated because he couldn’t stand the thought of letting her walk out of his life before he had a chance to convince her that they could be more than friends—it all added up to one big huge piece of fail.
    The reporters were lined up to talk to him. One after another they all said the same thing: “Another shutout, Ryan. Looks like love agrees with you.”
    He knew this was part of his job, giving them the sound bites they needed for their papers and TV shows and blogs, but after only a handful of minutes, he couldn’t do it anymore. Especially when he looked up into the stands and saw that Vicki was completely surrounded. His brothers and sister were with her, but he was the one that really needed to be there. Protecting her. Explaining it all to her.
    And praying that he could make their fake engagement sound like it made sense.
    The group of reporters immediately parted for him, but as he rushed to get to the stands, the team owner stopped him. “Congratulations, Ryan. Both on the spectacular win and your upcoming nuptials.”
    This was the guy who signed Ryan’s massive paychecks. He had to slow down, find a smile, and get out a “Thanks.”
    “I’m looking forward to personally toasting both of you at the team celebration tomorrow night.”
    Ryan wanted nothing more than to show Vicki off, to claim her as his in front of his teammates and bosses. Even though she wasn’t