Every Beat Of My Heart: The Sullivans (Wedding Novella) Read Free Page A

last thing either of them wanted to do. He was this close to hauling her over his shoulder into City Hall and just getting the deed done.
    Everyone always thought things came so easily to Ryan. But right now he missed Vicki so much he couldn’t see straight—let alone throw a ball worth a damn.
    It was true that he hadn’t had to fight for much in his life, but he’d had to fight for her three years ago when she’d told him that she thought going from best friends to lovers was a mistake. Even now that they were deeply in love and committed to each other, he’d never stop fighting for her.
    “Good guess,” he said, deciding not to correct his coach over the difference between fiancée and wife , even if it felt like a mile-wide chasm to Ryan right now. “I’m heading over to Vicki’s studio now.”
    “Hope you don’t mind if I ask, but she doesn’t happen to have any sisters, does she?”
    Ryan shook his head. “Sorry, man. Vicki’s an only child.”
    But she’d get a kick out of finding out that Stuart obviously had a crush on her. Of course, Ryan couldn’t blame him—at least as long as the guy always kept a polite distance. Because Vicki was his.
    And it was long past time to make it official.
    * * *
    Vicki’s studio was on the same oceanfront property as their main house. She’d barely moved her things into his home when Ryan had started building the art studio for her. When they were in high school, he’d loved hanging out with her in her garage while she’d worked at her pottery wheel—and he still loved it just as much. He could easily sit there with her for hours while her hands carved magic from clay.
    More than once, they’d made love Ghost -style in the airy, light-filled space, but he was still stunned to see the way she’d transformed it since he’d left this morning. Her sculptures were nowhere to be seen. All of her equipment was gone too, most likely in the storage room just off to the side of her main workspace. But he couldn’t focus on what was missing, not when the most important person in his world was standing in the middle of the empty room, wearing a deep-red dress with zippers that crisscrossed her body.
    She was beyond beautiful in the dress that meant so much to both of them. She’d been wearing it the night they’d finally given in to the heat, the connection, between them. She’d worn the dress again a few times since then—usually when she wanted to drive him absolutely crazy—but something told him it held an even more special meaning for them today.
    “You’re here.” Her eyes lit with happiness as she looked at him standing on the threshold of her studio, and her voice was breathless with unrepressed desire.
    He wasn’t aware of walking across the room. Only that he needed her to be in his arms and to feel her mouth beneath his. Every time he kissed her, it felt like the first time all over again, just as exciting, just as thrilling. Vicki was everything he’d ever wanted in a woman—brilliant, talented, and with curves that perfectly filled his large hands. He’d dreamed about being with her for more than half his life, and he would never take holding her in his arms—and knowing her heart was his—for granted.
    “I’ve missed you.”
    “Not half as bad as I’ve been missing you.” She slid her arms tighter around his back to pull him closer. “Thank you for the flowers.”
    He grinned down at her. “Every time you wear this dress my mind is blown all over again.”
    “I know what all these zippers do to you.”
    “Remind me to thank Anne for the pleasure of unwrapping you—again.” Vicki had met her designer friend when they were both competing for an art fellowship, and though Anne was extremely busy with her successful fashion career, they made sure to get together at least once a month.
    “Remember how much she blushed the last time you thanked her?” Vicki smiled as she said it, but too quickly, the smile trembled on her lips, then