Every Beat of My Heart

  "That's great news, Mia. Thank you." Heather knew that Zach's cousin Mia was the top Realtor in Seattle, but the Napa Valley estates weren't even vacation rentals. They were private homes. How on earth had Mia managed to persuade the owners to let them use them?

  As if she could read Heather's mind, Sophie said, "Mia always has had a magic touch."

  "All Sullivan women do." Lori winked at the group. "Speaking of magic, I was just on the phone with Brooke during my drive into the city. She's really sorry she couldn't make this meeting, but she said she's pushing off her retail orders for the next two weeks so that she can focus on making special chocolates for your wedding."

  Heather wasn't much of a crier--and she knew Vicki wasn't either--but both of them got a little sniffly at that point.

  Heather and Zach had agreed to wait until after the wedding to tell his family their big news, but she simply couldn't hold it in anymore. Not when she was surrounded by such love. And not when she knew for sure that her children were never going to grow up the way she had--with parents whose lies had made her question whether real love actually existed. Now she knew for sure that love was real. Zach and his family proved it to her every single day.

  "I have news too."

  Zach would take a bullet for anyone in his family--and so would Heather. She looked around the room at the women who had become her best friends in the world. Her sisters in every way that counted. Finally, she got to Mary. Zach's mother was one of the warmest people on the planet, and from the overjoyed look in her eyes, Heather knew she had already guessed her news.

  "Zach and I are going to have a baby." Heather's hand automatically went to her still-flat stomach.

  Every woman in the room leaped to her feet for what amounted to the best group hug ever.

  "I'm so happy for you." Vicki held on to Heather even after the other women had moved away to open up a bottle of wine and toast each other. "No wonder Zach was so insistent about keeping the wedding date no matter what. Ryan and I can move ours so that the fifteenth can be all yours."

  "No way." By now, Heather couldn't imagine having any other wedding. "Ryan also looked really intense about making sure he married you in two weeks. And I know it's what you want, as well."

  Vicki hugged Heather again. "Promise me you'll save a spot on your mantel. Because I just got the perfect idea for your wedding gift."

  Heather and Zach were already lucky enough to own one of Vicki's sculptures. Though they now sold in the mid-six figures, last Christmas Vicki had given them clay figurines of Atlas and Cuddles curled up together in the dog bed they shared. It was one of Heather's most prized possessions and made her smile every time she looked at it.

  "I've got a good idea for you too," Heather said. One of her favorite dogs that came to Top Dog--a miniature poodle and Pekingese mix--was about to have a litter of puppies. By the time the puppies were nine weeks old and ready to find homes, Ryan and Vicki should be back from their honeymoon. If they wanted one of the sweet little bundles of fur, she'd make sure they could have first pick.

  Heather and Vicki had only just sat down when little Emma, Jackie, and Smith came barreling out of Chloe's back room where her babysitter was watching the kids during the wedding planning. The college student had baby Logan on one arm and baby Julia on the other as she chased the bigger kids. "Sorry, they heard everyone cheering and were desperate to be a part of the celebrations."

  "Mommy!" Emma climbed into Chloe's outstretched arms. "What did we miss?"

  Chloe nuzzled her daughter before looking at Heather. When she nodded, Chloe said, "Aunt Heather and Uncle Zach are going to have a baby."

  With unerring aim, Emma threw herself into Heather's arms and gave her a big wet kiss on the lips. "I love more babies!"

  "We do too," Smith and Jackie agreed as they got on Heather's lap too.

  Though Sophie told her twins to be careful that they weren't crushing Heather, she felt anything but. Wrapping her arms around the three kids as best she could, Heather closed her eyes and let herself savor all the happiness she'd once been so afraid she could never have.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Vicki could sit in the stands for a thousand World Series games, and she'd never get used to the butterflies in her stomach. Every time Ryan let a ball rip, she held her breath. And every time he struck out yet another batter, she nearly lost her voice from screaming his name. The Hawks were behind 3-4 at the top of the seventh inning, and the series was tied at one game apiece. If this was to be Ryan's final season, she wanted him to go out on a high.

  Fortunately, though, Ryan didn't look nervous at all. She was always amazed by how calmly he approached his job. He'd been like that even as a teenager--so steady and confident without being cocky. Fun first, winning second was his motto.

  She'd learned so much from him, not only how to be more steady and confident, but also how to love with her whole heart. And how to trust that she would be loved back.

  After striking out the third batter in a row, Ryan blew her a kiss from the mound. She blew him one back as the butterflies danced in her stomach for an entirely different reason now. He laughed as he reached out with his mitt to "catch" her kiss, and she was struck for the millionth time how wonderful it was to be with someone who was always laughing, always filled with such joy.

  Every time they made love, she felt utterly cherished, but last night had been extra special. Almost as if the knowledge that they were close to finally making their vows to each other had amped up their emotions. Of course, it didn't hurt that for all his laid-back ease, Ryan was alpha to the core when it came to lovemaking.

  Three years ago, just after their fake engagement had been announced, another woman had asked Vicki how it felt to tame the ultimate bad boy. She'd replied that he was nowhere close to being tame, and truer words had never been spoken. Because after the deliciously wicked things he'd done to her last night--things that made her feel owned, possessed, and claimed in all the best possible ways--she could confidently say that Ryan Sullivan would never be anywhere close to tame.

  "You two are still so adorable together," Ryan's sister Lori commented as she found her seat when the seventh-inning stretch began. "I always think how sweet it is that you've been in love with each other since high school." Lori and her husband, Grayson, had been caught in bad traffic and had just arrived holding a huge tub of popcorn for everyone to munch from. Lori obviously hadn't waited to start snacking, as her question came around a mouthful of kernels. "Any crazy new wedding requests come in since last night?"

  Vicki laughed. "Not yet."

  Lori looked down at Ryan's team in their dugout. "Ballplayers can be so weird. Weird but hot. Although nowhere near as hot as my cowboy." She looked up to where Grayson was walking down the stands, his arms full of boxes of candy. "Look at how all the girls in the stands are shamelessly drooling over him. I'm going to have to make it clear that he's all mine."

  Vicki couldn't stifle her grin as Grayson came into their box and Lori planted a majorly hot kiss on him in front of the whole world. Somehow he managed to keep one hand on the candy while taking a handful of his wife in the other. By the time they pulled back, everyone in the stands was watching, wide-eyed.

  Everyone except Zach and Heather, who had eyes only for each other a couple of seats away. Vicki wasn't at all surprised to see how protective he was of his pregnant fiancee. Zach had always been the biggest player of the bunch, but Vicki now knew it was true what they said about reformed rakes: They really did make the best mates. Zach was utterly devoted to the woman he loved. Just the way all Sullivans were devoted to their significant others.

  More than once, Vicki had been tempted to pinch herself to make sure this was really her life. She was an army brat who'd moved more than she stayed. She never got to have a close circle of friends until the Sullivans had taken her in when she was fifteen and made her feel like she finally belonged. Even then, she'd made some huge missteps, especially marrying the wrong man and staying wi
th him for ten too-long years. Every single day of the past three years, she had been amazed by the love she'd managed to find--the love she'd rediscovered--with Ryan.

  Their love made any amount of hard work to put on this double wedding absolutely worth it. They'd all been working pedal to the metal on it for the past week and, amazingly, it had been mostly smooth sailing. A majority of the guests were able to clear their schedules, even on such short notice. And Vicki was pretty sure that neither she nor Heather had been particularly high maintenance.

  When it came to their men, on the other hand?

  She and Heather had to laugh at just how similar Ryan's and Zach's professions were--especially all the superstitions that preceded each of Ryan's games and Zach's races.

  Ryan himself wasn't particularly superstitious, thankfully. But his teammates were, which was why the Hawks insisted that Ryan and Vicki walk through an arch of baseball bats to get to the altar. Okay, so it might not be the most romantic vision in the world, but Vicki was willing to roll with it. Thank God he didn't believe in staying celibate during the series, like so many of his teammates. After having been away in France for two weeks, even the mere thought of another two weeks in which they couldn't make love would have pushed both of them over the edge.

  Surprisingly, Zach's racing colleagues were even nuttier about the wedding than Ryan's baseball team. First, Zach's pit crew claimed that if anything green was used in any part of the decorations (apart from the grass and grapevines, which obviously couldn't be changed), Zach would lose all future races. But they were even more serious about Zach not shaving off so much as a millimeter of his facial hair between now and the wedding. To do so, they insisted, would be the ultimate jinx.

  "Since we've got a few minutes before the game starts again and three out of four of you are here," Lori's twin, Sophie, said, "I thought we could get some extra wedding business done."

  "Megan isn't here," Lori groaned, "and we can't do anything without her spreadsheets, right?"

  "Got them right here." Sophie lifted her tablet. "We decided to put the spreadsheets in the cloud so that we can all access them, remember?"

  "You sound like our cousin Suzanne when you start talking about computer clouds," Lori grumbled.

  Suzanne was the only female sibling of the four New York Sullivans--Drake, Harrison, and Alec were her brothers. Vicki had spent some time with each of them over the years while on trips to New York and at weddings, of course. Now that she and Ryan were going to have more free time, she hoped she could get to know his cousins in New York and Maine better. Thankfully, she was already really close with the Seattle crew--Rafe, Mia, Ian, Dylan, Adam, and their parents, Claudia and Max.

  "Speaking of our cousins in New York," Sophie said, "Alec has made arrangements to use a few of his private planes to fly family from New York and Maine into a private airstrip in Napa."

  None of the Sullivans flaunted their money or fame, but since Vicki hadn't grown up knowing people who had private planes or who were famous, stuff like this still made her head spin.

  "And Heather," Sophie continued, "Alec wanted you to know that he'd be happy to pick up your parents in Washington, DC, if that would be more convenient for them."

  Heather did her best to try to hide her reaction from the rest of them, but Vicki knew too much about Heather's fractured relationship with her parents to miss it as she said, "I'll give them a call and let Alec know right away if they'd like a ride."

  Judging by the way Zach pulled Heather closer, it was obvious that he wasn't particularly thrilled about Heather's parents coming to the wedding. Vicki wished she could do something to help, but sometimes the very best you could do was simply to be there for the people you loved. Ryan and his family had shown this to Vicki time and again.

  Lori shoved the rest of the chocolate bar she'd been eating into her mouth before saying, "Are we still going to go see your wedding gowns after the game?"

  Vicki had always known that she wanted Anne to make her wedding dress. Fortunately, while her friend had catapulted straight to the top of the fashion world, she'd still offered to squeeze in two last-second dresses for Vicki and Heather.

  "I'm really looking forward to seeing Anne again," Vicki said. "She's been so busy flying around the world opening her new boutiques in Paris and Rome that it's been months since we've really had a chance to chat."

  "I'm dying to see what she's got planned for both of you," Sophie said. "I've got a borderline unhealthy fixation on her dresses."

  "You're not the only one," Vicki said.

  Ryan had a bit of a fixation, as well, given that the first time they'd made love she'd been wearing one of Anne's dresses--the sexy red one she'd worn in the studio just the other day. It had been the night of their fake engagement party, and she still remembered the way it had felt when she and Ryan finally gave in to their feelings for each other and he stripped her dress away, one zipper at a time.

  Heather and Anne had met only once, via Skype, but Anne had taken one look at Zach's fiancee and declared that she knew exactly the dress she should wear. Anne might change her technicolor hair weekly and have a good dozen piercings--but she was a master when it came to knowing exactly how to bring out the best in a woman. Even things the woman wearing the dress might not be able to see in herself.

  When the players ran out onto the field, Sophie shelved wedding planning so that they could watch the rest of the game. One that turned out to be a total nail-biter by the ninth inning, with the score at 5-4 and the Hawks in the lead, thankfully.

  Ryan was back up at the mound, and though he still didn't look nervous, Vicki could see just how fierce his concentration was. The only other time he ever looked that focused was when they were in bed and he was utterly intent on her pleasure. One after the other, he struck the first two batters out, his fastballs precise and explosive.

  Soon after, the third batter, already down two strikes, stepped back up to the plate. Lori gripped one of Vicki's hands, and Sophie took the other.

  "You can do it, Ryan." Sophie's whispered words echoed those in Vicki's head.

  Vicki figured the batter was assuming another fastball would be coming his way. But she knew how foolish it was to think that Ryan's easy demeanor meant he wasn't working out how to get exactly what he wanted. Three years ago, he'd wanted her. And boy, had he ever gone out of his way to make sure that happened...

  Another delicious shiver was moving through her at the memories of the first time they'd kissed--and then had made the sweetest love possible--when Ryan turned his head just enough to catch her eye. She smiled and mouthed, I love you, and the next thing she knew, the perfect curve ball was flying from his fingers.

  A curve ball the batter never saw coming.

  The entire stadium leaped to its feet as Ryan's team rushed to the mound to lift him up on their shoulders. The second he was set down on the ground, he headed straight for Vicki. She was already more than halfway to him by the time he leaped over the fence and swung her up into his arms. The moment he crushed his mouth to hers, the crowd's cheers easily jumped a full decibel.

  But all Vicki heard in his kiss--all she felt, all she knew--was how much Ryan loved her.

  More than enough to fill this stadium a million times over.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Since Smith and Valentina had missed out on the wedding planning due to their filming schedule in Denmark, they insisted on throwing the combined bachelorette and bachelor party the night before the wedding. And with the Hawks having just won the World Series--again--there was also plenty of bubbly flowing to toast Ryan's retirement from baseball at the very top of his game.

  As Marcus and Nicola's Napa Valley home was currently being decorated for the wedding, Smith and Valentina had booked Castello di Amorosa for the party. Children and adults alike were all having a marvelous time exploring the vineyard estate that was built to be a near-perfect replica of a thirteenth-century Tuscan castle.

  Once upon a time, Zach Sullivan
hadn't just believed he'd never marry--he'd never expected to fall in love either. For a man who hated to be proved wrong, nothing could have made him happier than knowing just how off base he'd been about love and marriage.

  Tonight, Heather was stunning him, yet again, in a sky-blue dress that skimmed over her curves while highlighting her long legs. He couldn't keep his hands to himself. Thankfully, his bride didn't mind in the least--especially given that she wasn't doing much better at keeping her hands off him.

  Little Emma had just given her a bunch of flowers, and Heather was smelling them with a happy smile on her lips--one that fell the moment she realized her parents had arrived at the party.

  A muscle jumped in Zach's jaw as he watched her put down the flowers to go say hello. The Linseys put on a good show of being a happy couple, but that was all it was: a performance.

  Zach's family had promised him they would step in with her parents any way they could. As good as their word, Smith and Valentina wasted no time coming over.

  "Mr. and Mrs. Linsey, it's great to finally meet you." Smith had on his best movie-star smile, one that looked genuine even if his heart wasn't truly behind it. "If we could steal you away from your daughter for a short while, Valentina and I would love to give you both a tour of the castle."

  Simply getting to meet a movie star like Smith would be more than enough for most people, so Zach figured there was no way they would turn down the chance to spend one-on-one time with Smith and his fiancee.

  "Honey," Heather's father said, "you don't mind if your mother and I step away for a few minutes while you celebrate with your friends?"

  "No, you should absolutely go!"

  Heather seemed to realize a moment too late just how enthusiastic she sounded, but Zach was already stepping into the fray. "Heather and I actually have a few things we need to discuss for tomorrow." He forced himself to smile at her parents, though he suspected it looked more like he was baring his teeth. "Enjoy your tour with Smith and Valentina."