Love Unscripted (80 page)

“
It’s beautiful!” I sighed. “Thank you!” It matched the Celtic bracelet he gave me last night and the earrings and necklace I unwrapped this morning.

Ryan took the ring out of the box and held my right hand. “It’s sterling. I had it inscribed. It says ‘My heart is yours.’ ”

After he showed me the inscription, he slid the ring onto my right hand ring finger. It fit perfectly. My hand shook slightly.

“
I said that the property is for
our
future, and I mean that. Even if it’s just to put a vacation home there. No decisions have to be made now. And when we’re both ready, I intend to put a few rings on this hand.” Ryan raised my fingers to his mouth and softly kissed my left hand.

In a blur, the ten days Ryan had off had dwindled down to three. We spent two days in Pittsburgh with his family and almost an entire day was spent just flying back and forth. It was slightly easier to move through the airports if people didn’t expect him to be there, but we were still stopped by a few fans that spotted him.

All I knew was that the precious moments I had with Ryan were quickly ticking away.

New Year’s Eve had arrived and my pub was packed. A few die-hard fans traveled to the little town of Seaport after it was published in the media that Ryan was spending the holidays in his little secret love nest in Rhode Island.

Ryan had hired Mike to be his personal guard full-time and I felt better knowing that Mike was in the bar with Ryan for our evening celebration. Cory’s friend Trevor was tending the door and my friends were providing an extra buffer around Ryan, just in case.

The band on stage was jamming and Marie, Cory, and I were hustling behind the bar. I looked over at Ryan and smiled. He was sitting in his spot at the bar wearing my Mitchell’s Pub cap; Mike sat on one side, Pete on the other, Gary was sitting next to Pete. The guys were drinking and talking and just having a great time.

I was so happy to see Ryan relaxed and I grinned whenever he laughed hysterically at their conversations. I was grateful to the crowd too; for the most part his fans just admired him from afar. A few women managed to sneak in to talk to him, but he didn’t seem to mind the conversation. The minute a girl stepped up to him, the other three guys intervened. Needless to say, no woman was able to hang around Ryan for very long.

I had just grabbed two bottles of beer out of the cooler, only to look up and see Kyle standing on the other side of the bar. I gasped, slightly startled that he was here.

“
Can I get one of those, miss?” he asked, nodding at the bottles in my hand.

“
Sure, I’ll be right with you,” I unconsciously responded with a smile, tending to my current customer. I looked over at Ryan knowing he was going to be pissed that Kyle was here. Ryan was laughing heartily until he noticed my expression. His unspoken words of concern instantly turned to anger when he eyed Kyle on the opposite end of the bar. Ryan stiffened in his chair and stared Kyle down.

I slid a bottle over to Kyle, who had wedged his body conveniently between two ladies to get to the bar.

“
I see pretty boy is happy to see me,” Kyle sneered, taking a long swig of his beer.

“
Don’t start, Kyle,” I warned and quickly hurried out from behind the bar.

“
Come here please.” I drug him by the sleeve of his leather jacket to speak to him privately. “I want to know, right now, if you have any weapons on you,” I asked, knowing that he had a permit to carry concealed firearms.

He took another swig of his beer and patted the space under his right arm. “I never leave home without it!” he stated proudly.

“
And you felt the need to bring that into my pub for what reason?” I asked directly.

“
Never know when I’m going to need it,” he reasoned. “I’m not breaking any laws. Besides, by the looks of it, there are enough of his fans in here - any one of them could be a psychotic stalker,” he said eerily.

“
Hey, Kyle! How’s it going?” Mike greeted him with a pat on the shoulder, expressing more concern than friendliness.

“
Just enjoying a beer on New Year’s Eve, Mike. And you?”

“
Making sure things stay peaceful and calm around here.” Mike patted him again, gripping Kyle’s collarbone in his hand so he would get the hint.

“
Mike, I was just going to ask Kyle if he would mind taking his firearm back out to his car. I would feel a lot better if I knew there weren’t any guns in my pub tonight.”

Kyle finished his beer in one big gulp and set the empty bottle down forcefully on a table filled with patrons. “I’ll remove mine if you remove yours!” Kyle arrogantly challenged Mike.

“
I’m pretty sure you don’t want things to go down this way tonight, Kyle. Taryn asked you to leave your piece outside. It’s a simple request.”

“
Fine, I’ll leave,” Kyle defended. “Don’t want to upset pretty boy tonight.”

“
Kyle, I didn’t say you had to leave! I just don’t want you armed while you’re drinking in my pub, that’s all.”

“
Come on… let’s take this outside,” Mike calmly suggested, slightly gripping Kyle’s arm.

“
Get your fucking hand off of me!” Kyle responded angrily, shoving Mike’s hand away.

Ryan was at my side in an instant, taking the short cut behind the bar to reach me.

“
What’s up, Kyle?” Ryan asked coldly. He stepped in front of me, protectively pushing me back with his arm.

“
Do we have a problem here?” Pete muscled his way in through the crowd. Gary was right behind him. Cory raced out from behind the bar to back up Ryan.

Kyle smirked, almost analyzing if he’d be quick enough to take down all five men on his own. Part of my brain considered that he probably could, and I didn’t like those odds.

“
Listen! Everyone just calm down!” I ordered, elbowing my way back in between Ryan and Kyle. “Kyle, you are more than welcome to stay, enjoy the band, and have a good time – just like everyone else. I just don’t want people who are
not
working for me to be carrying weapons inside my bar. Go out to your car, lock up whatever toys you have on you, and come back inside. Okay?” I wanted to defuse the situation as quickly as possible.

“
Okay,” Kyle conceded, drawing in a breath through his nose. “Taryn, come for a walk with me - please?”

“
Oh hell no!” Ryan snapped, blocking me with his arm again.

Kyle scoffed at Ryan’s reaction. “Is your name Taryn?” he jeered.

“
You’re not going anywhere with my girlfriend,” Ryan snarled.

“
And why is that, Ryan? Are you afraid that I’m going to tell her? Afraid she might find out that she
wasn’t
the first girl you nailed in this town?” Kyle said mockingly.

“
You don’t know shit!” Ryan raised his angry voice.

“
Oh, I don’t? So I guess you never told her about the little hottie you’ve been screwing on your movie set?”

“
You need to shut the fuck up before I shut you up!” Ryan threatened, stepping even closer to Kyle. Mike put his hand on Ryan’s chest, giving him a heedful warning.

“
So are you going to deny it now? Go ahead! Lie to her some more,
Ryan
!” Kyle taunted.

I looked up at Ryan, begging for an explanation. His face was turning red, coated with anger.

“
Are you cheating on me?” The question flew from my brain and right out my mouth.

“
No! Absolutely not! Never!” Ryan looked me directly in the eyes and squared his shoulders. “What he’s referring to happened before I met you.”

“
So it happened?” I squeaked.

“
Yeah, so what?” he muttered. “What happened before you and I got together is in the past, but since our friend here has an agenda, I guess my past actions need to be explained. For the record,
Kyle
, I slept with one girl one time and that was
before
I even met Taryn, so you might want to get your facts straight.”

Ryan quickly turned his attention back to me, locking his eyes on mine. “I’ve never been unfaithful to you –
Never
!” His words were urgent, direct.

I inched around Ryan’s side. “Kyle! Why are you doing this?” I demanded.

“
You deserve better,” he said emphatically, almost pleading with me. “Better than the lies he offers.”

“
What the hell is your problem? You think by coming in here and making a scene it’s going to make me want to choose you instead of him? Like maybe if you get him out of the picture you’d have a snowball’s chance in hell with me?”

“
Huh! You believe him?” Kyle countered.

Memories of every beautiful moment I had spent with Ryan flashed in fast forward through my mind. We’d been through too much for me to doubt him. “Yes! Yes, I do!”

“
Man, you
are
a good actor! He’ll do it again, Taryn. They all do,” Kyle yelled over the music. His attempt to convince me to agree with him goaded Ryan even further.

Ryan reached his limit. That last comment made him snap. He raised his hands, lunging for Kyle’s throat. Pete and Mike instantly intervened, quickly blocking Ryan from making contact.

“
Kyle, you need to leave - now!” I scowled at him. “Get out of my bar.”

“
Don’t you
ever
come near her again. You got me?” Ryan flipped out in a fit of rage. Pete had a hold of Ryan’s arm; Mike was gripping the front of Ryan’s shirt.

Kyle just stood there, appearing unaffected, hoping that he’d get a chance to take Ryan down.

“
I said get out!” I stepped in between them, staring straight at Kyle.

I had enough. My customers were watching the action unfold, waiting to see if Ryan Christensen, the famous actor, was going to get into a fistfight. I turned and walked away, completely disgusted, and headed for my stairwell.

Ryan was at a run when he hit the first three steps to our apartment. He stopped abruptly when he saw me sitting on the top landing. He leaned up on the wall and let out a big sigh.

He tried to maintain his temper as his words came out through his clenched teeth. “I’m going to ask, and I want the truth. Did anything…
ever
… happen between you and that asshole?”

I scoffed, shocked that he would even question my fidelity. But then again, I really wasn’t surprised. Ryan and I both had trust issues.

“
No. Nothing… never.” I stared directly into his eyes.

“
Not even a kiss?” he growled.

“
Never
,” I whispered adamantly. “I hugged him goodbye once when he dropped me off from the airport at Thanksgiving, and I told you about that.” I put my head in my hand. “I suppose even that was a mistake,” I mumbled.

Ryan finished the climb up the steps and sat down next to me on the landing. We sat there in silence, both trying to calm down.

“
I think it’s safe to say that neither one of us was a virgin when we met,” Ryan muttered. “I’ve never asked you about the guys that you were with before me, because hearing about it would just make me crazy. And you’ve never asked, so I figure the same goes for you. What difference does it make who we slept with before? We both have pasts.”

I nodded in agreement, knowing he was right.

Ryan drew in a deep breath. “The first week I was here I hooked up with one of the PAs,” he admitted. “I messed around with her a couple of t…”

“
Ryan, stop,” I interrupted, trying not to visualize this new girl as being the lucky recipient of the missing condom.

He looked at me, confused by my order.

“
Don’t lie to me,” I whispered.

“
I’m not,” he confirmed.

“
You told Kyle one girl, one time. You just slipped and said a couple. What’s the truth?” I breathed in desperation.

“
Can’t you see he’s trying to rip us apart?” he said, almost pleading with me.

“
He and a million other folks,” I corrected.

“
Tar, I don’t have to explain myself to Kyle, but I am being truthful with you. So I had sex with some girl – twice – before I even knew you,” he stressed. “It was nothing. It meant nothing. And I ended it. I swear to God, from the moment I met you, I have not touched, been with, or even looked at another woman. Suzanne doesn’t count.” He laughed lightly, then collected himself. “I’ve been completely faithful to you.”