“Of course I would,” she agreed with a smile, even as she marveled at the way Ryan was integrating her into his life without so much as blinking.

“Zach fell hard for his dog trainer and they’re sickeningly happy now and heading to the altar at some point.” He could still hardly believe how fast his brother, owner of Sullivan Autos, had fallen for Heather. “Only Naughty, Smith, and I are still single. You’ll never believe who Nice ended up with.” Normally, he wouldn’t have used Lori and Sophie’s nicknames, but Vicki knew his family well enough that she also used to call the twins Naughty and Nice when they were kids.

“Sophie’s with Jake, isn’t she?”

He stared at her in disbelief. Had she really thought his librarian sister and Irish Pub owning friend were a good match? “How did you know that?”

She shrugged as if it were completely obvious. “She had stars in her eyes every time she looked at him when we were kids. And he always went out of his way to steer clear of her. I’m glad he finally gave in and admitted his feelings for her.”

Was Vicki trying to tell him something? Was this a sign that she wanted him to finally get up enough guts to make another move after that first pathetic attempt to kiss her had crashed and burned so hard back in high school?

But when he looked back at her, she was picking up a container of mu shu pork and focusing on pulling out the slivers of cabbage with her fork. Not exactly looking at him with lust in her eyes.

Feeling like an ass for even thinking about hitting on her, especially when it had barely been three hours since they’d reconnected in person after so many years apart on separate continents, he said, “Only problem was, he got her pregnant with twins before he admitted a damn thing to anyone. Including her. She’s due soon.”

“Twins. That’s amazing. I’m so happy for them.” She picked up the second bottle of beer and took another drink.

“Your turn,” he said, his words a little hoarse from wanting so badly to press his lips against the pulse point in her neck she’d inadvertently bared to him when she’d tilted her head back.

“Well, you already know about my marriage and divorce,” she said, brushing off a good ten years in less than a dozen words. But he could hear the pain behind every single one of them. “After spending the past year in Prague, I heard about this fellowship opportunity in San Francisco and here we are.”

Ryan could tell she didn’t want to talk about herself any more than he did, but he’d spent so long wondering about the guy who had been lucky enough to 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. Chalk 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.”