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.”

I stared at my feet, trying to keep a hold of my emotions.

“When we were out on the lake, you said it had been months since… I just assumed that meant sex,” I confessed.

Ryan exhaled loudly.

“Taryn, when we were out on the lake, I was already falling madly in love with you. And I didn’t lie; it’s been months since I had a girlfriend.” He collected my hand in his. “When I got to town here, I was… lonely. I took advantage of an opportunity,” he admitted.

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