Love Unscripted

“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 gri

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.”