All For Emma

Prologue


Sixteen year old Katelyn watched Ryan Summers from her seat at the reception hall. Her brother had just married Ryan’s sister. Katie had been a fan of Ryan’s movies since he had started acting two years before. She watched them over and over. Meeting him in person today was the highlight of her life so far.
Katie’s dad had died when she was two, and she lived with her mother, was unable to attend due to her chemotherapy. She and her brother were the sole representatives of their family at the wedding. The two of them had always been close with Dave taking a much more active role in her upbringing than was normal. He was ten years older, so had accepted a lot of responsibility for her.
As Katie watched, Dave whispered something in Ryan’s ear, and they both looked in her direction. Katie quickly looked down, hoping that Ryan hadn’t noticed that she was staring at him. Of course, he must be used to overweight, boring teenaged girls looking at him all the time. She was pathetic. She even knew she was pathetic which was even more pathetic. She just wished she would have the opportunity to talk to him. Maybe he would see past the extra weight, and the shyness that had plagued her life.
She saw a pair of black dress shoes in front of her feet. She kept looking down, not able to make eye contact with a man, unless he was her brother. A hand appeared before her eyes.
“Dance with me, Katie.” The words were spoken with Ryan’s voice. Either her brother had been working on his celebrity impressions, or Ryan Summers was asking her to dance. Dave must be working on his impressions!
Looking up with a grin, she saw that it was Ryan, waiting to dance with her. Blushing, she immediately looked back down at her feet, but took his hand and followed him to the dance floor.
Looking back on that dance, she would never remember what he had said. She would only remember how right his hand had felt in hers. She would remember how good his shoulder had felt under her hand and how effortlessly he had twirled her around the room. She could live on those dreams forever.
*****
Ryan had been willing to help his new brother in law out by dancing with his kid sister. He tried to put the girl at ease by talking about school. He talked about the classes he was in and the new movie he was making. He talked and talked to the top of the poor girl’s head, and she never looked above his shoulders. He asked her questions, but she never even mumbled a reply.
After the dance, he thanked her quickly and returned her to her chair. It had been a strange experience. The girl was so shy, she was absolutely uncommunicative.
He’d run into girls with crushes on him in the two years since his first movie had come out. He hadn’t wanted to start acting, but when their father had died, he’d needed a way to pay his way through college. He’d been a first semester freshman, and his sister, Anna, had been a junior. They’d had no idea money had been so tight until the day the will was read. Everything their father had owned had to be sold just to pay off the debts. There was nothing left.
He had been in his university’s play just a couple of weeks previously, and a talent scout had offered him the lead role in a boring teen romance movie. He’d immediately turned them down. After seeing their financial situation, he’d called the scout, and groveled as he asked to be reconsidered for the part. His goal had always been to be a doctor. The goal would be unattainable without going over $100,000 into debt unless he took the part. He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in debt for his education. He wanted Anna to have a better life than that as well.
He was in the middle of filming his fourth movie. He hated it. Acting for the stage had been fun, but it wasn’t something that had driven him. He’d never wanted to be in the spotlight. A college play was fun. Movies, and the girls and reporters that followed him everywhere, wore him out. He would be done soon. He almost had enough to finish out school and enough seed money to open his own practice after medical school. Just a couple of more movies and he was set for life.
He looked over at Katie again. She was staring at the floor still, a small smile playing across her lips. She seemed sweet. He wished he had time to talk to her a little more. She was a pretty little thing. The extra weight she carried wasn’t as bad as she probably thought that it was. He would have preferred her to the last three leading ladies he’d had. Each one had been more full of herself than the last.
He sighed as he walked over and kissed his sister on the cheek, promising to see her as soon as he could make it back to Texas. He was ready for this part of his life to be over and the real living to begin.



Chapter One

Katelyn Johnson quickly shut off the stove as she heard the doorbell ring. She put the grilled cheese sandwich she’d just fixed for her four year old niece, Emma, on an animal shaped paper plate and set it on the table in front of her. “You eat that while I get the door.”
The doorbell rang again as she rushed toward the front of the house. She brushed her long blond hair out of her eyes as she pushed open the door. Her heart immediately dropped into her stomach. Even knowing that he was coming, she hadn’t been able to prepare herself for the reality of his presence.
“I’m looking for Katie?” the man said quietly.
Katie nodded. “You’ve found her. Come in, Ryan.”
“No, I’m looking for Dave’s little sister. Different Katie.”
Katie’s face transformed into a sad smile. “Still me.”
“You don’t look like the girl I met at Ryan and Anna’s wedding.”
“Well, I was in high school when I met you seven years ago. I certainly hope I’ve matured a bit since then.” She stepped back to allow him into the house.
“Oh, well,” he didn’t seem to know quite what to say. The girl he remembered had been overweight, with glasses, and acne. She’d also been painfully shy. Anna had begged him to dance with Katie at the reception, and Katie hadn’t been able to look above his shoulders. He didn’t think he’d ever seen anything but the top of her head during that dance.
The woman in front of him was very different than that awkward teen. She was still short, only about five three. Her long hair was worn in a flattering style, framing her face. She had either gotten contacts or had vision correction surgery, because her bottle bottom glasses were missing from her face.
The biggest change, though, was in her body. Seven years ago, Katie had been at least 50 pounds overweight. On her small frame, that had been a lot of extra weight to carry. Now, she was slender, and when he looked more closely, actually muscular. Her arms had that toned look that only came from hours spent in a gym. Her sleeveless blouse had him almost salivating. Her shorts were mid-thigh, but they showed off her muscular thighs and calves to perfection.
No, this certainly wasn’t the shy young girl he’d met seven years ago. Anna had been on him to come and get to know her sister in law since Katie had graduated from college. Remembering that one experience with her painful shyness, he’d been uninterested. Now, he wished he’d taken the time.
“Thanks for coming so quickly. The funeral is tomorrow afternoon,” Katie said softly, tears once again falling down her soft cheeks.
Ryan immediately pulled her into his arms and rested his cheek on her head. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when it happened.”
Katie pulled away from him quickly, blushing profusely. She’d never forget her only other meeting with her sister in law’s younger brother. She’d been so tongue tied and in awe of him that she hadn’t been able to stammer out a coherent sentence. Of course, she was sure he got that a lot.
“You have your own life to live. Why would you be here in Dallas?”
Ryan had been an actor in his late teens and early twenties. Even before her brother had started dating his sister, he had been the unknowing, unattainable recipient of the only crush of Katie’s life. Katie had watched every one of his movies, mesmerized by the soft kisses that he’d always bestowed on his lucky leading ladies. She would pause and rewind the movies, watching the kisses over and over, imagining herself as the recipient of those beautiful kisses.
She’d never forgotten the muscles beneath his tuxedo at the wedding. She would dream of running her hands over his back and shoulders as he kissed her. His dark wavy hair was cut short and just begging her to run her fingers through it. His eyes and lips were what killed her, though. She knew she would melt if she ever stared into those beautiful chocolate brown eyes.
And his lips. Oh those lips. She couldn’t allow herself to even look at his face, because she knew once she did, she’d never be able to tear her eyes from his lips. She had imagined his kisses one time too many.
Ryan sighed softly. Anna, Dave and Emma were the only family that he had left. He knew it had been the same for Katie. Both had lost their parents while still in high school. And now they’d both lost two people that were integral parts of their lives in the last 48 hours, and were going to have to come to terms with each other. He had no idea what to say to this young woman.