This Valentine's Day on ALL MY CHILDREN, Ryan and Annie take a literal roll in the hay (their first) at the Wildwind barn. "Edmund was murdered there, so it's a really romantic spot," quips Annie's portrayer, Melissa Claire Egan.

Why is the timing right for Ryan and Annie? "It's not, actually, and that's the problem," Egan frowns. "Annie finding out that Ryan is Emma's father has put a lot of pressure on them as a couple. Annie has decided it's best that they back off and just be friends and parents to Emma and that's it, for now, because God forbid something happens and they split up and Emma doesn't understand why Mommy and Daddy are breaking up."

But when Ryan gives Annie a tour of her new digs (Wildwind), "They can't help but feel their attraction to each other and they end up having sex," the actress continues. "It's what they want — they have chemistry and everything — but they say, 'This is too complicated. We shouldn't have done that.' It wasn't part of their plan, so it becomes about, 'What do we do now?' "

As for Egan, she's just glad to have gotten past the hurdle of her first on-screen romp. "I've done kissing scenes, but never a love scene," she says, "so I was kind of nervous." Did she do anything special to prepare? "I have no discipline in what I eat, but the two days before the love scene, I worked out, like, twice a day and watched what I ate. But that was it," she shrugs. "Once I got on set, though, I felt very comfortable. It was very liberating. I felt very uninhibited. When I went to rehearsal, the director said, 'For now, you can keep your clothes on.' I said, 'No, I think I'm just gonna do it. I want it to look comfortable by the time we tape.' And of course, Cameron [Mathison, Ryan] is so great and is such a close friend of mine, which helped a lot. It was kind of nerve-wracking, but it ended up being a lot of fun. In the second scene, we're under a blanket. I just kind of undid my bra and just threw it out like, 'Okay, let's get this goin'!' "

And as upset as Kendall may be if she finds out that Ryan and Annie have taken their relationship to the next level, Egan teases, her dad is taking the news even harder. "I'm gonna have to deal with my dad jumping off a cliff, so that's gonna suck," she jokes. "He's already said he's not going to watch it, which is good; if he did, we'd have to have EMTs standing by."