Blond bombshell Erika, 21, was a wild child who battled booze and drugs and posed for sizzling nude pictures in Playboy -- until she found forgiveness in the loving arms of the Days Of Our Lives star. "Erika's past makes her cringe with regret," says a source close to the set of Days, where Billy, 30, has recently returned to his role as Frankie. But none of that matters to Billy. He loves her for who she is now, not where she's been. "They've turned Billy's Los Angeles home into a love nest for two. And they're seriously considering getting married soon and starting a family."

Life wasn't always so sweet for Erika, the scantily-clad sex siren who co-starred with Billy when she played lifeguard Shauni McLain on TVs Baywatch. "I was a brazen little brat," Erika confesses. "I grew up fast." Erika raced into the fast lane, she says, when her parents divorced and left her on her own much of the time. She started working as a model and actress at the age of 10, playing the part of Elliot's girlfriend in the hit movie E.T. The Extraterrestrial. But just like Drew Barrymore, the child star of E.T., Erika abused drugs and alcohol when she was a teenager. "I didn't have much direction in my life," she explains."I was into heavy metal. I was the girl you didn't mess with. I partied too hard." By the time Erika was 20, she'd been a Playboy cover girl as well as the skin magazine's red-hot centerfold. "I'm sorry I ever did Playboy,"she says. "Now people think that's all I am".

When Billy and Erika met on the set of Baywatch, where Billy played Eddie Kramer, they were both romantically involved with other people. And even though love sparks flew almost from the beginning, they fought their tender feelings for each other until the end of the show's season. Then their onscreen romance spilled over into real life. "Billy and Erika were both engaged when they met," confides a friend of the couple. "But they ended up dumping their spouses-to-be when they realized they were falling in love with each other. Billy was planning to marry Sherry Hursey, his former co-star on Days. Sherry had helped him put his life back together after his painful divorce from Marcy Walker (Eden, Santa Barbara)." Marcy said at the time: "I just fell out of love with Billy." The bitter divorce left Billy devastated. Sherry's love had begun to ease the pain when he fell head-over-heels for Erika.

But Erika had romantic entanglements of her own. She was engaged to marry Steve Ferguson, a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic who had helped her kick her addictions by insisting she join Alcoholics Anonymous. Sherry and Steve both got dumped when Erika and Billy fell for each other. And Billy couldn't have cared less about Erika'a sordid past. DESPITE HER steamy Playboy past, Billy and Erika are living their romantic dream. Says bighearted Billy: "Personally, I don't think of Playboy as being a bad magazine. I thought Erika's layout was very beautiful. It was tastefully done, but it's part of her past." Despite the steamy photos, Billy insists: "Erika does everything in her power to avoid playing sexy roles. They had to fight tooth and nail on Baywatch to get her to play sexy and wear skimpy things." In a total turnaround of her life before Billy, Erika has now shed her swimsuits for aprons -- putting her own Hollywood career on hold to play homemaker for the man she loves. "She's been acting since she was a little girl, and now she's taking a break,"says her adoring lover. "She's just being domestic. I go home and dinner's ready. It's great! She takes very good care of me."