Page 14 of Pretend

For several minutes, Eric stood there watching as Morgan tore through his bag, desperately looking for anything that resembled a tee-shirt only to swallow hard as her gaze slowly swung to the pile of shopping bags the bellhop had stacked in the corner a few minutes ago. That was followed by dropping her shoulders in defeat, sending another hopeful look down at his suitcase and, when a tee-shirt that she could steal didn’t suddenly materialize, she stood up and walked the short distance to the shopping bags, grumbling every fucking inch of the way.

After a quick search through the bags, she settled on the rose silk nightgown that he caught her eyeing a few hours ago and, with one last glare in his direction, stormed off to the bathroom and moved to close the door behind her, only to take the opportunity to narrow her eyes on him as she reached up and pushed her glasses back up her nose with a look that told him that he would pay for this.

Once she was done, Morgan slowly closed the bathroom door, glaring at him until the end and-

She really was too fucking adorable for words, Eric decided as he took in the large suite from the large king-sized bed to the patio doors leading to what appeared to be the beach, the living room, and-

He couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss.

It was just a simple brush of her lips against his, but Christ, he was-

Fucking pathetic.

He’d just fucked up his life, had no fucking clue what he was supposed to do now and he was thinking about something that was never going to happen. Morgan was…

So fucking beautiful, Eric thought as the sound of the bathroom door opening drew his attention to find Morgan standing in the doorway, wearing the nightgown and still fucking glaring at him. She spent way too much fucking time with his family, Eric decided as he watched the small woman that was helping him keep his sanity push her glasses back up her nose before she grumbled something that he couldn’t quite make out, narrowed her eyes on him, and made her way to the large bed where she proceeded to dive beneath the comforter with a satisfied sigh.

As he watched Morgan’s small hand reappear from beneath the comforter a moment later and blindly reach over so that she could place her glasses on the nightstand, the last twenty-four hours started to catch up with him, leaving him beyond fucking exhausted. Deciding that calling it a night sounded like a good idea, Eric toed off his shoes as he made his way across the room, turning off lights as he went, and-

“Not happening,” Morgan mumbled from beneath the comforter.

“It really is, though,” Eric said with a satisfied sigh as he dropped down on the bed, only to grunt when the evil woman began shoving him. “Why are you such a brat?”

“Just because,” Morgan muttered grumpily.

“God, you’re spoiled,” Eric said with a sad shake of his head and a long-suffering sigh as he flopped over onto his stomach simply to piss the adorable little brat off.

When they were little, they used to have sleepovers all the time, but when they turned twelve, she started shoving him out of her bed. Not that he’d let that stop him. Not when he’d always slept better with her in his arms, but the small woman grumbling to herself never seemed to fucking care. God, she was mean, Eric thought with a satisfied sigh.

“I will kill you,” the small, bitter woman that really needed to learn how to share mumbled against the comforter. Wondering why she had to make everything so fucking difficult, Eric wrapped his arms around his pillow as he closed his eyes and-

Once again found himself thinking about that kiss.

There was something seriously fucking wrong with him. He’d fucked up his life and all he could think about was just how fucking good it felt to finally have her in his arms. For years, he’d imagined what it would be like to kiss her, touch her, and hold her and…he’d fucking hated her for it.

He hated the fact that she meant the world to him.

He hated the fact that he couldn’t go one fucking day without thinking about her.

And he hated the fact that he still loved her more than anything.

He should have been able to move on, especially after finding out that she only saw him as the annoying little brother that she never wanted on that fateful day that he would give anything to forget about. That had been one of the worst days of his life and she had no fucking idea that she’d nearly destroyed him with nine little words.

He’d had a plan.

One that had taken him nearly a year to grow the balls to follow through with. Every time he worked up the nerve to tell the little pain in the ass currently trying to shove him off the bed that he was in love with her, he’d open his mouth and-

Nothing.

Absolutely fucking nothing came out.

He just stood there, mouth working soundlessly as Morgan stared at him, her expression becoming concerned when he started mumbling incoherently until she finally took pity on him, grabbed whatever was edible close by and shoved it down his throat, saving him from making everything worse. After several failed attempts, Eric decided that he needed a better plan, one that didn’t leave him on the verge of losing his fucking mind.

That led to him somehow deciding that the Christmas Eve party that his family threw every year would be the perfect time to tell her everything. For five months, he’d worked his ass off for his Uncle Jared, taking every odd job that he could get, grabbing hours after school, on the weekends so that he could give her the perfect present when he told her that he loved her.

When the day finally came, he was a nervous fucking wreck all day. He’d barely managed to say a word to her as he tried to work up the nerve to tell her, knowing that it was now or never, and when the moment finally came…

He walked into the kitchen in time to hear Morgan tell her mother that she only saw him as the annoying little brother that she never wanted.

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