Page 35 of Pretend

“Would you have married Amber?” she asked after a slight hesitation.

“No,” Eric said, watching as she slowly exhaled, making him realize that she’d been holding her breath. “Why weren’t you planning on coming to the wedding?”

“Skip,” Morgan said, gesturing for him to move on.

“Why do you think I’m toying with you?” Eric asked, noting that she had three more skips left before they stopped playing this game.

“Why are we still pretending to be married?” she countered.

“Because I want to spend time with you.”

“And you had to give away Baker House to do that? Eric, you’ve been dreaming of working on that damn building for five years. Why the hell would you give it away?” Morgan demanded.

“I’ll still get to work on Baker House,” Eric promised her as he carefully pushed the kitchen table out of the way and reached over and grabbed hold of her chair. “Why have you been pushing me away, Morgan?”

“Skip,” Morgan said, swallowing hard as he used his hold on her chair to pull her closer.

“That’s three,” Eric said, watching her as he asked, “Did you want me to marry Amber?”

“No,” Morgan admitted. “Why did you agree to go on a cruise for your honeymoon?”

“Because I didn’t care about the honeymoon,” Eric said, pulling her closer until her knees were touching his thighs. “Why didn’t you want me to marry Amber?”

“Skip.”

That was four.

“Why have you been pushing me away, Morgan?” Eric asked softly as he reached up and cupped her face in his hands. “Why the hell are you trying to break my heart?”

CHAPTER20

“Skip,” Morgan whispered weakly as she reached up and placed her hands over his.

“That’s five,” Eric said as she pushed his hands away and stood up. “Why didn’t you say anything when I told you that I asked Amber to marry me?”

“Because it wasn’t my place to say anything,” Morgan said, grabbing the empty soda can off the table and brought it to the kitchen sink, needing something to do.

A moment later, she felt Eric’s warm breath teasing the back of her neck as he placed his hands on the kitchen counter, caging her in. “You’re my best friend, Morgan, and you didn’t think that it was your place to say something?” Eric asked, taking the can out of her hand and placed it on the counter.

“Would you say something if I was getting married?” Morgan asked, slowly exhaling as she placed her hands on the counter next to his.

“Do you love him?” Eric asked after a slight hesitation.

“I wouldn’t marry a man unless I did,” Morgan said, already knowing that she would never love anyone as much as the man currently pissing her off.

“More than me?” Eric whispered softly.

“Skip,” Morgan said as she pushed past his arm and walked away, deciding that she’d had enough for one night.

“You’re out of skips, Morgan,” Eric said quietly.

“Then, I guess we’re done playing this game,” she said, shaking her head as she headed for the door and-

“Baker House wasn’t good enough,” Eric said as she paused by the door that really needed to be replaced. “Not nearly fucking good enough. You would have come up with some amazing designs, and probably would have enjoyed it but you wouldn’t have loved it, not like this. I wanted to give you something you could love, something that you could lose yourself in so that I could show you just how much I…” Eric said, only to let his words trail off with a heavy sigh and a muttered, “Fucking Theo.”

“What were you about to say?” Morgan asked as she slowly turned around to find Eric watching her.

“Skip,” Eric said as warm emerald eyes locked on her. “Why have you been pushing me away, baby girl?”

---