Page 36 of Pretend

“You haven’t called me that in a long time,” Morgan said, surprised by how much she’d missed hearing two simple words.

“I called you baby girl the other day,” Eric said with that teasing smile that she’d always loved, only to add, “When you were embracing your obsession with bubbles,” at her questioning look.

“We do not speak of that night,” Morgan said, pushing her glasses back up her nose as she found herself asking the one question that she had a feeling that she already knew the answer to. “Why did you stop calling me that?”

“I have no idea why I stopped calling you baby girl,” Eric said, not quite able to meet her eyes.

“I thought we weren’t going to lie to each other,” Morgan reminded him.

“Amber had a problem with it,” he admitted, sighing heavily as he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck before dropping his hand away.

Nodding slowly, Morgan asked the one question that she’d been wondering for months now. “And if Amber told you to cut me out of your life?”

“It would never fucking happen,” Eric bit out angrily as his eyes locked with hers.

“Why?” Morgan asked, watching as Eric ground his jaw while he watched her, looking torn and-

“Why don’t you date?” he asked, taking her by surprise.

She opened her mouth, only to close it and swallow hard when he said, “You’re out of skips.”

“Why didn’t Amber ever spend the night?” Morgan asked, deciding that it would be in her best interest to get him to use up the rest of his skips.

“Because,” Eric drawled, sighing softly as he closed the distance between them and took her hand in his, “I didn’t want her.”

When she went to open her mouth, he cut her off with a murmured, “I thought we weren’t going to talk about Amber. Wasn’t that a rule?” as he entwined their fingers together and gave her hand a gentle tug.

“It was,” Morgan said, watching Eric curiously as he led her down the long hallway towards the staircase, “but that didn’t stop you from answering my question about Baker House.”

“It wasn’t worth a skip,” Eric said, leading her upstairs as she felt his thumb caress the back of her hand.

“What is he planning on doing with Baker House?” Morgan asked after a slight hesitation.

“The same thing that I was. He’s got a buyer that wants to turn it back into a hotel,” Eric said, shrugging it off like it didn’t matter.

“What about your plans?” Morgan asked, feeling sick to her stomach at the thought of all the work Eric put into getting Baker House.

“There will be other buildings,” Eric promised her with a teasing smile.

“You loved Baker House,” she mumbled sadly, not really caring that she was pouting as she allowed him to lead her down the hallway and-

Took her by surprise when he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers in an achingly sweet kiss. “I already told you,” Eric said, pausing to brush his lips against hers one last time, “I love you more.”

“I see…” Morgan murmured in a daze as she watched him for a moment, noting the pleased look in his eyes and-

Decided that it was time to find out what he was really up to.

* * *

“Just tellme what I want to know and I’ll let go,” the small woman currently hanging off his back said, only to grumble, shift, and after a slight hesitation, she cleared her throat and murmured, “Is there any chance that you could lean down so that I could readjust my hold?”

“I could do that,” Eric murmured as he stood there considering his options as he took in the only two pieces of furniture in the room, the bureau or the bed, and…

“Damn it,” came the sadly mumbled words that had his lips twitching when Morgan was forced to give up her hold around his shoulders and slid to the floor with a long-suffering sigh. That was followed by Morgan grabbing hold of his hand, more grumbling that just made her fucking adorable, and took the decision out of his hands and dragged him over to the bureau, where she shot him a look of warning before releasing his hand, climbing onto the bureau, shifting to get comfortable, and once she was settled, she gestured for him to get on with it.

Sighing heavily, Eric stepped closer until he was standing between her legs, watching as her glare slowly turned into a frown. “Umm, what are you doing?”

“Making this easier for you to terrify me into talking,” Eric said as he placed his hands on her thighs while he waited for the latest interrogation to begin.

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