Page 46 of Pretend

“Mmmhmm, a date,” Eric murmured as he considered her.

Clearing her throat, she did her best to bite back a pleased smile. “I suppose I could do that,” she said as she held out her hand in silent demand, only to feel her stomach drop when he released that long-suffering sigh that never ended well for her.

“Oh, if only it was going to be that easy.”

CHAPTER25

“Just tell me what you’re planning,” came the sadly mumbled demand that had Eric smiling as he shifted to get comfortable.

After spending two nights on the small couch in South Carolina and the last two nights on this sleeping bag, his back was killing him. He’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t really fucking tempted to join Morgan on that mattress, but…

She wanted to take this slow, which meant that he was going stay right where he was and enjoy tormenting the small woman driving him out of his mind with the hopes that it would help get his mind off just how fucking badly he wanted to hold her. He had a plan, Eric reminded himself as he gave up trying to get comfortable and shoved the sleeping bag off as he stared up at the ceiling. He-

“I know you’re awake,” Morgan said from the other side of the dark room.

“I’m not going to tell you anything, baby girl,” Eric said as he lay there, thinking of all the possibilities.

For years, he’d imagined all the ways that he would sweep Morgan off her feet, and now that he was finally getting the chance to do it, he couldn’t decide where to start. He wanted to do everything with her, romantic dates, long walks on the beach, picnics, all the things that he’d always thought were bullshit, but he wanted to do with her.

“But I hate surprises,” came the sad mumble that had him chuckling.

“I know you do, baby girl,” Eric said, shifting to get comfortable. God, it was getting fucking hot in here, he thought as he heard Morgan grumble, shift, and grumble again.

“Then, tell me,” she said with another grumble, a groan, and then finally, “I think the air conditioner stopped working.”

“I think you’re right,” Eric said, biting back a sigh as he got to his feet and made his way into the hallway, flicking the light on as he went and made his way to the thermostat that he planned on replacing tomorrow and…fuck.

For a moment, Eric wondered if staying here while they were renovating the house was really a good idea. He could find a hotel with room service nearby, but he knew that Morgan wouldn’t be happy. She loved this house and would pout her adorable little ass off if she had to leave, even if it was just to sleep.

Besides, this was working for them, Eric thought as he stood there, running all the possibilities through his head. He could open the windows, but the asshole that flipped this house never bothered to put screens in. They could move to a room on the first floor and hope for the best, he thought as his gaze found its way to the closed bedroom door down the hallway and-

“Fuck it,” Eric said as he made his way down the hallway to the master bedroom that he’d started tearing apart earlier.

For the next five minutes, he laid cloth tarps down on the master bedroom floor, creating a path to the large hole in the wall where the window used to be and shoved the plastic tarp covering it out of the way and took in the incredible view of the backyard below illuminated in moonlight. This could work, Eric thought with an approving nod as he laid several cloth tarps down to cover the balcony floor.

That was followed by making his way back to the room that they relocated to earlier, grabbing his sleeping bag, the pillows, and the covers that Morgan shoved onto the floor and carrying them back to the balcony, where he spent the next five minutes creating what he’d hoped would be a comfortable bed for the night before turning around and-

“So, you were telling me about your devious plans?” Morgan said with a hopeful smile as she pressed an ice-cold bottle of water in his hand before dropping her bag in the corner as she took in the pallet he’d made with a satisfied sigh.

“And ruin the surprise?” Eric asked, watching as Morgan took a tentative peek over the banister before settling on the blankets.

“Did I mention that I hate surprises?” Morgan asked as she took her glasses off and placed them next to her bag.

“I think you might have mentioned it,” Eric murmured as he waited for her to settle in for the night before he laid down on the pallet next to her and closed his eyes as he waited for Morgan to figure out her next move.

When she didn’t say anything for a few minutes, he opened his eyes, wondering if she’d fallen asleep, only to find the little pain in the ass watching him through narrowed eyes. “Please don’t make me hurt you.”

“Did I mention that I’m not really into that?” Eric asked, watching as she struggled to bite back a smile.

Clearing her throat, Morgan turned over onto her side so that she was facing him. “I believe you might have mentioned that.”

“What if we made a deal?” Eric suggested as he watched her gaze turn calculating.

“What kind of deal?”

“I’ll tell you how I figured out how to open the secret compartment if you let me surprise you with our first date,” he said, watching as she lost that calculating glimmer in her eye as she swallowed hard.

“Why are you doing this to me?” Morgan asked, looking so fucking adorable that he couldn’t resist leaning over so that he could brush his lips against hers.

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