Page 67 of Pretend

“Please don’t try to limit me,” Eric said with a satisfied sigh as he pulled on his jeans, and after leaning back over to kiss the grumbling woman’s cheek, he headed for the door.

This was going so much better than he’d hoped, Eric thought, debating his next move as he made his way down the backstairs and headed towards the mouthwatering aroma that caught his attention a few hours ago. As he helped himself to one of the delicious oatmeal raisin cookies that was going a long way to make up for that unwarranted review, Eric debated his next move. He could gut the kitchen, but since that would mean going without Morgan’s delicious treats, he decided that it was going to have to wait until the end.

For a moment, Eric debated between the carpet and the ugly green siding, only to decide on the carpet since that seemed to be his most profitable service. Decision made, he moved to grab the chocolate milk from the fridge only to shove the rest of the cookie in his mouth when his phone rang. Really fucking hoping it wasn’t Uncle Jared calling to let him know that they were already having problems with Baker House, Eric pulled his phone out of his pocket and-

“You’re an asshole,”came the warm greeting that had him sighing heavily as he grabbed another cookie and headed out the backdoor.

“How’s Tom doing?” Eric drawled as he sat down on the porch and took a bite of the cookie that he was going to need to get him through this phone call.

“Jealous?”Amber asked in a taunting tone that had him wondering what the hell he’d been thinking asking her to marry him. Then again, a lot of things had him wondering that.

“Not even a little fucking bit,” Eric said, finishing off the cookie.

“No, you wouldn’t be, would you?”Amber murmured, sounding thoughtful.

“What do you want, Amber?” Eric asked, in no fucking mood to deal with this bullshit, not when he had an incredibly beautiful woman that loved to snuggle waiting in his bed.

“I wanted to know who you took on the trip that I planned.”

“It’s none of your business,” Eric said, taking in the backyard and found himself imagining the adorable glare that Morgan was going to level on him when he told her that the gazebo had to go.

God, that woman was fucking adorable.

“You know what? You’re right. It is none of my business,”Amber said as a small chime let him know that he had a new text message.

“Then, why did you call me?” Eric asked, knowing that she was up to something since the last fucking thing that Amber would ever do was apologize.

“Consider this a courtesy call. I’m letting you know that I used my key to get my grandmother’s rings back,”she said as he added one more incredibly fucking stupid mistake to the list.

“Amber-”

“Don’t worry, Eric. I left the key on the counter,”she said, making him sigh with relief, that is, until she added,“I was just curious about something.”

“And what’s that?” Eric drawled absently as he got up and made his way back inside, deciding that he’d more than earned another cookie for dealing with this bullshit.

“Did you know?”Amber asked, sounding really fucking pleased for some reason.

“What’s that?” he asked as he made his way back into the kitchen and grabbed the chocolate milk out of the fridge.

“That Morgan was leaving,”she said, making him chuckle because this was just fucking sad.

“Anything else?” Eric asked, more than ready to end this conversation as he twisted the cap off the milk and took a sip.

“Then, you know about Florida?”came the curious question that had everything in him going still as he thought about the sketches for the Spanish mansion.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Eric asked as he placed the milk back on the counter.

“Her new job with Ocean Palms Remodeling. From what I’ve been told, she was supposed to start this week, but there’s been a delay. But then again, you already knew about that, didn’t you?”

“And you know this how?” Eric asked, telling himself that she was lying her ass off because Morgan wouldn’t fucking do that to him.

“While I was dropping off my key, I thought I’d drop by to see Morgan and finish our conversation from the other night,”Amber said, only to pause and ask,“She did tell you about our conversation at the rehearsal dinner, didn’t she? The one where she came to talk to you, which really worked out for me since it gave me a chance to clear a few things up so that there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings in the future.”

“Anything else?” Eric asked as he headed towards the back stairs.

“Besides the fact that everything in her apartment is packed and ready to go? I mean, I would read you the letter that she left behind for you, but sadly, there wasn’t one,”Amber said in a syrupy sweet voice as Eric absently nodded as he ended the call and saw the text message waiting for him, letting him know that the honeymoon was definitely over.

CHAPTER36

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