Page 69 of Pretend

“More than fucking anything,” Eric bit out.

“Fine,” Morgan said, slowly exhaling. “For the past year, I’ve been working my ass off, taking on extra jobs, saving every penny that I could get my hands on, and making sure that when I walked away, that you had everything that you needed for Bradford Remodeling and-”

“I don’t fucking care about Bradford Remodeling!” Eric shouted as he turned around, making his way back to her and once he reached her, he kept going until she had no choice but to back up until her back touched the bureau. Once she was there, Eric was reaching for her and placing her on the bureau so that he could step between her legs as he leveled a glare on her. “Let me be completely fucking honest with you, Morgan. I don’t fucking care about Bradford Remodeling. The only fucking thing that I care about is you.”

“Then, let me finish, Eric,” Morgan said as she reached up and cupped his face in her hands, only to add, “Please,” when he looked like he was going to argue.

“I’m all ears,” Eric said dryly as he moved to pull away from her touch only to go still at her next words.

“I’ve been in love with you my whole life, Eric Bradford, and I accepted the fact that you would never love me a long time ago,” Morgan admitted, watching as he swallowed hard. “I told myself that it didn’t matter and that all I cared about was seeing you happy, so whenever you suddenly had a new woman in your life, I pretended that it wasn’t killing me inside. And every time it didn’t work out, I told myself that nothing could hurt more than listening as you wondered why you couldn’t seem to fall in love with any of them, but I was wrong.”

“Baby girl, I-” Eric said hoarsely, looking as though every word out of her mouth was slowly destroying him, and as much as she hated hurting him, she needed to finish this.

“Then, you asked a woman that you didn’t love to marry you and it broke my heart,” Morgan whispered as the first tear rolled down her face.

“Because I didn’t think that you wanted me,” Eric said hollowly as he reached up and gently wiped away the tear.

“I’ve always wanted you, Eric,” Morgan admitted.

“I didn’t fucking know,” he said, pressing his lips against her forehead.

“I couldn’t watch you marry another woman. I knew that you deserved better and I knew that you would hate me, but I just couldn’t do it. I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me, Eric,” Morgan mumbled weakly.

“I could never hate you, Morgan,” he swore as he pressed his lips against her forehead.

“Promise?” she whispered with a sad smile that had him swallowing hard and-

“I lied,” Eric said as he leaned back so that he could look at her as he said, “I didn’t ask her to marry me that day. I wanted to ask you, but you congratulated me and it fucking broke me.”

“What?”

“I bought the rings for you,” Eric said as he took her hand in his and gently ran his thumb over her ring.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m in love with you, Morgan. How could you not see that?” Eric said softly as he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. “Why do you think that I could never tell any of them that I loved them? It’s always been you.”

“Please be sure, Eric,” Morgan whispered as she struggled to hold it together.

Chuckling, Eric smiled against her lips as he said, “I’m very sure.”

“And you love me?” Morgan said, needing to hear it.

“More than anything,” Eric promised as he brushed his lips against hers again. “What do I have to do to make you stay?”

“You know what you have to do,” Morgan said, thinking about all the Bradford traditions that she’d heard over the years as she felt his lips pull up into a smile against hers.

While other little girls dreamed about a big church wedding and a white gown, she’d dreamed of her very own Bradford wedding. She’d paid attention when his father and uncles regaled them with tales of the men in his family losing their minds when they finally found the one and dragging them off to New Hampshire to stand in front of a terrified Justice of the Peace and wondered what it would be like to experience that Bradford tradition for herself.

“You want a Bradford wedding?” Eric asked, brushing his lips against hers one last time before he pulled away.

“I wouldn’t accept anything less,” Morgan said with a teasing smile that slowly disappeared as she watched him make his way over to the bed and-

“Wait. What do you need that for?” she asked as she watched him pick up the tie he’d discarded earlier.

“Tradition,” Eric said with a satisfied sigh as he gestured absently towards the door with a murmured, “You should probably start running now.”

“But-”

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