Pretend for Me (2 page)

“Is that what you’re doing? I thought you liked to
tease me with your super alter-ego?” he asked. The banter between them was the
easiest part for him to deal with.

Over the phone he didn’t have to look at her. The
moment he looked at her, he started lusting after her. Pushing his desires
aside he glanced around the back of the taxi.

“My alter-ego is full of hotness. Anyway, are you
coming home to eat, or should I let you fend for yourself?”

“I’m bringing a few friends over. I look forward to
anything you cook.”

He watched as Travis thumped Lenny in the arm and
pointed in his direction. They were all men in their thirties, and they were
behaving like teenagers.

“All right, I’ve got my key, and I’ll let myself in.
Don’t come inside threatening to kill any burglars. It will be me,” she said.

“Happy cooking.”

Andy closed his phone and placed it in his pocket. His
friends were staring at him wide eyed. “What?”

“She’s got you seriously whipped,” Lenny said,
agreeing with Travis.

He gave all of them the finger and sat back. “You’re
going to meet her, so stop your ribbing.”

Gazing out of the window he couldn’t help but be
annoyed. He didn’t want to share his woman with any of his friends. In his mind
Sara was his woman. He’d claimed her, the instant their gazes met on the
stairs.

****

Sara put down the phone and glanced around at her bare
apartment. She needed to go shopping. For the past five years she’d been living
on the smallest amount of furniture she owned. Her writing career had taken off,
and she spent every available second researching and writing. The publishers
were impressed by her writing and the success she’d achieved. At twenty-six
years of age, Sara knew she’d accomplished her dreams. Her dreams being
fulfilled were one of the reasons why she helped Andy while he fought to get
his dreams.

 
She came from
a big family and had learned early on to fight for what she wanted. Sara would
never lie down and take any crap. Three older brothers and an older sister saw
to that. She was the youngest of five children.

Rolling her shoulders she closed the curtains and then
made her way up to Andy’s apartment. When she’d moved into the apartment
building, Andy Green had been the only man to offer her help. Most of the
residents in the building glared at her with each box she carried upstairs.
She’d been twenty-one when she moved in. This was her first real apartment away
from the prying eyes of her family and her step into the big city.

The move had been necessary. Her family lived in the
country and travelled to the city for work. She wasn’t a country bumpkin, but
with older brothers and a sister, they tried to keep her close to home. They
felt with her being the youngest of the bunch that she needed to be protected
from everything. Men, cars, work, life, and anything that would mean she would
have a life, were monitored through them.

She walked up the two flights of stairs to get to
Andy’s floor. Grabbing the key out of her pocket, she opened the door and typed
in the security code before closing it behind her. Sara turned on the lights
illuminating the whole room. Champion, his scruffy mongrel dog, barked the
moment he saw her.

“What’s he doing leaving you all alone? Do you need to
go out?” she asked. Whenever she was alone in Andy’s apartment she had a
tendency to talk aloud to the dog. She loved Champion like the dog was her own.
In a way she part owned Champion. Sara had been with Andy when he bought the
pup. She’d helped sign the paperwork for caring for the animal, and she’d
picked out the collar he was currently wearing. Also, when Andy was away for
long extended trips, she spent a great deal of time looking after Champion.

She walked over to the patio. The large fenced area
meant the dog could have some fresh air and do his business in the area Andy
made for him without fear of him falling to the cement floor below.

Leaving the door open, Sara went straight to the
fridge. She saw some steaks and all the ingredients to make a salad.

“When is he going to learn to shop for himself?”

She grabbed the ingredients and set them on the side.
Champion barked at her, letting her know he’d done his business. She set about
marinating the steaks in some oil and pepper. Her mind was elsewhere as she
sorted through the meal before her.

Her current book was starting to grate on her nerves.
She had a deadline to get it in by, and for the life of her she couldn’t find
one redeeming quality about the hero. Andy was the only person she turned to in
her time of crisis. He always knew what to do.

He didn’t know her pen name, and she constantly kept
it a secret. She talked things out with him without him knowing she was
struggling with her work. What she would do was
shoot
out a scenario and ask him for advice. He was a guy, and if she asked him to
think from a hero’s perspective he’d go over the top. She’d tried that approach
with him before and deeply regretted it. Why did men always turn romance into
sarcasm?

Most men seemed to think that the books were wrong and
they gave women the wrong impression about men. Sara personally thought they
gave women hope that there might be a man out there who’d go the extra mile for
the woman he loved.

Was she becoming cynical through her books? She’d not
been on a date in over a year. The demands of her work saw to lack of her love
life.

You prefer spending time with Andy to going out on a date.

That was her other problem. She’d prefer to sit with
Andy in her spare time and talk than go out with a stranger in the hope of
connecting on some deeper level.

You connect with Andy on a deeper level.

He didn’t seem like the kind of man to ridicule love
even though he appeared to be the complete modern man. Yes, he was sarcastic
about her books but never about love itself.

You’re obsessing again.

Her dates were always compared to Andy. He was the one
man who stuck in her mind.

Sara shrugged her shoulder as she turned on the
griddle on the top of the stove.

Andy made a pretty good steak. He lacked attention in
the kitchen, and if he was more interested in what was on the television than
what was on the griddle, the medium rare steak could turn into a charred well
done piece of meat.

While the griddle heated she started chopping the
salad vegetables. She diced tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers then added them
into the bowl before she added the lettuce. The door to the apartment opened.
She leaned around the corner to see four men and Andy enter the room.

The moment the four men spotted her they stopped. Andy
had never introduced her to his other friends. They were always doing something
else when she was available.

“You’ve brought home more than a dog this time?” she
asked.

Champion barked and charged into the room. Andy
crouched down picking up the tiny dog.

“Hi, babe,
dinner done yet?”
Andy asked.

She glared and pointed the knife at him. “You may not
remember all your conquests, Mr. Green, but I’ve never seen your room, and I
refuse to be a notch on your bedpost.”

They both chuckled, and she turned back to the men who
stared at her.

“Are they shocked to see a woman cooking, or do they
treat all women like that?”

“Sara, I’d like you to meet the reprobates I call
friends. Over there is Travis. This is Lenny, and behind them are Wade and
Austin. Guys, I’d like you to meet Sara.”

She shook each of their hands smiling at them. With
the introductions over she placed the steaks on the griddle and finished with
the salad.

“What do you need me to do?” Andy asked. He walked
around the counter to where she stood. Andy bumped her hip with his moving her
along.

His friends continued to watch their interaction. She
laughed even as her cheeks filled with embarrassment. “I think your friends are
fascinated by me.”

Andy glanced up and glared at them. They all turned
around and started fiddling with the television.

Sara laughed and dressed the salad.

Chapter Two

Andy knew what his friends were looking at. Sara was a
beauty, and they’d all seen it for themselves. Her pale skin and red hair was a
striking combination that didn’t detract from her natural look. She didn’t need
makeup to highlight anything. Sara was curvy in all the right places with large
tits and thick, rounded hips. He loved any opportunity he got to touch her. The
first time he saw her, Andy had been struck dumb by her. Her smile consumed the
soul, and her eyes made him think of everything sinful and poetic.

He turned away and picked up the tongs to flip the
steaks. Her body brushed against his side, and once again he was aware of their
close proximity. His desire for her continued to grow even as Sara laughed at
one of the jokes on the television. Wasn’t she as affected by him as he was by her?

Forcing himself to concentrate, he finished turning
the steaks and then grabbed a couple of beers out of the fridge. He walked over
to the men and handed them each a beer. They all gave him a look that he
ignored. All of them would be asking why he hadn’t slept with her. He didn’t
want to spoil what they’d gotten together. Andy wanted her in his bed
twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The biggest problem he faced was
the fact he liked having her out of his bed as well. He loved talking to her,
and their friendship was the main factor to why he kept a distance between
them.

“I’m just letting the steak rest and then I can serve.
If I’d known there would be more of us I’d have made sure to get out something
else,” she said to the room of men.

Andy moved back round the counter and opened his beer.
He offered her a drink of his beer. She turned her nose up and shook her head.
Sara didn’t drink. She hated alcohol. The only use she found for alcohol was to
either throw it in cooking or down the sink.

“So, you cook for Andy on a regular basis?” Wade
asked.

“No, we take it in turns to cook. He sometimes comes ‘round
to my place and makes a pretty mean pizza. You’re good with your hands.” She
bumped his hip and smiled at him.

His pants tightened over his thickening cock. Talking
to her over the phone was certainly easier than having to deal with his raging
hormones in her company.

Did she not know how her statement about his hands
could be read two ways?

“You’ve got a key to his apartment?” This question
came from Travis.

She nodded then began to slice the steaks. Andy folded
his arms over his chest and glared at each of his friends in turn.

“You know what I find so shocking?” She stopped
slicing the steak. “In all the years I’ve known Andy he’s only ever mentioned you
in passing. I find that very strange.”

She frowned turning toward him.

“They keep a very tight schedule. We’ve not been close
for very long, Sara.” Guilt began to eat away at him. There was no way he could
come right out and say that he’d purposefully kept her to himself. He’d been
introduced to several of her friends and a couple of the dates she’d gone out
with. None of her friends stayed around her for very long.

“Andy has always been a bit possessive of his friends.
We all only just know each other, right, guys?” Austin said, making a joke.

Sara smiled then went back to her chopping.

She’d have more questions for him. Sara always had
plenty of questions ready to fire in his direction.

The steak was added to the salad. He watched her hands
dive in and toss everything around. Not for the first time he wondered what it
would feel like to have those hands all over him.

Stop, Andy, stop.

The bane of his existence was his never ending desire
for the woman by his side. With his friends around he was struggling to put his
need to bed. Great, he was thinking about his bed and Sara together. Tonight
was not his night at all.

“Andy, will you take this out?” She scooped out the
salad into bowls and then handed them to him.

He took the bowls and made his way over to the other
men. They each took the food offered. She cleaned up the area before taking the
seat in front of the television.

“Where were you when I called?” she asked.

“Out at Cube,” he said. Cube was the name of his
latest club. There had been a live band playing on the opening night. The live
band had come through Sara. She knew the lead singer of a flourishing band and had
called in a favor for him.

“I love the layout of Cube. I remember when it opened
six months ago. It was the best night of my life.”

Andy had spent the entire night watching the chemistry
between the lead singer and his woman. Watching other men eye up Sara always
riled him. She was his, and he intended to keep her.