Pretend for Me (3 page)

First you’ve got to find out if she even wants you in that way.

Sara never asked him for anything other than his
company and his opinion.

“So, Sara, what do you do for a living?” Lenny asked.

“I write.” She chewed on a piece of beef as she
watched the football on the screen.

“You’re an author?” Travis asked.

“That’s usually the acquired profession for a writer.”

Andy laughed at her teasing tone.

“What books do you write?” Wade asked.

“She writes under a pen name, and I’ve still not
discovered it.”

“I write the type of books women read.” Sara finished
off her food and then stood. “It has been a pleasure to meet you all, but I’ve
got to go.” She put her bowl in the sink before she returned to kiss Andy on
the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye, guys. Bye, Champion.”

His pup barked in acknowledgement to her, and his
friends said their goodbyes. Andy saw her to the door. “You don’t have to go,”
he said.

She smiled at him. “I’ve got to. I’m tired, and I’ve
not been sleeping well lately. Sleep tight, Andy.” She pressed her fingers to
her lips and then to his before she disappeared from sight.

He closed the door and turned to his friends.

“You’ve been seeing her and you haven’t slept with her
yet? Have you completely lost your mind?” Travis said.

“Don’t
start,
guys. I’m not
in the mood.” He sat down next to them.

“Do you have feelings for this one?” Wade asked.

He glared at all of them. “I care about Sara. I’m not
going to ruin a perfectly good friendship for a quick fuck.”

They fell silent around him. Andy needed to be blunt
with them. He grumbled as he ate his food. All the time his thoughts kept
returning to the red haired woman who had left his apartment. He wasn’t in love
with her. Love was not on the cards for him. But what he did want was a chance
to be with her. Sex could be fun, and there was no denying they would burn up
the sheets with the pleasure that could be had between them.

****

Sara got back to her apartment, and her heart pounded
inside her chest. Her palms were sweaty as they rested against the door. She’d
just kissed her fingers then pressed them to his lips. How stupid could she
have gotten?

He probably thought she was a fool.

“They’re probably laughing about my silly crush.” She
moved away from the door in an attempt to put some distance between her crush
and her shame. Andy was thirty-three years old. He owned a variety of
successful clubs whereas she was still fighting to make a career for herself.
In her heart she would never be out of the country. The city was proving far
harder than she ever imagined.

All of her talk of making a name for herself had been
exactly that, talk. She was a pretty decent writer and made a very good living.
Unlike some people in the current economic climate she was making a living. She
didn’t need to get another job to subsidize her income. Her bills were paid
every month without fail, and she could afford to eat.

Her wretched life was centered on a good looking man
with black hair and the deepest brown eyes she had ever seen. Andy Green was
the man she fantasized about when she went to bed every night. He had become
the man who most of the heroes in her books were based on. She watched him work
out after a long day at work on the few pieces of equipment he kept in his
spare room. The tightness of his muscles always drew her attention no matter
how many times she tried to fight it.

She watched all of his dates come and go like a
conveyer belt of prizes on a game show. Andy was not the kind of man to settle
down, and she was not the kind of woman to invest in one night stands. To put
it mildly, she was doomed to constantly want him but to never have him. He was
too dangerous to her heart. Andy was the “love ‘
em
and leave ‘
em
” sort of man.

For the past few months her attraction towards him had
built. In the early days after she moved in their budding friendship had been a
welcoming relief from the daunting task of starting out without her parents’
backing. Her family was waiting for the day she slinked off back home with her
proverbial tail swinging between her legs.
 

They loved her, she had no doubt, but she hadn’t shown
any signs of wanting to live in the big bad city while growing up and they
didn’t like her being alone.

“I’m doomed to spend eternity wanting a man I can’t
have.” She flung herself down on the small sofa she owned. Her mood dropped
further when she felt one of the metal springs inside snap. The hunt for
furniture would have to be brought forward on her calendar. She stared into the
office she had set up immediately when she moved in. Her office was the only
room in her apartment that was decorated and lived in.

Her phone started to ring, which pulled her out of her
melancholy thoughts.

“Hello,” she said, yawning down the line.

“Sara, really is that the way you should talk to
people?”

“Hi, Mom, what’s the matter?” Sara asked. Late night
calls from her mother, Harmony Carroll—and if anyone dared to comment on the
name they’d be shot on sight—were not a regular occurrence.

“Well, if you dared to take an interest in your family
you’d have gotten the message.” Her mother’s criticism made her pull her cell
phone out of her pocket. She found ten texts had been sent to her in the past
couple of hours.

“Crap, I had it on silent, and I completely forgot
about it.” Sara kept the phone to her ear as Harmony complained about her lack
of organization.

“Danny’s getting
married?”
Sara asked. Danny was her oldest brother and had
sworn off marriage for life.

“Yes, he’s finally decided to settle down with his
childhood sweetheart, Bethany. They’re engaged, and it’s becoming a rushed
affair. I’m phoning you to let you know that they’re inviting Dylan Cross. Do
you remember him?”

Her nerves took full control at the sound of his name.
Dylan Cross was the guy who had taken her to prom and gotten past her family’s
protective instincts. He was the guy she was supposed to marry and the guy who had
proposed to her before she moved to the city. The same guy who’d told her
parents he’d love and protect her, lying all the time he spoke.

“Is he coming with someone?” she asked.

“I don’t believe so. This is something you can’t get
out of, Sara. I expect you to be here, and I want to know if you’re bringing a
date or if you’ll forget all your nonsense with regards to Dylan?”

With her head in her hands, Sara grumbled over the
line. She was no longer blinded by Dylan’s good looks, and she wasn’t in love
with him either. He’d been her first crush growing up.

“What about that man who always seems to be
conveniently out when your father and I turn up?” Harmony asked.

“He’s not
conveniently
out, Mom. He’s out on business.”

“Let me have your answer soon, and don’t forget you’re
needed to attend this weekend.”

Her day was getting worse. “If the wedding is in a
month’s time, why do you need me this weekend?”

“The bridal shower and everything attached to it.
Seriously, Sara, you’re a romance writer. Surely you know everything about
marriage.”

She stuck her tongue
out,
pleased her mother wouldn’t see her childish outburst.

After a few more minutes of talking, her mother hung
up.

“Great, now I’ve got to find a date and deal with an ex
all next weekend.” Tomorrow was Saturday. She had a weekend as well as the week
to get everything prepared and ready to be home by Friday evening.
The joy.

Lying back on the sofa she stared at the ceiling. She
needed a date. One she was comfortable with and who could show Dylan that she’d
moved on.

There was nothing apparently wrong with her ex besides
the fact her parents adored him. They didn’t know the truth about him, and she
would never be malicious enough to paint him in a dark light. She preferred to
run from her problems rather than cause a fuss.

She stared at the ceiling and thought about Andy. Her
parents had never met him. He’d been setting up his new club or away on
business whenever they decided to visit her. She made sure her sister never met
him or any of her brothers. Her sister was blonde, beautiful, and had
everything going for her. Sara was a little jealous of her sibling in regards
to that matter. Blonde seemed to be a better hair color than red.

Sara had tried to dye her hair once. The color ended
up a disaster, and she refused to dye it again. Red was the color her hair
would stay. Keeping her family away from Andy was exhausting work. They all
wanted to know about the mystery man upstairs. If they knew him they would find
some way to deal with him.

None of her family had met Andy, and she was
comfortable with him. A plan started to form in her mind. Before she gave
herself chance to back out, she left her apartment and started up the stairs to
his.

She knocked on the door and waited for him to answer.
He was her only hope of getting through a weekend with her overbearing family.
She would make sure he said yes.

Chapter Three

Once he saw his friends out of his apartment Andy
started cleaning away the rest of the mess left by them. After Sara left,
Travis, Lenny, Wade, and Austin spent the rest of their time niggling him over
his friendship with her. They couldn’t believe he’d not bedded her yet. They
saw why she was special to him. She really didn’t know how beautiful she was.
The fact she didn’t know her own appeal was what made her so likable.

She was one of the nicest women he’d met.

He walked to the fridge and grabbed himself a cold beer.
Tomorrow he needed to deal with his clubs, but until then he intended to relax
and drink to his heart’s content.

The instant he sat down in front of the television
someone at his front door started banging.

Cursing, he put the beer down and made his way over to
his door.

“Who is it?” he asked. His impatience showed in the
tone of his voice.

“It’s me. Open the door.”

“Sara, why don’t you use the key I gave you?”

He opened the door to find his woman standing there waiting
for him.

“I forgot my key.” She brushed past him into his
apartment. He closed the door and followed.

“What’s up with you?”

She paced his living room floor. The action started to
make him feel nervous. He picked up his beer and took a long swig while he
waited for her to spill her thoughts.

Sara was known for her pacing. He put it down to her
endless hours of writing. With how much she ate at times, he imagined the
pacing was a way to blow off steam. He did not have a problem with watching
her. Her body was beautiful. Andy liked the way she was proportioned. Her
breasts would fill his hands to perfection. The clothes she wore highlighted
her full breasts, slender waist, and curvy hips. She was full in all the right
places. He sat down on the sofa covering his lap with a pillow. His erection
pressed against the zipper of his pants.

He needed to get laid or put some serious distance
between himself and Sara.

You could suggest your relationship deepen?

Pushing all those thoughts out of his mind he stared
at the woman who had him in knots.

“I need you to pretend to be my boyfriend,” Sara said.

What?

“Excuse me?” He was speechless. Andy glanced at his
beer bottle and wondered what they were putting in alcohol these days. If any
other woman approached him and said that to him he’d not have questioned it.
Those words were out of place coming from Sara’s lips.

“You heard me.” She sat in front of him on the glass
coffee table. Her intense blue eyes pleaded with him.

“I think I was hearing things, Sara. You didn’t just
ask me to pretend to be your boyfriend.”

“That’s exactly what I asked. You’ll do it, won’t
you?” She reached out taking hold of his hands.

He felt her palms were sweaty, and he wondered what
had caused the transformation in her in the last thirty or so minutes she’d
been out of his company.

“Am I dreaming?” He checked his watch.

“Stop messing around, Andy. I’m being serious. I’ve
done so much for you.”

“I’ve never asked you to be my pretend girlfriend,
Sara. That’s a new one. Is this for some research for your book or something?”
he asked. Andy was completely thrown by her statement. It was a statement and
not a question.

“I’ve just got off the phone with my Mom, and I’ve got
to go back home next weekend.”

“Why?”

“My brother Danny is getting married.” She stared at
him as if that explained everything.