Pretend for Me Read online

  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.

  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 ne
ver 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.

  “I need a little more information than that.”

  Sara growled at him in frustration. “Whenever you ask for a favor I do it without hesitation. I organized the band for you for Cube, and all I’m asking is for you to be my pretend boyfriend for a weekend and then again in a month’s time.”

  “Wait, two occasions you need a pretend boyfriend?” Her words were rolling into one, and he couldn’t understand what she actually needed anymore.

  “Yes, keep up, Andy, this is important to me.”

  She stood up and started pacing. Champion followed her movements like the devoted pup he was. The only reason he’d bought the blasted thing was because she’d fallen in love with the animal on sight. If he was being truthful to himself, he’d fallen in love with Champion as well even if it was an ugly dog.

  Her pacing was giving him a headache. Andy stood, grabbed her arms and sat her down in front of him. “Now, we’re going to go through this without all your pacing and panicking. You need a pretend boyfriend, and I’ll play the part as long as you tell me why,” he said.

  Sara turned and threw her arms around him. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. You’re a real lifesaver.”

  He stroked her back. His thoughts turned sinful as he wondered what she’d feel like pressed against him naked.

  “Right, Danny my oldest brother is getting married in a month’s time. Bethany is having a bridal shower, and the two families are getting together before the main event to celebrate and get to know each other. Are you with me so far?”

  Andy nodded waiting for her to continue.

  “Dylan Cross is an ex-boyfriend of mine. On the night he proposed I kicked him to the curb and moved here.”