Pretend for Me

Evernight
Publishing ®

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright©
2014 Sam Crescent

 
ISBN: 978-1-77130-996-7

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor:
Karyn
White

ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of
this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written
permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are
fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

PRETEND FOR ME

Sam Crescent

Copyright
© 2014

Chapter One

“He’s completely whipped. I mean, here he is
surrounded by women, and all he can think about is getting back to his swanky
apartment and the woman who is probably waiting for him. The very same woman he
refuses to introduce us to.
Selfish bastard.”

Andy Green listened as one of his closest friends told
the group about his little love interest. Not much of a love interest, he was
merely attracted to the woman who lived in the apartment on the floor below
him. Sara Carroll was also one of his best friends. He wouldn’t admit that to
the guys, but she was. They’d met five years ago when she’d moved into the same
building as he. From the moment they bumped into each other, they’d hit it off
straight away. But even though they’d hit it off, their friendship had only
developed in the last two years. In the first three years he’d seen her only in
passing. He couldn’t believe he’d managed to keep Sara and his friends away
from each other.
 

Neither Sara on the one hand nor his friends on the
other went
out
of their way to get to know each other.

“Is Travis talking about your mystery woman again?”
Lenny asked. Lenny was another of his friends. They were all out at one of Andy’s
nightclubs sipping shots and checking out women. It was the first night since
the grand opening that expanded his chain of nightclubs, in which he’d gotten
some time off. Most of his time had been spent trying to get every single club
he owned off the ground. This was his most successful of all of his clubs,
Cube. He didn’t like doing anything by half, and owning a string of clubs
finally saw his dream come to fruition. Sara Carroll, the love interest his
friend talked about and his great
friend,
had been
there with each club he’d opened. She rarely drank, but she’d taken the time to
be with him on the opening night when his male friends couldn’t make it. It was
how his man friends and Sara always missed each other. Her presence alone meant
a lot to him.

“He’s not talking about anything. Sara is a great
friend,” Andy said, sipping back another shot. “She’s the woman who lives on
the floor below me. We’re great friends, and she cooks for me when I don’t have
the time,” Andy said, explaining the situation. They were all going to assume
whatever the hell they liked. He didn’t care. Andy knew the truth.

“You’ve got yourself a personal cook?” Wade asked.

Shaking his head, Andy asked for the bill. The barman
gave him the bill, and he threw down plenty of notes to cover it. Going out
with the guys had been a big mistake. He wasn’t ready for them to meet Sara.
She was special to him, and he’d not even taken her to bed, even though fucking
her had entered his mind a time or two. Maybe he was seriously whipped. He
couldn’t recall the last time he’d been with a woman without fucking her. Sara
was a first for him.

His attraction was there for Sara. She was so fucking
beautiful that she took his breath away, but he still wouldn’t cross that line
with her. They were friends before anything else.

“I’ve got to get home.” He ignored the curious glances
from his friends and made his way out of the crowded club and into the warm
night air. It was summer, and the nights were as warm as the days. He took a
few deep breaths before turning to see most of his friends had followed him. “I
thought you were out all night?”

They laughed at him. “We’ve finally got a chance to
see the woman who has hold of the notorious Andy Green. I’m not going to miss
this for the world, and you can’t give us any excuse this time not to meet her.
Two years is long enough to keep us away. You’re not going to make any more
excuses.” Lenny slapped him on the back, and all of them hailed a taxi.

He’d purposely kept the guys away from Sara.
 
Andy didn’t know why he was so anxious about
them meeting her. She was only a friend and a great one at that. Maybe he
didn’t want to share her?

Checking his watch, Andy glanced out of the window
wondering what Sara was doing. Their first meeting occurred when she moved into
the apartment beneath his. They’d not become close then, but that had changed
and he loved her company. Andy had come to see that her red hair was as fiery
as her temper. Her full curves had drawn his gaze as her tits were large, and
she had beautiful shaped hips. In fact, he couldn’t find a single fault with
her body. He’d first seen her on the stairwell as she stood cursing one of her
boxes. The box in question hadn’t been able to contain all of the books she
wanted to take up to her apartment, and the books had fallen out of the bottom,
making a mess.

From that day their acquaintance slowly bloomed into
friendship. Neither of them mentioned about deepening they’re relationship or
turning it physical, even though he wouldn’t object if she did. Fuck, most of
his nights were spent masturbating to images and fantasies of her. He thought
about her constantly. She was a never ending need inside him, but he couldn’t
bring himself to take the next step and possibly ruin their friendship. Her
beautiful pale skin with the few freckles dotted across the bridge of her nose
fascinated him.

Most of the women he dated tried to get him into bed
as soon as possible, and he liked the fact Sara didn’t.

Andy loved women and he loved sex, but having it
offered to him on a plate had long lost its appeal. Sara never approached him
about sex. She kept her distance and listened to him all the time. Sex was not
a topic they ever discussed. He wondered if her skin would blush at the mention
of his sex life.

He’d never known a woman like her. When there was
something on his mind she would come to his apartment to chat or sit with him
to watch football. There was no effort at their friendship, and it was all
natural.

To him, Sara Carroll was a once in a lifetime woman,
and he didn’t have the first clue how to change their relationship from friends
to lovers. Part of him didn’t want to spoil the fun they had together. Sex
could ruin friendships. His doubts were the things that held him back. Sara was
not the kind of woman you screwed and left. She was the woman you stayed with
for life. Whereas the small devil in him wanted to explore the deeper side.
There were nights where he woke up with a raging arousal from dreams filled of
her. The only way to sate
himself
was to take matters
into his own hand.

Running his fingers through his hair, Andy tried to
think of more reasons why they shouldn’t be together. Her work kept her home
most days of the week. She made a decent living writing romance books. He tried
looking for the books with her name, but she later told him she used a pen name
and she never intended to tell him the name.

His friends continued to laugh and jibe at him. He
refused to bite. When they saw Sara they’d know why he preferred to spend his
Friday nights at home with her and why he stopped attending his nights with
them. She really was a wonderful woman, and he wanted to fuck her.
 

The buzzing of his cell phone shut him up.

Andy grabbed his cell and checked to see who was
calling. Sara’s name flashed across the screen. He accepted the call ignoring
the laughing looks from his friends.

“Hi, what’s up?” he asked, trying to be calm even
though pleasure consumed him at the sound of her voice.

“It’s Friday, and I didn’t know if you wanted me to
cook something for you. I just got out of my office, and I remembered the day
of the week. I know it doesn’t happen often. My latest book is really pulling
on my time. Are you home?” Sara sounded out of breath. She was also a constant
talker and hated long silences.

He laughed, loving the sound of her voice. The tone
soothed him in ways classical music never would.

“You’ve finally got out of your office at,” he checked
his watch to see what the time was, “nine o’clock. That’s pretty good going.”

“I know.”

“When are you going to let me know your name? I mean,
you know everything about me?”
Apart from
the fact I won’t let my friends know who you are.

She chuckled, and the sound made him smile even more.

He was a goner. Everything about her reeled him in,
the sound of her voice, the red of her hair—everything. There was not a part of
her he didn’t like. She even cooked like a goddess.

“It’s my cunning plan to keep you interested, Mr.
Green. I need you to remember my name when you’re a big hotshot millionaire.
I’m keeping you on your toes.”