Pretend for Me (7 page)

She squared her shoulders ready for the introductions.
Her family was not snobs, but they were overprotective of her and would tear
shreds out of Andy if they got the chance.

Survive the weekend was her new motto.
 

Chapter Six

Andy climbed out of his car. The updated sports model
looked nothing like the top of the range models decorating the driveway and
side road. He’d never seen a get together so large first thing in the morning.
Checking his watch he saw it was past ten in the morning. Sara stood on the
pavement waiting for him. He watched as she stroked Champion while she did. She
wore a pair of tight jeans and a blue pastel shirt with a plunging neck line.

Desire surged inside him, which he pushed aside. The
last thing he needed was to meet her parents while sporting a hard-on for their
daughter.

His attraction for her was the hardest part of being
near her. Andy felt his need for her increase daily. Part of him wondered if he
was to act on it if his need for her would fizzle out. Maybe the attraction he
felt toward Sara was simply
be
because he felt he
couldn’t have her? But that couldn’t be true. Andy was finding being with her
and not having her, harder to cope with.

Rounding the car Andy took her hand in his. Her hands
shook with her nerves. He gave her a gentle squeeze before assessing the house
in front of him.

“You’re not mad at me, are you?” she asked.

“I could never be mad at you. This is all a
shock,
and I have never been a fake boyfriend for a weekend
before.”

She squeezed his hand. “I really do appreciate you
doing this for me. Are you ready to go inside?”

He nodded. “Do you think they’ll mind Champion?”

“They won’t mind. I told you earlier, we had dogs
growing up. We’ll take care of our pup, Andy.”

Together they walked up the long driveway to the front
of her parents’ house. Never in all of his life had he been so terrified than
he was in those first few moments. He kept a hold on her hand and saw the front
door open.

“Guys, Sara is here, and she’s actually brought a man
home.” He saw a blonde woman run out of the door. The picture he’d seen made
her name easy to remember. The blonde woman walking toward them was Tracy.

Next, five or six large men walked out of the house. A
couple more women followed after them. Andy had come from a small family. When
his parents passed away he’d learned he was the only one left in the Green
line.

This family was huge in comparison.

Sara used her free hand to wave at them. She squeezed
his hand then let go as her sister crashed into her pulling her into a bear
hug.

Andy stood back with his small dog watching.

“It has been too damn long since you’ve been here, sis.
We’ve all missed you,” Tracy said. Her older sister kissed her temple before
cupping her face. “I don’t like the look of your eyes. Are you sleeping?”

“Please, stop embarrassing me, and I sleep fine.” Sara
pulled out of her sister’s hold and pointed at Andy. “I want you to meet
someone.”

Tracy took a step back and glared at him. “Are you the
reason she’s looking tired?”

He frowned and glanced at Sara. She shrugged her
shoulders and opened her arms in defeat.

“I make sure Sara gets plenty of sleep. She slaves
away at her computer too often. I’ve never had a problem with how she looks.”
He closed the distance between them and grabbed her hand. Andy wrapped his arm
around her shoulders as the others joined Tracy.

“Tracy, this is Andy Green. Andy, this is my sister,
Tracy.” She banded her arm around his waist and hugged him close.

Having her against him felt
right,
and Andy didn’t want to let her go.

“Who’s the cute couple?” one of the men approaching
asked.

He recognized all four men as her three brothers and
father. Her mother came up behind the men wearing an apron. Andy didn’t
recognize the fifth man in the group. There were no photos of him. The other
woman beside her mother was Bethany.

“Hi, Dad, I’d like you to meet Andy.” Sara pushed her
sister out of the way. She pulled him up to the group of men. “Andy, this is
Danny, Jake, and James. They’re my older brothers, and that there is my mother,
Harmony, and with her is my soon to be sister-in-law, Bethany.”

Her introductions took some time.

“Nice to meet you, sir,” he said to her father. Martin
glared at him and then offered his hand. Her father gave him a firm handshake.
Andy kept a firm grip knowing he was being assessed by each of the men present.

Each of her brothers shook his hand firmly. When he
turned to Harmony his hand hurt. “Thank you for having me this weekend, Mrs.
Carroll. I know we haven’t got the chance to meet before, and it’s a pleasure
to finally meet you.”

He took Harmony’s hand and kissed her knuckles. Her
mother chuckled at him.

“You’ve both got a lot of explaining to do,” Harmony
said.

“I can’t believe little sis has brought a date into
the pit of hell,” James said.

Andy held onto her hand. “This here is Champion, our
dog.”

Champion barked at all of them.

He felt the brothers’ glare focused on him.

“Will you guys stop glaring? He’s my boyfriend, not
the enemy,” Sara said, glaring back at her brothers.

“We’ll assess that.” Danny, the oldest brother, spoke
up first.

Silence descended on the group. Andy glanced over at
the blond guy with the boy-next-door look to him. He instantly didn’t like him,
and he had no clue why.

“Aren’t you going to introduce your boyfriend to your
ex?” Harmony asked.

Sara’s cheeks filled with the blush that he found so
tempting. He cupped her cheek with his palm. She smiled up at him. “Andy, I’d
like you to meet Dylan Cross.”

The name made him angry. That man had put his hands on
his woman. He turned to look at the man with the blond hair and a scowl.

“Nice to meet
you.”
He held out his hand. Dylan took the hand, and they
both squeezed each other’s hands. The battle was on, and Andy knew in that
moment that Dylan was after Sara. The bastard had lost five years ago, and now
he was back to take her again. The coming weekend was going to be interesting.

“I think we should all take this into the house.”

All of the family walked back to the front door. The
instant they were alone he turned to her. “That’s your ex?”

She nodded. “I think you handled that well.”

“They are all trying to think of ways to kill me. They
think I’m bad news
for
 
their
little sister.”

“Ignore them, Andy. We know the truth, and don’t let
any of them get to you. You’re fine the way you are.” She went on her toes and
kissed his cheek. “I promise I’ll make this up to you. Come on, we’ve got to go
inside.”

“What about our bags?” he asked. The idea of going
into the lions’ den filled him with dread.

“We’ll get them later. More people will be arriving
later, and we’ll have plenty of time for everything.”

“More people arriving? Where are all the cars going to
fit?” He followed her inside the house. Sara was going to owe him big time for
this.

****

The introductions were out of the way. They’d survived
their first grilling from her family. All they needed to do was survive the
rest of the weekend and then the wedding in a month’s time. Seeing Dylan for
the first time in over five years had been a shock. There had once been a great
deal of attraction between them, which she no longer felt. When she watched
Andy and Dylan shake hands she’d been overcome with euphoria. Andy was the man
she wanted, not Dylan. She quickly pressed her hand to her rapidly beating
heart before they walked through the front door.

Her ex meant nothing to her. The relief felt
tremendous. There was a point on the way down when she had thought there might
be an underlying emotion with regards to her ex. She left without confronting
him, and she’d simply refused his proposal.

Andy stopped her inside the doorway. He pressed
against her body.

“I need to ask you something,” he said.

With the way his body was pressed against hers, he
could ask her anything. She’d willingly give everything to him. Her heart was
suddenly pounding for a whole new reason. They’d been close before, but they’d
never been this close. She felt his body heat against her own. The hard length
of his body was pressed close to hers. His masculine scent invaded her senses
making her want him badly. Her body was attuned to him. She wanted him to lean
down and kiss her. Sara wished he’d slam his hard lips against her own and show
her passion that she only read about. The desire to yell the command at him was
strong. She held herself back with all the strength she could muster.

His close proximity made it hard for her to fight. Her
gaze moved to those lips. How would they feel pressed against hers? She was
losing her mind at the thoughts Andy evoked in her mind.

“What do you need to ask me?” Her voice sounded
breathless to her. She tried her best not to cringe from the sound.

“Are you all right?” He pressed a palm to her head
testing her temperature.

I don’t want you testing my temperature! I want you to see how turned on
I am.

“I’m fine.
Never better.”
The
words were a total lie. “Now, what did you want to ask me?”

Her throat was bone dry. She needed a drink, and for
the first time she felt like she needed some alcohol.

“Do you still have feelings for Dylan?” he asked.

Out of everything she expected him to say, those were
the last words she anticipated leaving his lips.

“What?” She turned her head to see if anyone heard
her.

“I know he’s your ex, and I need to make sure we’re on
the same page.”

“We’re on the same page, Andy. I asked you here to be
my boyfriend so my family wouldn’t try and set us up. Get with the program.”
She ducked under his arm angry with herself for being the only one affected by
their closeness. Andy clearly wasn’t affected. She walked through into the
sitting room. Bethany sat on Danny’s lap, and they were going through a wedding
magazine. Her father read the paper while Jake was on the phone.

Andy walked up behind her. His hands went to her shoulders.
He kissed her neck, and she turned in his arms to whisper an apology against his
ear. This was all her fault. In the car she started to get concerned about her
feelings about Dylan. She had no right to be angry with Andy.

She melted against him. The feel of his body next to
her always had the ability to undo her. His hands sent goose-bumps up and down
her body. The simple touch shouldn’t have the power to affect her like it did.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Sara. I’ve got you booked
into Hazel’s for a fitting. I’ve made sure the dress will not clash with your
hair,” Bethany said.

“She did. It took her several weeks to pick the right
one.” Bethany slapped Danny and then sent her an apologetic smile.

“Hazel is the local dressmaker. Her gowns are a thing
of beauty. She can make any woman of any shape or size look sensational in her
gowns,” she said, explaining it to Andy.

“She’s the only place you can go to order decent
clothing,” Tracy said, walking through with a tray of drinks.

Harmony followed behind her daughter. “Men have it a
lot easier to dress than women. We have to cater for every occasion. A wedding
is a woman’s day. Bethany has superb taste, and this wedding will be the talk
of the town for many years to come. It should have been yours, Sara.”

Dylan was leaning against the wall, listening to their
conversation and staring at her.

“Stop it, Mom.”

Sara watched as Bethany stuck her tongue out at Danny.
Her older brother smiled and tapped his woman’s leg. The writer inside her made
notes of the play between the couples.

“I’m sure she’s told you about Dylan,” Harmony said,
talking past her to Andy. Behind her back she felt him tense.

She glared at her mother.
“Stop!”

“I know there was a proposal, which she refused.” Andy
squeezed her shoulder.

“Yeah, well, I was so shocked. I mean, she’d been in
love with Dylan for as long as I can remember.” Harmony fanned her face.

“Mom!
Stop, it wasn’t love, and besides, I’m with Andy.”

Sara saw Dylan was smiling. “We did have something
special.”

“No, we didn’t.” She glared at him, hoping he’d shut
up.

“Growing up she was always following after Dylan and
her brother. Later on, it developed into a crush.” Harmony kept on talking, and
Sara pressed a hand to her face. She’d never been so embarrassed in all of her
life.