Pretend for Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

Andy brought over the two steaming mugs.
    “There are a lot of photos,” he said.
    “A lot of memories are wrapped up in here. I come from
a family of seven. Five children and two parents and believe me when I say
there was never a dull moment.”
    She opened the first photo album.
    “Take me on a trip down memory lane.”
    He sat down next to her, and Sara was struck by his
masculine scent. It never failed to amaze her how successful and handsome Andy
was. When they first met on the stairs the silence between them had lengthened.
Sara hadn’t been able to look away from his gaze. She’d been struck by his
intense brown stare. Brown eyes had never appealed to her before. Brown eyes
had always struck her as dull, but with Andy they took on so much more meaning.
Whenever she saw him staring at her, goose-bumps erupted along her arms.
    She could write thousands of words to describe his
stare, and not one of them did them justice. There were times she felt she was
the whole of his world and at other times like she didn’t even register on his
radar. He confused her constantly.
    “Do I have something stuck between my teeth?” he
asked.
    “No. Sorry, the writer in me was back at my computer
desk.” She felt her cheeks heat at the lies she spun.
    “I don’t know how you can find much inspiration in
that room.”
    “I’ve got a great imagination. Besides, I don’t know
how you can work the clubs you do from your apartment.”
    He laughed and tapped his head. “It’s all up here.”
    She opened the photograph album and started the
journey of her life. “That there is my mother, Harmony Carroll.”
    “Harmony
Carroll? You’re got to be joking.”
    Sara glared at him.
    “What? You’ve got to find the humor in the name.”
    “If you mention any jokes with regards to my mother’s
name you will be castrated by the end of the weekend. My mother would cut you
down. The man she married and the name she claimed as her own is no laughing
matter.”
    Andy held his hands up in surrender. “I get it. No
laughing at the amusing name.”
    She smiled at him. “Away from my family and all prying
ears, I do find her name thoroughly amusing, but I’m warning you, please, keep
the name to yourself.”
    Sara laughed as he zipped his mouth up and threw away
the invisible key. “This is my father, Martin.” She pointed to the big stocky
bloke in the picture. “He doesn’t take kindly to anyone mocking my mother. If
you want to get in good with him then I suggest you let the introductions go
without laughing. Dylan did, and I think that is one of the reasons my parents
actually like him.”
    “I’m sure they would understand if you told them the
truth about him.”
    “I’m not the type of person to go telling my family
about everything that goes wrong in my life. It’s bad enough moving away from
them and having them phone me every week to make sure I’ve paid my rent and the
bills.”
    “They still phone even after five years?” he asked.
    “I can’t complain that they worry about me,” she said.
    His hand rested on her thigh as she turned the page.
She felt the heat from his touch run through her whole body. There was not a
part of her that wasn’t deeply connected to the man beside her.
    She was going to need to rein herself in if she was
going to survive a weekend with him posing as her pretend boyfriend.
    “That’s Danny. He’s getting married to Bethany. They
were high-school sweethearts, but they have put off marrying each other. They
broke up for a few years, but everyone knew they’d get together. It was
inevitable for them to be together.”
    “They look lovely together.”
    Sara smiled at his words. He was already saying the
right things. “That’s my next brother. I’m showing you in order from oldest to
youngest.”
    “I’ve got it, Sara. Stop being
nervous. I’ve got your back.”
    Feeling happier, she pointed to the next brother.
“This is Jake. He travels to the city and is a defense