Pretend I'm Yours (Pretend 1)

“This is unacceptable, Larkyn,” my father says to

me sternly.

“Get the fuck out, Father,” I say. I’ve had enough. I’m tired of being mistreated by my family. I’m tired of them thinking they are better than me. I’m tired of being told I’m wasting my life. I no longer care about any of it.

“Out, everyone, now,” Kade’s voice booms.

Axel and the other employees get to work shoeing everyone out the door. While I stay tucked in Kade’s arm.

“I’m sorry,” we both say simultaneously to each other as the crowd starts to file out.

I smile.

“I shouldn’t have even engaged with Anastasia. I knew she was trouble and only wanted me for one thing. I should have been prepared for her kiss.”

I shake my head. “I shouldn’t have ever left you alone. I knew better. And you did warn me not to leave you alone.”

He kisses me gently on the lips. “Don’t ever leave me again.”

His words sound so sincere, but I know they aren’t. Time is ticking away. Less than nine months remain until our time is up.

“You okay, Larkyn? I’ll swear Anastasia was the one that instigated the kiss and Kade was just an honest bystander who broke the kiss the second he could,” Axel says.

I bite my lip with a smile. “You don’t have to worry about defending Kade’s honor,” I tease.

Axel smiles. “Good. Anything I can get you? Need a stiff drink after that?”

I look up at Kade with dreamy eyes. There is only one thing I want right now to make me feel better.

“No, um…we are good,” I say, stumbling over my words.

Axel looks from me to Kade and takes a hint. “I’m sending the staff home. The party didn’t last long, so there isn’t much to clean up. I’ll have tomorrow’s shift clean everything up before we open.”

I swallow, my mouth dry as I stare up at Kade. He’s handsome, and loving, and kind, and everything I’ve ever wanted in a husband. And he’s my husband. Too bad this isn’t real.

Kade watches Axel walk out of the bar, out of the corner of his eye. And then he grabs my ass, pulling me flush against his body as his lips crash into mine. We aren’t going to make it home. We aren’t going to make it anywhere. We need each other far too much after the emotional chemistry we have felt all evening.

Between me saving Sebastian, and him protecting me, we both owe each other a lot.

And we are about to make good on paying each other back.

I jump up, and he catches me as my legs wrap around his body. Our lips stay locked together in a dance that moves faster and faster, showing our true desperation.

“I can’t wait. I have to have you—”

His lips cut me off.

And he drops me into one of the couches sitting around a low table, near one of the bars, as his body crashes on top of mine.

I grab his pants fumbling with the button until I can finally jerk his pants down.

I don’t wait for him to remove my underwear, I push them down myself as his hand slides up my ass.

“Someone’s impatient.”

I tug on his bottom lip with my mouth, punishing him for stopping to do something as silly as talking.

He grins against my lips. “I don’t know how I ever survived without you.”