Pretend Daddy: A Fake Marriage Romance

by Amy Brent

  I slowly crinkled my nose and tried to keep the vomit from rising to my throat. My mother, in the span of one three-letter word, just became a cougar.

  “Gross, Mom,” I said.

  “Well, he’s a very good-looking boy. But, Luke is right. If there’s something going on between the two of you that requires you to have his number, then it’s probably not worth pursuing,” she said.

  “You’re playing the protective parent all of a sudden?” I asked.

  “Sweetheart, he’s not going to be able to take care of you the way some men in this city will be able to,” she said.

  “Are you kidding me? You’re telling me to back off because he’s not rich enough?” I asked.

  “It takes more than love and good looks to be married, sweetheart. Young people don’t understand that. Finances are the number one downfall of happily married couples across the country. If you have the ability to eliminate that issue from your marriage, it’s worth pursuing. You’re a beautiful girl, Amber. But, no man who can financially protect you is going to want a stubborn, vulgar girl with debt coming out of her ears because she invested in a dance studio. Now, I don’t agree with your father on you running the production company. I think the long hours would prevent you from finding something that makes you happy.”

  “Yeah, like running a fucking dance studio,” I said.

  “Language,” she said. “But, Tyler isn’t the one. If there is something going on, just let him know it’s temporary. Girls can have a bit of fun, too, you know.”

  I was absolutely stunned at what she had just said to me. My parents had absolutely lost their rockers and fallen face-first into a vat of crazy pills. She continued to eat her sandwich as if that idiotic combination of words hadn’t flown from her face, and what was even more insane was the fact that she tried to justify it this time.

  With facts.

  I felt my hands begin to shake as they balled up into fists, and I knew I couldn’t stay any longer. I had to get out and go for a drive. Maybe across town to look at more properties, or out of the city to go see the ocean. I had to do something to calm me down. Otherwise, my anger was going to be taken out on someone around me.

  Like Tyler.

  So, I got up from the table, stepped around my mother, and headed for the door. I could hear her calling out my name, but all I did was grab my purse and slam the front door behind me. I ran to my car, tears streaming down my face, and I slid into the driver’s seat before I threw my car in reverse and headed for the road.

  Everyone in this fucking home thought they could control me.

  And I had to get away.

  Chapter 17

  Tyler

  Luke and I decided to get out and go to another club in town. He was worried because no one could get in touch with Amber, and I told him she probably just needed her space. I’d sent her a text message this morning, asking her if she was alright after everything that went down, but I had yet to hear from her either. I had to admit, I was getting a bit worried, which was why I was glad the bar had shot specials going on tonight.

  I was going to need them to get my mind off Amber.

  Luke and I were at the bar enjoying our first discounted shot when he began slapping me on the arm. His eyes were focused on the entryway, and at first, I thought I’d seen two hot chicks we were about to wingman up. What I saw, however, was Kelly and Amber walking into the same damn club we had chosen to prowl for the night.

  “At least she’s alright,” I said. “You talked to Kelly since you guys made out?”

  “A bit,” he said as he signaled for another shot.

  “Anything good come of it?” I asked.

  “Not really,” he said.

  He was clipping his sentences which meant he was plotting out what he was going to say to her in his head. If there was one thing Luke was terrible at, it was his confidence when it came to women. He felt like he had to rehearse everything in his head, and that took up so much of his brain power that he wouldn’t be able to hold a decent conversation with anyone.

  So, to make it interesting, I flagged the girls down.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked.

  “Let’s get you some impromptu practice with women,” I said, smirking.

  I saw Amber catch my eyes, and she stopped in her tracks. I watched her reach out for Kelly, whose attention she then turned towards the bar. Kelly’s face lit up when she saw Luke and her direction changed as she practically ran toward the bar, but Amber stayed rooted in her place.

  “Hey there, Luke,” Kelly said.

  “Hey, Kelly,” he said, smiling. “That’s a nice dress you’ve got on.”

  “Thanks. I bought it a couple days ago. Things like this are always on sale during the winter months,” she said.

  “Well, if they have more in other colors, you should go back and get some more. It looks like it’d be very comfortable for the summertime,” he said.

  I rolled my eyes at the conversation. I felt like we were back in middle school and trying to hit on the popular girl, but once I saw his hand slowly drifting to the midsection of her dress I knew exactly what he was doing. He was playing his little innocent shtick before he tried to physically get close to her, and women melted all over that shit.

  My boy was getting his dick wet tonight.

  I watched Kelly’s eyes light up and dance along his face as Luke slowly felt the fabric of her dress. His fingertips trailed down to her belly button before his hand fell back to his side, and that’s when Amber finally came up to the bar. She was dressed in a pair of tight ass skinny jeans and a sparkling silver top, and it was hard to take my eyes off her. Every single piece of fabric on her body hugged her curves in ways I wanted my hands to. I wanted to reach out and pull her close to me, bypassing all the bullshit conversation we’d have that would eventually lead up to what we both wanted.

  But, Kelly’s giggle ripped me from my trance.

  “Well, I made the mistake of not going to the bathroom before I got here. I’ll be right back,” she said.

  “Hurry back,” Luke said, winking.

  “One shot, please,” Amber said behind me.

  “Make that two,” I said.

  “I’ll be right back, you guys. Water fountain,” Luke said.

  “Use protection, bro,” Amber said, smirking.

  “From the water fountain?” he asked

  I snickered at the fact that he was trying to sell that excuse. Luke jammed his hand into his pocket and walked over towards the water fountain, and I watched as he disappeared beyond it and headed for the girl’s bathroom. I didn’t know who the fuck he thought he was fooling, but I was glad he was finally getting himself a little bit of something. He was wound way too tight, and he was coming off like a dick to everyone.

  “Such a hypocrite,” Amber said.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Nothing. I could use another shot, though,” she said.

  “You’re in luck. They’re the club special tonight,” I said.

  “Yep. And I plan on getting wasted,” she said.

  “That bad of a day?” I asked.

  “Sure,” she said, shrugging.

  We made our way to a couple of barstools at the end of the bar and ordered another round of shots. I was on my third one as she was throwing back her second, and I couldn’t help but study her posture. The slump in her shoulders, the slight frown on her cheeks. The way she leaned against the bar like she’d just lost her job and her dog all in one damn day.

  “Want to talk about it?” I asked.

  “Let’s play a game,” she said, changing the subject.

  “Alright, what’s the game?” I asked.

  “Each of us has to tell the other a deep, dark fantasy. Sexual or not. And if the other person finds it hot, they have to take a shot,” she said.

  “Oh, we’re going to need a tray full of them, then,” I said, smirking. “Who goes first?”

  “Ladies first,” she said, winking. />
  “Oh, ho ho, you got jokes,” I said. “Alright, then. Got your shot ready? Because I’m about to blow your fucking mind.”

  “Try me,” she said, smiling.

  “One fantasy I have involves edging her to the point of no return. I’ve always wanted to tie a woman down and deny her orgasm after orgasm until she’s crying from the frustration. Then, I’ll let her have it any way she wishes,” I said.

  Amber looked deep into my eyes before she squinted them playfully. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, forcing me to look down at the intimate gesture, then she sighed before she took the shot she was holding in her hand.

  “Ha ha! Got ‘em,” I said. “Sir! We’re going to need more shots over here. Three each, please.”

  “Alright, my turn. Ready, hot stuff?” she asked, winking.

  “Liked that nickname, by the way,” I said.

  “I figured your ego would. Alright. A fantasy of mine is simply the chase. Except, I’m the one chasing. I flirt with him, but he doesn’t flirt back. I catch him staring at me, but he diverts his gaze before I can catch it. I keep wearing sexy ass outfits that keep his gaze even though he doesn’t want to look. Then, one day, I back him into a corner, and he can’t help but drop to his knees,” she said.

  “Oh, the control type. Would’ve never taken you for one,” I said.

  “People change,” she said, shrugging.

  I threw back a shot, and she clapped her hands in delight. The smile that ricocheted along her face lit up her eyes, and for a split second, I didn’t think I’d be able to take my eyes off her. I was glad she was safe, and she was obviously beginning to have fun, which was good because I really wanted to continue this game.

  It would give me ideas I could take with me into this new business venture in LA

  “Alright, alright, alright. Another fantasy I’ve got one. I don’t think about it often,” she said.

  “Which means you think about it all the time,” I smirked.

  “Dick. Shut up. Anyway, a few times I’ve thought about what it would be like to have my control ripped from me. You know, battling it out for who’s on top and who’s going to pin who down, and then me losing and him having his way with me.”

  I couldn’t hold back the jaw-dropping reaction I had to what she’d just said. In one breath, she was the predator stalking her scrawny little prey, and the next she was willingly becoming the prey.

  I heartily threw back my shot as my dick grew thick in my pants.

  “Honestly?” I asked as she grabbed another shot, “I’ve always wanted to try the public thing. Not like, full on sex on a park bench in front of kids or some shit. But like, that teasing underneath the dinner tablecloth. You know, the kind that makes us get our food to go and shit.”

  “Us?” she asked as she threw back her shot.

  “I mean, you know, me and whoever the fuck I’m with for dinner,” I said.

  Fuck. Get it together, Tyler. It’s just a damn game.

  “Alright, my turn?” she asked.

  “Yep,” I said.

  “Watching,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to watch my partner masturbate.”

  “Oh, shit. You nasty little thing,” I said.

  “You can’t tell me that wouldn’t be hot,” she said.

  “It would be if it was you.”

  Her eyes connected with mine as I threw my shot back. I had to admit, there wasn’t a single thing flying from her mouth that I wouldn’t try over and over again with her, and I started to realize how much we actually had in common. Sure, it’s just sex shit, but that’s all we’re doing.

  Sex shit.

  I brought my eyes back to hers while she reached for her last shot, and something inside my chest lurched. It felt like someone had reached in and put my lungs in a vice grip, and I had to draw in a large breath of air in order to shake the feeling I was having.

  “Last one,” she said as she held up her shot.

  “We can always order more,” I said, winking.

  “Alright, deep dark fantasies,” she said. “Oh, how about this one? Toys.”

  “You want to use toys in the bedroom?” I said.

  “You don’t? I bet the vibrations would add a whole other level. And, you could do the whole double penetration thing without having to rub up against another dude’s balls,” she said.

  “DP? You? Us?” I asked.

  “You made the slip-up, so why can’t I?” she asked.

  I threw back my last shot in a hurry as my mind swirled with all the images in my head. Images of sliding my fingertips inside her pussy while we sat with her parents at the dinner table. Pictures of pulling her into a broom closet in some random ass building and shoving my dick down her throat. Visions of fucking her tight little asshole while a dildo filled her pussy to the brim.

  Staring into her eyes while I fucked her slowly in her bed.

  Wait, what?”

  “Earth to Tyler. Did that one break you?” she asked.

  “Not a fucking chance. I’ve used toys before. It’s fun. Let me know which ones you’re curious about, and I’ll get one for you,” I said, winking.

  “Uh huh. Sure, hot stuff. I’ve got one last shot. Make it a good one,” she said.

  Before I knew what I was doing, I reached over and took her hand. I rested my elbow on the bar as my face slowly made its way toward hers, and by the time I was exactly where I wanted to be, I could smell the sweet alcohol dripping from her pulsing breath.

  “I have a fantasy where I take you softly. Slowly. Delicately peeling every inch of your clothing off. I’d start at your toes and work my way up, massaging every single muscle in your body. I’d watch you flush, too shy to beg for what you want most before I had you naked in front of me. I’d stay clothed, robbing you of the sight you truly want before I devoured that sweet little pussy of yours. And then? I’d take you slowly. Torturously. In every way you never imagined a man could. I’d whisper how beautiful you are in the moonlight while a shimmer of sweat broke out on that beautiful chest you’ve got, and by the time you’re ready to cum your limbs would be wrapped around me, shaking. Do you know what happens next?” I asked.

  I saw her chest panting as she shook her head, and her eyes danced between my lips and my gaze. I had her right where I wanted her as my heart pounded in my chest, and my hand slid slowly up her thigh

  “Anything,” I said, whispering.

  She cleared her throat and took the shot before she planted her palms heavily onto the bar. I smirked, keeping my hand exactly where it was as I leaned back to sit on the barstool. I saw a little flush run up her neck before it stopped just shy of her cheeks, but the only thing I could do was stare at her.

  She was radiant in a way I’d never seen before, and I wanted to reach out and brush the skin of her neck.

  What the fuck was happening to me?

  “Come on, let’s go dance,” I said.

  “No, no, no. Not after that bullshit. Give me a second,” she said.

  “Bullshit, huh?” I asked, grinning.

  “Fabulous, fabulous bullshit,” she said breathlessly.

  I chuckled as I hit my feet, but the room started to sway. I leaned up against the bar as Amber threw a little smirk in my general direction, and she held out her hand to help me steady my body.

  “They’re stronger than you think, idiot,” she said, smiling.

  “No fucking joke,” I said.

  Her grip on my arm shot a moment of weakness down to my knees, and I had to lean heavily against the bar to keep myself upright. This woman was doing things to me I never imagined a woman could. She seemed to have a power over me even she didn’t realize, and as I looked back into her eyes, I felt that same tightening in my chest.

  I cared about Amber. Greatly. I was worried about her when she dropped off the planet and ecstatic when we were openly flirting on Tuesday, and hearing about her sexual fantasies only made me want to fulfill every single one of them. I wanted to hold her in my arms on the d
ance floor just to have an excuse to feel her, and as her eyes gazed deep into mine, I wondered if she felt the same.

  I wondered if she cared for me like I had just realized I cared for her.

  “‘Sup, guys?” Kelly asked.

  “Aw, you guys waiting for us?” Luke asked.

  “Another round of shots!” I called out.

  “You think that’s a good idea?” Amber asked.