Spotlight: Pretend by R.L. Mathewson
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(Neighbor from Hell, #14)
Publication date: March 3rd 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Synopsis:
From New York Time’s bestselling author R.L. Mathewson comes the prequel to the disturbingly funny romantic comedy series, Neighbor from Hell.
She couldn’t do this anymore.
After watching her best friend and the man that she’d been in love with her entire life propose to another woman, Morgan decided that it was time to finally move on. She made plans, plans that Eric didn’t know about and she planned to keep it that way, but unfortunately for her, one bet destroyed everything, leaving her with no choice but to be there for her best friend one last time.
He was done.
After catching his fiancée cheating on him, Eric Bradford was done wasting his time on women that he had absolutely no hope of falling in love with. He just needed time, a chance to get away, and he just needed…
Her.
Determined to figure out how he kept screwing up his life, Eric takes his best friend on the honeymoon that he’d spent a fortune on and asked her for one more favor, one that would change everything, and leave him with no choice but to do whatever it takes to stop the one woman that meant everything to him from finally walking away.
Excerpt
“I need another favor,” Eric said, finishing off the last bite of danish before grabbing the muffin off her plate and devoured it with a groan.
“And you felt the best way to go about that was to glare at me while stealing my food?” Morgan asked, blinking at the man narrowing his eyes on her.
“Yes,” Eric bit out, his glare never leaving her as he reached over and forced her to snatch the mini chocolate chip muffin off the plate and shove it into her mouth before he could steal it.
“And my bags?” Morgan asked, following that up by snatching the small piece of coffee cake off the plate and took a large bite of it, making sure to savor every last morsel simply to piss him off.
“Gave me great joy to leave them behind,” Eric bit out as he reached over and snatched the last bite of coffee cake out of her hand and shoved it in his mouth, his glare never leaving her as he finished it off.
Nodding slowly, Morgan said, “Whatever it is, the answer’s no.”
For a moment, Eric simply glared at her before he said, “You owe me.”
“I really don’t, though,” Morgan said, swiping the last apple danish off the plate before he could grab it and took a bite before she added, “and if I did owe you anything, which I don’t, I would say that me being dragged along on this trip more than makes up for whatever imaginary debt you think I owe you.”
“You really think so?” Eric asked, reaching over and swiped the danish out of her hand and shoved it in his mouth.
“I really do,” Morgan said, knowing that she’d more than paid back any favor that she owed him by going on this trip. In fact, some might say that he owed her after this. Not that she was going to be around to collect on that debt, but still. She-
“Summer camp,” Eric said, taking his time enunciating every syllable as she sat there, trying to remember how to breathe.
“You promised we’d never speak of it again,” Morgan mumbled hollowly, swallowing hard as she thought about that summer they-
She wasn’t ready to think about what happened. Not now, and definitely not without the help of a trained professional.
“You. Owe. Me,” Eric bit out as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, black box.
“But…” Morgan mumbled helplessly, shifting as she licked her suddenly dry lips while she watched as Eric opened the box and-
She was going to be sick.
“I need you to pretend to be my wife.”
“I’m curious about something,” Eric said as he joined her.
“Why I haven’t killed you yet?” Morgan asked, blinking up at the large man that was going out of his way to piss her off for some reason.
Shrugging it off, Eric said, “I just assumed that you haven’t figured out what to do with my body.”
“Oh, no, I have a plan,” Morgan assured him as she reached up and pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Uncle Jared helped me come up with it when I was six after I told him that you stole the cupcake that I was planning on sharing with him.”
“Why am I not surprised that you betrayed me?” Eric asked with a long-suffering sigh and a sad shake of his head as they stepped in line.
“Because I learned from the best?” Morgan asked with a pointed look up at Eric as she shifted her bag over her shoulder, only to murmur, “Thank you,” when Eric reached over and took the bag from her and put it over his shoulder before he grabbed his bags again.
“There is that,” Eric murmured, not really sounding all that concerned to discover that she’d been planning his demise since they were six.
“Are you going to tell me what you’re curious about?” Morgan asked, pushing her glasses back up her nose as they moved up in line.
“I’ve been wondering why you were doing shots with the asshole last night,” Eric said, taking her by surprise, mostly because she’d thought, hoped really, that he forgot about that.
“I was enjoying the festivities?”
“At a party that you weren’t even planning on attending?” Eric drawled as he shot her a look that told her that he had absolutely no plans of letting this one go, which admittedly was a bit of a problem for her.
Clearing her throat, Morgan said, “I’m sorry. What were we talking about?”
“Why you’re refusing to tell me why you let my cousin talk you into doing shots,” Eric murmured, gesturing for her to start talking.
Swallowing hard, Morgan went for, “I don’t remember?” since admitting the real reason that she’d allowed Trevor to talk her into doing shots would only bite her in the ass. Granted, when she decided to go to the dinner rehearsal, she hadn’t planned on drinking, but when Trevor handed her a shot of whatever it was that was in that small glass, she decided that getting drunk sounded like a wonderful idea.
Mostly because she didn’t think that she would be able to go through with telling Eric that she was in love with him without a little liquid courage. She should have just left, but…
God, she was an idiot.
“Kill. Me,” Morgan managed to get out as her grip tightened around the towel that she was hugging against her chest while she prayed that Eric took pity on her and stopped talking before it was too late.
There was a heavy sigh and then…
“How did I fuck up this badly, Morgan?” the man that wouldn’t shut up asked while she lay there wondering why she didn’t leave when she had the chance.
Because she was an idiot, that’s why, Morgan realized when the man that she’d never thought she would see again released another long-suffering sigh, causing her poor head to pound harder. Not sure how much more of this she could take, Morgan slowly, ever so slowly, moved to stand up only to decide that was a bad idea when she remembered what happened the last time she tried to become vertical and settled for turning around, shoving the shower curtain out of the way and crawling into the oversized shower stall.
Once she was there, Morgan blindly reached up, slapped at the tile that matched her bathroom in the townhouse next to this one until she found the faucet, turned it on, and promptly returned to the fetal position, praying that Eric took pity on her and left her alone so that she could die in peace. She felt herself begin to relax as the hot water slowly worked its way through the dress that was probably ruined now, closed her eyes, and-
Found herself groaning when Eric shoved the curtain open the rest of the way with a heavy sigh and asked the question that she’d been wondering since he’d decided to propose to the Wicked Bitch of the East, “What the hell was I thinking, Morgan?”
“Can we talk about this later?” Morgan asked, regretting her decision to do those shots with Trevor, but at the time, she’d thought that they were a good idea.
“How do I keep fucking up my life?” Eric asked, ignoring her question.
“I really don’t think you want me to answer that,” Morgan mumbled as she reached over, grabbed the towel she’d abandoned on the bathroom floor and dragged it inside the shower and shoved it beneath her head.
“I’m done with women,” Eric said with a heavy sigh that had her cracking one eye open to glare at him because she’d heard this all before.
Since he didn’t actually want a response, Morgan closed her eyes again and tried not to think about how much she had to drink last night. She was never drinking again, Morgan decided as she listened to Eric ramble on about how badly he’d messed up because that’s what she did when the man that she’d been in love with her whole life needed to vent about another woman.
She listened.
She listened while he wondered why it didn’t work out this time.
She listened while he wondered why he couldn’t seem to fall in love with any of them.
She listened to all the things that she didn’t want to hear because he was her best friend, but this time, this time would be the last time.
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About the Author
New York Times Bestselling author, R.L. Mathewson was born in Massachusetts. She’s known for her humor, quick wit and ability to write relatable characters. She currently has several paranormal and contemporary romance series published including the Neighbor from Hell series.
Growing up, R.L. Mathewson was a painfully shy bookworm. After high school she attended college, worked as a bellhop, fast food cook, and a museum worker until she decided to take an EMT course. Working as an EMT helped her get over her shyness as well as left her with some fond memories and some rather disturbing ones that from time to time show up in one of her books.
Today, R.L. Mathewson is the single mother of two children that keep her on her toes. She has a bit of a romance novel addiction as well as a major hot chocolate addiction and on a perfect day, she combines the two.
If you’d like more information about this series or any other series by R.L. Mathewson, please visit www.Rlmathewson.com
Connect:
https://rlmathewson.com/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4586597.R_L_Mathewson
https://www.facebook.com/Rlmathewson25
