Chapter 18

CHAPTER18

She couldn’t believe that he did this, Morgan thought as she angrily made up the bed that she’d spent the night tossing and turning on and-

“He loves Baker House,” Morgan mumbled sadly as she gave up fighting it and dropped face-first on the rather comfortable bed so that she could grumble against the comforter.

Baker House was his baby.

Five years ago, they got a call to check out a turn-of-the-century hotel that had been turned into a boarding house in the forties, only to be turned back into a hotel in the sixties, an apartment house in the eighties and finally, abandoned in the nineties. By the time they walked into Baker House, it was a nightmare. The electric system was made of knob wiring, the support beams were rotted, the roof was caving in, most of the plumbing had been ripped out and what was left was outdated, most of the units didn’t have heat, the foundation was screwed and Eric had instantly fallen in love with the old building.

The new owner, on the other hand, regretted his decision to buy the building as soon as they gave him their estimate. That led the new owner to trying to talk them down on their price and trying to get a cheaper estimate from every contractor within a hundred-mile radius, including Uncle Jared, and then finally, deciding that it was too much for him to handle and put it back on the market for almost twice what he’d paid for it.

That’s when Eric started taking the long way home.

It was also the time when she started noticing that he was studying turn-of-the-century hotels. He borrowed books, looked through her old sketchbooks, and kept an eye on Baker House, watching as the price slowly began to drop and when it was just out of his reach, he made his move.

And so did she.

As soon as Eric managed to talk the owner down on his price, Morgan began working on the designs, checking out all those books that Eric tore through, looking through the notes that he’d made, asked questions, searched online for ideas, and began visiting historic hotels every chance she got, until finally, she had everything that she needed to make sure that Eric was able to pull this off. She did the same thing for all the projects that they’d been hired to complete, making sure that Eric had everything that he needed when she left.

She wanted him to be happy.

But now, the incredibly sweet man that she loved more than anything went ahead and gave up his dreams so that she could have hers and she had no idea why. She just…

She couldn’t let him do it.

“Stupid sweet man,” Morgan mumbled sadly as she blindly reached over and grabbed her phone. She-

You can do better.

-couldn’t help but wonder why Eric’s father was texting her.

Deciding that she’d worry about that later, Morgan scrolled through her contact list until she found the first one that she was looking for. Wondering why Eric was trying to destroy all of her hard work to make sure that he was going to be able to run Bradford Remodeling without her, she found Nathan’s phone number and sent the text message that she’d been trying to figure out how to word all night since the stubborn man broke the news to her.

After letting Nathan know that she was going to need a few more days, Morgan made sure to assure him that she was on top of everything and would still be able to get the plans to him on time. Once that was done, she scrolled down to the next name on her list, and once she found Uncle Jared’s phone number, Morgan prepared her glare to give her the edge that she was going to need to fix this mess.

As soon as she heard the call connect, Morgan opened her mouth and-

“Oh, come on!”

-realized that she’d made a tactical error by not checking to make sure that the bedroom door was locked first when the large, tan hand that had turned stealing her food into an artform plucked the phone out of her hand with a satisfied sigh. That was followed by tossing her phone onto her bag before she could stop him, grabbing her hands and giving them a gentle tug that had her grumbling as she allowed Eric to pull her off the bed.

“Just let me call Uncle Jared and fix this before it’s too late!” Morgan said with a frustrated groan when he kept going.

“No,” was all Eric said as he led her towards the bedroom door.

“You’re making a mistake,” Morgan muttered, not really caring that she was pouting as they made their way down the hallway towards the grand staircase that was going to need a lot of work.

“You don’t love the house?” Eric asked, throwing her a questioning look as they made their way down the stairs.

“You know that I love the house. That’s not the point,” Morgan mumbled weakly as she glanced around the beautiful house that she loved more than anything as he led her to the front door, knowing what she had to do.

“Then, I don’t see the problem,” the man that was making this more difficult than it needed to be said as he opened the door and-

“Ummm, why are you still manhandling me?” Morgan couldn’t help but wonder as he dragged her outside.

“Because I want to show you something,” Eric said, making her swallow hard as she mumbled, “I-I honestly don’t think my heart can take anymore.”

Chuckling, he said, “God, you’re fucking adorable.”

She needed to call Uncle Jared and put a stop to this deal before it was too late, Morgan thought as she waited for Eric to lock the door behind them, only to find herself wondering why he was still holding her hand.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting into character,” Eric said with a satisfied sigh.

“I see…” Morgan mumbled absently, slowly nodding as she glanced back down at their hands and raised her foot, only to have Eric quickly release her hand with a curse and put some much-needed space between them so that she could think straight.

With a sad shake of his head, Eric said, “We really need to work on your anger issues.”

“And I really need you to focus,” Morgan pointed out as they made their way down the long driveway towards the road.

“And I really need you to let this go,” Eric said as he led her across the street towards what appeared to be a dirt path.

“You want me to let go of the fact that you gave up Baker House after everything you did to get it?” Morgan asked, blinking up at him as they stepped onto the dirt path.

“It would make this easier,” Eric said as she found herself looking down and-

“Why are you holding my hand again?” Morgan couldn’t help but wonder as she looked from the large, warm hand that was holding hers to the man that was making it really difficult to think.

“Why wouldn’t I hold your hand?” Eric asked, looking genuinely confused as she opened her mouth and immediately forgot what she was going to say when she felt it.

The soft caress of Eric’s thumb across the back of her hand.

She barely bit back the soft sigh of pleasure when he did it again.

“Because you value your safety?” Morgan asked, clearing her throat as she did her best to ignore just how good his hand felt wrapped around hers.

“I like to live dangerously,” Eric said as they walked into a small clearing filled with flowers, a bench hidden beneath an old oak tree, and a small line of people waiting by a large wood sign proclaiming this “Apple Path.”

Still wondering what they were doing here, Morgan took in the rest of the sign, noting the dire warning that “Apple Path” could only safely handle two people at a time, the risk of falling, jagged rocks, and warnings of drowning right around the time that the sound of rushing water reached her ears.

“I can see that,” Morgan murmured as she moved to pull her hand away and-

“Why are you treating me like a whore?” came the curious question that had her sighing heavily as she muttered, “Please don’t make me hurt you,” hoping that would be enough to stop him from doing something that was going to annoy the shit out of her.

It wasn’t.

“I can’t believe I let you have your dirty way with me,” Eric said with a sniffle that had her eyes narrowing on him as several heads turned to watch them.

“I really hate you right now,” Morgan pointed out as she yanked her hand free.

“Is that why you won’t hold my hand after you used me for my body?” Eric demanded.

“Yes, yes, it is,” Morgan said, wondering why he was going out of his way to piss her off.

“Are you ashamed of our love?” Eric demanded in outrage, drawing the attention of the rest of the line and making her wonder if Uncle Jared’s offer to hide his body was still good.

Blinking, Morgan pushed her glasses back up her nose as she said, “I really think that went without saying,” watching as bright emerald eyes narrowed on her.

Nodding slowly, Eric bit out, “My mother was right about you.”

“Your mother adores me,” Morgan pointed out.

“Only because she has no idea that you’re treating her precious baby boy like a whore,” Eric said, shaking his head in disgust.

“How exactly am I treating you like a whore?” Morgan asked, only to sigh heavily with a softly muttered, “There is something seriously wrong with you,” when the annoying bastard looked pointedly down at her hand. Making sure to look put out, she reached over and grabbed his hand, noting the pleased expression on his face.

“Happy now?” Morgan asked as they stepped into line, wondering why they were as she took in the narrow passage that would lead them through a thick copse of trees.

“Immensely,” Eric murmured with a satisfied sigh as Morgan was forced to clear her throat to stop the small moan from escaping when she felt the soft caress across the back of her hand.

God, his touch was addictive, Morgan thought as they moved up in line as she struggled to focus and-

Why were the people in front of her suddenly swaying gently back and forth? Morgan found herself wondering as she watched them walk away and…

Oh. God. No.

“Eric?” Morgan mumbled weakly as she watched the couple in front of them make their way across the rope bridge suspended over what appeared to be a really angry river.

“Mmmhmm?” Eric murmured absently as she moved to take a step back and-

“Why are we in this line?” Morgan found herself asking as he tightened his hold around her hand and started moving, leaving her with no choice but to grab hold of the rope handrail as she followed him onto the bridge.

“Because I need to grab something in town and I thought you’d want to take in the local scenery along the way and get a closer look at the river,” Eric said as they slowly made their way across the bridge that wouldn’t stop swaying. “What do you think?”

“That you should probably move faster,” Morgan said hollowly as she glanced over her shoulder to find a family of six waiting their turn.

“And miss this view?” Eric asked with a sad shake of his head as he did the unthinkable.

He stopped.

“Please don’t do this to me, Eric,” Morgan managed to get out as she tightened her hold around the rope as she glanced from the water rushing beneath them to the man standing next to her, looking as though he didn’t have a single care in the world.

“This would probably be a good time to go over the rules,” he said as Morgan shot a panicked look behind her to find that family of six blocking her only means of escape.

“What rules?” Morgan absently asked, nervously licking her lips as she glanced from the family that looked like they were seconds away from joining them back to the man that had clearly lost his mind.

“The rules that will allow us to fully enjoy our honeymoon,” Eric said, releasing her hand so that he could grab hold of the rope handrail as he took in the view below, leaving her with no choice but to grab hold of the rope with both hands.

“It’s not really a honeymoon,” Morgan pointed out, only to tighten her hold on the rope, swallow hard, and mumble, “We’re going to die,” when he shifted, causing the bridge to gently sway in a way that her stomach didn’t agree with.

“Now, where were we?” Eric asked with a satisfied sigh.

“The rules?” Morgan offered with a hopeful smile that turned strained when the bridge started to bounce ever so slightly.

“First,” Eric murmured, reaching into his pocket and pulled out the small black box that had her heart skipping a beat, “we should probably put this back where it belongs to make this easier for you.”

“Make this easier?” Morgan asked hollowly as she struggled not to panic and-

“To adore me.”

“There is something seriously wrong with you,” Morgan said, shaking her head in wonder as she watched Eric reach for her hand.

“Which is why you adore me,” Eric said as he slid the small ring back on her finger, leaving her feeling…

Whole.

There was no other way to describe it.

Since she took the ring off her finger last night, she’d felt like a piece of her was missing, and now…

She had no idea why he was doing any of this, but she planned on finding out what the devious bastard was up to and she knew damn well that he was up to something.

She could feel it.

“Which is why I don’t want you to give up Baker House,” she said, getting to the point.

“It’s already settled,” Eric said, shrugging it off like it was no big deal when they both knew that it was a very big freaking deal.

“Eric-”

“No mentioning Baker House,” he said, making her narrow her eyes on him.

Slowly nodding, Morgan said, “Fine. Then, you can’t talk about Amber or any of your failed relationships, including wondering why none of them worked out or why you keep screwing up your life,” knowing that he would break quickly and give her the opportunity that she needed to beat some sense into him.

“Fair enough,” Eric murmured as he slowly nodded. “Then, I’m going to need you to hold my hand.”

“Umm, why do I need to hold your hand?” Morgan couldn’t help but wonder.

“How else are you going to look at me adoringly?” Eric asked as his gaze flickered to her.

“From the safety of solid ground?” she suggested, sounding hopeful as she once again found herself looking back over her shoulder and-

Oh, God…

“And I’m going to need you to let go of all the bullshit and just enjoy this lovely present that I got for you,” Eric said as Morgan stood there, hanging onto the rope for dear life as she watched the man that really didn’t look happy that he had to wait, take another step onto the bridge that wasn’t built to hold eight people.

“I can do that,” Morgan said, more than happy to agree to anything if that meant living to see another day. “Can we please go now?”

“We could, but wouldn’t you rather watch the sunset? I bet it’s beautiful from up here,” Eric said with a satisfied sigh.

“I would rather throw you off this bridge,” Morgan mumbled hollowly as she watched the wife gesture for her husband to go.

“That does sound like fun, but I was thinking that we could seal this deal,” Eric said, drawing her attention to find him watching her.

“How?” she asked, only to mumble, whimper, and do a weird combination of the two when the bridge started swaying again.

“With a kiss,” Eric said with a satisfied sigh.

She opened her mouth only to gasp, forget how to breathe, and finally managed a tightly murmured, “Fine,” when the bridge started shaking in a way that didn’t feel promising.

“Unfortunately, you took too long to decide, so now it’s going to cost you two kisses, one here and one at the end of the bridge,” Eric said with a long-suffering sigh and a sad shake of his head as though this somehow pained him.

She was going to push him off this damn bridge.

“And if I say no?” Morgan demanded, even though she’d be lying if she said that she didn’t want to kiss him again, but it was the principle of the thing, she didn’t like being screwed with and he knew it.

“Well, then, I guess we’ll find out how many people this bridge can hold,” Eric drawled with a pointed look past her.

Frowning, Morgan followed his gaze only to feel her stomach drop as she watched the family of six start to make their way towards them. Not really in the mood to see how this ended, she turned around, reached up with one hand and cupped the back of Eric’s neck, yanking him down for that kiss.

As soon as her lips touched his, she felt herself melting, wishing that she could enjoy the groan that he released, but at the moment, Morgan had more pressing issues to deal with. With one last brush of her lips, she released her hold on him and gestured for him to move his ass. With an incredibly sexy grin and a wink, he took her trembling hand in his and led her towards the other end of the bridge while she mumbled, “Please move faster,” over and over again until they finally reached the other side.

As soon as her feet touched solid ground again, Morgan released his hand, moved to put as much distance as she could between her and that bridge, only to remember the deal. Grumbling, she turned around, grabbed hold of Eric’s shirt and yanked him down for another kiss before releasing him so that she could kick his shin. Ignoring his pained grunt, Morgan turned around and walked away, more determined than ever to find out what he was up to and-

“Worth it.”

-felt her lips twitch, damn him!