Chapter 36

CHAPTER36

“You ate all the cookies, didn’t you?” Morgan grumbled into her pillow with a smile when she heard Eric walk into the room. When he didn’t say anything, she rolled over onto her side in time to watch Eric toss his phone on the bed next to her and-

Forgot how to breathe when she saw the picture of her apartment filled with moving boxes. For a moment, neither one of them said anything as she lay there, feeling numb as she took one last look at that photo before she reached over and grabbed Eric’s shirt off the floor and pulled it on, refusing to have this conversation while she was naked. When she was done, Morgan put her glasses on and looked up to find Eric watching her through cold, green eyes.

“Say something.”

“I was leaving,” Morgan admitted, watching as Eric slowly nodded as he seemed to think that over.

“Were you planning on telling me?” Eric asked as he grabbed his phone off the bed and slid it back into his pocket.

“No,” she whispered hollowly.

“You weren’t even going to say goodbye to me?” Eric asked, watching her closely.

“No,” Morgan said weakly, wondering if she’d ever been this terrified before.

Nodding, Eric reached down and grabbed a shirt from the bureau. “You didn’t think that I deserved a fucking goodbye?”

“I didn’t think that I would be able to go through with it if I had to say goodbye,” Morgan said, watching as he angrily pulled on his shirt.

“That’s something, I guess,” Eric said coldly, shaking his head in disgust as he grabbed his boots.

“Eric, I-”

“Why did you agree to go on this trip with me?” Eric asked as he pulled on his boots.

“Because you said that you needed me,” Morgan mumbled weakly as she watched him grab his keys.

“And I needed you to fucking stay, but that wasn’t going to stop you from leaving me,” Eric bit out. “Why did you come to the rehearsal dinner when we both know that was the last fucking place that you wanted to be?”

“Because I wanted to see you,” she mumbled hollowly as she pushed her glasses back up her nose.

“When?” Eric bit out as he leveled a look on her that dared her to lie.

“That night,” Morgan admitted as her gaze dropped to his left hand and watched as he absently ran his thumb over the black wedding band and-

“Then, I’ll make this easier for you,” Eric drawled as he pushed away from the bureau and-

“Didn’t you ever wonder why I never dated?” Morgan asked, watching as he paused by the bedroom door.

“Tell me,” Eric said softly as Morgan climbed off the bed.

“No,” she said, watching as the muscle in his jaw clenched as he turned around and faced her. “I want to know why you asked a woman that you didn’t love to marry you.”

“You want to know why I asked her to marry me?” Eric asked coldly as he made his way back to her.

“Yes,” Morgan said, swallowing hard as Eric came to a stop in front of her.

“What was the plan after this trip?” he asked instead, taking her by surprise.

“I-I don’t know,” Morgan admitted.

“You were still going to leave me,” Eric said quietly as he walked away from her and began pacing the room.

“I don’t know what I was going to do.”

Shaking his head in disbelief, Eric said, “You are fucking unbelievable.”

Slowly nodding, Morgan said, “You really want to do this?”

“More than fucking anything,” Eric bit out.

“Fine,” Morgan said, slowly exhaling. “For the past year, I’ve been working my ass off, taking on extra jobs, saving every penny that I could get my hands on, and making sure that when I walked away, that you had everything that you needed for Bradford Remodeling and-”

“I don’t fucking care about Bradford Remodeling!” Eric shouted as he turned around, making his way back to her and once he reached her, he kept going until she had no choice but to back up until her back touched the bureau. Once she was there, Eric was reaching for her and placing her on the bureau so that he could step between her legs as he leveled a glare on her. “Let me be completely fucking honest with you, Morgan. I don’t fucking care about Bradford Remodeling. The only fucking thing that I care about is you.”

“Then, let me finish, Eric,” Morgan said as she reached up and cupped his face in her hands, only to add, “Please,” when he looked like he was going to argue.

“I’m all ears,” Eric said dryly as he moved to pull away from her touch only to go still at her next words.

“I’ve been in love with you my whole life, Eric Bradford, and I accepted the fact that you would never love me a long time ago,” Morgan admitted, watching as he swallowed hard. “I told myself that it didn’t matter and that all I cared about was seeing you happy, so whenever you suddenly had a new woman in your life, I pretended that it wasn’t killing me inside. And every time it didn’t work out, I told myself that nothing could hurt more than listening as you wondered why you couldn’t seem to fall in love with any of them, but I was wrong.”

“Baby girl, I-” Eric said hoarsely, looking as though every word out of her mouth was slowly destroying him, and as much as she hated hurting him, she needed to finish this.

“Then, you asked a woman that you didn’t love to marry you and it broke my heart,” Morgan whispered as the first tear rolled down her face.

“Because I didn’t think that you wanted me,” Eric said hollowly as he reached up and gently wiped away the tear.

“I’ve always wanted you, Eric,” Morgan admitted.

“I didn’t fucking know,” he said, pressing his lips against her forehead.

“I couldn’t watch you marry another woman. I knew that you deserved better and I knew that you would hate me, but I just couldn’t do it. I’m sorry. Please don’t hate me, Eric,” Morgan mumbled weakly.

“I could never hate you, Morgan,” he swore as he pressed his lips against her forehead.

“Promise?” she whispered with a sad smile that had him swallowing hard and-

“I lied,” Eric said as he leaned back so that he could look at her as he said, “I didn’t ask her to marry me that day. I wanted to ask you, but you congratulated me and it fucking broke me.”

“What?”

“I bought the rings for you,” Eric said as he took her hand in his and gently ran his thumb over her ring.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m in love with you, Morgan. How could you not see that?” Eric said softly as he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. “Why do you think that I could never tell any of them that I loved them? It’s always been you.”

“Please be sure, Eric,” Morgan whispered as she struggled to hold it together.

Chuckling, Eric smiled against her lips as he said, “I’m very sure.”

“And you love me?” Morgan said, needing to hear it.

“More than anything,” Eric promised as he brushed his lips against hers again. “What do I have to do to make you stay?”

“You know what you have to do,” Morgan said, thinking about all the Bradford traditions that she’d heard over the years as she felt his lips pull up into a smile against hers.

While other little girls dreamed about a big church wedding and a white gown, she’d dreamed of her very own Bradford wedding. She’d paid attention when his father and uncles regaled them with tales of the men in his family losing their minds when they finally found the one and dragging them off to New Hampshire to stand in front of a terrified Justice of the Peace and wondered what it would be like to experience that Bradford tradition for herself.

“You want a Bradford wedding?” Eric asked, brushing his lips against hers one last time before he pulled away.

“I wouldn’t accept anything less,” Morgan said with a teasing smile that slowly disappeared as she watched him make his way over to the bed and-

“Wait. What do you need that for?” she asked as she watched him pick up the tie he’d discarded earlier.

“Tradition,” Eric said with a satisfied sigh as he gestured absently towards the door with a murmured, “You should probably start running now.”

“But-”

“I guess we could add penalty fees,” Eric said with a heartfelt sigh that had her narrowing her eyes on him as she climbed off the bureau and-

“Wait!” Morgan said when she suddenly found herself thrown over his shoulder. “You didn’t give me a chance to run!”

“Now, about those penalty fees…”