Things are not looking good for Samantha Fox and her ‘partner’, the gorgeous former playboy, Brian Morton. Their new gym is not attracting customers, thanks to a crushing campaign from a rival gym. Having sunk all his money into Sam’s dream, Brian is almost destitute.
To top it off, Brian’s rape trial is coming up. Believing that he was set up, Sam is determined to expose the truth. She secretly engineers a series of events to befriend Delilah Faulkner, the woman who accused Brian of raping her.
But things do not go as planned. Sam finds herself in more trouble than she has bargained for. Can Brian uncover the truth in time and save Sam from herself?
THE PRETEND BOYFRIEND 3 is a 24,000-word erotic romance short novel.
BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
The Pretend Boyfriend
The Pretend Boyfriend 2
The Pretend Boyfriend 3
EXCERPT:
This is the main reason why he has managed to remain monogamous to Sam, he tells himself.
He has not been mono-amorous since he started having sex in the tenth grade. Not that he had told Sam he was sleeping only with her. It would ruin his reputation, and he has to preserve it where Sam is concerned lest she gets ideas.
Something in his chest squirms when he thinks of her. Something he doesn’t want to (is afraid to) acknowledge. He’s happy when he’s with her, even with the weight of the world straddled upon his shoulders.
It’s almost as though she’s enough for him. And all the trappings the world has once offered – money, unlimited sex with anonymous strangers – seem to fade into obscurity. He wonders why he needed them in the first place.
Like this new trainer at the gym, for example.
He had let Sam do all the hiring because the gym was more her thing than his. More importantly, he wants to lay low for a while. He’s afraid that his (public) involvement may send out the wrong perceptions and cause disrepute to the gym.
Besides, he doesn’t want to be partial to hiring only curvy blondes.
The trainer’s name is Lydia. She is a brunette who has streaked her hair purple. It’s a deep purple that is almost black, so you can’t tell the purple tints apart unless she stands under some fluorescent light.
After Sam has given them all her pep talk, Lydia sidles up to him.
“So,” she says casually, “I hear you’re Brian Morton. You own this place.”
“Along with Ms. Fox, your employer. I’m the silent partner.”
She’s smiling at him in a coy, seductive way, and he smiles back – carefully. Wouldn’t want the staff to think one of the partners is standoffish.
“You’re famous,” she says. “Everyone here is talking about you.”
“All the more reason for you to stay away, else I might do something you’ll regret,” he deadpans.
She laughs. “I’m not afraid of you. No one here is. We all know you didn’t do it.”
“Whatever happened to guilty unless proven innocent?”
“You can’t scare me.” Her eyes rake him up and down. “You know, you’ve got a good body. But I can make it even better.”
“How?” he challenges her. It’s not an encouragement. He’s not even flirting. He just wants to see where this goes.
“I could be your personal trainer. Five times a week. For free. Call it up sucking up to the boss.”
“I’m not your boss. She is.” He jerks his chin towards Sam, who is talking to one of the hunky trainers. A twinge of irrational jealousy strikes him, and then it passes. He has no right to chide Sam for talking – or doing anything else – with someone else she finds attractive. After all, they are both free spirits, and he has as much claim on her as she has on him.
“But you’re an equal partner.”
“Who told you that?”
“She did.” Lydia jerks her head towards Sam. “She seems to think very highly of you, and she mentions you any way she gets. She refers to you as ‘her partner’. Does it mean more than I think it does?’
“Office gossip is so passé.”
“We’re not in the office.”
