"You're beautiful Elise" "Zach, please..." I smiled when she called me Zach. It was always Zachary or Mr. Walton and when she called me Zach I... "Zach?" she sat up on the bed raising an eyebrow "If you don't want..." I cut her off by kissing her gently while tugging on her shorts until I removed them without breaking the kiss. "I want this, more than you can imagine, I just want you to be sure you want it too" Without saying anything she started undoing my shirt's buttons, until she lost all her patience and ripped it off. I chuckled "Eager much?" "Don't you think it's about time? We've been playing cat and mouse enough" "Elise just shut up and kiss me, kiss me like it's the first time yet not the last, kiss me like it's something you've been wanting to do for so long and you finally can, kiss me..." Zachary Walton, a 28 years old bachelor, CEO of Walton's industries is known for being ruthless, arrogant and full of himself. He doesn't smile easily, or at least not to everyone. He shows a hard façade but deep down he has a good heart and cares for people in his life. His mother is as ruthless as he can be, maybe even more. When she wants something, she gets it no matter what is at stake. She hates seeing her son's face in the papers every morning, and decides it's time for him to settle down and have a family. The worst part of it, she chose his bride to be. And it's someone he hates deeply. What happens when Zachary finds the perfect woman to play a little game with him? Pretending to be his girlfriend for as long as it takes to have his mother off his back? Little did he know this decision was going to flip his world upside down. Let's pretend...

Minsan, ang pag-ibig ay mapaglaro. Hindi mo alam kung kailan ka mapapasok sa kanyang mga laro. Pero paano kung mapasubo ka sa kanyang laro sa maling panahon, maling lugar at sa maling nilalang? Itutuloy mo pa rin ba ang laro o ititigil mo na? *** Stars Swimlane - February 2022 *** PUBLISHED UNDER POP FICTION This is the unedited version. Ibang version yung nasa published version.

Henley agrees to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for a fee, falling in love as she wonders - how is he involved in her brother's false conviction? ****** Henley Linden's brother is in jail for a crime he didn't commit, and she'll take any job to raise the money needed to free him. Soon, she's agreed to pretend to date millionaire Bennett Calloway for ten thousand dollars, so his mother will ease up the pressure on him to find a wife. But once Henley is enmeshed in Bennett's world, he falls for her, and she starts to have feelings for him as well. Despite her romance with Bennett, as she grows closer to the Calloways, Henley realizes they are somehow involved in her brother's conviction. Journeying deeper into a world of wealth and conspiracies, Henley is forced to rely on Bennett, though doing so could cost her everything. [[word count: 200,000-250,000 words]]