Lothario was hanging out next to her on Jase’s flower-arranging station in the middle of the store. Lothario saw him first. Barked. Jumped off the counter and bounded toward Eli. Eli’s feet, anyway.
Marlee turned. “Eli. Hey.”
“Mar.” He strode to the counter.
“Oh, is that for me?” Her eyes danced.
Yeah, it was all for her. Dinner, and he’d put aside a dozen cupcakes just for her. He nodded.
“Why aren’t you resting?” he asked as carefully as he could, because he really had no business asking her about anything she did.
“I am.” She held up the bouquet. “See?”
“This isn’t resting. This is working for Jase.”
“Yeah. So he kind of hired me. But congratulations to you, you don’t have to worry about your almonds anymore.” She grinned like this was a good thing.
His gut clenched. She was quitting? He liked her in his kitchen. Maybe he liked her there too much.
“Don’t worry, though, I told Jase I needed to finish out the events you’ve got me scheduled for.”
“Mar, you don’t have to work somewhere else.” Eli shifted his foot from where Lothario was loving up on it.
“Yes, she does.” Jase lugged out a couple buckets of various blooms. “Because your wife is like a floral genius.”
“Ex-wife,” she corrected.
“Wife, because the divorce isn’t final,” Eli corrected her correction. Why? He had no fucking idea. She just wasn’t his ex. What was she? He had no real idea. But she wasn’t his ex-anything. Not yet.
She and Jase both looked at him oddly.
“And I really am good with flowers,” she continued. “And he’s paying me extra so I don’t have to worry about the taxes.”
“That is not entirely the case, but we’ll roll with it.” Jase set the flower buckets beside her. “I can see that you are not happy about sharing Marlee. But watch her. She’s amazing.”
Yes, Eli knew how amazing she was. And he didn’t want to share that. Jase may be one of his best friends, but he wasn’t sharing Marlee.
“She’s tired, Jase. She’s supposed to be taking the afternoon to rest so she doesn’t collapse.” Fuck, she’d almost passed out in front of him. He couldn’t forgive himself for pushing her so hard.
“I’m not going to collapse. This is like rest for me.” Marlee grabbed a vase from the center of the work counter. “But if you brought me cupcakes, I’m ready for a break.”
“You can call it a day.” Jase opened the paper sack, rifling through the food Eli had put aside for Marlee. “Are there really cupcakes in here?”
“They’re not for you.” Eli practically growled at his friend. “Unless Marlee wants to share.”
Now, Marlee was looking at him odd again. He was going to get a complex.
“Areyouokay?” she asked. “All this talk of me passing out—which didn’t happen, I might add—and now you look like you’re about to eat Jase.”
“He can’t eat me. He knows I can take him.” Jase continued rifling through the sack, finally pulling out the tray of cupcakes. “Sweet fuck, these look amazing.”
Marlee cracked open the plastic cupcake box. “I have been waiting all day for this.”
She pulled off the wrapper and sank her teeth into the cake and icing. He could watch her eat all day. Funny thing about chefs, they loved watching people eat their creations. Eli was no different. It’s a high like he never got anywhere else. But when Marlee sank her teeth into his food? It was like she was sinking herself into his soul.
He was becoming a Marlee addict.
And that was unacceptable.
