“It’s whatever,” she said with a nonchalant shrug. “Ooh. Look. Breadsticks.”
The waiter dropped them off alongside some olive oil and butter. Benson gestured for Eden to have her fill. She worked on the first one while quipping she had to watch her figure, for while she was curvy in the middle, there was such a thing as eating enough to go up a dress size.
“You’d look great no matter what,” Benson said. “Eat the bread. You only live once.”
Eden slowed down her chewing before putting down the breadstick on her plate. “Still, I don’t want to buy new clothes. It’s a big pain in the butt. Which will happen to my butt if I eat too many carbs.”
“You do what you want,” Benson said. “But I’ll tell you what I tell my daughter…”
“Oh, my God, no.”
“…and what I used to tell my ex-wife when she worried about staying thin in the 2000s.”
“Ben, please, no, for both our sakes…”
“I’ll be attracted to you no matter what. Your health matters most.”
Eden pursed her lips. Well, at least he hadn’t gone thebeautiful at every sizeroute, which Eden was drastically tired of hearing after hitting puberty and gaining thirty pounds.Most of it’s my thighs and tits.She had an hourglass, more or less, which got her into La Mariposa, but…
Another reason she knew she only had so much time to make money off her body, if that’s what she still wanted to do.Men only find figures like mine hot as long as our stomachs stay behind the waistband.She sighed to think about it.
“Eden.”
She glanced back at her boyfriend, who was the quintessential hottie trending toward silver fox status.Something something fine wine.Eden wanted to scream.
“What?”
“There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Eden gave one last look at her phone to see if Liam had texted her back about her date with Benson, but nothing.He must still be at his dinner.Or was it lunch in LA? “Yeah?”
“It’s about…” He inhaled a deep breath, sitting up again. “Well, I’ll just come out and say it. You said your lease is up this summer.”
Her stomach dropped, but she kept a straight face as she braced herself.Here we go…
“Yes. Probably going to get my rent raised again.”
“It’s a cute place,” he mused. “Centrally located, decent amenities… you know who else has both of those things?”
“Mm. Let me guess. You?”
“Uh-huh. Angel, I want you to consider moving in with me when your lease is up.”
Although she saw it coming, Eden still wasn’t prepared for such an important invitation. “Really? So soon?”
“I mean, maybe if your lease had been up this month, we would wait another year, but I think by the time you have to give notice, we’ll know if it’s a good idea. Or not.”
A lot is waiting for my notice right now.“That’s a serious offer, Ben…”
“Think of all the money you’ll save. It’s not like I’m going to ask anything of you. Financially, I mean.”
Her face paled.
“Shit. I mean, I expect you to clean up after yourself and not throw crazy, destructive parties if I’m gone, but I didn’t think I had to say it until I implied…” His voice trailed off.
“That I could pay in sex instead?”
“Not what I meant.”
