Just the Tip of the Iceberg: Mile High Matched Books 1-3

by Christina Hovland

  “But you’re still paying me?” Look, she didn’t mean to be pushy, but her tank was on empty and she’d spent all her money on Bert’s coffee and Lothario’s vet bill to remove his cast. At least he didn’t thump around on three legs anymore.

  “Yeah.” He nodded.

  “Perfect.” She stood. “See? You feed me and I’m not even a little dizzy.” She did a little bounce to prove her point.

  Judging by the way his eyes thinned, he wasn’t amused.

  “You think you can bring some of this home for dinner?” She lifted the now empty box, ignoring his reaction to her bounce.

  The edges of his lips twitched. There it was. He wasn’t really mad. He never really was.

  “I’ll come up with something for dinner,” he said.

  “Or I can try spaghetti again?” She was pretty sure she knew exactly where she’d gone wrong.

  “Don’t touch the stove. I’ll bring dinner.” He opened the door.

  She lifted her keys from the cup thingy on his desk.

  “And maybe some of those cupcake things?” she asked.

  Those looked amazing. All German chocolate goodness that made her wish she could pop on a plane and go to Europe.

  “Sure.” He had a half smile going on that paired really well with the bandana.

  She grabbed the bottle of water, tugged off her apron, and hung it on the hook by his desk. “Bring extra of those.”

  Now, he was fully smiling. “See you at home.”

  Home. One word gave her warm fuzzies all over. She decided to revel in it instead of worrying about what would happen when she got money again and had to move out.

  She made her way to Jase’s flower shop, yanking off the hairnet along the way. Shoving the door open, the perfume of flowers drifted over her as she hurried into the shop.

  “Lothario.” She opened her arms, dropping to her knees. “My baby.”

  Lothario scampered straight for her, his paws slipping just a bit on the floor. He licked her cheek.

  “Mommy missed you, too,” Marlee said.

  “Your dog defiled the vase holding a dozen roses earlier,” Jase mumbled.

  “Did he break it?” Gah, someone please tell her he hadn’t broken anything. She was fresh out of cash until her next paycheck.

  Heck, there wasn’t even any change for Eli’s coin-operated washing machine. The fact that those even existed was a freaking travesty. Who had to put in quarters to run a load of whites? That should be free.

  “No, he just needed some privacy.” Jase stood back from a floral arrangement the size of the ones Marlee’s mom kept in the foyer. Marlee used to love looking at the flowers that changed every other day. Now? Now, she realized that the kind of money her parents spent each week on flowers alone would pay for a decent apartment downtown for her and Lothario.

  Not that she’d spoken much to her parents since they cut her off. A few check-in texts here and there, and consistently avoiding their dinner invitations, lunch invitations, brunch invitations. Why did she need to go eat with them when she had her own personal chef?

  “That’s a bad doggy,” Marlee said, but Lothario knew she didn’t mean it. He was who he was, and everyone would just have to learn to accept that about him. As long as he didn’t hurt himself or break vases in the process.

  “How are you, Marlee?” Aspen, her wedding planner, stood by a rack of vases. Marlee had been so intent on Lothario that she hadn’t even seen her there.

  She hadn’t seen Aspen since everything fell apart.

  “Hey.” Marlee scooped the dog in her arms and stood. “I’m good.”

  Aspen had been amazing in the not-getting-married madness, handling the mess. She was also Brek’s sister, and she worked in an office on the same street as Jase, Eli, and Heather. Denver was like that—everyone was connected in some way.

  “Is this your newest?” Marlee peeked into the stroller at the tiny baby sleeping there.

  “It is.” Aspen shifted the stroller just a little so Marlee could get a better look.

  Sleeping babies were Marlee’s kryptonite. Her ovaries did a little let’s-have-one jig. Marlee immediately told them to be quiet.

  “Thank you again.” Marlee looked away from the sleeping baby to Aspen. “For everything you did after…you know.”

  “It’s my job.” Aspen shrugged. “And you’ve thanked me enough. We’re good.”

  Marlee could’ve hugged her. “Thanks.”

  “And I’m out, Jase.” Aspen waved to Jase. “See you around, Marlee.”

  “See you around,” Marlee whispered back.

  She sauntered over to Jase and his flowers. “You need about four more lilies on the left and it’ll be perfect.”

  He slid his gaze to her.

  She raised her eyebrows in her best what? expression. When it came to art—especially flowers—she was like a savant. After the office flowers would get delivered each week, she’d made it her own personal job to fix the arrangements. No, it had nothing to do with the company events she helped plan, but yes, it was necessary. It was also number one hundred and sixty-five on the list of things she did that drove Scotty nuts. Which, she’d always assumed, was why he didn’t buy her flowers.

  “You wanna show me?” Jase asked.

  She set Lothario on the ground, grabbed the lilies, snipped off the ends so they’d get a nice drink of water in the Oasis floral foam, and with the precision of someone who couldn’t afford to pay for them if she screwed them up, poked them precisely where they’d look best. She didn’t need to step back for the full effect to know the arrangement was now complete.

  “What do you think of that one?” He jerked his chin toward a bouquet of white roses and succulents in a bamboo-inspired vase.

  “Do you have anything that looks ropey? Or like a vine?” She scanned the tabletop, not coming up with anything that would work. Most of the time, flowers looked best when their symmetry was precise. But with the way the succulents tilted, a few ropey vines would be perfect for balance.

  “Ropey?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

  “Something that looks like a rope?” she replied, eyebrows also raised.

  “Let’s check the back.” Jase headed toward a walk-in cooler.

  The cold air blew against her skin as she inventoried the selection. She snagged a few fig branches from one of his oversized white buckets. “This’ll work.”

  She moved back to the table, twisting the vine so it would bend at the precise angle she needed and maneuvering it through the roses so it’d hold. “There.”

  “That’s decent.” Jase turned the vase so he could see from the other side.

  “It’s not decent. It’s perfect.” Marlee stood by that assertion. “It’s like a painting, but with flowers.”

  Jase turned the vase again. “Do you know anything about flowers?”

  “I know which ones I like.” Marlee shrugged. “And I rearrange them when I see them at the office. Used to see them at the office,” she amended.

  “How much is Eli paying you?” Jase asked. “My assistant left. I’ve been doing everything myself for the past few weeks.”

  “Eli isn’t paying me very much. But I pretty much screw up everything over there and mooch off his food and sleep in his bed.” She shrugged.

  Jase tilted his head to the right just a tad.

  “I mean, he’s not sleeping in the bed with me,” Marlee assured. “But he could.” Not that he would. Or that she wanted it. “He just takes the couch because of the divorce.” And now she was going to shut up.

  Jase crossed his arms. “I’ll pay you double whatever he’s paying.”

  Well, that was better than fussing with almonds and ruining soup, but—“What’s the job, exactly?”

  “Helping me out in the shop, arranging flowers, manning the cash register, talking to customers—”

  “I love talking to people.” She really did. No one really chatted in the kitchen. Everyone stayed focused on the food. Which, you know, as som
eone who ate food, she appreciated that they kept their focus where it should be. But as someone who also liked to chitchat, it was annoying as hell that no one talked.

  He smiled huge. “And some deliveries.”

  “I can do deliveries. I have a driver’s license and everything.” And his van probably had plenty of gas. “Do I have to pay the tax things?”

  Because those really were a pain in the tush.

  Jase smirked. “Well, yeah. It’s sort of the law.”

  “Do I have to pay a lot of them?” she asked.

  He leveled a stare at her, clearly trying to figure her out. “I’ll pay you triple.”

  “There’s still taxes. I don’t like paying those.”

  “Marlee, I can’t negotiate out the taxes, but there will be more money when you get your check from me versus when you get your check from Eli.”

  Well, that worked, too. “Deal.”

  She’d once mentioned to her dad that she’d thought about becoming a florist.

  He’d informed her it wasn’t an appropriate position for someone of her pedigree. Now, it would be what kept Lothario fed, which made it all the more fitting.

  “When can you start?” Jase held out his hand.

  She shook it. “Uh, now? Eli sent me home early because I didn’t eat lunch and I screwed up his almonds.”

  Jase’s eyebrows scrunched together. “Did you get lunch or should I call something in?”

  Nope, she was good. “Eli fed me before he sent me home.”

  Now, he could relax knowing that she would not be tripping over everything in his kitchen or screwing up his jobs.

  “Marlee, I have about ten arrangements to finish this afternoon. If you help me, I’ll never make you do anything with almonds,” Jase promised.

  “Then you think you can stop me?” Because truth was, she would arrange flowers for free. Well, she would’ve before she didn’t have any money. Now, she’d need to charge. But only because Lothario liked special only-available-online food. He was struggling through the kibble she was able to afford, but he didn’t have to whine for her to know he preferred the other. “But Eli may need my help with some of his events since he’s been planning on me being there.” She didn’t want to leave him high and dry, but he was going to be over the moon that she wasn’t all up in his face all the time. “So I’ll have to work out some kind of a schedule.”

  “Fair enough.” Jase pulled a binder from beside the cash register. “This is where I keep the special orders. I also make a list every Monday of the stock we’ll want to keep in the shop that week.”

  Marlee rubbed her hands together. “Gimme.”

  Eli had been working Marlee too hard. Hell, he was exhausted, and he was used to the late hours and early mornings. He’d been busting his butt to keep shaving off the days until he could afford to open his new restaurant. But thanks to his new wife, he’d just landed a fundraising gala. If it went well, he could likely shave ten months off Dean’s timetable with all the extra gigs that would follow.

  As soon as he came out as her mystery groom, the call came in from the committee chair for the Consolidated Means gala. Their caterer had bailed, and Marlee had talked her into hiring Eli.

  Usually, after a marathon couple of weeks, he’d head up to the mountains with a tent and no cell service. Now that Marlee was staying with him, he’d find something to do closer to home after the big gala. He just hoped like hell that the business following the event would make it all worth it.

  With a large brown bag of leftovers tucked under his arm, he paused at the edge of the parking lot. Marlee’s Jag was still parked right next to his Jeep. She hadn’t gone home to rest.

  His stomach dropped.

  Not that he had any right to tell her what to do or where to go, but she’d looked so wiped earlier. He didn’t want to be responsible for that.

  She was either at Jase’s flower shop or Heather’s cookie shop. He’d start with Jase. It was closer anyway, and since Jase was his buddy and it wasn’t totally out of the ordinary for him to stop in after work for a beer, it wouldn’t look like he was tracking down his soon-to-be ex-wife.

  Turning back toward the sidewalk, he practically jogged to Jase’s door. Not because he was worried about Marlee. Only because he wanted to see his buddy.

  The cowbell on the door clunked as he pushed it open. Eighties hair band music blared from the speakers—Van Halen this time—and Marlee was fussing with an arrangement of tulips, one of The Flower Pot’s aprons hugging her waist.

  Marlee was not resting.

  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.

  “Are you okay?” 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.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Nine Weeks Until the Divorce Is Finalized

  The first time Marlee had taken Bert a cup of coffee, it’d been an accident. She’d unintentionally ordered a vanilla latte instead of a caramel latte, so she’d had an extra. Bert had been flying a sign on the corner and she’d offered the extra to him. He’d been so thrilled she swore she’d keep doing it. There was something about making him happy that made her happy. It was, after all, just a cup of coffee. Then his friends had started showing up, and she’d brought them coffee, too. Yes, she could’ve donated a boatload of money to a charity—and she did back when she had it—but doing it her way meant she also got to make friends. Got to see that a cup of coffee could make a difference in a person’s day.

  Delivering flowers was no different. It brought about the same rush.

  Kellie: Marlee’s too busy for us.

  Becca: Because she’s married with a job, she’s practically a grown up.

  Marlee: I love my job.

  Sadie: I love that you love your job.

  Marlee: I have deliveries. Chat when I’m done?

  Becca: We’re here.

  Marlee: Pocket friends are the best.

  Kellie: Go get ’em, girl.

  “I’m going to run this batch over to the museum.” Marlee boxed up the delivery she’d prepared. Jase’s delivery driver, Ethan, was gone that afternoon, so Marlee was on delivery duty. And. She. Loved. It.

  Delivering flowers made people happy. Which meant it made her happy. Which meant everyone was happy and she loved her job.

  Which sucked, because Eli wasn’t thrilled about her job. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to. After a month of living together, it seemed they knew each other better than she and Scotty had after ten years.

  He brought her food when she was working, and they still saw each other in the evenings. He was so funny about everything. Half the time, he grumbled and avoided her. The other half, he was bringing her food and checking on her.