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

by Christina Hovland

“Who is this for?” his mom asked.

  She’d stopped by on her way to Whole Foods. He packaged up the chicken cordon bleu he’d made especially for Marlee, plating it as best as he could in the little box.

  “I’m taking it over to Marlee. Are you hungry?” He added a second box of seven-layer bars to the brown bag.

  “I’m always hungry, but I’m not going to stop you from going to see your wife.”

  “Mom.” He leveled a stare at her. “Don’t start.”

  “It may be the only time I get to say that. I want to enjoy it until the divorce goes through.” She pursed her lips in the way that only she could.

  She’d made it clear she was thrilled about the marriage, not so much about the divorce.

  “I’ll walk you out.” She grabbed her wallet, heading for the door.

  He grabbed a box of seven-layer bars for her and walked with her to the curb, opening her car door so she could climb in. She patted his cheeks before she got in. “Tell Marlee we need to have a family dinner soon. You. Marlee. Me. Dad.”

  He would do no such thing. A family dinner was a bad idea and just another opportunity for his mom to try to convince them to cancel the divorce so she could have a daughter-in-law.

  He shook his head, kissed her on the cheek, slipped the box of desserts to her, and headed next door to the flower shop to give Marlee his best peace offering.

  He wanted to rewind the clock. All the way back to the night before when they’d first had sex so that he could push pause then. Not wait until he was nearly balls deep before coming to his senses about what a bad idea it was to fall for the woman he was divorcing.

  Jase’s cowbell clanked against the glass. No one greeted him.

  “Mar?” He shifted the bag in his arm.

  “Marlee has left the building.” Jase ducked out of the cooler. “But I am here for all your floral needs. What’ll it be? An I’m-sorry-I-screwed-up bouquet or a sorry-I’m-a-dense-dumbass houseplant?”

  Marlee wasn’t there? Not that she had to check in with him, but he hadn’t realized how often they usually talked throughout the day until right then. Random texts, popping in to see each other. He’d gone nearly six hours without a Marlee hit. It was making him edgy. “Where’d she go?”

  “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to disclose that.” Jase shrugged.

  Eli set the paper food bag by the cash register. “Bullshit.”

  “Yes, it is.” Jase lay out a vase and a bunch of purple flowers. “She went to lunch with her mom.”

  Fuck a duck.

  “Why’d you let her do that?”

  “Her mom showed up here. Nice lady. Asked Marlee if she could buy her a meal. Marlee balked, but not much. Seemed like she wanted to go.”

  “When will she be back?” This wasn’t Marlee withdrawals. This was just Eli checking she was okay after he walked out on her this morning and then she walked out on him right into the clutches of her mom.

  “After lunch.” Jase gave him a funny look. “What did you do? Judging by how quiet she was today, you fucked up something.”

  “Nothing.” Eli should’ve headed back to his kitchen. He didn’t. He pulled up a stool to Jase’s design counter, because he was a masochist who didn’t want to deal with his own head. So he’d let Jase deal with it. Which was probably worse. Much, much worse.

  “Hold tight.” Jase grabbed his cell, tapped out a message, and dropped it back on the counter. “We’ll wait for Brek and Dean. They’ll want in on this.”

  That was not what Eli had in mind to clear his head. “Why?”

  “Because you’ve got a case of the Marlees.” He clipped the ends off the purple flower stems. “And when I had a case of the Heathers, you all gathered around and gave me shit advice. Same with Brek when he had the Velmas. And Dean when he had the Claires.”

  Eli sighed. “There’s no use lying—Marlee’s burrowed under my skin nice and tight.”

  “Yeah, I realized that when you started bringing her lunch and busting my balls for stealing her.” Jase shoved the flowers into the vase. Not shoved exactly, he took his time doing it.

  Eli missed Marlee in the kitchen, but she was in heaven working for Jase, so he couldn’t be pissed about it for long. Jase must’ve misunderstood his silence, because Jase didn’t get serious often. Not taking anything serious was kind of his thing.

  Right then, though, he turned to Eli, and in total seriousness, he said, “Have you seen how good she is at floral design? She could run her own fucking shop.”

  Marlee loved it. And Eli loved that Marlee loved it.

  “And if Marlee ran her own shop, my shop would probably go under because she’s that much better at this,” Jase continued blabbing through Eli’s internal crisis.

  “I slept with her,” Eli mumbled.

  “I heard.” Jase nodded and continued on like this was not news. “Vegas’ll do that.”

  Jase had no idea what Vegas could do. But this wasn’t about what happened in Vegas.

  “Last night. I slept with her.” Eli’s cheeks heated at the thought of what had happened afterward. That morning.

  Jase paused. “I take it you weren’t in Vegas last night.”

  “Nope.” Eli folded his hands together on the table. “Neither of us was drinking. We just decided to have sex.”

  “Like grown-ups.” Jase nodded along with whatever he was thinking. “Doesn’t sound like something that would be that big of a deal. You’ve had sex before, my friend. Not drunk, grown-up sex.”

  Eli had, but he’d never done what followed…

  “And then I freaked out and ran out on her this morning.”

  Jase didn’t move. He blinked hard. “You did a fuck ’n’ run?”

  Like half a fuck ’n’ run. Like a just-the-tip ’n’ run. “Something like that.”

  “Huh.” Jase didn’t say anything else. He scrunched up his face. Clearly, thinking too hard was going to break something in his brain.

  “What do you mean ‘huh’?” Eli fiddled with one of the purple flowers. “You never just say ‘huh.’ You are the king of opinions.”

  Dean shoved open the door, cowbell clanking away. “What’s the problem that made me cancel two of my afternoon appointments?”

  “Eli had sex with his wife,” Jase said, recovering from whatever he had been thinking and sticking more purple flowers in the vase.

  Dean pulled up a stool. “Isn’t that kind of the point of being married?”

  “Dude.” Eli dropped his forehead to the cool stainless steel.

  Dean clapped him on the back. “Anyway, I thought you two had sex in Vegas?”

  “Vegas sex is not Denver sex.” Jase tossed clippings on the floor at his feet. “We covered this already.”

  “’cause Denver sex means somethin’?” Brek asked from the door.

  Fuck, how long had he been standing there?

  “Because Denver sex is not a mistake,” Jase said in reply, boiling down exactly what was wrong into seven words.

  A lump caught in Eli’s throat. This was all jacked.

  Jase filled in the other two knuckleheads on the morning’s activities. Eli didn’t insert his opinions into Jase’s commentary. Instead, he tuned out the conversation until Jase finished.

  “Why don’t you ask her out?” Brek suggested. “You’ve done everything backward. Getting married first. Having married sex. Moving in together. Having more married sex. This time, ask her out. Take her on a date.”

  “I think he’s onto something.” Jase turned the vase a full 360, checking all the sides.

  “Doing something in the right order with her might get you out of all the knots you’ve tied yourself into.” Dean stood. “And if we’re good now, I should go back to making money. Claire’s supposed to meet up with Velma to go shopping later. That always ends with a decent dent in our credit card bill.”

  “Ours, too,” Brek added.

  “And you both love it.” Jase tied a bow around the vase.

  “Wouldn
’t change it for anything.” Dean grinned.

  “Nope,” Brek added.

  Maybe they were right. The key with Marlee was starting at the beginning. Doing things in an order that made some kind of sense. Yes, Eli could do that.

  If Marlee was still talking to him, which he wasn’t totally clear on at the moment.

  “You should use flowers when you ask her.” Jase turned the vase toward Eli. “Purple orchids are excellent sorry-I-screwed-you flowers.”

  “I didn’t screw her,” Eli practically growled.

  “Thinkin’ you did,” Brek replied for Jase.

  “She looked pretty sad when she came in this morning.” Jase’s words landed the blow.

  Shit.

  “Fine.” Eli nodded toward the finished bouquet.

  “Good choice.” Jase ambled to the cash register with the bouquet. “I made it just for you.”

  “I can’t believe I’m buying flowers,” Eli said with a huff, already pulling his wallet from his back pocket.

  “Your other options are the discount florist, where you’ll get shitty carnations, or the grocery store, where they’ll die in two days.” Jase tied a ribbon around the vase. “You ever taken care of orchids before?”

  Eli leveled a glare at him. No, but he’d figure it out.

  “That’s what I thought,” Jase continued as though Eli had actually given a response. “Give ’em a little spritz of water every day or so to keep them happy.”

  “Put them in water.” Eli tugged out his wallet. “Got it.” Marlee would know what to do with them.

  “Add an ‘I’m sorry’ when you hand ’em over,” Brek suggested. “Even if you don’t think you did anything wrong. Just consider it pre-payment for whatever shit you’re gonna say later that’ll piss her off.”

  Eli had absolutely no intention of saying anything that would “piss off” Marlee. Not again.

  “The order of the hand off and apology is important,” Dean added. “You don’t want to seem like you’re using the orchids in place of the apology.”

  “You are all full of it,” Eli said.

  “You are now in the land of committed relationships. You are a dude. One plus one equals you always have something to apologize for,” Jase concluded.

  This shit was exactly the shit Eli had wanted to avoid by avoiding relationships.

  More than avoiding relationships, he wanted to avoid making Marlee sad again. He’d do whatever he needed to do so that didn’t happen.

  Eli grabbed a fifty-dollar bill and dropped it on the little plastic mat advertising whatever online network the shop belonged to. His glance snagged on the corner of plastic sticking out from behind the rest of the cash as it tumbled out of the confines of his leather wallet. He hadn’t thought about the yellow condom in a SpongeBob package since he shoved it in there over a month ago.

  “What the fuck is that?” Brek leaned over the counter, catching a glance at yellow packaging.

  “Souvenir.” Eli snatched it up, shoving it back inside. “From Vegas.”

  Brek’s lips pressed into a smirk. Jase raised his eyebrows. Dean coughed into his hand way too pointedly. They’d all gotten a good look.

  “It’s nothing,” Eli grumbled.

  “Aye, aye, cap’n.” Jase was sporting a full grin now.

  A laugh rattled Brek’s chest. Dean just shook his head.

  Eli took a deep breath. He was officially the guy who bought flowers for his wife as an apology. Because they were married.

  “Marriage,” he said it under his breath. Tested it out. Checked how it felt.

  “You okay there, Romeo?” Dean asked. “You’re looking a little pale.”

  “Paler than usual.” Brek leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Those fifty dollars do something to scare the shit out of you?”

  “It was SpongeBob. I’m pretty sure,” Jase said.

  “I’m fine.” Eli grabbed the flowers and beelined for the cold air of the outside world. In the back of his mind, he vaguely heard Jase say something about change, but he was already forming an apology in his brain. Orchids. Apology. Then they’d see what happened next.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Marlee: Mom offered money so I don’t have to work at the flower shop.

  Sadie: Trust fund back on?

  Marlee: No. Just money so I don’t have to work at the shop.

  Becca: You said you like it there.

  Kellie: Take the money. Still work there. Done.

  Becca: Kellie is giving bad advice.

  Marlee: I don’t want their money. I want my money.

  Kellie: :/

  Becca: Talk to Eli about it?

  Sadie: I don’t think they’re talking yet.

  Becca: Still? It’s been like four hours.

  Marlee: Six.

  Kellie: That’s not very long.

  Becca: For Eli and Marlee it is.

  Marlee used her key to let herself into Eli’s commercial kitchen to say thanks for bringing her lunch—even if she’d already been at lunch with her mom when he dropped it off. Since it was a slower week, it was just him working right then. He glanced up from whatever he was stirring on the stove.

  “Mar,” he said her name on a breath.

  After he walked out on her that morning, she’d left the apartment and did something she hadn’t done in forever. She bought herself a latte. Truthfully, it tasted like the best latte she’d ever had—it’d been so long since she treated herself. But she had steady employment and a four-dollar coffee seemed like an appropriate splurge given the details of what had happened with Eli. Then she delivered coffee to Bert and his friends. He’d asked what was wrong and she’d dodged his question. If her life was so messed up that even Bert noticed she was out of sorts, then she was absolutely failing at getting herself together.

  She’d already decided not to be pissed at Eli about what had happened. She knew better than to expect anything from him when it came to relationships. He didn’t do them, she’d known this. And still, she’d practically thrown one at his doorstep. Then she’d inserted herself in his bed.

  All thoughts of anything more than just being his friend were tucked firmly in a box in the back of her brain.

  After coffee, she’d gone back home and spent an hour getting ready—blowing out her hair, picking the perfect dress that would be both practical for work in a flower shop and also give her the little boost of confidence she needed. Pink flutter sleeves totally boosted confidence—which was excellent, because when her mom showed up in person to ask her to lunch, Marlee needed that lift.

  “Hi.” She headed toward the sink to wash her hands. Even if she had no plans of touching anything, Eli got all worked up if people came to his kitchen and didn’t scrub in.

  “I’m glad you’re here.” He moved to her, grabbing a vase of purple orchids from the counter. “These are for you.”

  Huh. Flowers were unexpected. Flowers were very relationship-y. Not super friendship-y.

  She finished drying her hands, tossed the paper towel in the trash bin, and took the orchids. “They’re beautiful. Thanks.”

  What was she supposed to say now? Jase had said Eli brought her lunch, but she’d already left with her mom. Their lunch had been nice—they kept to safe topics, caught up with each other—but after her mother offered money for Marlee to quit her job? Well, Marlee left the meeting feeling more alone than she had when she agreed to go.

  “I’m sorry.” Eli stuffed his hands in the pockets of his chef jacket. “For running out on you this morning.”

  The look of terror on his face. The way her heart fell when he dropped her to the bed. All of it flooded her again.

  He gave the sauce another stir. “We almost ruined everything.”

  They’d already had sex twice, gotten married, and she’d lost her fiancé and her trust fund. What more could they have done to ruin the everything he was talking about? “But we didn’t.”

  “We weren’t paying attention.” His voice held a panicked ton
e she’d never heard from him before.

  “We would’ve stopped.” She was pretty sure. They had just gotten caught up in the heat of everything and she had been barely awake. So had Eli. The feelings got too much for them. But they would’ve realized it before any damage was done.

  He stepped toward her. His expression unreadable. “It’s the kind of mistake you make when you’ve been with someone for a long time. Not the second time you hook up.”

  Her cheeks got hot at the term he chose. “Last night was just a hookup?”

  “No, that’s the problem. You make me feel too much.”

  “I’m…sorry.” Her stomach got all twisted again. “What do you want me to say?”

  “Go on a date with me.” He was breathing heavy, like he’d just climbed a mountain.

  Marlee was very near checking to see if he was feverish. “Eli, you are making zero sense right now.”

  “I want to date you.” He turned a bit pale. “I want to start over. Do things right. Take you out to dinner. Spend time together because we want to, not because you have nowhere else to go.”

  Oh.

  She bit at her lip. “You want to be a couple?”

  “I want to give us a chance at that.”

  Then why the hell did he look like he’d just told her they were over? He had that same look that Scotty had the morning he broke it off. The one that was trying to be upbeat, but mostly looked like he was about to puke.

  Truth was, she felt the same way.

  The idea of getting serious with anyone after what had gone down when her last relationship ended? Yeah. That was a hard no.

  She already knew she was falling toes over nose for Eli, but up until this point, she hadn’t really given any thought to their future. Her relationships had a pattern—one she thought she’d broken with Scotty. Things would get semi-serious, she’d be having a great time, and then everything would fall apart.

  “Do you still want the divorce?” she asked.

  “Yes.” He nodded. “And no.” He shook his head.

  Well, that made no sense at all.

  “I want you to have the opportunity to see if this is what you want first. What I want. Let’s give us a chance to do things in the right order. Date. See where that takes us. Go slow. No worries about timelines and trust funds and who gets what bed.” Eli was getting way too intense for his own good.