They’d had plans to catch up at Brek’s. So far, he was the only one catching up. There was no Marlee to be found.
No Marlee picking up her phone.
No Marlee answering his texts.
Which meant an Eli who was getting more and more concerned by the second.
“You said they all took off together?” Eli asked, swiping his thumb across the rim of his untouched beer.
“Said it three times now.” Brek mixed up what appeared to be two fingers of whiskey on the rocks. “Didn’t change in the last twenty minutes.”
“They weren’t with Babushka?” Eli was pretty sure Babushka could get Marlee to do anything at this point.
“Nope.” Brek shook his head.
“You’re still not the least bit worried?” Eli wasn’t an especially jumpy guy, but he was officially in a relationship, and call him crazy, but once they’d sealed the deal that afternoon, his nerves went haywire.
“Nope.”
“They’re supposed to be here.”
“Yep.”
“They’re not.”
“Nope.”
This was ridiculous. Eli was ready to be a search party of one if he had to be, since no one else was taking this seriously. Well, no one being Brek. He had no idea where Jase was, and Dean was meeting with clients.
He just needed to find her, check in, and make sure she was okay. Then he’d be better. The silence felt louder when Marlee wasn’t there.
“Uh-oh.” Brek glanced at the door.
A crackle lit the air in the bar. The kind of crackle that usually preceded life-changing news.
Eli turned, hoping it was Marlee.
It wasn’t Marlee.
Jase shoved through the masses. He sat his ass on the bar stool next to Eli. “Heather’s pregnant.”
Say what? Eli didn’t say anything, just stared at his buddy. They were dropping like flies—marriage, parenting… Pretty sure they’d all start driving matching minivans.
“She’s pregnant and she hasn’t said anything to me.” He pointed to a bottle of Jose Cuervo. “I’m gonna need a hit of that before I go home and she delivers the news. Officially.”
“How’d you find out she’s having a baby if she hasn’t told you she’s having a baby?” Eli asked.
“Babushka. She’s planning a bridal-slash-baby shower and she’d like to know if we want to do girls only or girls and boys.” Jase scraped a hand down his face.
Oh, well. That sort of made sense. In a world where nothing made sense.
“What did you decide? Because if you make me go to a bridal-slash-baby shower, there better be fuckin’ beer.” Brek grabbed the bottle of tequila from the backlit shelf.
“I didn’t know you were trying to get pregnant,” Eli said. Although, given the fact Jase wanted a shot of tequila, maybe it wasn’t so planned.
“We were waiting until after the wedding. Not long after. But after.” Jase tossed back the shot Brek had poured. “It’s not that I don’t want a kid. I just don’t want to deal with planning the wedding and planning for a baby all while wrangling the insanity that is my family. I like my insanity in nice tidy boxes. All separate from each other.”
“It’s not that bad.” Brek leaned against the bar top. “The planning a baby and a wedding. Velma and I did it.”
“Your family is not my family. You have a very sane mother. Velma has two totally normal parents. Have you met Babushka? My mother? My sister? You might as well call in the ringmaster now, because my life is about to become a full three-ring circus.”
Eli had met them. Jase was right. He was fucked.
“How’d Babushka find out before you?” Brek asked.
“Said she caught Heather taking pregnancy tests at Rite-Aid.”
Eli had heard the stories of Velma testing for a baby in the bathroom stall at Target. At least now he knew where Marlee’d gone. Why she hadn’t responded.
She’d been too busy helping out a friend.
Jase would be a great dad; Eli had no doubt. Just like Brek. And Dean, if that’s what he and Claire decided they wanted to do. Eli? Eli was barely ready for his first real relationship. Did he want kids? He let that thought ferment in his mind.
Maybe.
Yes.
Someday.
If it was a little girl and she looked like Marlee.
Shit.
This is why he didn’t think too hard about things like this.
He was two inches away from nailing down his restaurant. This was his dream, and he was finally following it. He wasn’t going to screw it up by losing focus.
“This is gonna be awesome,” Brek said with a grin. “Let’s hope your kid is blessed with the beauty that is Heather and not…” He gave Jase a once-over.
Jase gave Brek the finger.
Eli smiled down at the bar top. His phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen. Marlee. His chest went warm.
“Mar,” he said into the receiver.
“Hey.” She sounded breathless. “Sorry. I had to go with the girls. I was thinking I’d just head home from here.”
“Where are you?” he asked. “I can come get you.”
She’d left her car at the apartment. He’d seen it when he ran home for a quick change of clothes before meeting-not-meeting her at Brek's.
“Already called a car.” Her voice got muffled as she said something to someone in the background. “I’ll see you at home.”
His gut turned funny when she called his apartment home. And not in the sour way. In the warm way his chest had also felt when he saw she was calling.
Fine. Eli liked that Marlee referred to his apartment as home.
Yes, he was making progress.
* * *
Marlee was pregnant with Eli’s kid. A dozen pregnancy tests confirmed it. So she resolved to do what any sane woman would do when faced with the knowledge she carried the baby of Eli Howard.
Marlee: I’m not telling him yet.
Becca: Ever?
Kellie: I’m really bad with plans, but even I know this is a bad plan.
Sadie: Hang on. I’m calling you.
Becca: Conference call?
Kellie: Don’t leave me out!
It’s not that Marlee wouldn’t tell him.
Of course, she would.
Marlee: Today just isn’t the day to bring this up.
Not on the same day that he finally opened up to her and decided that maybe they shouldn’t look toward a future that only included the demise of whatever it was they had.
Marlee: He just needs some time to adjust to things before I throw this in the mix.
She would simply give him a bit of time to adjust to the fact that there was a them. Then she’d tell him about the baby so he could adjust to the fact that there was a them.
She did her best I’m-pregnant-and-everything-is-fine saunter through the breezeway to the apartment. Her Sadie ringtone started going off right as she reached the door.
“Hey,” Marlee said into the receiver.
“You have to tell him,” Sadie said gently.
“I…” Marlee’s voice cracked.
“Are you okay?” Sadie went into concerned friend mode. Concerned friend mode was a lot like concerned lawyer mode, but without the threat of legal action.
“No.” Marlee sat on the concrete bench surrounded by a flower patch in the courtyard outside the apartment. The flowers were long dead, the concrete cold as winter started to creep into fall.
“I’m in trouble,” Marlee murmured, her throat getting thick at the acknowledgement. Lothario hopped out of the purse, snuggling his head against Marlee’s thigh.
Sadie went quiet. “I know.”
“I think I’m falling for your brother.” And by falling for him, Marlee meant she was pretty sure she was all in with him.
Sadie sucked in a breath. “Well, given everything, that’s not so bad.”
“He’s Eli. And he’s started opening up to the idea of a relationship. He wants to go slow, try
it out.” Absently, she stroked the top of Lothario’s head.
“Do you know how long we’ve all hoped he’d get over his shit and find someone?”
Actually, given that she and Sadie shared everything, Marlee did know that Eli’s family hoped he wouldn’t always be alone.
“I’m pregnant, Sadie,” Marlee whispered. “This is happening.”
When the tests had come back positive, she couldn’t say the word. She understood how Eli felt about the “married” word. That’s how she felt about the “pregnant” word. Velma had seen the tests first, so she’s the one who told Heather and Claire.
“I’m coming home,” Sadie announced. Marlee could practically see her pulling out her suitcase and throwing in clothes. “Like now.”
“That’s not—”
“I’m coming home.” Sadie’s words were final. “I’ll just stay with Mom this time. We’ll get things settled.”
Marlee’s heart dropped. Sadie knew Eli as well as anyone—better than anyone. She wasn’t coming home to console her brother when he found out he was going to be a dad. Marlee sucked in a broken breath. Sadie was coming home to scrape Marlee off the floor when Eli broke what was left of her heart.
“Okay,” Marlee said. “I’ve gotta go inside.”
“I have your back,” Sadie said.
“Do you think there’s any chance Eli might come around on this?” Marlee asked, hopeful. Needing some kind of reassurance.
There were times in a girl’s life when she needed her friends to be straight with her. There were times when she needed them to blow hot air and assure her everything was going to be fine—even if fine was a relative term.
Right then? Marlee didn’t know exactly what she was looking for from Sadie.
Sadie didn’t respond right away. Which said everything that Marlee already knew.
“I’ll call you when I land tomorrow,” Sadie replied, not addressing Marlee’s actual question. The line went dead.
Marlee pressed the cell screen against her forehead.
Then she pulled herself up, scooped her dog into his purse, and marched to the door. She’d just put all this out of her mind until she absolutely had to face it.
That wasn’t this night.
She stepped inside. Eli sat on the sofa. He scowled at his phone. Then he glared at an open notebook in front of him. Then he scowled back at his phone as though willing it to ring.
“Hi.” Marlee put the purse down so Lothario could hop out and go snuggle with Eli’s shoes. Look at her, sounding perfectly normal even when things were not normal at all.
“Hey.” He didn’t pull his eyes from whatever weird ritual was going on with the cell. It looked like something she would’ve done when she was fifteen and really wanted Bobby Martino to call her back.
“I’m sorry I missed you tonight.” She sat next to him on the couch. Not super close, but not weird far either.
“Jase told us what happened.” He kept his focus on the phone.
No glance toward her.
Shit.
He knew.
She swallowed hard and cleared her throat, fidgeted with the hem of her dress.
“Kids are good.” He shrugged. “Glad it’s not me, but good for them.”
What?
He glared one final time at the cell before glancing at her, his stone face melting a bit with the movement. “Jase’ll be a great dad.”
“Jase told you he’s going to have a baby?”
“Jase told us Heather’s going to have his baby.”
Shocked silence was becoming a thing that night.
“Oh yeah?” she asked as nonchalantly as she could manage, what with the current night’s activities and now this.
“You ran into Babushka at Rite-Aid?” he asked.
“Uh-huh.” To put it mildly.
“Babushka spilled. She’s got the baby shower practically all planned to go along with her bridal shower.”
Damn. Damn. Damn.
“Did he talk to Heather?” Because something told Marlee he’d had the Babushka conversation but not the Heather one.
“Not yet.” Eli dropped back against the couch. “He was waiting for Heather to tell him.”
Marlee sucked her lips between her teeth. Jase had no idea and neither did Eli.
Eli’s phone rang. He immediately grabbed it, accepted the call, pressed it to his ear, and said, “Eli here.”
Then he got scowly again.
“Totally understand. Don’t worry about it. Thanks again.” He hung up the phone.
“Problem?” Marlee asked, grateful for a reprieve from the Heather-Babushka pregnancy discussion.
“Three waiters are out for tomorrow’s gala. They’ve got the flu. I can’t come up with replacements, everyone’s booked.” He dragged a hand over his face. “I was on a skeleton to begin with to save money. Now, I’m gonna be cooking and serving.”
“Is that even possible?” Marlee asked.
“No.” He dropped his forearms to his knees.
He needed help. Help for a solvable problem. A problem Marlee could assist with. She may have been not-so-great in his kitchen, but she had done fine when she served at his other events.
“I can do it,” Marlee said.
His scowl lightened. “You don’t mind?”
“I like you. I like people. I like your food.” She gave him her best let’s-not-talk-about-babies-anymore smile. “I think I’m probably overqualified, if anything.”
“That’d be amazing.” His hands held out, he gripped hers and pulled her so she tumbled against him on the sofa. Then he pressed his forehead against hers in a move that made her knees turn melty and her stomach flutter.
“I can call Velma, Heather, and Claire. I bet they’ll help out if you need it. The guys, too.”
“I don’t want to bug ’em.” Eli’s eyes heated, his fingers massaging her temples. The right amount of pressure eased a headache she hadn’t even realized was brewing.
“You’ve never helped out at Brek’s?” she asked, already knowing that he’d volunteered a load of time to get Brek’s kitchen set up.
“That’s not the point.” His mouth had now moved to her right earlobe, pressing a small kiss there, raising all the hairs on her neck.
“Never helped out Jase on Valentine’s Day when he gets the last-minute rush?” Jase had told her that Eli always showed up to kick in extra time at the cash register or for overflow deliveries.
“Still not the point.” He kissed lower, light kiss after light kiss along the column of her neck.
“Claire said you helped Dean put together her new dining room table last month when it came in a giant box with no instructions.” Marlee ended on a squeak as Eli’s hands slid down her back and over her tush, lifting her skirt.
He didn’t say anything for a moment, just focused on laying tingle-inducing kisses on her shoulder.
“You’re making a lot of points here,” he finally said.
She ran her hands through his hair, lifting his face so he had to look at her. “Ask your friends. Ask me. We want to help.”
Something changed in his expression, something that took that heat she’d seen earlier in his eyes and spread it over his entire face. The muscles went soft, his expression turned serious.
Then, before she could say anything about the fact that he’d taken her into his apartment and given her a job when she needed one, plus all the other things he’d done for everyone, she was in his arms. Like she was precious cargo, he adjusted his grip—her arms around his neck, one of his arms around her back, the other under her knees in the bridal-threshold carry.
He crushed his mouth against hers, silencing anything else she was about to say. Carrying her was an excellent choice, because she was more than a little certain that there was no way she would be able to walk after that kiss. Her brain had turned to gelatin.
With the kind of care she’d only ever seen from him when he pulled a soufflé out of the oven in his kitchen, he set her on
the bed. She’d gone with strappy heels that night, but he had no problem untying, unlacing, and slipping them away from her feet.
True story, she’d never thought that removing shoes was particularly sexy. It’d always been that utilitarian thing that had to happen so they could get to the good stuff. With Eli? Just then?
Whoa.
As though he had all the time in the world, he undressed her. He used his mouth, his hands, his body to turn her into a mess of aroused desire.
Finally, he got to her panties. He took his time sliding them down her legs, past her thighs, over her knees. She lifted her hips, willing him to end the torture and have his way with her. Take her deep, like he’d always done before.
It didn’t work.
She was naked before him, more ready for him than she’d ever been ready for anything before. With her eyes closed and her mind pretty sure she’d never been this turned on before, her breath caught as he stroked her thighs, planted kisses on the inside of her knees, and moved his way up to her core.
And then Eli Howard’s mouth did things to her body that she didn’t know were possible. His hands hitched under her thighs—baring her, opening her, lifting her to him.
There were few coherent thoughts going on in her brain. Not when his tongue, mouth, and hands were telling her a story without using any words. She understood, somewhere deep down, that he was trying to communicate something important. Something that mattered to him enough that he was practically worshipping her. But the only thing that mattered was the crest of the wave pulsing over her, washing her away.
Marlee was not loud during sex. Despite the fact that she was generally a pretty loud person, when it came to climaxing, she was surprisingly quiet.
With Eli? Different story.
She cried out, her moan cresting into a crescendo while the “Hallelujah” chorus seemed to play in her mind. Yes, that sounded dramatic. Overly so.
It wasn’t.
Eli wasn’t using words, because there were no words to describe the sensations. The feelings. The way her legs were heavy, but her heart was light. Her mouth was parched, but she had everything she’d ever needed.
The sensation of floating back into herself had her opening her eyes, meeting his. He was naked, sheathed, and poised over her. She was nearly all the way down from her pleasure when he spread her legs, centered himself, and then went inside her.
Take It Off the Menu Page 20
