Page 3 of Garden Daddy

“I didn’t apologize, but I should have.”While she gaped at him, Marcus reached up to brush a strand of pink hair out of her face, his fingers gently skimming her skin and lighting up all her senses like a fireworks show.“I’m sorry, Eden.I loved you, but it wasn’t enough.I turned into a shitty husband, and I didn’t even see what was happening.I took you for granted instead of appreciating everything you did for me.I’ve learned a lot since our divorce.I want a second chance.”

For one sweet, horrifying moment, Eden almost leaned toward him.Almost tipped her head back for a kiss.Almost fell right back into the Marcus-trap she’d already escaped from.

“Fuck off!”She jumped back, slamming the door in his face, her heart pounding like she’d just run a marathon.Lifting her hand, she pressed her palm against her chest.Her whole body felt flushed, as though she was overheating.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

She was going to need to work on her Marcus-defense-system.She had not been prepared for him to say any of that, and she sure as hell hadn’t been prepared for her reaction.Not in her wildest dreams.

“I’m not giving up, Eden,” Marcus called from the other side of the door.“I did that once before.I’m not making the same mistake twice.Thank you for the two minutes.I’ll see you later.”

Mother fucker.Eden leaned her back against the door, closing her eyes as she heard him walking away.

The television was going to have to wait.

She needed backup.

2

Eden

Sittingat the table in the House of Starrett, Eden jiggled her foot.The chances of Marcus showing up here were small but not nil.The restaurant was a popular hangout for the guys as much as it was for her and her friends.Plus, Marcus, Owen, and Andres were also friends with the owner, Chef Sean.

She happened to know that both Andres and Owen were preoccupied today with some kind of business webinar they were attending, though, and she doubted Marcus would come here without them.He also wouldn’t expect her to come here since it was somewhere he regularly hung out.Which made it the perfect place to meet up with Rita and Bree, aka her ride-or-die besties, aka the women responsible for her current predicament.

When Rita and Bree had hooked up with Andres and Owen, that meant she and Marcus had been stuck playing fifth wheel… together.So, really, it was their fault he was back in her life, saying such tempting things and making her want things she knew better than to want.

So, now they were going to get to listen to her bitch and hopefully, offer up some sound advice and a metaphorical smack back to reality.

She and Marcus were a bad idea.

Period.

“Hey!What’s the emergency?”Rita asked, startling Eden as the pretty blonde pulled a chair out.Eden had been so lost in thought, she hadn’t noticed her friend walking in, which was not like her at all.

“Let’s wait for… oh hey, Bree.”Eden switched tactics mid-sentence because she hadn’t realized Bree had also arrived.She took the seat next to Rita on the opposite side of the table from Eden, her dark brown eyes sparkling with mischief.Her hair was done in a new style, in a myriad of cute little poufs atop her head.

“Hey, Eden.I thought you were busy all day having ‘you’ time,” Bree said as she scooted her chair in.

Eden sighed.

“Figure out what you want from the menu, because once I start, I want your full attention,” she said, waving her hand.

They both laughed as if she was kidding.Little did they know.Once everyone’s food and drink orders were in, both of them looked at her attentively.

“Marcus showed up at my door about,”—she checked the clock on her phone—“an hour and a half ago to tell me that he’s decided I should give him a second chance.”

As different as they were in looks, Rita and Bree now had utterly identical expressions of shock.At least she wasn’t the only one feeling that way.

“Seriously?”The incredulousness in Rita’s voice made her feel a little better.Eden hadn’t known Rita and Bree until after she and Marcus had divorced, but they had heard the whole story.They’d been her two first real friends post-marriage.“Just like that out of nowhere?”

“I’m sure he didn’t say it exactly like that,” Bree said, glancing at Rita, then giving Eden a look.Bree was usually the voice of reason, which was both necessary and annoying since both Eden and Rita liked to shoot off at the mouth.

“Close enough,” Eden grumbled.She shook her head.Even the glimpse of pink she caught at the edges of her vision, which usually made her smile, didn’t cheer her up.

“What did heactuallysay, Eden?”

She sighed, then got a very short reprieve when the server came by with their drinks.Stirring sugar into her iced tea, she avoided her friends’ gazes for as long as she could, but eventually, their silent glares were unavoidable.

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