Page 47 of Married to the Frenemy

Never in my wildest dreams could I have anticipated I’d find a home with Beckham Lawrence. Even more surprising, it hasn’t been nearly as awkward as I expected it would be, considering our tumultuous past.

At first, I was reticent about the idea of him spoiling her more than necessary. But now that we live a good fifteen minutes from Maggie’s favorite park, I caved and let Beckham put in a play area for her. I told myself it was just out of convenience, but I’d be lying if I didn’t tear up a bit from the look on Maggie’s face when she saw the new playscape.

Beckham even took a day off so he could surprise her when she got home from preschool, going so far as to enlist the help of his brothers, Jude and Finn. Since Finn’s on the fire department, he had all the guys who weren’t on shift help, too. What would have taken one person several days to put together was constructed in a matter of hours.

When I hear the familiar sound of tires crunching against dirt, I glance into the distance as Beckham’s truck navigates up the country road toward the house. I do my best to temper the butterflies wanting to take flight in my stomach, something they’ve been doing more and more lately whenever I’m in his presence, despite the rules I put in place.

It doesn’t matter how much I avoid touching him. How much I tell myself this isn’t real. How much I remind myself that he hurt me. My feelings for him are just as strong as they were all those years ago.

Maybe even stronger now that I’ve seen how amazing he is with Maggie. How he treats her as if she were his own.

“Beck! Beck!” Maggie says excitedly, jumping from the swing and running toward him as he heads our way, Monte following close behind, as always.

“Hey, squirt.” He scoops her into his arms and gives her a kiss on the forehead. “How was school today?”

“Good,” Maggie chirps.

“No one gave you any trouble?”

“Nope.”

“You’ll let me know if they do?” He arches a brow.

She gives him an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “Yes, Beck.”

“That’s my girl.”

He gives her another kiss, then sets her on the ground. In a flash, she runs around the yard, Monte chasing after her.

“How was your day?” Beckham asks, pulling my attention to him.

“Good. I finished and delivered another cake.” I beam.

Over the past six weeks, I’ve been able to devote most of my days to experimenting with different cakes and amping up my social media presence.

It’s paid off. People love watching time lapse videos of me building and decorating these cakes, so much so that several of my videos have gone viral.

I’m now getting so many orders that I had to give up my dog-walking job.

All because I finally took a risk.

It helped that I also have access to a decent kitchen now that I’m living with Beckham.

“That’s amazing.” He blows out a laugh. “I still don’t know how you make a cake look like the things you do.”

“Lots of practice,” I reply. “Just like with what you do.”

“I guess so.” A comfortable silence passes between us as we watch Maggie and Monte play together. Then he says, “I talked to Grady.”

I dart my eyes toward him. “You did?”

“Yeah.”

His expression falls, and I fully expect for him to tell me it’s over. That we went through all of this for nothing.

“He’s agreed to sell to me, pending everything checking out. Even pissed off some corporate prick in a suit by refusing to accept his obscene offer.”

My entire body relaxes with relief. “That’s incredible. I’m so happy for you.”

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