Page 116 of Maid For Each Other

“He bought you all this,” Roman said, kneeling down beside the mess of boxes he’d just dropped on the floor. “Cost a small fortune.”

“Shut up, Roman,” I muttered.

“Yeah, no offense,” she said sarcastically, sounding exactlylike the Abi I’d met in Benny’s the first time, “but Dex spending money actually provesmypoint.”

She gave him a look like she wondered why Roman was even there.

“But onthese?” Roman asked, holding up one of the small boxes. “He spent a fortune on inhalers, which I was supposed to help him weave into the bouquets in his office, but I was too slow and you showed up earlier than we’d expected. You really should’ve called.”

I sighed, wondering how he was so good at so many things when he could be such a bumbling jackass about others. “Roman. Stop.”

“What, um…,” she said, her eyebrows crinkled together in that way that I loved, “bouquets…?”

Oh, God, please let that be interest in her eyes.

The doorbell buzzed and I heard, “MISTER POWELL?”

Fuck, what now?!

“Hold that thought,” I said to her, holding out a hand, terrified she’d leave. I yelled to the intercom, “Yes?”

“LAUREN SMEARHAVEN HERE TO SEE YOU. SHOULD I SEND HER UP?”

Lauren who? I didn’t know—

“No!” Abi yelled to the intercom, her eyes wide.

Her cheeks were pink as she turned to Roman and me, blinking rapidly as she said, “That’s my friend.”

Her friend? At my apartment?

Then she yelled to the intercom, “I’m coming down!”

Roman raised his eyebrows at me as if to saywhat the fuck?

“She’s welcome to come up,” I said, desperate to make Abi stay.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “This will only take a second.”

“You’re coming back?” I asked hopefully, realizing how pathetic I sounded.

“I mean, I have to clean the place and I need this job,” she said as she headed for the door. “So yes. I’ll be right back.”

As soon as the door closed behind her, Roman said, “Holy shit.”

I shook my head and dragged my hand through my hair. “Holy shit, indeed.”

“No, I mean holy shit—Lauren Smearhaven has been an investment. I think she was July, maybe.”

What?“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Think about it—Smearhaven? Not a name I’d forget.”

I looked at Roman and shook my head, wondering what in the hellelsecould be thrown into this scene that was supposed to be ending with Abi in my arms.

Lauren fucking Smearhaven.

“Ho-lyshit.”

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