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Madison studied her for a moment before she smiled sympathetically. “Well, you know, I bet not getting married has its perks. Like you will never have to worry about losing your wedding band. Or have to return duplicate wedding gifts. Or stand in line to get a new social security card.” She shook her head. “I hate standing in a line for anything.”
Eden’s anger fizzled out, and she laughed. “Are you always so positive?”
“No. Sometimes I can be quite grumpy.” She held out the éclair. “Now eat this before I do. And while you’re eating, tell me about your family. You’ve got my curiosity up.”
At The Lemon Drop, she and Madison had only been able to talk in between Eden bartending. But for the next hour, they talked nonstop. Or Eden talked nonstop. Once the marriage thing was out, she started babbling like a brook. She told Madison about her mother the yoga instructor and Buddhist and her father being a war correspondent and then a journalism professor. She talked about her twin brothers, whose main goals were catching the perfect wave and skateboarding in the X Games. And she talked about her nudist grandparents who lived in San Francisco and kept dropping batches of magic brownies at Eden’s apartment.
“Like marijuana magic brownies?” Madison asked.
“Those would be the ones. I think they believe it will loosen their tight-assed granddaughter up.”
Madison laughed. “Well, you are a little tight, Eden. And with a laid-back family like yours, I don’t know how it happened. Or maybe I do. I’m not much like my family either.”
“Since your mom was the president of the PTA and your father is a preacher, I guess not.”
A look of regret entered Madison’s eyes, but it was gone so quickly that Eden wondered if she’d imagined it. “Yeah,” she said before her eyes lit up. “Look, there’s Chloe.”
Chloe was nothing like Madison. Madison was average height, blond, and full figured, and Chloe was tall, brunette, and model thin. Madison was probably in her mid-thirties, and Chloe didn’t look older than Eden’s brothers. Madison was the happy hooker, and Chloe was more the angry dominatrix. She had a diamond stud in her nose, and a tribal tattoo peeked from between her black running pants and the short T-shirt with skulls. But she was just as beautiful as Madison. Maybe even more so. With her rich brown hair and dark eyes, she looked a little like Audrey Hepburn gone Goth.
Madison made the introductions. “Chloe, this is my good friend Eden. She’s the one that helped you out the other night by taking the Dark Seducer.”
Chloe didn’t look grateful. “So are we going to run or not?”
Eden wanted to point out that they could’ve been running a lot sooner if Chloe had been on time. But since the girl had information she wanted, she held her tongue and followed her to the running trail.
According to the marathon website, pace was everything. You needed to learn your body’s limits and adjust your pace accordingly. It turned out to be harder than Eden thought. Especially when trying to get information out of an athletic girl who looked like she could win a marathon. Chloe had perfect pace. Too bad it was so fast. After only a half a mile, Eden was huffing like a freight train and Madison called it quits.
“That’s it for me, girls,” she said as she slowed. “My boobs can’t take the abuse. Walking is more my speed.”
If she hadn’t needed answers, Eden would’ve slowed to a walk too. Instead, she hurried to catch up with Chloe. “So I wanted to thank you for letting me take over for you the other night. The man was quite… interesting.” When Chloe completely ignored her, she continued. “So how long have you known the Dark Seducer? The Dark Seducer sounds so silly. Does he have a first name?”
Chloe shot her a mean glance. “What’s it to you?”
“Nothing. I was just wondering. I mean, he is kind of intriguing.” Eden massaged a cramp in her side as she ran. “So he calls you and sets up the times? Have you ever seen him?”
Chloe stopped running and turned to her. “Look, I made a mistake by giving you the guy. And if you think that you’re going to horn in on Zac’s business, then you’ve got another think coming.”
Eden held up her hands. “I don’t want to horn in on Zac’s business.”
“Really? Then why did the Dark Seducer ask for you tonight?”
“Tonight? He wants to see me tonight?”
“As if you didn’t know.” Chloe leaned closer. “You might be able to pull that wide-eyed, innocent shit with Mary Fuckin’ Poppins back there, but you can’t pull it with me. You’re not some dumb bimbo bartender who wants to write a romance novel, are you?”
“Hey.” Madison came walking up. “What’s going on? I hope you’re not getting crabby with Eden, Chloe. I want her to like you as much as I do.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Look, Maddie, thanks for inviting me along. But I’d rather run with friends.” She glanced at Eden. “And you need to be careful with this one. She’s not who you think she is.”
After she ran off, Madison looked at Eden. “Are you okay? She didn’t hit you, did she? She has been known to throw a punch.”
Eden watched Chloe disappear around a bend. No, Chloe hadn’t thrown a punch, but she had thrown her for a loop. Nash Beaumont wanted to see her again? It made absolutely no sense. Especially when he was the one who had kicked her out. But regardless of whether it made sense or not, if Eden wanted a story, there was only one thing she could do.
She had to meet with the Dark Seducer one more time.
CHAPTER SIX
She wasn’t going to show.
