“Naomi,” he said by way of greeting, handing over the bottles of wine and accepting her hug gracefully.
“Thanks for coming,” she said with her face pressed to his shoulder. “Good. You brought Afra. How are you?”
The women greeted each other with hugs and exclamations of how long it had been.
“Have you met my husband?”
Ari surreptitiously scanned the crowd, telling himself he was not looking for a particular blond head as Afra made the introductions for Ben and Theo.
“You’re adorable,” Naomi said after she got a good look at Theo’s wide dark eyes and curly hair. He was in fact adorable, and people tended to greet him with motherly affection. “And I can’t think of any higher recommendation than being coopted into this family.”
Ari didn’t inhale sharply, but only because he’d spent years controlling and monitoring his every reaction for the stage. Theo had no such training and couldn’t suppress his flinch. At least Naomi had turned away and missed the unhappy look on his face.
Theo didn’t often talk about being adopted or how he felt about it, but he’d dropped enough hints for Ari to know he had complicated feelings born out of being visibly brown and raised by white parents. Ari had often suspected that Theo was so drawn to him and Afra because they understood what it meant to live in brown skin. Though he also suspected spending so much time with no-nonsense Afra and child-psychologist even-keel Ben would be restorative and calming for any twenty-year-old.
“Ari!”
Ari turned to see Jax loping across the lawn, looking like something out of a summer catalog or a Hollywood teen drama. He wore a fuchsia Sun’s Out, Guns Out tank top with a pair of board shorts and flip-flops. His blond hair shone in the sun, and as he stepped into the shade, he slipped his aviators onto the top of his head.
“Jax,” he said, suddenly acutely aware of Afra, Ben, and Theo behind him. Why had he ever thought it was a good idea to put Afra in the same backyard as Jax?
“It’s good to see you in the sunlight,” Jax said with a cheeky grin and some elevator eyes. “It suits you.” Afra was no doubt laughing it up.
“I couldn’t turn Naomi down,” Ari said diplomatically instead of one of the many observations he wished to make about Jax being much more suited to the sun.
Jax laughed. “Definitely not. Though I’m more worried about Kayla’s wrath. She knows my weaknesses.” Something about the way his lips twitched at the last word threw Ari. What exactly did Kayla know, and more importantly, how did she know it?
“Wise to be wary, then,” Ari agreed.
As Afra cleared her throat, Jax glanced over Ari’s shoulder and his eyes widened.
“Oh. Hi.” He lifted a hand to wave. He didn’t appear to wish to crawl into a hole out of embarrassment, like Ari, but he seemed uncertain what to say. He probably didn’t want to make any assumptions.
Best take the plunge. “Jax, meet my sister, Afra, her husband, Ben, and her pet intern, Theo.”
Jax grinned broadly at them and shook their hands. “I’m Jax.”
“No introduction necessary,” Afra said. “I’ve seen the video.”
“The video?” Mischief danced in his eyes. “I’m almost afraid to ask which one.”
Thankfully Naomi had moved on and was not near enough to hear.
Ben chuckled. “The one with the piano. If there are any videos of you involving less clothes, I don’t want to know about them.” He cast a look at Ari.
“None that are on YouTube,” Jax shot back, all good humor.
Ari managed not to blush, but only because Jax implying in front of Ari’s sister that he’d made a sex tape made all his blood want to hide in his toes.
Before he could muster any kind of response, someone shouted at Jax from across the yard. “Hey, Hall! Are you going to waste what might be your last day this year to get your ass handed to you or what?”
With no small amount of trepidation, Ari realized the man was wearing swim goggles and an enormous water tank strapped to his back. There was a pump-action spray gun resting on his shoulder.
Jax gave them a mock-somber look. “Sorry, it looks like my title is in jeopardy from a thirty-five-year-old pediatrician with a Super Soaker.” He winked at Ari. “If I fall on the field of battle, I trust you to avenge me.” Then he jogged off.
“Wow, hate to see him go,” Afra quipped.
Ari’s face burned. “Afra.” Her husband was right there!
