“No, they meddle and make me feel uncomfortable, but I’m okay with being single. It’s not the same.”
“Thanks.” She cleared her throat. “And speaking of being single….”
He groaned; he’d really walked right into that one. Though in the interest of cheering Afra up, he could submit to a few awkward questions and some innuendo. “Yes, all right. Let’s hear it.”
Afra leaned forward, watching his face. “Okay, well, first of all, since when do you take men home without first wining and dining them until evenIhave blue balls—”
Well, he asked for it.
“—and second, you’re dating bartenders now?”
Ouch. That particular flavor of skepticism stung. “Is that really what you think of me? That I’m shallow?”
Afra rolled her eyes. “Come on. It’s not shallow that you’re generally attracted to guys with genius-range IQs. I don’t think you’reshallow. I think you only date guys you’d bring home to Maman and Baba.”
“And Maman and Baba—” would not approve of Ari bringing home a bartender.
“Are kinda shallow.”
Fair point.
“Well, we’re notdating,” Ari said, trying to keep the tone light and failing completely.
“What!” Afra yelped, sitting up straight. “Why not?”
Ari could not tell her about Jax being aromantic. For one thing it wasn’t his to tell, and for another she’d insist he stop seeing Jax, which he had no intention of doing. “Well, like you mentioned, Maman and Baba….”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, so what? You’re thirty-two years old! You can date who you want.”
Sure, hecould, if he wanted to defend his choices to his parents for the rest of his life. “You believe that?” Just because she’d found a guy their parents didn’t intentionally drive away didn’t mean it was easy. Shehappenedto fall in love with a guy who had multiple degrees and came from a perfect nuclear family.
Sighing, she melted a little. “Well, I’dliketo believe it. I think they’d come around eventually.”
“Maybe.”
“Anyway, let me get this straight.” Afra didn’t look amused anymore. Actually she looked like she wanted to kick his ass. “You can’t take Jax home to Maman and Baba, so instead of dating him you’re just using him for sex?”
Okay, that did sound terrible. “Maman and Baba not approving is incidental to the reason. It’s Jax.”
“What about him?”
“He’s….” Ari grasped for straws. “Kind of skittish. I thought if I tried to date him first it might scare him off.”
Afra pursed her lips in a way that meant she was attempting to hide a smile. “So you’re, what, incepting him into dating you? You’ve got an awful high opinion of your skills.”
Now Ari allowed himself to give in to the satisfied smile that he deserved. “After last night, so does Jax.”
She barked a laugh, finally. “All right, all right. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Not the slightest idea,” Ari said. “But it’s kind of a refreshing change.”
Afra raised her iced coffee and waited for him to do the same. “I’ll drink to that.”
JAX RANout of flour during the seventh recipe.
The sixth batch was still in the oven, so he couldn’t just leave and buy more. And in point of fact, he probably shouldn’t be makingthese. Excessive baking was wasteful. And he was going to need every extra dollar.
Unless, of course, he sucked it up and cracked open his laptop.
