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“Ava! Good God, I’ve been calling your name for twenty-odd minutes. Dinner’s done,” Dad said, lifting his apron up and over his head before hanging it on the side of the fridge.
“Why…why didn’t you tell me Adrian was coming?” I asked, trying to keep my voice as level as I could. “I should change.”
I glanced over at Adrian just in time to catch him mouthing,I’m sorry.
“Don’t be ridiculous, pop tart,” Dad scoffed. “Adrian’s seen ya in pajamas before. I doubt he has a problem with it.”
He’s seen me in a lot less than pajamas.
“Honestly, Dave, I don’t mind if she wants to change. We can wait a few more minutes to eat,” Adrian offered. He glanced over at me, and for a split second, his eyes wandered below my chin, snagging briefly on the swell of my breasts.I should have worn a fucking bra.I pulled the sides of my cardigan closed at the front.
Dad groaned as he spun on the spot with a giant pot of Alaskan king crabs. “Fine. Go change clothes, kiddo. Be quick.”
————
I didn’t feelthatmuch more comfortable in one of Dad’s hoodies and my jeans, but it was better than being braless in front of the one person I was actively trying not to be attracted to.
“So,” Dad said, hooking the cracker tool around the widest part of a claw and clamping down, filling the dining room with a loudcrack. “How’s the matchmakin’ going?”
“Great,” Adrian lied.
“A disaster,” I clarified. I shoved my tiny two-prong fork into one of the long sections of a leg and fished out the meat. “Don’t listen to Adrian, he’s just trying to be nice to me.”
Adrian’s gaze lingered on me for half of a second too long, and I found myself tearing my gaze away, focusing instead on dipping the strip of meat into the little bowl of melted seasoned butter.
“It hasn’t beenthatbad,” he said. “I just haven’t found anyone I’d like to see again yet.”
I shot him a glare. He was sugarcoating this—hard.
“Really? Ava’s usually a mastermind when it comes to this kind of shit,” Dad said, cracking another bit of shell with his tool. “You sure you’re not being a particularly difficult client?”
I snorted as I shoved a strip of meat between my teeth.
“I think we’ve both just been severely unlucky,” Adrian chuckled. “Some of the women I’ve met with have been…questionable at best, but I don’t think that’s Ava’s fault. I mean hell, one of them came right out and told me that she’d lied about being okay with kids purely to have the chance to go on a date with me. That’s not Ava’s fault.”
“That’s true, I had no idea. Lucy was very convincing,” I said, popping another bit of crab into my mouth.
“Maybe you should be pulling from people who are a little less desperate to go on dates with wealthy men, kiddo,” Dad offered.
I shrugged. “It’s hard to keep up with all the requirements Adrian has,” I said, and it wasn’t technically a lie. I didn’t know how much Adrian had told my father in terms of what he was searching for, but I wasn’t about to out him on it if he wanted privacy in that regard. “Widening the pool seemed like a good idea when we started a few weeks ago. I probably need to go back to the drawing board.”
“After Melissa? Absolutely you do,” Adrian laughed.
“Melissa?” Dad asked.
Adrian chuckled as he cracked into a claw. “The woman I met last night. She turned up stoned to high hell and wearing a fairy costume.”
A staggered coughing sound came from Dad, and for a split second, I wasn’t sure if he was cackling or choking on crab meat.
“Jesus. Right, you two seriously need to work this out.” Dad wiped his mouth with his cloth napkin as he set down his cracker tool.
“Maybe Adrian is just too hard for me to pin down,” I shrugged, glancing across at him. “He’d probably do better on his own at this point.”
“Ava—”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Dad snapped, cutting Adrian off. “Listen, you two have barely scratched the surface. And I get that—I do, kiddo. You knew him when you were a teenager and probably barely paid attention to him.”
I swallowed.I paid far too much attention to him, Dad.
