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“No,” she began, exhaling and crossing her arms like Anastasia had. “It absolutely is not. What makes you think I would all of a sudden change my mind about you?”
“What can I say?” I shrugged. “To know me is to love me.”
Ava continued to shake her head. “I’m sure that there is no shortage of women around here who are more than willing to throw themselves at you. However, I’m not one of them.”
“And here I thought you were special,” I said, pausing to lick my lips for a second.
She narrowed her eyes at me. A frown spread across her forehead. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Hmm?” I said, shrugging. “Oh nothing.”
I turned and started to walk in the direction of the garage once again. Ava jumped in front of me and touched her finger against my chest. Now I had her right where I wanted her. Pausing, I looked down at her finger and then drew my eyes back up to meet hers.
“Don’t try that with me,” she said. For a couple of seconds she managed to keep a straight face before a tiny smile curled at the edge of her lips. “What did you mean?”
I reached up and wrapped my fingers around her hand, gently prying it away from me.
“First of all, don’t touch me,” I said, following it with a quick wink.
As before, Ava folded her arms at her chest. I took a moment to savor her figure. The way she angled her body at me in displeasure accented the curve of her hips and the fullness of her tits. She didn’t let me linger for long, though.
“Are you going to tell me or not?”
“Fine,” I began. “I can see that you’re not going to leave me alone until I do.”
“No.”
“See, the thing is, I don’t usually date women with kids. Hell, I don’t even date women with nephews. However, in your case I’m willing to make a special exception.”
Just then, Ava’s expression changed again. The smile vanished from her lips and she looked away from me. After only another second or so, she turned.
“I should be getting back.”
I frowned. “What’s the rush?”
I had no idea why she closed herself off from me all of a sudden. It must’ve had something to do with the kid, but I really didn’t know. What was clear was that I was losing the little connection we did have. If I didn’t do something, and do it quick, I could forget all about getting together with her.
“Tell you what,” I said, stepping in her direction. “You can bring Simon with you if you want.”
She shook her head. “No, I… This is really not something that I’m interested in, Dyson. You’re probably not as awful as I’ve been imagining, but…”
“Oh thanks. That’s nice of you.”
Ava uncrossed her arms and held them up in front of her body, pleading with me a bit. “No, that’s not what I meant. It’s just that… Oh, never mind.”
I’d hit on a sensitive spot where the kid was concerned. There was obviously more to the story. She seemed like someone I wanted to get to know better, so I gave it one last shot.
“I’m only gonna be here for a few days,” I said. “There’s no pressure. I mean, for Christ’s sake, I just said you could bring your nephew. How much less threatening could I possibly be?”
Ava reached up and gathered a handful of hair in her hand to keep it from blowing in her face once more. Chewing on her lip, she looked at me.
“I know I’m going to regret this.”
I nodded and smiled. “How does eight o’clock sound?”
She grimaced. “It sounds like something I need to think about.”
AVA
I glanced in the rearview mirror at my nephew’s semi-slumped position in the back seat.
“Is he sleeping?” I whispered.
Jillian turned in her seat and peeked into the rear of the car.
Nodding, she glanced in my direction. “Yeah.”
Dyson qualified to start in fifth place on race day. He seemed less than thrilled about it, but the excitement took its toll on my nephew. The afternoon at the racetrack exhausted poor Simon. Amid the hustle and bustle, Dyson and Marco went above and beyond to show him a good time. Fortunately for Jillian and me, once he fell asleep, Simon was all but impossible to wake up.
I turned my attention to the road ahead. “It looks like you and Marco got along well today.”
Jillian turned her head in my direction a bit. “Yeah.”
Frankly, I’d hoped for a little bit more of an enthusiastic response from her. Not that it was practical or realistic for her to hook up with him, but I preferred anything over her good-for-nothing boyfriend, Dan.
“That’s it?” I replied. “Yeah?”
“What? He didn’t talk about himself very much. Most of the time he kept the conversation focused on me and Simon.”
I frowned. “Hmm, okay.”
Jillian turned her upper body towards me. “And, anyway, who cares about what happened with me? You still haven’t told me anything about your conversation with Dyson.”
“Well, I really didn’t have an opportunity. You know, since we were all together the entire time.”
Double checking, Jillian looked in the backseat one more time to see if Simon stirred at all.
“Okay, it’s just me and you now. Spill it.”
I shrugged. “There’s really nothing to say. He asked me out, and I told him I’d think about it.”
“I don’t understand you sometimes, Ava,” she said, exhaling and dropping her hands in her lap. “Why don’t you just go out and have some fun? You deserve it.”
We eased up to a traffic light. I applied gentle pressure to the brake. The car came to a stop and I looked at her.
“You know it’s not that simple.”
“What do you mean? Because of Simon?”
I nodded. “I can’t just bring anyone around, and I certainly can’t go out with every man who wants me to. You know that, Jillian.”
“Well, okay, but when is the last time you actually went on a date, Ava? How long has it been?”
“Eight months,” I replied, shaking my head in disbelief at the amount of time.
“Okay, eight months, Ava. That is completely ridiculous.”
The light turned green, and I put my foot on the accelerator, pressing it down steadily.
“I’m not disagreeing with you, but the last man I need to break that streak with is Dyson Vix.”
“Why?” Jillian replied, slapping her palms down on top of her knees. “What’s wrong with him? He seems to have a thing for you. He was very sweet to Simon. I don’t get what the problem is.”
I exhaled. “The guy is a player, Jillian. We’ve already had this discussion. I don’t think it’s a good idea to put myself in a situation with someone like that.”
“Oh, come on. What are you trying to say? That you can’t go out and have fun with him for one night? Are you worried you won’t be able to control yourself? Is that it?”
I snapped my head in her direction for an instant before looking down the road again. I chewed the inside of my mouth. A sudden dryness came to the inside of it.
“What? No. That’s not what I’m saying, Jillian. He’s just not the kind of guy I want around Simon.”
Jillian moaned. “Oh, give me a break, Ava. What—are you gonna marry the guy now?”
I shook my head at her little insult.
“I think you’re taking this whole thing way too seriously, Ava.”
“Well,” I began, gesturing towards the backseat with a nod of my chin. “What choice do I have? He comes first. End of story.”
Jillian folded her arms across her chest. “Well I’m sure that you’ll be in the front row on his wedding day. Old, single Aunt Ava.”
I grimaced at her for a moment before I spoke once more.
“Something kind of funny did happen. When we went for a walk.”
Jillian looked at me. “What?”
“Do you remember when I told you he slept with those women after his exam at Dr. Wilcox’s office? The Russian girls?”
Jillian chuckled and shook her head. “How could I forget?”
“Well, one of them came up to us while we were talking outside of the garage.”
“Really? What happened?”
I spent the next several minutes telling her about the encounter between Dyson and Anastasia. I told her how he more or less brushed her off, demanding that she not bother him while we were talking to each other.
“Oh my God,” she said. Jillian glanced towards me again. “What happened?”
“She stomped off.”
“What did Dyson do? Did he go after her?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Ohhh, see? I told you he’s into you, Ava,” she replied, barely able to contain her excitement. “I don’t get why you’re being so difficult about this whole thing.”
I had to admit his attempts at being charming were beginning to soften me towards him, but not enough to even think about letting my guard down. I was under no illusion—he was only after one thing from me. And so, while Jillian might have a point that it would be fun, the downside was too great.
I waved her off. “It doesn’t matter whether he’s into me or not. I can’t just look past that kind of behavior. I’m sorry. I can’t.”
