Frisk Me(13)

“Uh oh,” Beth said, leaning forward to grab a handful of potato chips from the bag Ava’d set on the able. “You’re biting your nail.”

Ava dropped her hand to her lap. “Sorry.”

Beth rolled her eyes. “Don’t be sorry. Calls from my mom set me on edge sometimes too, and mine isn’t, um…”

“A nightmare?” Ava said with a knowing smile.

“Yeah. That. But seriously, do you want to call your mom back? Reservations aren’t until eight, so we have time.”

“Definitely not,” Ava said, taking a sip of her wine. “I’ll call her tomorrow.”

“To tell her about Officer McHotty?”

Ava lifted her eyebrows. “Is that what we’re calling him now?”

“Oh, come on,” Beth said, putting a hand over her chest and sighing dramatically. “I’ve seen the videos. And did you see that story in the Times? The one where they caught a picture of him laughing with his brothers? That whole family can frisk me any old time.”

Ava threw a chip at her. “Pull yourself together.”

“But he’s hot, right? In person?”

Ava pursed her lips and glanced at her wine. “He’s good-looking.”

Beth snorted. “From anyone else, that would be an epic understatement. But coming from you, it’s…something.”

“What do you mean, coming from me?”

“I mean,” Beth said around a chip, “that you’re overdue. Past ripe.”

Ava groaned. “That is terrible.”

“It’s true! I mean this with absolutely unabashed love, but I’ve started to wonder if your lady parts weren’t expiring from lack of use.”

“My lady parts are just fine, thank you very much.”

“So you admit it. Officer Moretti is hot.”

Ava laughed at her friend’s relentlessness. “Yes, okay, fine, I admit it. He’s hot.”

Beth’s eyes narrowed and she leaned forward. “You gave in way too easily. What’s the catch. Is he secretly a prick? Gay? Super short?”

“No, no, and no. He…” Ava broke off as she considered. “He seems like a nice guy.”

Beth flopped back with a groan. “Oh no.”

“What?”

“You’re writing him off before you’ve even started the story.”

“Okay, let’s hold it right there. I’m glad you realize that he is in fact a story, not a potential suitor.”

“Suitor? Easy there, your Oklahoma’s coming out.”

“You know what I mean. Quit pretending that Luc is a romantic prospect.”

“Luc, huh?” Beth’s eyebrows wiggled.

Whoops.

Ava leaned forward and grabbed the wine bottle, topping her glass off. “I’m just saying…your upcoming trot down the aisle’s got you all match-makery, and I don’t want to have to spend the next two months having to explain that Officer Moretti is a part of my professional life, not my personal one.”

Even if he is the best-looking guy I’ve seen in a long time.

“Good,” Beth said, holding out her hands and wiggling her fingers for the wine bottle.

Ava handed it over. “Good?”

That was so not the response she’d been expecting. Ava hadn’t been joking when she’d said that Beth’s upcoming marriage had gotten her in a matchmaking mind-set. They couldn’t so much as go out for happy hour without Beth trying to set Ava up with the bus boy.

“Yup! Now that I know that dark-haired, blue-eyed cops with broad shoulders and a rugged jaw line aren’t your type, you have no reason to say no when I invite you out to dinner with me and Christian next weekend…and one of Christian’s co-workers, who’s blond, brown-eyed, and lanky.”

Ava groaned as she realized she’d walked right into Beth’s trap.

“Please? Gabe is really sweet. One of the good ones, I swear, and if it doesn’t work out, I won’t push, and you never have to see him again—”

Ava took a swallow of wine. A big one. “No.”

Beth stopped mid-rant, her blue eyes blinking in confusion. “No? That’s it?”

“I’m saying no, but saying it kindly. And not because I don’t trust you, but because I’m just not in a place to fall in love right now. Work is crazy.”

And actually, falling in love seems to be one thing I don’t seem capable of. Ever.

Beth sulked. “How about after you finish this big story?”

Ava sighed. Her best friend was like a dog with a bone. “Maybe. Maybe then.”

Beth grinned happily. “Yay!”

“Yeah,” Ava mumbled. “Yay.”

She didn’t have the heart to tell her friend, but Ava would bet serious money on the fact that she wouldn’t be falling for any of these guys that Beth seemed determined to set her up with. Not because they wouldn’t be perfectly nice.

In fact, sometimes nice was the problem. The nice ones never said it out loud on a first date, but they were the ones who were angling toward marriage and babies and things that Ava just wasn’t at all sure she was ready for. Or would ever be ready for.

Ava knew there was supposed to be some deep, dark secret…some festering reason why she didn’t want to get married, didn’t want to commit…but the truth was, it just didn’t appeal. It had never appealed. Maybe it was her parents’ stable, but symbiotic, relationship that had turned her off, or just one too many boring boyfriends over the years, but lately Ava had been finding the prospect of marriage more and more unappealing.