“Was she all over you,” Lion asked, his mouth full of fries, “when she found out you’re not some poor beggar?”
Khalil laughed. “Yeah, not a vagrant like us two.”
“Speak for yourself, buster," Lion grumbled. "I’m a responsible member of society.”
Khalil gave him a sardonic grin. “Says the man who just bummed lunch off his travel partner.”
“Like you’re not guilty of the same,” Lion said smugly then finished off the fries on his plate and turned his attention back to Rafe. “So when are we going to meet her? Like, officially. With formal introduction and everything.”
Rafe cocked an eyebrow at him. “Me? Introduce Anya to you guys? I don’t think so.”
“Why the hell not?” Khalil looked peeved. “You introduced us to those girls you met in all the other cities. So what’s so special about this one?”
“Anya is…different. You wouldn’t understand.” Rafe shook his head. He’d almost said he didn’t understand it, either. Khalil was right when he’d mentioned those other girls. Rafe had gone through a few of them along the way but none had held his interest long enough to make him stay in town longer than a couple of days. But Anya? Well, all he could say was that if it took all summer to get her to like him then he was more than prepared to stay put. When it came to heading back to Washington he was in no hurry.
“Okay,” Khalil said. “Make us understand. I want to get to know this little lady who’s bewitched you.”
“Me, too.” Lion patted the breast pocket of his army-green vest but when he saw Rafe’s pointed glare he dropped his hand with a guilty look. “Leave me alone, will you? I can’t help it if I have a craving.” Then he leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. “Why don’t you see if she’ll do lunch with you again? Then you can invite me and Khalil along.”
“Sounds good to me.” Khalil jumped in before Rafe could even respond. “What time should we be ready?”
“Hey, hold up, you two. Didn’t I just say I don’t want to introduce her to you?”
“Why not?” Khalil demanded. “Ashamed of us or something? So we’re good enough to trek all over Europe with, but not good enough to meet your princess, Miss Anya?”
Rafe gave him a cool stare, even as his friend’s dark eyes flashed with each word he spoke. Khalil was a good buddy but, in Rafe’s opinion, he was also way too sensitive. Too quick to take everything as a slight, that was Khalil. Lion, on the other hand, wouldn’t know an insult if it hauled off and slapped him in the face. These two were as different as night and day.
“Shut up, will you?” Rafe stared Khalil down until he dropped his gaze and looked away. “I’m proud to call you guys my friends and you know it.”
“So why don’t you want us to meet Anya?” Lion asked, prolonging a discussion that would have been better abandoned.
Rafe sighed. “Because…” he glared at Lion and then at Khalil, “…I know you two. Before you know it one of you will be trying to convince her to go out with you.”
Khalil gave a dramatic gasp. “I’m appalled that you would have such a low opinion of your friends.”
Rafe’s gaze narrowed as he looked back at him. “It’s not like you haven’t done it before. Before we left Spain Paulina came and told me all about your little charade.” At the time Rafe had laughed it off. He hadn’t even let on to Khalil that he knew his friend had approached Paulina. He’d just shrugged it off and moved on but now that Khalil was acting all holy and righteous he decided to drop it in there.
Now, instead of his usual smirk, Khalil squirmed and dropped his eyes. “She told you about that?” he mumbled. “It was no big deal, man. I didn’t think you liked her that much.”
“No, I didn’t like her that much, as you put it. She and I, we were just cool. But that’s not the point.” Rafe’s brows fell. “I don’t want you making moves on any woman I’ve shown interest in and most definitely not this one.” He folded his arms and glared. “I forgave that slip-up. Don’t think I’m going to be that generous again.”
Khalil looked like if the earth could swallow him up he would gladly jump in. Saying not another word, he looked away then nodded.
“Yeah, so about lunch…” Lion looked at Rafe, expectant. It was like he was oblivious to the tension that sizzled at the table. “How does tomorrow look? If we’re doing anything we’d better get cracking. It’s not like we’re going to be in this city too much longer.”
“God, you’re a trip, you know that?” Rafe shook his head, tired of Lion’s insistence. “All right, I’ll ask her, okay? But there’s no guarantee she’ll say yes.”
“Cool.” Lion nodded. “But I’m not dolling up in suit and tie for anybody. What say we do a picnic in the park? She might like that.”
“I doubt it,” Rafe said drily, “but I’ll ask. With you guys not having much in the way of decent clothes that might just be the way to go.”
Lion laughed. “Like your clothes are any better. Don’t get all high and mighty just because you rented a suit.”
Khalil, the tightness in his face easing just a little, gave them a wan smile. “Clothes? Never your strong point, Rafe.”
“True word,” Lion said and slapped his palm down onto the table. “Now let’s go for a walk. I’ve got to work off some of this food. I’m so full I can only waddle.”
Next day Anya called Rafe as promised and, to his surprise, she readily accepted his invitation to picnic with his friends.
“Sure you can handle it?” he asked, teasing her. “They’re not an easy bunch.” It was like he was hoping she’d say no, let’s just do this by ourselves. But no, she was not turned off. Just the opposite. She seemed to enjoy his attempted scare tactic and took it as a challenge.
“I’ll be there,” Anya said with a laugh. “I’m yet to meet a bunch of tourists I can’t handle.”
And so it was that Rafe got his next date with pretty Anya Petersen. The only problem was he’d have his travel buddies tagging along. But if that was what it would take to see her again then he’d gladly suffer their presence.
The more Rafe thought about the idea of the picnic, the more he liked it. Maybe it was a good thing Lion had suggested this no-frills outdoor luncheon. Now there’d be no need to dress up – and that was a relief because he wasn’t exactly the suit and tie sort.