Page 19 of The Ex Factor

I ordered whisky and waited until Fernando left.

“The name sounds familiar. Is this where we were supposed to meet today?”

“Yes,” I replied. “I thought the good food might make you more amenable to kindness.”

“Then you underestimated me,” she said with a straight face.

“That was a joke. I really like this place.”

She sipped her water. “There’s something I must tell you. I didn’t know what to make of your visit to my room this morning.”

“How do you mean?”

She didn’t respond to my question. “Can I be honest with you?” she asked instead.

“I hope you do.”

“Why is this so complicated?” I caught the exasperation in her tone. She waited a full two breaths before continuing, “Onthe one hand, we have this formal business relationship, and I need to honor that. On the other, I feel like you know exactly what I’m going through right now, and that kind of weakens my position.”

“Hmm, if I understand what you’re going through, it’s because I’m in the same situation. Doesn’t that also weaken my position? And come to think of it, don’t they cancel each other out?”

Fernando returned with our drinks, and we silently raised our glasses and took our first sips.

“This is crisp and really refreshing,” Aarti said, pleased.

“I’m glad. This place has never disappointed me.”

She began to peruse the scant menu placed before us.

“What did you mean when you said you couldn’t figure out why I visited you this morning?” I asked.

“I’m putting aside our business relation for the rest of the evening,” she said, returning the menu back to the table.

“I thought we did that already when you asked me to drop the honorifics,” I argued.

Her lips lifted at the corners. “Okay, this is what confused me. I was conflicted about whether it wasgenuine concern for me or…”

“Or?” I said curious about the dilemma on her mind.

“I couldn’t figure out if you really cared about how I was after last night, or was it merely…”

I smiled. “Merely a way to appease you so you’d reconsider the rent hike?”

She lowered her eyes to the table. “Something like that.”

“And have you arrived at a conclusion?” I asked.

“I’m going with genuine concern,” she answered, then put the wine glass to her lips. The shape of her mouth around the clear glass created flutters in my stomach. I promptly redirected my gaze to her eyes. “If you were someone who believed inplaying games, Tara would have flung you away as far as she could throw you.”

I picked up my glass. The color on her bronze face resembled the liquid gold I was holding up. “None of what happened yesterday or this evening, neither our business association nor our past, precludes us from having a friendship, does it?”

She looked up at me as if my words had shocked her.

“But I wouldn’t impose either way,” I added quickly.

“No,” she replied with equal haste. “That’s…exactly what I was going to suggest. If you were amenable, that is.”

“Amenable?” I said with a gentle frown. “Didn’t we decide to suspend our business relations for the night? That’s a rather formal word, I believe, business-like even.”

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