Matched

I open and close my mouth. "I'm doing something with Marina," I say, wracking my brain to think of what we were supposed to do this weekend. It's Saturday. She wants me to come to her place. She wanted to match me with some Stanford professor of biology at her party, but I said I wasn't interested.

"You going to her party, too? She invited me, seeing as I was in town."

"Yes," I say, kicking myself. Now, how do I get out of it? I'll have to call Marina and say I'm sick or something. I do not want to go to the party if Blaine will be there.

No way.

I know he'll be all over me, probably hoping he can luck out and seduce me for the night. I was such a doormat with him.

Not anymore.

"Marina said you’re still single."

"She did?" I say dully, trapped in this nightmare of having lied to Marina about Jon.

"Yeah, she said she's trying to match you up with some Stanford types but isn’t having much luck."

He smiles down at me, his eyes suggesting he's both amused at my bad luck in the love department, and hopeful that he can take advantage of it.

Bastard…

Although my heart was broken when he left, it was probably for the best. If I thought Jon was a rake and rogue, Blaine is even worse. As Marina called him, ‘Mr. Seduction’ says all the right words and makes all the right promises, but he has none of the follow-through.

At least Jon doesn’t make promises he can’t keep.

"What about you?" I ask, wanting to get a dig in if I can. "Any luck in the true romance department?"

"No, sadly," he says and takes in a deep breath, glancing around the store like he's a conqueror. "Just a lot of beautiful women as notches on my belt. Haven't found my one true love yet. Still looking."

"Maybe Marina can match you with someone. She's trying to match Jon."

"Ha!" he says with a guffaw. "Good luck. I'm hard to match. Besides, I'm not on the market to buy just yet. Still kicking tires." He waggles his brows in this really crude way. I know what he means by ‘kicking tires.’ More like smacking butts.

How the hell did I ever think I was in love with him? He's a total, total jerk.

I was good to be rid of him.

It's then that my spine stiffens and I smile back at him. "There's lots of tires if that's your goal. Kick away. I may see you at Marina's tonight. Now, I gotta go."

"Yeah, save a dance for me," he says and holds up his cup of coffee. "For old times’ sake."

"I don't think so," I say and step out of the store and onto the street. "I'm not a tire to be kicked, Blaine. I'm past the test-drive stage."

"Hey, don't be like that," he says as I start walking down the street. He follows me and takes hold of my arm, stopping me. "We ended on good terms, right?"

"Good terms for you."

"You had a chance to come with me. I wanted you to come with me, but you said no."

"Because you wouldn't clarify what I'd be to you. I wasn’t going to upend my entire life unless it was for keeps."

"India, we're not going to get into that old argument…"

"No, we're not," I say and pull away. I want to say something back that's cuttingly sarcastic, but I'm not fast enough on the draw.

Instead, I'm totally creeped out by Blaine, now that I have some distance between us and can see him for what he is – a blowhard jerk who is in love with his own self-image.

I head down the street and duck into the building, glad to be rid of him. I get back up to the office and lock myself in. After plopping down in my chair, I remove my cell from my bag and check my messages.