After all, she didn’t have a death wish.
Five
“I see you’ve found Kanza.”
Aram stopped midstride across the penthouse, groaning out loud.
Shaheen. Not the person he wanted to see right now.
But then, he wanted to see no one but that keg of unpredictability who’d skittered away from him again. Though he was betting she wouldn’t let him find her again tonight.
While Shaheen wasn’t going anywhere before he rubbed his nose in some choice I-told-you-sos.
Deciding on the best defense, he engaged offensive maneuvers. “Found her? Don’t you mean you and your coconspirator wife threw us together?”
“I did nothing but put my foot in it. It’s your kid sister who pushed things along. But she only ‘threw’ you two together. You could have extracted yourself in five minutes if she’d miscalculated. But obviously she didn’t. From our estimations, you’ve spent over five hours in Kanza’s company. To say you found her…compatible is putting it mildly.”
“Hold it right there, buddy.” He shook his finger at Shaheen. “You’re not even going down that road, you hear? I just talked to the…to the… God, I can’t even find a name for her. I can’t call her girl or woman or anything that…run-of-the-mill. I don’t know what the hell she is.”
“As long as it’s not monster or goblin anymore, that’s a huge development.”
“No, she’s certainly neither of those things.” And Kanza the Monster hadn’t even been his name for her. It had been Maysoon’s and her friends’. That alone should have made him disregard it. He’d adopted it only because he couldn’t find an alternative. And Kanza had unsettled the hell out of him back then. She still did—if in a totally different way. One he still couldn’t figure out. “All night I’ve been thinking sprite, brownie, pixie…but none of that really describes her either.”
“The word you’re looking for is…treasure.”
Aram stared at his friend. “Treasure?”
Then he blinked. Kanz meant treasure. Kanza was the feminine form. How had he never focused on her name’s meaning?
Though… “Treasure isn’t how I’d describe her, either.”
“No?” Shaheen quirked an eyebrow. “Maybe not…yet. She can’t be categorized, anyway.”
“You got that right. But that’s as right as you get. I’m not about to ask for her hand in marriage, so put a lid on it.”
“Your…caution is understandable. You met her—the grown-up her, anyway—only hours ago. You wouldn’t be thinking of anything beyond the moment yet.”
“Not yet, not ever. Can’t a man enjoy the company of an unidentifiable being without any further agenda?”
Knowing amusement rose in Shaheen’s eyes. “You tell me. Can he?”
“Yes, he can. And he fully intends to. And he wants you and your much better half to butt out and stay out of this. Let him have fun for a change, and don’t try to make this into anything more than it is. Got it?”
Shaheen nodded. “Got it.”
He threw his hands in the air. “Why didn’t you argue? Now I know I’m in for some nasty surprise down the road.”
Abandoning his pretense of seriousness, Shaheen grinned teasingly. “From where I’m standing, you consider the surprise you got a rather delightful one.”
“Too many surprises and one is bound to wipe out all good ones before it. It’s basic Surprise Law.” Folding his arms across his chest, he shot his friend a warning look. “Keep your royal noses out of this, Shaheen. I’m your senior, and even if you don’t think so, I do know what’s best for me, so permit me the luxury of running my own personal life.”
Shaheen’s grin only widened. “I already said I…we will. Now chill.”
“Chill?” Aram grimaced. “You just managed to give me an anxiety attack. God, but you two are hazards.”
Shaheen took him around the shoulder. “We’ve done our parts as catalysts. Now we’ll let the experiment progress without further intervention.”
He narrowed his eyes at him. “Even if you think I’m messing it up? You won’t be tempted to intervene then?”