“No.”
“Did you ask him to marry you?”
“Well, no.”
Qhev shrugged. “Doesn’t sound like you’re leading him on.”
“He’s made his intentions pretty clear from the start. He calls me his little wife.” My cheeks burned at the admission.
“And you like it,” Qhev said, grinning. “Don’t deny it.”
“Well, maybe I do,” I said, burning hotter. “But that doesn’t change anything. For all I know, he has ten human women on the line, calling all of us his wife because he can’t keep our names straight.”
Qhev shook his head, laughing. “Now we’re getting somewhere,” he said.
“And who am I to judge if he does?”
“But the idea bothers you,” Qhev said, enjoying my discomfort way too much. “I think you’re jealous, babe.”
“So what if I am?” I huffed. “That’s just proof that this whole thing is a bad idea, and I need to cut him off now.”
“It’s just, jealousy is a guy thing for us,” he said. “Females don’t get jealous. Why would they? If a male is lucky enough to attract a mate, he doesn’t stray.”
Maybe it was my experience with human men projecting onto daernir males, but I still found that hard to believe. “Well, this is different. I haven’t agreed to anything. Why wouldn’t he keep his options open? You do.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want a mate,” Qhev said. “Not yet anyway.”
“Well, neither do I,” I said. “So I’m going to call it. Maybe I’ll make some ground rules for myself about how long I talk to any one guy so I don’t catch feelings or lead anyone on. I think two weeks is probably a good cut-off point, don’t you?”
“I’m exempt from this?” he asked.
“Obviously.”
Nodding, he said, “Yeah. Two weeks sounds about right. Poor saps fall quick and hard.”
“Okay. So that’s it. I’m going to break things off with him when he calls tonight.”
“Sure,” Qhev said.
“I’m serious.”
“Yeah. I know, babe.”
Eyes narrowed, I frowned at him because he didn’t sound like he believed me at all. But I was dead serious. Andrew was right. I was dangerously close to becoming one ofthose womenfor a bossy man who vaped way too much and didn’t smile enough.
“Wanna practice on me?” Qhev offered, still having fun at my expense.
“Yes,” I said, because I could use the practice even if he was teasing me.
“Marry me, babe,” he said, laughing.
“Be serious. He’s not going to say that.”
“What’s he going to say, then?”
“First of all, he’s not going to be laughing. He’s a broody type, always scowling,” I said. “And I’m not going to give him a chance to ask me to marry him. All he’ll have time for is a grumpy ‘Were you good today,Aneah?’and then I’ll say?—”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Qhev interrupted, sitting up. “He calls you that?Aneah?”
