WIN him back.
It seemed like a simple enough concept, and it probably was… if you had memories and context to help you out. But Aidan was missing both of those things, and he had no idea where to start.
But he knew someone who could help.
Jasper slid breathlessly into the opposite side of a booth in the pub across the street from Tuninas. “I’ve gotta be back at my desk in thirty minutes. Oh, nachos. Can I?”
Aidan nudged the mostly full plate in Jasper’s direction. “Knock yourself out.”
Nassim had ordered Aidan to take a few days off work—whether because he needed space or because he was worried Aidan couldn’t handle the stress of being back at the office, Aidan wasn’t sure. But he didn’t say he had to stay in the apartment, not that Aidan would have listened if he had.
“So how was Montreal?”
Aidan shrugged. “I met the king. And his consort. Oh, and the duke of the dragons.”
Jasper’s eyes bugged out. “Really? That’s so cool.”
“And Nassim told me we were mates.”
Jasper sucked in a breath—and started to cough. Aidan scrambled out of the booth to slap Jasper on the back until he waved him off. “I’m good,” he rasped. “Sorry.” He offered a smile to the server, who had brought over a glass of water. “Thank you.”
“You sure you’re all right?” the server asked as Aidan sat back on his side of the booth.
“Yep. Perfectly fine.”
She left with an uncertain look, and Jasper didn’t waste any time turning back to Aidan.
“You and Nassim are what?”
“Mates.”
“Shit.” Jasper sank back into the bench. “Shit. No wonder he was so panicked when you disappeared.”
“So no one else knew?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Goddammit, Nassim.” Jasper scrubbed a hand over his short hair. “Okay. You’re mates. So… you’re, like, married?”
“Dragon married. Kind of. It’s a three-stage ritual, and we completed only two of the stages before I… well.”
“You’re not grinning from ear to ear over this news, so I’m going to assume you don’t want to be mates anymore?”
“No. It’s Nassim who doesn’t want it.” Aidan sighed. “For reasons that I can’t really get into. Just trust me when I say they’re valid, but also stupid.”
“Ha. Okay. That sounds like Nassim.”
“Right?”
“So you’re going to win him back.”
Aidan smiled, happy that Jasper got it. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do. But I need some help. Someone to bounce ideas off of. I don’t really know what I’m doing. It’s not like I have any frame of reference for this sort of thing.”
“What are you thinking? Big gesture, little gesture?”
“I was thinking I’d… make him dinner. I like cooking, so….” He looked at Jasper hopefully. “I found some recipes for traditional dragon meals online.”
Jasper wrinkled his nose. “You did a Google search, huh?”
“Yeah. So?”
“We had an international food festival thing for employees, and Nassim brought a tray of deli meat.”
Aidan frowned. “Uh… that’s really….”
“Right? So I asked him about it. Dragons don’t have traditional dishes. In their dragon form, they eat livestock, or deer, moose, whatever. In human form they eat whatever the humans in their area eat. See, that’s their tradition—to stay hidden by adopting the traditions of the people around them.”
“That makes a lot of sense.” And explained the very bland buffet at the party to celebrate Inas’s eard al’usra. “So we eat a lot of cold meat, huh?”
Jasper grinned. “Yeah. So the recipes you found online are either people trying to capitalize on the uniqueness of dragons or total bullshit.”
“Okay. Traditional dragon dinner is out.” Aidan tapped his fingers against the table. “I could maybe start smaller and get him one of those fidget spinner things for his pocket? Since he likes his worry stones so much.”
“Aidan. Sweetheart. Have you ever seen one of Nassim’s worry stones?”
“No. Why?”
Jasper chuckled. “They’re gems.”
“As in—”
“Rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, oh my.”
Aidan choked.
“Uh-huh. He’s a dragon, and he likes his shinies. So maybe a spinner thingy isn’t the way to go, unless it’s diamond encrusted.”
Aidan rubbed a hand over his face. “Then what do I do? I mean, I don’t remember ever doing this before. I have no basis for it, no background, and all I can think of is to do something special—important—but I don’t know what that might be. I want to convince him I’m a good risk. I’m here for the long haul. I’m not going to disappear again.”
Jasper sobered. “You know you can’t promise that.”
“I’m mythos,” Aidan reminded him. “I’m not as frail as a human, and there’s no war going on that might take me away.”
“Ah.” Jasper nodded. “So the company legend….”
“Is true.”
“Damn,” Jasper breathed. “You’ve got your work cut out for you.”
“But he loved me when he thought I was human. He was willing to risk his heart again. What we had must have been… magical.” Aidan rolled his eyes. “Corny, but—”
“No, not corny. Beautiful.” Jasper offered an encouraging smile. “So what we need to do is remind Nassim that you’re mythos.”
“He knows that I’m mythos.”
“Right. Logically he understands it. I don’t think there’s any question of that. But emotionally?”
“Emotionally?” Aidan echoed.
“He tied himself, emotionally, to Aidan the human. Now you need to get him to embrace and accept Aidan the mythos.”
“And how do I do that?”
Jasper crossed his arms and stared at the table for a few moments. Then he looked up, and his grin widened. “I got it.”
He went to slide out of the booth, but Aidan put a hand on his arm to stop him. “Hey. You going to share the plan?”
“Nope,” Jasper said, his grin never dimming. “Trust me.”
“With that look on your face? Uh, no.”
Jasper laughed. “I’m wounded, Aidan. But seriously, I’ve got this. I need to make a call. Keep Friday afternoon open, okay?”
“Why? What am I doing on Friday?”
Jasper winked, of all things. “You’ll see.”