Tell him you haven't convinced Ariana

Matt is getting too close to the truth, so you realize the best way to handle the situation is to just come out and tell him you never convinced your wife to go on the sex date. If you don’t, he may get more suspicious and ask Ariana, and then the whole jig will be up anyway. At least if you tell him now the worst you can imagine is that he’ll just cancel the date and Ariana will never need to know.

“The truth is I didn’t tell Ariana that you’re going on a sex date,” you explain with a sigh.

“What do you mean?” Matt wrinkles his face as he tries to understand. “You said she’s coming to Chez Mignon, and I helped her pick out a dress. Why would you spend all that money if she’s not coming?”

"She's going to Chez Mignon, but I just told her you wanted to take her out to dinner. She has no idea that the evening might end in sex, or that I gave you permission, and she definitely doesn't know that I'm also going out with Kali at the same time," you answer. "I told her I was working late. I knew she would get angry if I told her the truth, so I lied. And then I didn't tell you the truth, because I thought it would be funny if you tried to have sex with her and she totally rejected you."

"You bastard," Matt leans back on his side of the booth as a wide grin forms across his face. "You absolute fucking genius. I never would have seen it coming because I would never expect you to do something so despicable."

You laugh along with him. "Well, you're taking it much better than expected."

"I would probably be very angry if I'd gotten to the night of the date, and I realized she had no idea," Matt admits. "But now I know, I have time to prepare."

"You're still going on the date?" Your eyes widen and your mouth drops a little. "Even though you know it's going to be practically impossible for you to sleep with her without her knowing about the sex date?"

"Well, we don't know that, but I'm certainly up for the challenge," Matt continues to grin as he sits forward again, leaning on the table as he stares across at you. "You might have upped the difficulty setting, but I believe I can still pull it off."

"You're crazy," you tell him with a shake of your head. "A swap is one thing, because both parties are going into the situation with the consent of the other, but what you're talking about is just straight up cheating. My wife is not going to cheat on me."

"You think so?"

"I know so," you roll your eyes at the size of your friend's ego. "I don't care how charming you think you are, it's a fools errand."

"If you think I have no chance, then let's bet on it," he says, his dark eyes focused on yours.

"What?" you stammer, thrown off guard by the direction of the conversation.

"Since you're confident that I won't get anywhere with Ariana, and I'm confident in my abilities, then why don't we make a wager," Matt reiterates.

You eye your best friend cautiously. You really do have faith in your wife that she won't be swayed by Matt's charms, but the seriousness in which he's proposing this bet makes you wonder if he has some kind of ace up his sleeve. Perhaps he's trying to get back at you by goading you into a fixed game of his own. Or maybe he's just trying to psyche you out. But if he really is just being overconfident then a bet might just be the ticket to really put him in his place.