Diego watches me, not making any attempt to touch the pizza, but with a clear longing in his eyes.

“Did you have dinner?” I ask.

He shakes his head.

“Get the Cokes from the fridge”—I jerk my chin backward toward the kitchen—“and you can have a slice or two.”

We establish a sort of pizza-truce and eat dinner mostly in silence, but not without an extensive amount of non-verbal eye communication. Not a single serious word has been spoken, and yet I feel as if I’ve already lost. I’ve tried to lock my heart behind a steel cage, but between Diego and the kitten, all my defenses have melted.

The pizza disappears alarmingly quickly, and once it’s gone there’s no more circling around the famous pink elephant in the room.

I take one last sip of Coke, and say, “So?”

“So.”

“Why are you here? Why now?”

“There’s a certain magic in the air tonight.”

“And you just assumed I’d spend New Year’s Eve home alone.”

Diego’s sexy-and-infuriating smirk makes another appearance. “I might’ve had a little tip-off.”

I tilt my head questioningly.

“Blair called,” he confesses. “She gave me a half-an-hour pep talk explaining all the reasons why I was being an idiot, and then told me that if I came to my senses, I’d find you here all alone and majorly pissed off that you weren’t invited to her friend’s party.”

That sneaky bitch.

I can’t help but smile. Oh, she got me good this time.

“Care to repeat them?” I ask.

“What?”

“All the reasons why you’ve been an idiot.”

“No,” he says. “You go first.”

“Me?” My mouth dangles open. “If this is your way to apologize—”

“I’ve always been honest with you. You’ve been the one keeping secrets. Paul first, then your sister…”

I want to get up and shove him out of my house, but the kitten is forcing me to stay put and talk. “You already know everything there is to know.”

“Did you really run after Paul only to make him go back to Julia?” Diego asks.

“Yes. Why else would I go after him?”

“I thought you wanted to break them off for good.”

“What? What kind of horrible person would do that?”

“The same kind who would hire a guy she’s mapped to her sister’s every fantasy to play her fake boyfriend.”

Touché.

“I’m not an angel; so what? I just wanted to annoy Julia a little.”

Diego shakes his head. “And look how well it ended the last time she just wanted to annoy you a little. She made you miserable for two years.”

“Well, she’s not perfect, either. Anyway, my relationship with my sister has nothing to do with us. You left me,” I accuse him.

He shifts his butt on the rug so that he’s now sitting next to me, both our backs leaning against the couch. Diego takes my hand into his and starts drawing small circles on my palm with his thumb. “I’m sorry,” he says.