He probably shouldn’t have come. He should have let Aria and Teri bond, but he’d read the article Aria had written about his development in the morning paper, and it had stunned him. Simple and honest. What surprised him further was that she hadn’t yet published anything personal about him. She was leaving him out of it. He should be pleased about that. Usually, he preferred to keep any interest focused on his company and away from himself, but for some reason, he wanted to believe Aria saw the man behind the business—that she was interested in Elijah Lockwood, person, as much as Elijah Lockwood, CEO.

The two words she had afforded him in the morning’s article were ‘efficient’ and ‘ambitious’. Both were true, but he was more than that—something he wanted to her to know. And so here he was, standing next to a ridiculously small car, waiting on two troublesome females.

Aria turned to him and smiled slyly. “We’re not done yet,” she said. “We’ve more shops to look at.”

“What?”

“A few more shops,” she repeated, like it was the most reasonable thing in the world.

“You’ve just been shopping.”

“For casual clothes,” Therese chimed in, looking far too pleased with herself. “Aria promised we could go shopping for dresses too. But you don’t have to come. We’re fine by ourselves.”

Eli was baffled. Was this an invitation to come, or a warning not to? “I’ll tell you what,” he said, thinking quickly. “Why don’t you two finish shopping, and I’ll walk down to the beach. You can meet me there when you’re done.”

“Do you know how to get to the beach?” Aria asked.

“I’m the CEO of a successful business,” he replied. “I can figure it out.”

“He won’t ask for directions,” Teri muttered.

Aria nodded. “Men never do.”

Biting back a retort, he stalked off. Aria’s proclamations and proclivity for teasing made him want to growl or argue her into submission, but doing so would be counterproductive. As long as he continued to surprise her, he would have the upper hand.