“We didn’t suit, Mum.”

Eli had the feeling they’d had similar conversations many times before. He cleared his throat. Donna glanced up.

“Sorry, Elijah!” she exclaimed. “I forgot you were there. Won’t you eat with us?”

“Yes,” Aria said defeatedly, looking from her mother to her brother to Eli and finally at the floor. “Why don’t you join us?”

Eli couldn’t help but enjoy Aria’s discomfort. She deserved it for disappearing from his bed. He took a seat at the edge of the table, and as if by some miracle, a dinner appeared before him from the mess on the counter, along with a glass of fizzy orange punch.

The hearty steak and pasta bake smelled delicious, and the banter during dinner was light-hearted and teasing. They ignored him for the most part, except for a few suspicious glances from Justin, assessing looks from Cooper, and shrewd questions from Avery. Although she stopped asking questions eventually, he got the feeling she suspected things weren’t as they appeared. Maybe Aria wasn’t the sort of person to bring work home on the weekends, or maybe he reeked of dishonesty.

While Donna cleared the dishes away, Aria laid a hand on his shoulder and drew him into the bathroom, closing the door behind them.

“What game are you playing?” she demanded.

In response, he gripped her hips and claimed her lips in a hot, hungry kiss—something he’d been aching to do since he woke to find an empty bed. At first she resisted, but within seconds she was sinking into him, winding her arms around his neck and surrendering sweetly to his onslaught.

Eli broke free, feeling triumphant. “I knew it!”

Her eyes were still hazed with passion, and she squeezed them shut. “What?”

“You still want me. What we have between us isn’t over.”

Aria swallowed. “It has to be over because it should never have happened.”

“Why not?” He bent and took her mouth in another kiss, slow and drugging. “We’re good together.”

“We—we—uh...”

“Yes?” he taunted when she couldn’t string a sentence together. “You started this, Aria, when you turned up in my living room at the crack of dawn, looking like a damned angel. But I decide when it’s finished.”

“We’re too different,” she said. “I shouldn’t have given in to the attraction. It was a mistake.”

“Too late for that, sweetheart,” he countered.

“Damn, you’re frustrating,” she snapped.

“Sexually?” His eyes glittered with humor. “Can you resist?”

There was a flash of doubt in her eyes, but she replied firmly, “No to the first, yes to the second.”

Then she brushed past him and went back to her guests.

Avery lingered after Aria had shooed everyone else out. When they were sitting alone with a bottle of Irish whiskey, she said, “Well, that was interesting.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Aria replied.