“Shit.” Her presence was all over his house like a fingerprint. She’d repotted the plants that he’d purchased just so there would be a reason for her to be here.

He was going to have to get rid of them all.

Leaning against the wood of the front door, Aldo waited for the relief he’d expected to course through him. He could finally be alone. No one would be lurking in his kitchen or keeping up a running commentary over The Price is Right or Entertainment Tonight. No one to pretend for. He could sink into the misery in peace.

As soon as he removed all traces of Gloria from his house. Starting with those fucking cheerful plants. It was like she was here.

Hell, he could practically hear her. Singing.

When Gloria appeared on the stairs, lugging his vacuum cleaner down from the second floor and belting out “I Will Survive,” Aldo was convinced he was hallucinating. He was back in that hallway in high school, watching the pretty girl in the spotlight.

And then she spotted him, shrieked, and dropped the vacuum cleaner the last half flight of stairs.

Gloria yanked the earbuds out of her ears. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Aldo blinked. “Me? I live here. What the hell are you doing here?”

“Your mother said you’d be moving back in this weekend.”

His mother knew exactly when he was moving back home as she’d started a countdown on the refrigerator door last week when he told her.

“So you broke into my house to clean?” Asshole Aldo was rearing his ugly head. But he’d come home for peace and quiet. Not to have his sanctuary invaded by the very woman he was desperately trying to forget.

She looked fresh and pretty, and it made him hate himself even more.

“I used the key you gave me when you asked me to look after your place,” Gloria said stiffly. She descended the rest of the way and stepped over the vacuum cleaner.

He stepped closer. “I don’t need someone cleaning my place out of pity.”

“And I don’t need someone acting like an asshole when I was simply doing something nice,” Gloria snapped back, eyes flashing.

For as long as he’d known her, Aldo had never seen a flash of temper from Gloria. It was impressive. And sexy.

She stomped around him, heading for the door, an impressive feat in flip-flops. He hadn’t been this close to her for months. Every sense was alive and reporting back to him in emergency messages. She smelled like cookies and lemon. Her voice, that hint of huskiness, hit him in the chest while his eyes drank her in. She had her short hair pinned up and back, leaving her face unframed. Everything about her was still so delicate. The bone structure, the graceful curve of her slim neck.