The smile he’d been trying to hide before is now wide and warm and… heart-shattering, unfortunately for me.

“I’m in no way mollified,” I tell him.

The grin now turns foxy. “Of course you aren’t.”

“So.” I pause for effect. “What are you doing here?”

Before he can answer, the buzzer goes off again.

“It’s the pizza,” I say. “Do you mind getting that?”

I don’t want to disturb the cat.

Diego gets up and comes back two minutes later carrying a family-sized pizza box.

He places the box in front of me and eyes it suspiciously. “Are you sure you’re not expecting company?”

“No,” I reply, and to justify the disproportionate pizza, I add, “I thought I’d warm some for lunch tomorrow.”

So not true. Left to myself, I would’ve scarfed down the whole thing tonight. I mean, single and alone on New Year’s Eve, a girl deserves her pizza.

I open the box and, with the aid of a few paper napkins, bring the first slice to my mouth. Mmm, it’s delicious.

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…”