Was he serious? “Because you avoid me! You have for years! If I come into a room, you leave it. You stare at me and a muscle jerks in your jaw. When I was a sixteen, I heard you telling Ben that I shouldn’t come over to swim anymore, that you didn’t want me there.” Okay, she needed to pull back. She’d just gotten a wee bit out of control. All that pent-up hostility. When it came to Eric, she certainly felt pent-up. “Look, I’m trying not to fight.” Their fights typically just happened. She never tried to start them. “Can we just go inside and I’ll head into a guest room? You won’t see me for the rest of the night. Promise.”

He opened his car door. She shoved open the passenger door, not waiting for him to come around and open it. He’d do that, she knew he would. She’d always seen him open doors for his dates over the years. He could be so gentlemanly one moment, but then be a total jerk to her and Ben the next.

Mood swings. He had them.

He met her on the stone steps that led to the manor. “You’re not sixteen anymore.”

No, she wasn’t.

“And for the record, hate is the last thing I feel for you. I rather thought you would have figured that out by now.”

“When it comes to you, I have a hard time figuring out most things.” She was still wearing his coat. It smelled like him. All crisp and masculine and a little bit awesome.

Focus.

He unlocked the front door, typed in his security code, and waved her inside. She walked past him, being extra careful not to let her body brush against his. She’d actually never been in his house before. He’d never invited her over.

Because they weren’t besties. That would be her and Ben. She should have gone to his place. Why hadn’t she?

“I have security cameras that monitor the perimeter of the property. Motion sensors are turned on, and a floodlight system activates when they are triggered.” He motioned to a door on the right. “That’s my monitor room. You can go in there and access all of the security feeds. No one will get to this house without me being aware of it, I promise.”

Right. And that was why she’d gone with Eric instead of dear old Ben.

Eric had already shut the door. He reset his alarm, and she stood there, shifting a bit nervously in the massive foyer. The ceiling was up at least two stories, and a bright chandelier glittered down on her.

“Where is the guest room?” Piper asked as she rocked onto the balls of her sneakered feet.

“I’ll show you. Come this way.”

She shrugged out of his coat and offered it to him. “I don’t need this any longer.”