When he pulled back, it was only an inch to speak. “Yeah,” he said roughly. “You’re right. There’s nothing between us. Nothing but heat and fire and crazy need.”

“And coconut and cucumber,” she said, licking her lips.

He swore and took the cloth, turning to the mirror to wipe his face himself.

“Okay, maybe,” she said softly to his broad back. “Maybe there’s … something.” Her entire body was humming and throbbing with that something. “But it’s still not going anywhere.”

“Why the hell not?” he asked, sounding mystified. “I don’t know about you, but this”—he gestured between them—“doesn’t just happen for me.”

She gave a rough laugh. “What are you talking about? It happens to you, always. All the time. Women love you, Aidan. And you love them back. Hell, it was happening with my—” She clamped her mouth shut, horrified it had almost run off without her brain’s permission.

But Aidan hadn’t gotten the memo. “With who?”

“Forget it.”

“I don’t think so,” he said quietly. “Tell me.”

She closed her eyes and went to war with herself. He’d shared something of himself with her, and she owed him the same in return. It was past time to face this. Face him. “Ashley.”

When there was no immediate response, she opened her eyes and found him staring at her.

“You’re wrong,” he said flatly. “There was nothing between Ashley and me, not like you’re thinking.”

“She liked you. A lot.”

He went very still. “I didn’t know that.”

Lily believed him. But that didn’t change the fact that this was one thing she refused to take from Ashley, dead or alive. She backed away and opened the door because suddenly the room was way too small and intimate.

Aidan immediately closed it. “Lily,” he said very quietly. “Tell me you didn’t leave and then not talk to me for ten years because you thought I had something going on with your sister.”

“That’s not it.”

“Then what?”

“We competed over everything, Aidan. And I usually won. The things she really wanted, I took from her. I won’t take this.”

He studied her expression for a long moment before opening his mouth to speak, but his phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket, eyed the ID, and blew out a breath. “It’s Hud. He needs me.”

This wasn’t the first time she’d seen him drop everything for a Kincaid, and it also wasn’t the first time that she took a beat to marvel at the closeness of his family.

And her lack thereof …

She’d always told herself it was best that way, but there was no denying that a little part of her no longer believed it.

Shoving his phone away, Aidan lifted his gaze to hers again. “This isn’t over,” he said.