“I kinda figured that part out.” He grinned. “Go and change and let’s watch this movie and maybe we can change this night around.”

“Can we order pizza as well?” I asked hopefully, as my stomach grumbled.

“I think that can be arranged.” He nodded.

“Yay!” I felt like I was soaring as I stared at Aiden. This was going better than planned, and I had kinda extricated myself from my lie about my date. I knew I hadn’t come completely clean, but I figured I had admitted enough. “Pepperoni and—”

“Pepperoni and ham with onions,” he said, interrupting me and giving me a wink. “I know, Alice, trust me, I know.”

“I wasn’t sure if you’d remember,” I said with a shrug, though of course I was deliriously happy inside.

“You and Liv ordered pizza almost every weekend.” He rolled his eyes. “And you were both brats about not letting me choose what went on half of the pizza, so of course I remember.”

“Are you calling me a brat?” I asked, with my hand on my hip.

“What do you think?” he asked with a grin.

“I think you’re calling me a brat.” I wrinkled my nose at him and took a step forward.

“You got smarter in your old age.” He laughed and my eyes narrowed.

“I’m going to make you pay for that.” I took another step forward and raised my fists at him.

“Is this your way of trying to touch me, old lady?” He raised an eyebrow and I gasped. How had he known that I was hoping to cop a quick feel? Could he see from my expression that I was practically salivating at how sexy he looked?

“Haha, very funny. I’m not an old lady, and I don’t care about touching you.”

“Is that right?” He grabbed my arms and pulled me towards him. “That’s a pity.”

“What’s a pity?”

“That you don’t care about touching me,” he said lightly as his hands ran down my arm.

“Oh, why?” I breathed out, my heart about to jump out of my chest.

“Because I very much like being touched.” He winked and then stepped back. “Now go and change, and I’ll order the pizza. We don’t want to be up all night.”

“I don’t mind,” I whispered under my breath as I hurried out of the room. And I didn’t mind. Not at all. He could keep me up for twenty-four hours straight if he wanted to. Shit, thirty-six hours if he begged. I could picture him now, kissing my neck and pleading with me to stay awake so that he could have me one more time. How delicious would it feel to have his body against mine, on top of me, sliding himself inside of me? It would feel like heaven.

“Alice?”

“Uh, yes.” I looked around, my face bright red.

“You okay? You were walking and then just stopped.”

“Oh, I’m fine.” I nodded. “Thanks.” I gulped and hurried out of the room to my bedroom. I needed to stop fantasizing about being with Aiden. I needed for us to either get together or not. I was acting like a fool because all I could think about was the sexual tension between us. I opened my closet and pulled out some tank tops and T-shirts. I didn’t know what to wear. I didn’t want to wear my Mickey Mouse T-shirt as that was too childish and unsexy, but I also didn’t want to wear a tight tank top and make him think that I was trying to turn him on. I also wasn’t sure whether to go braless or not. If it was just Liv and me, I wouldn’t have thought about it twice. My bra would have been off in seconds, but then I also wouldn’t have thought twice about putting on a T-shirt with cartoon characters on it when I was with Liv. I finally settled on a black wife-beater with a pushup bra (your breasts can never look too high and luscious) and a pair of black boy-shorts. Hey—I have long legs; I have to show them off. I did have to make a quick trip to the bathroom to give myself a quick dry shave because I could see the beginnings of hair stubble on my legs and I didn’t want Aiden running his hands over my calves and thinking he was touching bristle or something.

“Hey,” I said casually as I sauntered back into the living room and frowned as he said “Hey” back without even looking up at me. I’d just spent fifteen minutes applying makeup in order to look subtly beautiful and he wasn’t even going to look at me? Grr!

“Did you order the pizza?” I asked, standing in front of him.

“Yup,” he said as he played with his phone. I could feel my face growing hot as I stood there, feeling like a fool.

“Cool,” I said, not knowing what else to say. It’s not like I could say, Hey, Aiden, look at me. I look pretty right now and I want you to take in my hot body as I stand in the pose that I know elongates my neck and makes my stomach look flat. Of course I didn’t say that. I just stood there for a few more seconds before plopping down on the couch next to him and sitting back.

“Ready for the movie?” Aiden finally glanced at me before turning the TV on. He didn’t even look at me for five seconds. I was positive he hadn’t even noticed how blue my eyes looked with my new Lancome mascara.

“Sure,” I said snappily.

“Uh oh?” he said and I felt his eyes on me again. “What is it, Alice?”

“What is what?” I looked up at him and there was a sparkle in his eyes as he looked at me.

“Why are you so grouchy?”

“Who said I’m grouchy?” I glared at him. Stupid Aiden with his stupid smirk and pink lips making me feel like a petulant child.