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I did my best to ignore him as I continued cooking. I’d had plenty of practice pretending he wasn’t there while at school, and I drew on those skills now. Admittedly, it was far easier to block him out when he wasn’t pestering me with questions, and he’d fallen oddly silent over the last few minutes.

I couldn’t help but sneak a peek over my shoulder to see why he wasn’t talking. His head was bent over his phone, and there was a slight smile on his lips. He seemed happily distracted by whatever he was looking at, and I relaxed. When he’d insisted on staying in the kitchen, I’d been worried he was going to bug me. I was more than happy for him to do his own thing though.

I fell into a happy rhythm now that I knew Aiden wasn’t focused on me. I was tempted to play some music on my phone, as I usually did when I cooked. I decided against it though. I didn’t want to draw Aiden’s attention again.

“Dinner is looking really good,” he said.

I jumped as I realized he’d come to stand next to me. He was just a hairbreadth away as he peered over the stove and studied the pasta sauce. He was far too close for my liking, and while we weren’t quite touching, we might as well have been. My skin was prickling as though he was rubbing against me.

“Aiden, you scared me! Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to sneak up on people?”

He smiled up at me. “You probably would have heard me if you hadn’t been humming.”

“I wasn’t humming.”

“Yeah, you were.” He reached over and dipped a finger in the sauce. It was bubbling hot, but he didn’t seem to notice. He closed his eyes as he slowly put his finger in his mouth and let out a small moan of satisfaction. My stomach tightened at the sound.

His eyes flashed open and looked straight into mine. “Clary James, I think I might love you.”

My eyes widened, and I let out an awkward laugh as I quickly stepped away to search for the bag of pasta—anythingto put some distance between us. “So, you like my cooking?”

“You could say that,” Aiden replied. “Like I said, I might never let you go if you cook me Italian. After one taste, I’m thinking I’ll have to keep you.”

I slowly turned to him, hoping he was kidding. There was a hint of mockery in his gaze, but he seemed far more serious than I’d like.

It was a joke. It had to be. He always said crap like this, and I knew he was only saying it to mess with me. Any girl at school would have loved to hear him say those words to her, but not me.

“MJ, that smells amazing,” Elliot said as he returned to the kitchen. I almost felt like thanking him for coming back and saving me from his brother who had completely caught me off guard. Aiden was too much.Far too much.Spending time with him was like dancing over hot coals. If you stayed in one spot for too long you were at risk of getting burned. He enjoyed keeping me on edge.

I smiled at Elliot. “Thanks.”

“What are you doing back here?” Aiden grunted, folding his arms across his chest, as he rested against the kitchen counter. “I told you to stop annoying Clary.”

“You’re annoying her even more than I was,” Elliot replied.

I smiled as I put the pasta on to boil. He wasn’t wrong.

Aiden was still standing right by the cooktop and he leaned in close to me. “Am I annoying you, Clary?”

I glanced up at him. His green-blue eyes were sparkling with anticipation, and a small smile curved his lips. If he thought I was about to side with him, he had another thing coming.

I returned his smile, as though I was about to conspire with him. “I think the more fitting question is, are you ever not?”

Elliot burst out laughing. “Burn!”

Aiden turned and thumped his brother on the arm, but Elliot didn’t seem to notice. He was too busy laughing.

“MJ, you can come stay with us anytime,” he said as he gasped for breath.

“Thanks, I think.”

“You think?” Aiden replied.

“Well, I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not,” I said. “And, I’m still trying to figure out if staying with you guys is a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Trust me, it’s a good thing,” Aiden replied before he dipped another finger into the simmering sauce and slowly licked it off. “Definitelya good thing.”

His eyes didn’t move from mine, and the intensity with which he watched me made my cheeks flush. The warmth spread from my face and down my neck, and the room suddenly felt like a sauna. I wasn’t sure I could blame the cooktop for the dramatic increase in temperature.