Walking into the Taylor house that summer and seeing Aiden was like the first time you see a mountain or the ocean. It’s a breathtaking, miraculous and awe-inspiring experience. But the walking into the house wasn’t the best part. The best part was when Aiden looked at me. It was magical. It was one of those moments that you live to go through. Everyone should have a moment like that at least once in their life. I can remember it clearly. I’d walked into the living room, and he’d looked up casually to see who it was. And his eyes had lit up in appreciation for ten glorious seconds as he looked me up and down. In that moment, I’d been Alice Waldron, beautiful swan, and he’d taken in all of my glory. His eyes had met mine and for a few seconds, he’d smiled at me, with a flirtatious, sweet smile that had flipped my heart over a million times as if I were an Olympic gymnast. And then Liv had run into the room and given me a hug, and he’d become his old bossy self, acting as if he had been personally assigned as our warden and we were his inmates.

I’m not exactly sure how I came up with my plan. It wasn’t something that I’d thought about for a long time. I hadn’t spent my years plotting how to seduce Aiden Taylor. Not at all. I think it really came to me in the moment, out of jealousy and excitement. You see, it had killed me that Aiden wasn’t alone that summer. Especially as I knew that Lisa was beautiful and easy. Okay, I didn’t know if she was really easy, but I assumed she was. Of course, she was sleeping in a separate bedroom, but that didn’t stop them from sneaking off and making out—something that had made me extremely jealous. Then one night, Lisa had given me a note and asked me to give it to Aiden. Of course, I’d opened it and read it. And of course, I’d seen red as I read it furiously. Lisa had stated that she was going to sneak into Aiden’s bedroom that night at midnight. She told him to keep the lights off and to have protection ready. She said she didn’t want to disrespect his parents, but she needed him badly and didn’t want to go another night without him. She also said, which made me smile, that she was sad that he didn’t think their relationship was going to work out and that she still loved him, even if he was technically no longer her boyfriend. This made me grin for days. Of course, I’d seen them arguing, but I’d had no idea that they had broken up. That meant I still had a chance. Of course, I was conveniently forgetting that I was in high school still and he had just graduated from college. That seemed to be of no real importance to me. You should know that I did hand Aiden the note. And he screwed it up in his hand and threw it into the trash. I did what I thought I should do, and I told Lisa that Aiden didn’t want her to come to his room. She seemed upset, but accepted it calmly. I did feel a bit guilty as I heard her making a call for someone to pick her up. Though my guilt left when I saw a hot Tom Cruise lookalike arriving about thirty minutes later and kissing her like he’d been away at war and hadn’t seen her in years. Lisa left so quickly that I felt bad for Aiden, as she hadn’t even told him goodbye. Well, not really that bad. And I can’t say that’s exactly what gave me my idea, but it was definitely one of the reasons I thought I was pretty brilliant. My plan was pretty simple: I was going to sneak into bed with Aiden, and we were going to snuggle and kiss and I was going to seduce him. And it had worked. I’d snuck into his bedroom around midnight wearing nothing but a long T-shirt. I’d slipped into his bed and put my arms around his naked chest and pressed myself up against him.

“You shouldn’t be here.” He groaned sleepily as his fingers had grabbed mine.

“Shhh.” I’d kissed his back, and ran my feet down his muscular legs. The hair on his legs had tickled my smooth skin, and I’d moaned at the feeling of being so close to him. His hand ran up and down the side of my legs and he’d groaned before turning over. The room had been pitch dark and as he rolled me onto my back and kissed me, I’d been scared that he’d figure out it was me and get mad. I was pretty sure that Aiden didn’t know that Lisa had left because he had gotten home late that night and gone straight to his room. His tongue had entered my mouth swiftly, and I’d kissed him back with such ferocity that I’m sure he must have been shocked. He’d paused for a moment and pulled away from me and then whispered, “Damn, you shouldn’t be here.” I had grabbed his head and pulled him back down to me and wrapped my legs around his waist. At the time I’d thought he was talking to Lisa, but now—now I wasn’t really sure if he’d known that he’d been talking to me, Alice. If he’d known it was me and he’d still gone ahead, that must mean something, right? That night had been crazy and passion-filled and when he’d entered me, I’d cried out in pain and ecstasy. He’d been the perfect lover: attentive, caring, dominating and skilled.

The next morning when I’d woken up, he was staring at me angrily. I can still remember the shock and disgust in his icy blue eyes. I’d gulped and blushed and hurried out of the bed, waiting for him to say something, anything, to let me know everything was going to be okay. But he’d said nothing. Not then and not ever. Not until recently. And now, well, now all I wanted to do was to repeat that night. But this time, I wanted to play for keeps. This time I wanted to seduce my best friend’s brother and make him fall in love with me. And I was willing to do almost anything for that chance with him. And what I really meant was whatever it took.

***

“Hello, Alice?” His voice was hesitant and strong at the same time, and I felt as if time had stood still. My fingers gripped the phone and my face grew warm as I realized that Aiden was on the other end of the line. I looked at Liv and mouthed, “Oh my God, oh my God” to her several times. “Alice?” he repeated again, and I shook my head, trying to get over my shock.

“This is Alice,” I said in a prim voice, sounding like some Victorian matron from an old black-and-white movie.

“It’s Aiden,” he said in a husky voice, and I swear to God that I would have started jumping up and down if Xander hadn’t been sitting in the same room as me, looking very bemused.

“Who?” I said childishly, and I saw Xander rolling his eyes.

“Aiden Taylor, Liv’s brother.”

“Oh, hi, Aiden. How are you?” I said stiffly as I grinned at Liv who was grinning back at me. Xander was looking back and forth at our expressions with an even more bemused look, and I knew he was thinking to himself that it didn’t take much to make us happy.

“I’m good.” Aiden cleared his throat. “I was actually just calling to see if Liv is okay?”

“Liv?” I said stiffly. Huh? What was he talking about?

“Yeah, I tried texting her a couple of days ago, and she hasn’t responded, so I figured I would check with you.”

“She’s fine,” I said and put my finger up to my lips as I looked at Liv. “Hold one second, please,” I said quickly and pressed mute. “It’s Aiden. He said he’s tried contacting you and you haven’t answered,” I whispered to Liv and she frowned.

“Uh, no.” She shook her head. “What is he talking about? I just spoke to him this morning.”

“Oh.” I shrugged my shoulders. “So he’s lying? Should I tell him you’re here with me now?”

“Yeah.” Liv nodded. “Tell him that I’m here and that I said I spoke to him this morning.”

“Okay.” I was about to unmute, when Xander shook his head and sighed.

“Do you two have absolutely no clue?” He stood up and walked toward me. “That’s still on mute?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“Good.” He stopped in front of me and his green eyes pierced mine. “Listen to me carefully. Do not tell Aiden that you know that he’s lying. He obviously used that as an excuse to call you. You should be thanking your lucky stars, not accusing him of lying.” He shook his head and looked back at Liv. “I have no idea where you are getting your advice from.” He turned back to look at me. “Get back on the phone and ask him something. Be nice. Be sweet. Be happy to hear from him. Don’t accuse him of lying. Don’t have an attitude. Don’t talk about kissing Scott or seducing him when you were sixteen. Stick to topics that are safe for now. Do you hear me?”