A LOUD KNOCK interrupted her attention from the tomato sauce in the saucepan. Ari lowered the fire and checked the time on the wall clock before she headed toward the door. She wasn’t expecting her dad would arrive early, and the old man had his own key. She internally prayed it wasn’t who she was thinking, or God forbid. After what she did outside Clereigh’s he wouldn’t go that far, would he?

Her luck was not on her side today. Tripp certainly didn’t give a damn about her warning earlier. She rolled her eyes, unlocked the screen door, and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Nice house.” Tripp was already down the porch as he studied her modern small farmhouse from top to bottom. Maybe he was about to leave if Ari didn’t rush. If she only knew he was the one behind the door, she would rather ignore him, and she didn’t have to deal with him right now.

For a successful architect like him, he should not be praising her house. She was sure he’d done skyscrapers, modern structural designs, and certainly not the old one like hers, which she got it from her grandma from her mother’s side.

Arizona was a little bit disappointed that those gorgeous deep blue eyes were shielded with sunglasses. She wished she could just climb down and pull it off from his infuriatingly handsome face.

“Very quiet neighborhood,” he added.

“How did you find me?” She instantly waved her hand to dismiss him. She was sure he got her address from Dax. “Don’t answer that. But what the hell are you doing here, Tripp? You can’t just come over and knock on my door unannounced.” She let her eyes wander for a few moments. He didn’t grow much older in three years other than he became more confident, intimidating, pure muscles, and there was nothing soft about him. Including his heart.

He was more gorgeous than the last time she laid an eye on him. His arms alone, she’d be damned if she wouldn’t admire them. He’d been working out. How could she forget what gems that lied beneath his clothes? She didn’t have to reminisce to know. It just brought back old memories, but his eyes that got her the most.

“Can I come in?” He must have read her mind. Finally, he placed the sunglasses on top of his dark brown hair, and Ari couldn’t be happier from within. She quickly saw the glint of wickedness in his eyes.

“No.” Ari watched as Tripp pressed his red full lips into a tight line, his strong jaw clenching.

“Come on, Ari. I am here to apologize. I think we both set on the wrong foot. How about we start over?” He marched closer to the front porch steps.

“It’s a good thing that we set on the wrong foot, don’t you think? Besides, you made it pretty clear, and it was coming from you, not mine. If I have wanted to start over, it’s done. I already did it three years ago, and I have joined my solitude,” she told him honestly even though it still hurt her. Then she remembered something. “ Damn it.” She rushed inside the house to the kitchen. The smelled of burned tomato wafting in the air.

“Great.” She picked up the saucepan and transferred it to the other burner.

“Is everything okay?” Ari almost jumped when she heard his voice behind her—closer that she could feel the heat radiating between them. Her hand pressed against her heart. The soft breaths of his words drifted behind the shell of her ear making goosebumps erupt all over her skin. Her breathing accelerated to raspy breaths. Her heart thundered that Tripp could probably hear it from behind.

“It’s not burned completely. You should have turned off the fire before you opened the door for me.”

Before Ari could process what he was doing, he was already opening the cupboards and searching for something. He found a small pot from the dishwasher.

She was still shocked to react when Tripp transferred the sauce to the small pot and took the wood ladle from her hand. She breathed in deeply, trying to compose herself when their hands grazed innocently, yet her senses were already in chaos.

“What did you put in it?” He continued mixing after he sniffed the sauce from the ladle. “This will be done in a few minutes. Where’s the pasta?”

If the circumstances were different, she could live a life like this. The way he mixed the sauce, Tripp was natural as if he did that a thousand times, and she always admired Bryce Chase for being good at baking. She wanted to shake off herself, instead, she pointed at the other pot from the left.

“You shouldn’t cover it when it’s still hot.” He pulled the lid off. “It will overcook the pasta.”

“Whatever chef.” She picked the dirty pot and brought it to the sink.

“Charleigh doesn’t really cook. I did if I found the time whenever she paid me a visit.”

“Good thing Bryce does.”

“Yeah. That man can bake even in his sleep.”

Ari watched Tripp taste the sauce. It looked dirty to watch him as he darted his tongue out to lick his lips. She froze when he caught her watching him. Instead of saying something that might embarrass her because she could feel her face was burning when he looked down at her lips, he smiled. Her cheeks burned further.

“Hand me the salt, wife.”

“Don’t ever call me that.” She slammed the cupboard pretty hard.

“Why? You are my wife.” She knew he was only teasing her, but that was the fact, and it sounded perfect coming from him.

She was legally married to him according to the Las Vegas law. Her only mistake was, she never filed a divorce. Instead, she chose to remain loyal to him even though he literally ended up the marriage when he found out Dax was her cousin. His question about why she didn’t file a divorce earlier would have caught her off guard, but it didn’t happen, because she already knew the answer.

She wore her ring whenever she went outside the town to shoo away guys. She couldn’t say she was beautiful, but she was not ugly either. For her, marriage was sacred, and she couldn’t even think of any man touching her other than Tripp. It was pathetic, but she didn’t want to open her life for another man. Call her old fashioned, but that was what she thought was right. She gave her virginity to him, and she thought he was her forever.

While she was in deep thoughts, Tripp had already helped himself, pouring the sauce to the plate with pasta.

“I’ll prepare the table.” It was her way to excuse herself from Tripp. She needed to breathe. Despite her confident words, she felt the kitchen had not enough space for both of them. It seemed that the presence of Tripp had sucked too much space and air inside the house.

She dreamed of having a man to care for her and love her. When she thought it was Tripp, she was wrong. It was her biggest mistake, trusting someone she barely knew. And she had no plan on repeating the same mistake she did. She was a grown woman now, not the innocent Arizona Blaire Sky in Las Vegas Tripp had fooled years ago.

She opened the window to let the fresh air in before she grabbed the sweet tea from the fridge. It was sweet that Tripp was already pulling a chair for her in the dining table when she came back.

“Thanks.” She wouldn’t argue, not when they were about to have lunch.

“When is your father coming back?” That question stopped her from picking up the fork. How did he know?

“Don’t.” Her warning brought Tripp’s attention.

“I’m only asking.”

“Don’t ask. This meal is gonna be the last meal we share. Just let me arrange my schedule with the nurse-in-charge, then I’ll be flying to Vegas to file.”

“What if I don’t want you to file?”

She met his sad eyes. She wanted to believe what she saw, but this was Tripp she was talking about. He was heartless and manipulative. “I don’t care what you want. I should have done that before it comes to this point that I have to face my self-absorbed husband.”

Tripp started eating, and so was she. When the silence was unbearable, Tripp was the first one to break it.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. That was the biggest lesson I learned in my life. It actually felt good to make a mistake once in a while. It makes you realize how little you know about life itself.” She picked the glass and downed the sweet tea when her emotions started to bubble out.

“I’ve never been in a relationship if that makes you feel better,” he admitted.

“I don’t care about what you did and what you do. It’s your life. Our marriage was a hoax and a mistake in the first place. I think I was not in the right mind when I married you. I was under your charm all the time. Honestly, it didn’t even think about it anymore until I heard about Dax’s best friend is in town.” The last part was a lie, but that lie had a serious effect on Tripp.

She watched him empty the glass. She refilled it and felt guilty all of a sudden. But when she recalled what she’d been through after their short fling, it took a few months for her to get her life back. What was hard for her was that she couldn’t even voice out her marital problems to anyone, even to her father.

She settled on the chair on her porch when Tripp volunteered to clean the kitchen. Deep inside her, she was impressed, or he intended to impress her. Anyhow, she didn’t even try to stop him. She even left with a small smile curving on her lips, but she made sure Tripp wouldn’t see it.

After a few minutes of clinks and clanks from the kitchen, Tripp emerged to the porch and shared the loveseat with her.

“You know when my neighbors see you on my porch, the rumors about us will spread faster all over the town?”

“And you’re worried, why?”

She glared at him. “Why? You’re seriously asking me? What planet where you from you don’t know anything about a small town like Hopes Spring?”

He glared back. “Let them talk, and I will print a million copies of our marriage certificate and rain it all over the town.”

She snorted. “You’re not gonna think of that. Ever. This is not some kind of joke, Tripp. Think about the repercussions. My father didn’t know what I did until now. And I have no plan on telling him until this is over.” She swore to god, she saw a glint in his eyes. “Don’t even try.”

He smirked before he spoke. “Now that you give me an idea. Thank you very much.” Tripp delicately brushed his lips to hers, and she welcomed it with pleasure. He pressed further, unmoving, testing the water, while Ari was relishing the warmth and softness of his lips against hers. She couldn’t deny what she felt like she’d never felt that kind of lust and longing that knocked off her senses before and after Tripp. Before she realized what he was doing to her, she was already kissing him back.