Chapter 1

Aria’s keys stuck in the lock the way they always did when the humidity climbed. She shoved harder than she needed to and the heavy front door finally gave, swinging open on the quiet of a house that used to feel like home.

The air inside smelled like lemon polish and something darker, cedar and warm skin. Dominic’s scent. It hit her low in the stomach before she even saw him.

He stood in the open doorway to the kitchen, sleeves rolled to his elbows, one hand wrapped around a glass of water. The late afternoon light cut across his face and caught the silver at his temples. He looked the same as he had at the wedding three months ago, only older somehow, harder. Her mother’s new husband. Her stepfather.

“Aria.” His voice was low, careful. “I wasn’t sure what time you’d get in.”

She dropped her bag by the stairs and forced a smile that felt too tight. “Traffic was a nightmare. Mom’s still in Singapore?”

“Until October.” He set the glass down and crossed the room. “She said you needed the summer to clear your head after… everything.”

Everything. The word hung between them like a bruise. Her ex. The apartment she’d left behind. The way her chest still felt hollow when she thought about it too long.

Dominic stopped a few feet away. Close enough that she could see the faint shadow of stubble along his jaw. Close enough that the heat of him reached her skin.

“You look tired,” he said.

“I’m fine.”

His eyes moved over her face, slow, assessing. The same way he used to look at her when she was sixteen and came home with scraped knees. Only now the look lasted a second too long. Something shifted behind it, something she wasn’t supposed to notice.

She noticed anyway.

He reached past her for the bag she’d left by the stairs. His arm brushed her shoulder. The contact was brief, accidental, but her body reacted like he’d touched bare skin. She felt the jolt all the way down her spine.

Dominic went still.

For a moment neither of them moved. The house was so quiet she could hear the refrigerator humming in the kitchen. His hand stayed on the strap of her bag. His breathing had gone shallow.

Then he straightened and carried the bag upstairs without another word.

Aria stood in the entryway and pressed her palm flat against her stomach, trying to steady the sudden flutter there. She told herself it was leftover nerves from the drive. She told herself a lot of things.

She followed him up.

Her old room looked exactly the same. Soft gray walls, the same quilt her mother had made when she was twelve. Dominic set the bag on the bed and turned. The doorway framed him, broad shoulders blocking most of the light from the hall.

“I stocked the fridge,” he said. “And I moved some of your mother’s things out of the master closet if you need more space.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to.”

The quiet stretched again. She should have said thank you. She should have stepped back. Instead she stayed where she was, close enough to catch the clean scent of his soap and the deeper note of skin underneath.

Dominic’s gaze dropped to her mouth for half a second. Just long enough for her pulse to jump.

He cleared his throat. “Dinner’s at seven if you’re hungry. Nothing fancy.”

“Okay.”

He left. The soft click of the door closing behind him felt louder than it should have.

Aria sat on the edge of the bed and stared at her hands. They were shaking.

She unpacked slowly, trying not to think about the way his arm had brushed hers, or the way the air had thickened when he stood in that doorway. Trying not to remember that this man had taught her how to ride a bike when she was eight, had sat in the front row at her high school graduation, had been the steady presence after her father died.

Trying not to notice that none of those facts stopped the heat pooling low in her belly.

At seven she came downstairs in an old tank top and soft shorts, hair still damp from the shower. Dominic was at the stove, stirring something that smelled like garlic and tomato. He’d changed into a black T-shirt that fit too well across his chest and shoulders. The muscles in his forearms flexed as he moved.

She watched him for a moment too long.

He glanced over his shoulder and caught her looking. Something dark and careful moved through his expression.

“Sit,” he said. “It’s ready.”

They ate at the kitchen island instead of the formal table. The conversation stayed light, careful, full of safe topics. Her classes. His work. The weather in Singapore. Every time their eyes met, the silence that followed felt heavier than the words.

When she reached for the wine bottle at the same time he did, their fingers touched. Neither of them pulled away immediately.

Dominic’s voice came out rougher than before. “You shouldn’t drink too much. You’re still settling in.”

“I’m twenty-two, not twelve.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “I know exactly how old you are.”

The way he said it landed somewhere deep and dangerous.

She took a sip of wine anyway, watching him over the rim of the glass. He watched her back. The air between them felt charged, like the moment before a storm breaks.

Later, after the dishes were done and the house had gone quiet again, she found him on the back patio. The night was warm. Cicadas sang in the trees. He stood with his hands braced on the railing, looking out at the dark yard.

Aria stepped outside barefoot. The stone was cool under her feet.

“Couldn’t sleep either?” she asked.

He didn’t turn. “Not yet.”

She moved up beside him, close enough that her shoulder almost brushed his arm. The night air smelled like cut grass and his cologne.

For a long time they stood in silence. She could feel the heat of his body, the steady rise and fall of his breathing. Every nerve in her skin felt awake.

Finally she spoke, voice soft. “It feels strange being back. Like everything’s the same and nothing is.”

Dominic turned his head. In the low light from the kitchen window his eyes looked almost black.

“Aria.”

Just her name. Quiet. Warning and something else tangled together.

She looked up at him. The space between them was barely a hand’s width. She could see the pulse in his throat.

“I should go to bed,” she whispered.

“Yes,” he said. “You should.”

Neither of them moved.

His hand lifted, slow, like he was fighting himself the whole way. Fingers brushed a strand of hair away from her cheek. The touch was light, almost paternal, except for the way his thumb lingered against her skin a second too long.

Her breath caught.

Dominic’s jaw tightened. He started to pull his hand back.

And that was when the word slipped out of her mouth, soft and unthinking and completely irreversible.

“Daddy…”

The air went still.

Dominic froze. His eyes locked on hers, dark and wide and full of something that looked a lot like hunger and horror at the same time. His hand was still hovering near her face. She could feel the heat of his palm against her cheek.

For three long heartbeats neither of them breathed.

Then his voice came out low, rough, almost broken.

“Say that again.”

Aria’s heart slammed against her ribs. The night around them felt too quiet, too close. She opened her mouth, not sure what was about to come out.

From somewhere inside the house, a phone began to ring.