Among the Heather (The Highlands, #2) (17)

She was very different from her sister. “Thanks.”

“I only speak the truth.” Allegra beamed. “Even when you were in—”

“Ally!”

Both of us looked sharply toward the voice that cut through the gym. My already pounding heart seemed to race a little harder at the sight of Aria strutting across the quiet space toward us. I hit the speed button on the treadmill and slowed to a stop as the woman approached.

Every day she wore a calf-length tight skirt with a shirt tucked into it. The skirt accentuated the voluptuous curves of her hips and fantastic arse, while her shirt buttons always seemed to strain a little across her impressive tits. If her body wasn’t appealing enough, she genuinely had one of the most beautiful faces I’d ever seen.

Now, I liked to think I wasn’t a shallow man. Aye, all my previous girlfriends would be considered conventionally pretty. But I’d been attracted to their personalities too.

This attraction to Aria Howard was driving me crazy because she was a termagant shrew.

Case in point: glaring at me ferociously as she stopped in front of our machines. Like I was contaminating her precious baby sister just by being near her.

“She’s nineteen,” Aria seethed.

Hot indignation boiled my blood. “Meaning?”

“You know what I mean.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“For fear of being kicked out, I’m going to refrain from telling you to do something to yourself. I’ll give you a hint, though, it’s not ‘go luck yourself,’ but close.”

Allegra choked on a shocked snort.

Aria’s gorgeous eyes narrowed. “Say it for real,” she taunted. “Go on. I dare you.”

“Oh, whoa, okay.” Allegra stopped her machine and jumped off. “I started talking to him, Ari. Talking. That’s it.”

Aria cut her an impatient look before turning back to me. “I’m here at your disposal, Mr. Hunter.” Her tone suggested the complete opposite. “What exactly is it you really want to say to me?”

What the hell was this woman’s problem? Yes, okay, I had been offensive when she came into my suite when I was drunk, but I assumed her punching me in the balls had cleared the air between us. But no. She was still being a harpy every chance she got. “I wonder, do you treat all the members to this delightfully caustic attitude?”

Uneasiness flickered over her face as she dropped her arms and straightened. “I am just protecting my sister, Mr. Hunter.”

“From me?”

I saw the moment she remembered I’d helped save her friend from that arsehole Byron Hoffman. Something like shame glimmered in her eyes, but it was gone in an instant as she tilted her chin in defiance. “She’s my little sister.”

Like that excused her behavior. “Was it your little sister when my guitar arrived?”

“Well, I—”

“Or when we met? Or all the times in between when you’ve treated me like shite on your shoe?”

“I do not.” Aria glared up at me. “You’re just sensitive.”

“I’m sensitive.” I leaned over the top of the treadmill, enraged now. “Better to be sensitive than to be so zipped up the back I can’t feel regular emotions.”

Her lips parted in outrage. “Are you saying I’m unfeeling?”

“If the shoe fits, sweetheart.”

“Don’t call me sweetheart.”

“My mistake. Spock.”

“Well, actually, Spock had feelings,” Allegra threw in.

“Very true,” I agreed and turned back to Aria. “Agent Smith.”

She scowled at me. “Agent Smith?”

“The Matrix.”

“You’re a child.”

“That’s exactly what he’d say.”

Aria’s hands clenched into fists at her sides, her knuckles turning white, and I took a perverse pleasure that she couldn’t hide how much I annoyed her.

“I don’t have time for this nonsense.” She gestured to her sister. “Get your butt out of this gym while he’s in here.”

Genuine anger filled me. “I resent the implication, Aria.”

Perhaps it was my use of her name, but she stiffened. “I didn’t mean it that way. I don’t want my sister bothering my guests.”

“Oh, so now I’m a guest?”

She sucked in a breath like I was fraying her patience, and I tried not to smile. Cutting her sister a look, she ordered, “Finish up in here. Now.” And with that, she marched out of the gym without looking back.

Feeling Allegra’s gaze, I turned my eyes from her retreating sister to her. She grinned mischievously at me, and my lips twitched. “What?”

“What the hell did you do to her?”

“Me? Nothing.”

“Well, she’s usually the epitome of professional and cordial with the club members.”

“Her? Cordial?”

Allegra nodded, still grinning like a madwoman. “You pissed her off, didn’t you?”

Jumping off the machine, I decided I was done for the day. “By breathing, sweetheart. I pissed her off merely by breathing.”

“Uh-huh.” She didn’t look convinced, but I wasn’t about to protest my innocence. “Seriously. What did you do to her?”