Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

something had changed in the bathroom between the time she'd gotten in the shower and the moment Thomas

had appeared.

"Can we forget about this?" Thomas sighed. "Put on some clothes

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and let's get you something to eat before your stomach rats us out to the entire campus."

"Fine. I just need to figure out what's missing from my-" Ariana's throat closed as her blood ran cold. She

had just realized

what was different. Whoever had been in her room had passed up her laptop, her diamond earrings, her

delicate antique watch, and had

taken only one thing.

The black-and-white picture of Ariana-the one Daniel had taken of her in the Hamptons-was gone.

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PANCAKES AND GRILLED CHEESE

***Daniel. It had to be. Who else would have broken into her room and taken only a picture of her? A picture

Daniel had taken. Who else?

Ariana felt suddenly exhausted as she quickly threw on a pair of fresh jeans and a blue cashmere sweater.

Thomas was waiting for her in the hallway, but she had to take a moment to just think.

If it was Daniel, why was he torturing her like this? Why not just come out and confront her? He was

hotheaded, quick to anger. The way he'd jumped Dash's friend ...But maybe he'd been so hurt by what she'd

done, he'd decided to torture her, then confront her. The possibilities, the not knowing, were making her head

hurt.

"How long does it take to put on a sweater?" Thomas asked, barging into the room. He blinked as she looked

up, her shoulders slumped forward. "Oh. You're dressed."

"Didn't you tell me to get dressed?" she asked flatly.

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"Yeah, but I thought if I surprised you I might catch the second act of Nothing but Skin," he joked.

Ariana leveled him with a no-nonsense stare. "I thought we were going to be just friends."

"We are." Thomas rolled his eyes. "Now let's go. I'm starving."

Ariana hesitated. "Thomas ...you don't think it was Daniel who was inhere before, do you?"

Thomas stopped on his way to the door. He tipped his head back and sighed at the ceiling. When he turned to