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“Then you at least need an apology.” She rubbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her jumper. “I gave you a hard time because I didn’t agree with all of it, but I understand that you gave him what he wanted at the end. I think I only gave him what I wanted.”

“No.” Luke’s voice came out as a gruff rasp. “I wore him out in an attempt to help him forget he was ill for a while. You gave him what he needed; care, comfort, emotional support.”

When she turned to look at him, she found him staring at the wall. A muscle jumped in his jaw and his hands were balled into fists. “For a guy who’s clumsy with his words, that was pretty nice of you. Thank you.”

He grunted, like the praise embarrassed him, and they fell silent. It wasn’t as awkward as some of their silences, but it wasn’t companionable either; it fell somewhere in between. Somewhere between two acquaintances standing together, and two friends.

“There are different techniques you can use to climb these walls.” Luke was the one to finally break the quiet. “We’re going to do top-roping. It’s best for beginners.”

“What are the other choices?”

He gave her a narrow-eyed stare. “What happened to you trusting me?”

“I guess trust has to be earned.”

He raised his eyes to the ceiling. Then pointed to where someone was scaling a lower wall. With no harness. “That’s bouldering.”

They lost their grip and fell onto the mat with a thud.

“Not that one,” she squeaked. “I want to do something with a harness.”

“Thought so,” he muttered. He pointed to the different colored blocks on the climbing wall ahead of them. “As you go up, you stick with the same color for your hands and feet. I suggest yellow, it’s easiest.”

“Sure,” she scoffed. “Like I’m going to remember that when I’m lunging for something to hold on to.”

He ignored her. “I’ll be on the ground with the rope attached to me in a belay.” He showed her the metal device he had attached to his harness. “This controls the rope and stops you if you fall.”

“If.”

He smirked. “If.” His eyes met hers, calm, steady. “Are you ready to give it a go?”

“And if I say no?”

“We take a break, have a drink. And then you climb to the top.”

She looked up, swallowed. “Is there a scenario where I don’t have to climb?”

“Do I need to remind you that your brother painstakingly put together these advent challenges for a reason? Though the jury is still out on what that was.”

“Yeah. If it was to provide support for each other, I’m sure we could have found a more enjoyable way to do it.” Luke’s brows shot up to his hairline and belatedly she realized how suggestive that sounded. “I don’t mean . . . you know what I meant.” Oh, screw it. Her cheeks were on fire, her body running so hot she wanted to take her sweater off, but after her last remark, that was a definite no, no. “Let’s climb this frigging wall.”

A low chuckle followed her as she went to stand at the bottom. She nearly jumped out of her skin as a pair of muscular arms wrapped around her from behind. “Just checking your harness is properly fastened,” he murmured. His back was warm behind her, his arms bands of tanned skin, threaded through with steel. “And your knot is secure.”

Her heart skipped a beat as a strong right hand gripped the rope attached to her harness and gave it a sharp tug, the veins doing a sexy pop.

He stepped back. Immediately her body felt colder and less protected. “You’re good to go.”

She shot him a look over her shoulder. “So I just . . . shoot up there?”

“Yep.” He jangled the metal clip round his waist. “Belay on.”

“Goody.”

A small huff of laughter. “Remember the training video you just watched? When I say belay on it indicates that I’m ready for you to start. Now you’re supposed to say climbing.”

“What if I’m not ready?”

The amusement on his face faded. “You are ready, Anna. You’ve got this.”