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He gave her a resigned smile. “Fine. But you’re drinking at least half my glass. And we go when we’ve finished them. Deal?”

“Deal.”

The question was, what would they go back to? It was still only mid-afternoon, she was already half cut. And they had a whole evening to carry on with the game.

* * *

Luke sat back on the sofa and eyed the discarded pizza boxes. Neither of them had felt like cooking thanks to Pearl and her excessive measures of frothy pink cocktail. Of course they hadn’t left when he’d wanted to. Nope, not wanting to offend Pearl by being the first to leave, Anna had insisted they stay and have yet another drink. He’d tried to scavenge some crisps and nuts while she’d talked happily to what seemed like every one of the residents. She was going to be living here now though, so it was important she got to meet them.

As for him, where the hell would he end up?

Did he go back to the wilderness center he’d been working in and try and get his old job back? Find another instructor role? Take a temp job leading a group on a climb somewhere? Or . . . was there a chance his second interview hadn’t been the disaster he’d thought? That the brow raise to his explanation of why experience was more important than qualifications had been an I agree, rather than the are you fucking kidding that he’d thought, and the job in North Carolina would come through? And if it did, what happened to his promise to Anna that they’d still see each other? Because ten hours in a car, four in a train, two in a plane . . . he couldn’t just drop in on her. Maybe she’d only meant it in a passing, see you around kind of way. It should suit him, but he didn’t like the idea of not being close enough to have coffee with her, have a drink with her. Because she was Colin’s kid sister and he wanted to do right by his best friend.

It was only a partial lie.

“You’re looking very pensive.” At the other end of the sofa, Anna studied him over the top of her glass. She’d insisted on going out to buy prosecco and cranberry juice so she could carry on the mimosa theme. He’d bought himself a six-pack of Bud.

“Just wondering if you’ve run out of truth or dare questions.”

“Nope, only having a break.” Her eyes skimmed over him. “Truth or Dare?”

“It wasn’t a request to keep playing it,” he asserted dryly.

“I think Colin would want us to power through. So, come on.”

He wasn’t sure he could trust her dares. “Truth.”

“Have you ever done what you want to do and damn the consequences?”

He couldn’t tell what was going on behind her sparkling blue eyes, but whatever it was, it was a long way from where his mind had gone with that question. “Yes.” The guilt from it was one of the things that stopped him from making a move on her.

Her face fell at his curt response. “That doesn’t sound like it had a good ending.”

He almost laughed, but with zero humor. “It had the worst ending you can imagine.” And he’d just totally killed the mood. “Truth or dare, Anna.”

“Umm, dare.”

“Sing me a Christmas song.”

She brought her hands to her face and groaned. “Oh my God, that’s going to be terrible for both of us.”

“I know, I’ve heard you sing.” He pulled out his phone and tapped on the Spotify app. “What are you choosing?”

“How about silent night?”

“And just be silent?” He shook his head. “Nope, come on. A proper song.”

She raised her eyes to the ceiling. When her gaze found his again, there was a mischievous glint to it. “All I want for Christmas.”

He couldn’t see an obvious trap, so he cued it up. “The floor is yours.”

He expected her to be shy, but he’d forgotten the amount of mimosa she’d drunk. A few beats in and he knew the joke was on him. Her voice was awful, but heaven help him, whatever that dance routine was, the way she jiggled her hips was giving him a serious hard on. It wasn’t just the words, it was the seductive way she moved, the pout as she pointed towards him as she sung All I want for Christmas is you.

He started to sweat and his erection, jammed behind his zipper, became a painful throb.

Without conscious thought he grabbed his phone and snapped off some photos of her pouting seductively and pointing at him, feeling a little creepy, a little ashamed of what he might do with the photos, later.

When the song finally ended, he almost wept with relief. Then wanted to press repeat so he could watch her tell him she wanted him, all over again.