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He’d opened the passenger door and was staring at her with an anguished look on his face. “Stop what?”

“I know what you’re thinking.” His gaze found hers, hot, intense. “And if you’re not careful I’ll give it to you.”

“That sounds more like a promise than a threat.”

He made a low growling noise in his throat. “We need to take a step back. We’re pushing this too far.”

She searched his face, saw the conflicting emotions of want, need, but also something she hated. Worry. Regret. “Why is that so bad?”

“Nothing has changed. I’m still the guy you need to give a wide berth to, remember.”

“Then why has Colin pushed us together?” She kept going back to that question. If Luke was as bad for her as he thought he was, why would her brother want her to share the run-up to Christmas with him? Why would he have booked a romantic restaurant, a spa day?

“Anna, we’ve been through this.” He heaved a sigh, dragging a hand restlessly through his hair. “He had years to orchestrate us being together, but he didn’t. That should tell you everything you need to know about how suitable he thought I was for you. All he wanted was for me to get to know you so I could look out for you when he couldn’t.” He cursed under his breath. “And what we did last night, what we’ve both being thinking about this morning, is the total opposite of that. It’s me taking advantage of you when you’re not thinking clearly.”

Anger burned through her. “You think I’m that weak that I don’t know my own damn mind?”

“That’s not what I said.” He exhaled another heavy breath. “I think you’re still grieving the loss of your brother,” he said quietly. “We both are. And that means neither of is thinking clearly.”

“So when you lifted me onto your hard dick last night, it was only because, what, you wanted a distraction?” The anger burned hotter, and maybe it was exactly what she needed. A dose of reality to stop her stupid heart falling any further for him. “Or was it because you felt sorry for the poor upset sister? You figured an orgasm would help her forget how much she missed her brother?”

“Dammit.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “That is not what I’m saying at all.”

“Well maybe you’d better stop talking.” She let out a humorless laugh. “You should be good with that, huh?” She gave the door a shove, pushing him out of the way. “Now, in your words, let’s get this over and done with so I can be somewhere you’re not.”

He muttered something unintelligible under his breath. Then kept a careful three feet between them as they stomped through the snow towards the entrance.

The woman on the reception desk—young, slender, smooth blonde hair, unfairly pretty—gave Luke a huge smile as she spotted him. “Hey, what are you doing here?” She clasped her hands together, her expression full of hope, of delight. “Please tell me you’re coming back to work here.” Her long eyelashes batted over her eyes. “We miss you.”

The sting of jealousy mixed with the burn of anger and Anna felt a humiliating desire to march over to the reception desk, insert herself between the blonde and Luke and snap at her, hands off, he’s mine.

“Why I’m here is a long story.” Luke’s gritted out reply cut through her internal melt down. “Can I show Anna round?”

“Sure.” She smirked. “I don’t suppose you need me to give you a safety briefing.”

He grunted. “I won’t take her on anything. We’re just here to observe.”

“Why?” Anna demanded. It felt like he was dismissing her. A private joke between him and the fit looking blonde who she had no doubt could do everything in this place with one hand tied behind her back and not a hair out of place. “Don’t you think I can handle your . . . zip wires or whatever it is you have here?”

He ignored her and nodded to the blonde. “Catch you later, Sharon.”

Placing one big hand on each of her shoulders, he propelled Anna round to face the door and practically pushed her out of it.

Once outside she twirled round to face him, ready to give him a mouthful.

“Anna.” The single utterance of her name, in a voice loaded with frustration, stopped her in her tracks. His gaze skimmed her face before a pair of direct green eyes settled on hers. “I think you can handle anything in this place, hell, anything life throws at you. I said we were here to observe because, as you left the truck, you said you wanted to get this done so you could be somewhere I wasn’t.” He paused, inhaled a deep breath. “I didn’t think lingering here, climbing the rock face, hiking, kayaking across an icy lake . . . considering I would be next to you in all of that, I didn’t think it fell under being somewhere I wasn’t.”

It was hard to stay angry in the face of such logic. Even harder when he looked so pained, like this was hurting him, too. “You make a good point,” she mumbled, and kicked at the snow.

“I thought so.”

Tension still cracked through the air. “The last time I went kayaking was with Colin when we were kids.” She sniffed. “We ended up capsizing. I don’t think that would be fun in an icy lake.”

“I wouldn’t let that happen.”

“I know.”

Silence enveloped them. Less tense than a moment ago but not back to where they had been this morning.