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She understood why he felt he needed to back away, though it didn’t mean she agreed with him. Luke might have convinced himself they were mismatched, but she was still sure Colin was using the advent calendar to push her and Luke together, and she was inclined to trust her brother’s judgement.

Her heart skipped its usual beat as Luke stepped into the kitchen, freshly showered after his morning run and looking like sex on legs with his snug fitting navy Henley shirt and faded jeans.

“I haven’t opened the window yet.”

He did that sexy raised eyebrow thing. “Morning, Anna.”

She waved a hand at him. “Yes, yes. But I’m excited to see what we’re doing today. It’s so close to Christmas, Colin must want us to do something really Christmassy.”

“Goody. Let’s hope so.” He glanced down. “Why is your cat butting its head against my legs?”

“Because unlike you, he’s very affectionate and likes people.”

“I like people. As long as I don’t have to talk to them.”

She watched as Luke continued to stare down at Jack, his brows scrunched together, as if he was trying to work out whether Jack really wanted a stroke, or whether he was about to dig his claws into Luke’s calf. Finally he muttered this doesn’t mean we’re friends and gave Jack the attention he was after.

A slow sizzle started up in her belly as she watched Luke’s large, capable hands slide over Jack’s back.

Sex is off the table, she reminded herself.

With a sigh she picked up the advent. “Take flowers to Luke’s Mom,” she read out loud. Wait, had she read that right? She scanned Colin’s writing again. It was only when she looked over at Luke and saw his rugged face turn pale that she understood the implication. “He wants you to visit your mom’s grave.”

Luke let rip a harsh curse and turned away, slamming his hands on the kitchen worktop, his shoulders rigid, his head bent.

She didn’t know what to say. It was beyond clear that despite it being fifteen years since her death, he still felt her loss very acutely.

“I don’t know why he’d write this,” she whispered.

Luke let out a crack of unamused laughter. “I do. The bastard.”

“What do you mean?”

Slowly he turned, his eyes haunted, an anguished expression on his face. “He always wanted me to talk about her, open up more. And I tried, but it was too painful, there was too much . . .” His chest heaved and he gave a hard swallow. “Too much I got wrong.” He let out another humorless laugh. “I guess this is him having one final attempt at getting me to face the part of my life I’ve tried to bury.”

It was agony, seeing him so distraught. “I want to say forget it,” she told him quietly. “To tell you we’ll do something else today, but I believe Colin had a reason behind everything he’s made us do.” She walked up to Luke and squeezed his arm. “He wouldn’t have made his best friend go through something painful if he didn’t believe it would help.”

Luke’s jaw tightened. “Believing it will help and it actually helping are two different things, Anna.” He let out a ragged breath and took a step back. “But fine, we’ve done everything else he asked of us. I’m not going to let him down so close to the finish line.”

Finish line. The words stung, like that’s how he saw the last few days, something he had to get through before he could be free of her.

What a shame she was clutching to those last few days, not wanting them to end.

“Where is she buried?” She asked as they set off in his truck once more. Going to visit a graveyard was not what she’d thought she’d be doing today.

“Clifton.” His hands tightened around the wheel.

“Of course.” It was where she and Colin had grown up, though when Colin had gone to college, she’d moved with her parents to New York city.

Luke clearly didn’t want to talk, so she turned on the radio and left him to his thoughts.

When they finally turned into the cemetery though, she couldn’t contain her bubbling questions any longer. “Have you been here since she died?”

“No.”

He jumped out of the truck and, as always, went to open her door for her. A gentleman even when he was angry, surly, upset. With quick, jerky movements he reached over to the back seat and picked up the flowers they’d bought at the florist a block away from the condo.

“This way.” He gave a curt nod towards a path and strode off.