faces the whole time.”
She laughed, skepticism shining in her eyes.
Fine. He did want to kiss Anna, and not just because they were pretending to be engaged. He just wanted it. Gabe wasn’t about to say that now, not when they were firmly stuck in the plans they’d made. They entered the elevator, and the door slid shut behind them. “Now’s a perfect time. No audience.”
“Do your worst,” she said, hand on her hip, and Gabe leaned down to kiss her.
Their lips brushed together, then connected. Wow. She was soft, her lips parting like they were meant to be kissing, and Gabe couldn’t help pushing forward to explore her mouth. Anna tipped her face toward his, her fingertips brushing against the back of his neck. It lit up all the nerves in his body with a strange heat. Where had they been headed again? He stepped back suddenly, remembering that this was supposed to be practice, not an end-all, be-all kiss.
Anna stepped back against the opposite wall of the elevator, cheeks pink, breathing hard. “Okay. That was a kiss.”
The doors to the elevator opened again, letting them out into a lobby blessedly free of his family. He still felt the heat of her on his mouth, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose in expectation of having her touch him there again. “I think we’ll do all right.” He winked.
“Sure will. Now. Show me the resort like you promised. I want to see everything.”
4
In the buttery light of morning, Gabe showed Anna the Elk Lodge—the ski resort tucked into the Colorado mountains. It was more than just one lodge. It was more than just one house. He took her up and around some trails near the family properties, which featured one house for each brother.
Gabe didn’t have much to say about why they weren’t staying in his family home, pointing out the intricate Christmas lights on every building instead. They paused near the bonfire at the bottom of the ski hill, where guests drank gourmet cocoa and ate cookies from the kitchens. They walked under a bower hung with tinsel. It was a Christmas movie come to life.
The two of them spent the rest of the morning and a good chunk of the afternoon wandering the grounds of the resort, even going so far as to take a ski lift to the top of one of the smaller hills. They hiked down some trails set aside for snowshoeing and walking. Even the benches on the trails were top-notch and strung with fairy lights. On the way back, Anna tossed sparkling handfuls of snow at him, dusting his nose.
The mood shifted once they returned to their room. It had been one thing to collapse on the bed in the middle of the night, exhausted from the shopping and the flight. Now he stood awkwardly in the center of the living room. “I’m sorry there’s only one bed. If you want, I’ll sleep on the sofa from here on out.”
“That won’t be very realistic.” Anna’s body still hummed from the kiss they’d shared in the elevator. Some practice kiss—it was more like what she expected on her wedding day when the priest announced the happy couple as husband and wife. “It’s really okay. It doesn’t bother me at all.”
How he’d react if she admitted that she wanted him to sleep with her was another story.
Gabe nodded. “That’s good. Listen, I need to go talk to my brothers about our situation. Now that we’ve got a better storyline, I owe them a conversation. Will you be all right here for a bit?” His eyes searched hers. One minute he was acting like the Gabe he’d been when they worked together. The next, he was her fake fiancée, hesitating to leave her alone without company.
Anna snorted a laugh, and his eyebrows rose in response. The light dancing in his eyes made her want to say something witty. It was hard to come up with the words. “Will I be all right in this luxury suite in the fanciest ski lodge I’ve ever seen? I think I can handle it, Gabe. Don’t worry about me.”
A smile crinkled the corners of his eyes, and for a moment she thought he might take her in his arms. Kiss her again, even. But then he seemed to pull back, shifting toward the door. “I’ll be back soon.”
And then she really was alone in the luxury suite.
Anna felt like she did when she walked into a brand-new