“You know, just because we’re on different teams doesn’t mean I can’t help a little bit.”

Aaron had joined me at the water cooler, and now as I sipped my water, I tried not to roll my eyes. This was the second or third time he had made such an offer, but there was something in his tone that kept rubbing me the wrong way. Of course, I could still be annoyed with him for how he’d embarrassed me in front of everybody, calling me inexperienced.

I wasn’t too concerned about the rules for this goofy game. But I was getting annoyed at Aaron’s insistence that I needed his help to come up with an ad campaign for charity.

I had been cutting my teeth on this sort of thing since high school.

“No, thanks.” I manage to smile. “I think I can handle this one on my own.” I glanced past him and saw Terri was watching us. There was a possessiveness in her eyes that was getting harder and harder to ignore, but now wasn’t the time. “I think your co-captain is looking for you.”

I refilled my water bottle, ready to get back to work, but as I turned to go, Aaron touched my shoulder. “You know, we should at least bounce our ideas off each other. We worked so closely together, with me helping you with your school projects and bouncing ideas off your head over the past couple of years, we think a lot alike now. I’d hate for our projects to sound similar.”

Speculation started to hum in the back of my head, but I squashed it. I didn’t know where he had gotten the idea he had helped me with my projects for school. Maybe I’d mention them from time to time, but that was it.

With another bright smile, I said, “I think we’ll be okay. There are enough unique voices in each of our groups that we should be just fine.”

Striding back to the table, I tried to shove aside the idea brewing inside my skull, but it didn’t want to be shoved off to the side at all.

“You look annoyed.”

Huffing out a breath, I said, “I was trying to hide that fact.”

“Oh?” Breanna arched her eyebrows. “From who? Me?”

“No.” I slid a glance toward Aaron’s group, gathered on the far side of the conference room. But I said nothing.

“Ohhhhh…” She clicked her tongue, then shrugged. “I don’t think he noticed. You didn’t really start looking like you wanted to chew nails until you started back over here.”

“Good.” The rest of our group had yet to wander back from the break we had just taken, so I sat down and let my head fall back, one of my favorite positions to think. But I wasn’t thinking. At least not about the competition. How often had I told Aaron about things I was working on?

Enough, I realized. I’d told him enough.

And he would later tell me about the inspiration he had for one of his projects.

Sometimes, that inspiration had sounded oddly...familiar. I hadn’t let myself think about it. I’d done it on purpose too. Now, despite the fact that I didn’t really want to consider it, I couldn’t help but do just that. Was my boyfriend using me?

You’re imagining things, I told myself. But I didn’t think I was.

“Are we having a nice break?” a cool voice asked.

I lifted my head to see slate blue eyes studying me.

I batted my lashes at him, unable to resist the urge to try getting a rise out of him. “Oh, so nice.” If I had to keep faking smiles at people, my face was going to crack, but I summoned up one more for Lukas as he glanced from me to Breanna. Before she could comment, I said, “Research shows that people who take frequent breaks tend to be more productive. We’ve made progress.”

“I’m sure you have.” The corner of his mouth tucked up into a smile, and then he turned to go. He had been in the corner of my eye almost every time I turned around, but this was the first time he had said anything to me. It was actually the first time he had come within ten feet of me the entire time.

I wish he hadn’t bothered. When he was at a distance, I could pretend, but when he came close, it was harder. There was an ache down low in my belly, and it was unsettling and unwanted.

I did not want to be attracted to him. I did not want to find myself thinking about what might be going on behind those unusual, compelling slate blue eyes. And yet...here I was.

More of our group finally returned to the table, and I shoved thoughts of Lukas and Aaron aside. I was going to get to work. I was going to stop thinking about both of them and do what I had been hired to do.

“So, who has ideas?”

* * *

I had my shirt halfway off, arms over my head when a pair of arms slid around me. Blame it on the fact that I was still unsettled from the crash and maybe on lingering cabin fever, but I didn’t react well.

Shrieking, I slammed my head backward in a panic and twisted away from the restraining arms.

It didn’t dawn on me until I heard Aaron’s voice that the arms were not restraining but embracing.

It was Aaron. He had come up behind me and wrap his arms around me. That was all.

“What the hell, Stella?” he demanded.

I hurriedly yanked my shirt back down and turned to look at him, feeling embarrassed.

“Sorry. You startled me.”

“Who did you think it was?” he demanded.

“That’s the problem. I wasn’t thinking. I’m still off balance from the plane crash, from being trapped in the mountains for so long. And now here I am again – in the mountains – and not because I want to be.” I glared at him.

He rolled his eyes. “Stella, you have got to get over that plane crash. It’s not like you were hurt. You barely had any bruises from it, for crying out loud.”

“Get over it?” My jaw dropped open. “I could have died. You know how many nightmares I’ve had about it?” I paused and then added, “You should. You sleep right next to me.”

His face softened, and he came up to me, reaching out to touch my cheek. “Oh, come on, baby. I didn’t come in here to fight.”

I jerked back from him. “That’s just too bad because I’m not in the mood to do anything else. You want me to get over something that just happened a few weeks ago, and I’m supposed to just be over it already? Something that could have killed me? Let’s see you drop out of a tin can and just be over it in a couple of weeks. Get surrounded by wolves and brush it all off in no time.”

His face tightened. “Do we have to have this discussion again?”

“No. We could talk about Terri.” I was just looking for things to be annoyed about now, but she was as good a reason as any. I didn’t like that the woman had spent half the day glaring at me, and more than once, I’d see her muttering to somebody, and both of them would be looking at me. “What’s her problem with me anyway?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” But his eyes slid off to the side for a fraction of a second before he looked back at me.

“Bullshit,” I said.

“This isn’t about Terri,” he snapped. “This is about you and me. Sometimes I wonder if there even is a you and me. You don’t seem to want me touching you anymore. I thought maybe we could fix that coming up here into the mountains–”

“The mountains.” I broke out into a laugh. “After what happened to me the last time I was in the mountains, you think this is my idea of a romantic spot?”

Aaron pointed a finger at me. “Don’t start that shit again. I’m so sick and tired of hearing about your fucking plane crash.”

I smacked his hand out of my face, outraged.

His eyes narrowed, but he continued to speak, unfazed. “Just stop feeling sorry for yourself. You survived. You’re lucky. You ought to act like you appreciate that fact instead of whining all the time.”

I gaped at him. “You think I don’t feel lucky? Do you think I wish I had died?”

“I don’t know. Do you? You certainly didn’t come rushing back into my arms like you were happy to see me!”

Insult flared. “You were so busy talking on the phone when you picked me up at the diner, you hardly noticed me. Wheeling-and-dealing, sweetheart,” I said, throwing his own words back at him. I felt sick to my stomach. Turning away from him, I covered my face with my hands. “Would you just leave me alone? I don’t even want to talk to you right now.”

“Leave you alone? Yeah, maybe I’ll do that. Maybe I’ll just spend the night somewhere else.”

“What? With Terri?” I couldn’t cover the sneer in my voice. “It’s pretty obvious she wouldn’t mind, although I don’t know why in the hell she’s so enamored.”

The next thing I heard was the sound of a slamming door.