Holy crap, this was hard work. By the time she made it to the stairs of the lodge, she was sweating. Hand to her pounding heart, she lifted her head and came face-to-face with—thanks, Karma—Sexy Cranky Pants.

How the hell he’d beaten her down the mountain, on his own power no less, she hadn’t the foggiest. “Hey,” she said, trying to act like she wasn’t breathing like a locomotive on its last legs.

Not breathing like a locomotive, not sweating, in fact not exerted at all, the bastard raised a single brow. “Are you going to yell at me again if I ask you if you’re okay?” he wondered.

She laughed. “I didn’t yell at you.”

His mouth quirked a little as he stood there, all wind-tousled perfection. He was yanking her chain in his own oddly stoic way.

And in her own not stoic way, she liked it. “And anyway,” she said. “I’m perfectly fine so you can stop asking me that question.”

“It’s my job.”

Oh. Right. She sighed. “I guess I didn’t realize it, but that question really annoys the crap out of me.”

“I’m getting that,” he said dryly. “Next time I’ll ask you about the weather.”

Look at that, Man of Few Words had a sense of humor. And she liked that. A lot. She liked him for some odd reason, and felt the need to explain herself. She wanted to tell him that the innocuous “Are you okay” question was a trigger for her, that given how many times over the past ten years she’d been asked those three simple words, they’d long ago lost their meaning.

That instead what she heard was all the pity the words were usually accompanied by.

And she hated pity with the same level of loathing she saved for all creepy crawlies, kale, and men in open-toed shoes of any kind.

His radio went off. Without taking his eyes off her, he listened to the call, then turned down the volume. “I’ve got to go.”

Good. Maybe when he was gone she could stop making a fool of herself.

He started to turn away, but stopped and gave her one more long look. “Stay off the top, okay?”

“Okay.”

He narrowed his eyes, clearly trying to judge her for honesty.

“Sir, yes sir,” she said and saluted him.

A smile threatened the corners of his mouth. “If only I thought you meant that.”

And then he was gone.

She let out a slow, shaky breath. It’d been so long since she’d had any sort of interaction like this that she wasn’t even sure what had just happened.

You just flirted with a man, a perfect stranger.