“From what?” He glanced over his shoulder toward the door. “I don’t see any danger.”

“Pretend. There’s a wolf. Big teeth. Snarling. I’m shivering and sobbing in my bed. Zac, Zac, save me, we’re going to die.” She used her breathiest voice. “What would you do?”

“Lock myself in the room with you and let the wolf have its way with the Christmas tree.”

She tried not to laugh. “That is not an answer. I’m scared of the wolf! What would you do? Seriously?”

“Seriously?” He stepped closer. “Do you want to know what I’d really do? I’d kiss you.”

She tried to step back, but the sofa blocked her path. “What?”

“And then I’d kiss you again. And then I’d strip you naked, and we’d have intense and unforgettable the-world-is-about-to-end sex.”

Her heart was pounding, and her whole body was flooded with heat. “You’re trying to shock the wolf?”

His mouth was dangerously close to hers. “By this point we’ve both forgotten there’s a wolf.”

“I wouldn’t have forgotten. And by the way, that is going to be one mightily confused wolf. Fine, Zac. I’ll take the bedroom. I’d hate to deprive you of a wolf encounter.” She extracted herself from a situation that was fast becoming far too unsettling and carried her case across the room. But she paused in the doorway, unable to resist. “Just for the record, if this scenario ever happens and we’re ever having the-world-is-about-to-end sex, you’re on top.”

“A favorite position?”

“Not particularly. But it means when the wolf pounces, he gets you first. I’ll have time to wriggle away and escape.” She pushed her case under the bed and closed her eyes. Pull yourself together, Alix.

When she opened them again, Zac was standing in the doorway.

“I need to finish this conversation. You’re saying you’d leave me to be eaten by the wolf?”

She pondered. “Yes.”

He nodded. “I guess that settles it, then.”

“Settles what?”

“Next time we have sex, you’re on top.”

She felt hot. Breathless. “We’re not having sex, Zac. This was all hypothetical. None of it is actually happening.”

“I’m sleeping on the sofa. That part is happening.”

“If it bothers you—”

“It doesn’t. I’ve slept in worse places.”

She liked the fact he didn’t complain. She’d once gone on a date with a man who spent the whole evening boasting that he never checked into a hotel without first knowing the thread count of the sheets. Alix had walked out before dessert, after deciding her thread count definitely wasn’t high enough.

Zac, on the other hand, was obviously the sort who wouldn’t object to sleeping out in the wilds.

She smoothed her hair, which was still messy after her mock attempts to seduce him. “It feels weird not having Holly around.”

Zac smiled. “Weird not to have to be constantly watching her, you mean.”

“It will be strange not being woken up at a ridiculously early hour in the morning by having a reindeer thrust in my face. Weird to be just the two of us.”