Brody frowned and walked over to the vast windows of his suite’s bedroom. She was out there somewhere, and he didn’t know where. Why? Why didn’t he know that? What was going on with her?

‘In my experience,’ he said calmly, ‘it doesn’t work to just sweep everything under the carpet. There was a reason you left last night, Anna. You need to work out what that is and, to be honest, I’d like to know what the reason is too.’

Silence.

While he waited for her to answer, his mind went back to that moment when he’d first seen her the night before. The expression on her face – both at that moment and in the lift – haunted him. When he’d finally drifted off to sleep somewhere before dawn, it was all he’d been able to dream about. And now it was etched on his memory like the ghost of an image left on an old photographic plate.

That expression told him all he needed to know, he realized. Because he recognized it. He knew the emotion that lay beneath it intimately.

Fear.

But what was she afraid of? He began pacing along the glass panels that made up one wall of the bedroom, eyes fixed on the city lights outside. Not heights or crowded spaces, otherwise she’d never have suggested this as a location. The only other possible answer he could think of was that she’d been afraid of him. Logically, that fit, but it didn’t mean it made any sense. Did he look like an axe-murdering psychopath after all? He didn’t think so. He’d actually shaved, for God’s sake. It was the most presentable he’d been in years. But then an idea began to creep up on him…

‘What can I do, Brody?’ Anna finally said. ‘To make things better. I want to make things better. I want things to go back to the way they were.’

It didn’t escape him that she hadn’t answered his question, but maybe it was his turn to lead the way. Over the last year, she’d inspired him to be brave, to work through his fears; maybe he could do the same for her – and there was only one way he could think of. He was going to have to be courageous enough to be honest, like she usually was, right here, in this moment. He stopped pacing, planted his feet and tried to imagine her standing there in the room with him. ‘I’m not sure I want things to go back to the way they were before, Anna.’

She gave a little shocked sob. ‘Why not? Did I… Did I ruin it? Please don’t say I did. Brody, you’ve got to forgive me!’

Of course he was going to forgive her for being afraid; it would be highly hypocritical of him if he didn’t, but there was something more here. He stuck his other hand in his pocket and walked from the bedroom into the living area, needing more space. He’d told her the truth. After last night, they couldn’t stuff their relationship back into the same shape it had been before. It had outgrown that. It had shed that skin. They both had to face that if they were going to go forward.