That warning, once brushed off like fog on a mirror, now rang loud and clear in his mind.
He stepped sharply to the side just as Vanessa's arms would've caught him.
She stumbled forward with a startled gasp—heels slipping briefly on the icy tile—but he caught her by the shoulders, steadying her before she could fall.
Vanessa blinked, breathless as her cheeks flushed from cold and embarrassment. "What was that?" she asked with a forced laugh, though her voice trembled slightly—not from the weather, of course. "Are we doing formal greetings now?"
Richard dropped his hands and stepped back. "Sorry. Long flight," he said curtly, his breath a pale vapor between them. "I'm not in the hugging mood."
She stared at him in a smile that just twitched at the edges of her lips. "You? Not in the hugging mood? That's new."
He shrugged half-heartedly, already glancing beyond her as though hoping someone else might appear from the frost-kissed horizon.
