If he didn’t have a bum knee, she never would have known he was there. The failure burned his throat almost worse than the pepper spray would have. “You’re crazy. It was a nice day so I wanted to walk.”

“Even with that limp? In the rain?”

Well, hell. She’d noticed a lot more than he would have given her credit for, even with his staying well back on the road. “I’m not a cripple.” Though when he compared his limits now to what they’d been before his injury, he sure as hell felt like one. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “And you obviously thought it was a nice enough day for a walk in the rain. Pot, meet kettle.”

She paused, clearly taking him in. Alexis Yeung, nurse and apparently sufferer of a mental breakdown when her perfect life didn’t go exactly as planned. Really, she was just throwing a temper tantrum by jetting off to Europe to find herself or whatever it was that high-maintenance women did.

She didn’t look like much. Oh, sure, she was beautiful in a very busty Asian-babes way, but what kind of woman spent the day hiking down a road and managed to look so perfectly put together? It wasn’t natural. Her jeans were rolled up to show off her hiking boots, and her white T-shirt didn’t have a smudge of dirt on it. He tried not to notice how the fabric strained over her breasts, and failed.

“Stop staring at my chest.”

“Woman, you just attacked me for no reason. The least I deserve is to check you out.” She crossed her arms under breasts, and he raised his eyebrows. “You’re not exactly helping my concentration, darlin’.”

“You’re a pig.” The woman had a stare on her that made him think of his auntie. He shoved the comparison away. Aunt Rose wasn’t anything like Alexis. She didn’t run from her problems—or other people’s problems, for that matter—not even when they were literally knocking on her door. This woman obviously did, or he wouldn’t be in a back alley in Cork getting grilled.

Alexis looked like she wanted to kick him again. “Why did you turn down the alley?”

This, at least, he had an answer for. “You’re a woman alone. I thought you might be in danger.”

“So you came riding to my rescue on your white horse?” And now she was laughing at him.

He coughed, hating the slow heat of embarrassment working its way through him. He wasn’t the one in the wrong here. “Only an idiot wanders down a dark alley alone.”

“I’m more than capable of taking care of myself.”

A fact Flannery had left out in his description of her, which made Luke wonder what else he’d left out. “Against a man with a bum leg.” Which hurt like a bitch after the combination of the hike and the beating she’d given it.

“Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.” She paused. “Give me back my pepper spray.”

“Not a chance.” There was nothing to guarantee she wouldn’t try to spray him again, and he’d suffered through enough shit today.

“It’s mine.”

“Yeah, well, you lost the right to it when you attacked me.” He sounded like a grumpy old man, but her very presence pushed buttons he didn’t know he had.

No, that was a goddamn lie. He knew every single one. Hell, he was more button than man these days.

She glared. “I’m leaving now. If you try to follow me again, we’ll go another round and I’ll come out on top. Again.”

If there wasn’t the slightest wavering in her voice, he might actually believe she was an international badass like she seemed to think. Then again, if this little slip of nothing could get the drop on him, then he’d fallen even further than he could have guessed. Humiliation tore through him, demanding he win back some of his damaged pride. “Darlin’, you got the drop on me once. It wouldn’t happen again.”

“Right. Because you’re not following me.”

“Nope.” Though he kind of wanted to douse her in cold water for how smug she sounded. Luke shrugged out of his pack. He heard more than saw her tense. “Relax, Rambo. I’m just tucking this away for now for safekeeping.” He shoved the pepper spray into his pack, needing to do something to keep her from taking off. He didn’t know how much more jaunting around he could take today. Add in the bonus of not knowing where the hell she was staying—or where she was going next—and he had to do something drastic. “The least you can do is buy me a drink after attacking me.”

“Attacking you? That’s rich. Maybe you shouldn’t be creeping into alleys after lone women. When you’re acting like a predator, expect to be treated like one.”

She had a point, which only served to annoy him more. Luke shifted and tried to hold back a wince when his knee protested. “Buy me a drink and we’ll call it even.” At least that would give her crazy ass a reason to sit still for a little while. If he could get her talking, maybe he could figure out her next step to self-discovery or whatever the hell she was trying to accomplish over here in Europe. Her sister and Flannery hadn’t been the least bit helpful on that note.

“That’s funny. You should be a comedian.” She shook her head. “If anything, you should buy me a drink for scaring me half to death.”

It was a seriously perverse joy to throw her own words back into her face. “You can take care of yourself.”

She threw up her hands. “Forget this. You’re obviously not suffering from any issues besides being an ass. Have a nice life.”

Damn it. He’d let his mouth get away with him—again—and fucked this all up. Luke limped after her. “Hey.”

Alexis paused at the mouth of the alley. “You reconsider that drink?”

He didn’t want to. Buying her a drink was all but admitting that she was right. But his pride couldn’t hold up to the throbbing in his knee. He took a deep breath and tried to wrestle down his anger. It wasn’t completely her fault. If he weren’t damaged goods, they wouldn’t be in this position to begin with. “First round’s on me.”

Alexis Yeung wasn’t sure whether to be proud of herself or feel bad for taking out some stranger who apparently was only following her to save her from some imagined bad guy. It was almost enough to make her feel guilty for attacking him, especially when he was blatantly trying not to favor his knee because of the hit she’d gotten in. Great job, Alexis. The guy is trying to be a Good Samaritan and you knock him on his ass.

But every time he opened his mouth, the guilt threatening dissolved a bit more. This guy was no different from the ones back home—totally sure he knew better than the helpless little woman that she was. He was just like her ex-fiancé Eric—the kind of man whose masculinity revolved around being the strongest, smartest, best person in the room. Anyone who threatened that was taken down a few notches with pointed comments and, if that failed, all-out bullying.

She pegged this particular man as one who skipped the rest of the steps and jumped straight to being a bully.

It would be smart to tell him where to stick his crappy attitude, and head back to the hostel to shower and search out food in a less hostile environment, but she was tired and hungry, and passing up a free drink would be silly. Plus, she was capable of spending a little more time with this guy, if only to assure herself that she really was growing and stronger than she’d been when she left Wellingford. That was the whole point of this journey she’d started, and she wasn’t going to be doing any emotional growing while hiding in her hostel room.

She’d lived her entire life by the rules. Now it was time to take chances—just not stupid ones. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. Her one kick alone wouldn’t cause him lasting harm. If he turns out to be a creep, I can outrun him with no problem. Or take out that knee again, and then run.

Satisfied she wasn’t making a stupid decision in the name of being strong, she said, “There’s a little pub down this street. Sin É.”