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Vanessa felt Brian stiffen next to her. She ignored the flip-flop her stomach did at seeing Cassie and instead, squeezed his hand and turned to meet his worried eyes. With a smile, she mouthed, “It’s okay.” It took a beat, but he smiled back, and bent forward to brush her lips with his. She sipped her champagne.

***

“What the hell took you so long?” Jonathan asked as he pulled Cassie along, stopping every foot or two to buss somebody’s cheek or answer a question about food/drink/decorations.

“I had to get some paperwork done, and I wanted to get a couple orders placed before the holidays,” Cassie explained. She wasn’t really in the mood for a party, but after missing Jonathan’s Halloween party, he was not about to allow her to miss this one. Honestly, she was tired and a little sad at the prospect of facing the impending holidays alone. She’d hoped to get a phone call from Emerson tonight, but no luck, and she was unhappy about that. She’d almost bailed, but Jonathan was important to her…and spending some time at a Christmas party was probably better for her head than being cooped up in her apartment alone, staring at her cell phone, willing it to ring. She went on with her explanation. “A lot of businesses shut down early, and I didn’t want to take any chances. I told you all this. And I’m not
that
late.”

“Late is late, Cassandra. There are no varying degrees. You are late or you are not late. You, my dear, are late.” He stuck his nose up, doing his best impression of somebody haughtily irritated, and Cassie couldn’t help but laugh. “Besides, I didn’t want your present to spoil.”

Cassie stopped walking, which pulled Jonathan to an abrupt halt. “We decided not to do presents this year.”

“We did?” He feigned shock, pressing a hand to his chest.

“You promised.” Cassie narrowed her eyes at him.

“Well, first of all, my dear, you look fabulous. I don’t think I told you, but that dress? Ridiculously hot. Second, I will always do presents for my besties, even when I say I’m not going to. Don’t you know me at all? Third, you can thank me later.” He pulled her around the corner and into the open-concept kitchen/great room combination and held out an arm as if presenting an award. “Ta-da!”

Cassie followed the direction his arm pointed and her eyes fell on Emerson, standing at the counter dressed in a long-sleeved glittering dress of emerald green. She had a wine glass in one hand and was gesturing at Chris with the other, the two of them deep in conversation. Cassie’s breath held in her lungs, and she simply drank in the beautiful sight before her, standing quietly, an enormous grin spreading across her face.

Chris caught her eye then and smiled, touched Emerson’s arm, and gestured with her chin in the direction of her sister. Emerson turned and their eyes locked. For a long moment, everybody in the room disappeared and it was just Cassie and Emerson. As if tugged by a rope, Emerson set her glass down, came around the counter, and wrapped her arms around Cassie.

“My god, you look gorgeous,” she whispered in Cassie’s ear.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Cassie said, embarrassed to feel her eyes fill with tears.

Emerson pulled back to look at her face. “Hey, why are you crying? Should I go back to L.A.?”

“No!” Cassie nearly shouted, then laughed. “No. You should stay right here with me.” She swiped at her face, pulled herself together. She dropped her voice so only Emerson could hear. “These are happy tears. I promise. It’s just…I’ve been trying so hard to resign myself to spending the holidays alone. I got through Thanksgiving, and this morning I was just giving myself a pep talk that I only had two more holidays and I’d be home free. And you’re here.
You’re here
.” She went up on tiptoes and kissed Emerson’s soft cheek. “I am so glad to see you.”

The rest of the party seemed to move again, as if the music had stopped and started back up, all the guests had frozen in place and were animated once more. Jonathan was suddenly at their sides.

“Merry Christmas,” he said to Cassie.

“You did this?” she asked.

“He’s a pretty persuasive guy,” Emerson commented. He had grabbed her wine glass from the counter and he handed it to her now. They clinked.

Cassie shook her head. “I never thought I’d see the day you two actually liked each other.”

“Well,” Jonathan said, picking an invisible piece of lint from his sweater. “I still think she’s a bit of an ice princess.”

“And he’s sort of a whiney queen,” Emerson said.

“To royalty,” Jonathan announced, and they clinked again. Then Jonathan was off to tend to his guests.

“When did you get here?” Cassie asked, still stunned at seeing Emerson standing in front of her in the flesh. It had been over a month since they’d seen each other, since Emerson had returned to LA to take care of things there, since Cassie wondered if she’d ever see her again.

“This morning,” she said, her eyes holding Cassie’s. “God, it’s good to see you.” She quickly kissed Cassie’s mouth, apparently not caring who saw.

“This morning?” Cassie’s voice combined shock and hurt.

Emerson lay a warm hand on her upper arm. “Jonathan wanted it to be a surprise. It was fine. I holed up at the inn with Mary going over the receipts from the past month, looking over some ideas she has for spring.”

Cassie recalled Jonathan having some weird business trip this morning. He left early and had to skip their morning coffee date. Two and two suddenly made four. “Jonathan got you at the airport.”

“He did. We spent three hours in the car together and rather than kill each other, I think we’re going to be pretty good friends.” She sipped her wine as she glanced around the room at all the people milling about. “We had some pretty frank discussion.”

Cassie grimaced. “This could either be a really good thing or my worst nightmare. I haven’t decided yet.”

Emerson laughed as Cassie’s parents walked up to them and hugged Emerson.

It was all a bit surreal to Cassie. Ever since Emerson had sat down with Mary and Jack and hashed out details for running the inn, Cassie’s parents had gained new respect for her, as had Jonathan. Her parents chatted with Emerson now like they were old friends as Cassie watched, almost removed.

Over the past month, she and Emerson had texted and e-mailed and talked on the phone, but the whole time, Cassie hadn’t put voice to the questions she’d had after that first night, specifically: what happens next? Was Emerson coming back? Did she want to explore what they might have together the way Cassie did? She hadn’t asked then and the more time went by, the more reasons she found for continuing to not ask. Initially, it
had
been because she was trying to be cognizant of all Emerson had on her plate. The last thing she’d wanted to do was add to the pressure. Now? It was simple: she was terrified of the answer.

But Emerson was here now. That had to mean something. Didn’t it?

The next few hours went by in sort of a dream-like haze. They mingled. They ate ridiculously delicious food. They drank fabulous wine. They talked to dozens of people, many of whom asked why Emerson was back in town and how long she was staying.

All her answers were vague.

But they held hands the entire time. Emerson rarely left her side. And when things finally started to wind down, when the crowd began to thin and people were saying goodbye, Emerson turned to her and said, “Can I come back to your place?” then waggled her eyebrows lasciviously.

Cassie couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, you’re awfully presumptuous, aren’t you?”

Emerson leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Not presumptuous, just desperately wanting. I’ve been imagining taking that dress off you since the moment you walked into the kitchen.”

Cassie’s heart jumped to her throat, beating like a tribal drum, and a pang of desire hit low in her belly, warming her from the inside. Tugging Emerson’s head back down to hers, she responded, “I thought the exact same thing about your dress.”

After that exchange, they couldn’t get out of there fast enough. As they made the rounds, said their goodbyes, and made it to the hall closet, Cassie said, “I hope you have a car because Frannie gave me a ride. If not, I’m afraid we’re hoofing it.”

“I have my mom’s car,” Emerson said. “Here.” She held Cassie’s coat for her, then they both changed from shoes to boots and tossed their shoes into Cassie’s tote.

“Let me know when you’re going back, and I’ll take you to the airport,” Cassie said, buttoning her coat, still slightly stung that she missed three hours alone in the car with Emerson.

Emerson hummed a noncommittal sound as she pulled on gloves. “Ready?”

The ride home was oddly silent, but not uncomfortably so. Emerson parked behind the store, waited for Cassie to come around the car, then grabbed her hand. Once inside, they began to climb the stairs. Halfway through the second flight, Emerson gave Cassie a look.

“Lotta damn steps.”

“If only the landlord would put in an elevator,” Cassie said in a dreamy voice.

“Fat chance.”

Once all the way up and inside, Gordie was a wiggling, quivering mess of love at seeing not only his mistress, but company too. Emerson squatted down to allow him access to her face, which he proceeded to bathe with kisses.

“I missed you, too, buddy boy.”

Cassie grinned at the display. “Let me take him out, and then we’ll be in for the night.” Hand on the doorknob, she turned back and arched a playful eyebrow at Emerson. “And don’t you dare take off that dress. That’s
my
job.”

“Ooh, bossy.”

Gordie was blissfully quick doing his business, and when Cassie returned to the apartment, Emerson was sitting on the couch obediently still in her dress.

“I made tea,” she said sipping from a mug. She set it on a coaster on the coffee table. When she looked up, Cassie had crossed the room. She took Emerson’s face in her hands, and kissed her. Deeply and thoroughly. When she finally pulled back, they were both breathless.

“Wow,” Emerson said.

“I have wanted to do that since I first laid eyes on you at the party.” Cassie held out her hand. “Come with me.”

Emerson took the hand and followed Cassie into the bedroom.

While waiting for Gordie, Cassie had formulated a plan. She needed to come clean with Emerson, talk to her about everything that had gone on in her head for the past month, find out what Emerson’s plans were, if they had any kind of a future together.

Because if they didn’t, Cassie needed to deal with that.

But first and foremost, she needed to deal with Emerson and that dress. Her mouth literally watered at the sight. Bathed in just the glow from a small lamp on the bedside table, shadows stretched across Emerson’s long form, but the green fabric caught what little light there was and made her look as though she was twinkling. Cassie stepped toward her, placed her hands on Emerson’s hips, looked in her eyes.

“You were the most beautiful woman in that house tonight,” she said softly, then slipped her hand around the back of Emerson’s neck and pulled her in for a scorching kiss. As their lips fused deliciously and their tongues battled, Cassie tugged at the zipper on the back of the dress and slid it all the way down to Emerson’s behind. Breaking free of the kiss, she reached for the neckline and pulled the dress off Emerson’s shoulders as if peeling the wrapper off a delicate gift. Emerson slipped her arms from the sleeves and Cassie let the dress drop to the floor, a puddle of emeralds at Emerson’s feet.

Cassie just stood there and absorbed the view. Emerson in a black bra, black panties, and nothing else was not a sight she would soon forget. Her long, lean form was breathtaking, all smooth skin and toned muscle. Even the scars on her knee were beautiful to Cassie.

The rest of their clothes came off quickly, and soon they were in the bed, under the thick down comforter, Cassie on top. She was determined to keep charge of this, wanting so much to have her way with Emerson, with Emerson’s body. She kissed her, pressing her into the pillow, one small breast in her hand. She rolled a nipple between her fingers and was rewarded with a guttural moan from Emerson’s throat.

“God, I missed you so much,” Cassie whispered, moving to take the other nipple into her mouth. She ravished them both, first one, then the other, with lips, tongue, teeth, until Emerson was practically writhing beneath her. Cassie could feel fingers in her hair, gripping tightly, Emerson’s breath coming in small gasps. Cassie took her time, lavishing attention on those beautiful breasts until she felt Emerson gently pushing her south. She smiled against warm skin, then let herself be directed, taking her time, using her tongue to taste every inch of softness across Emerson’s taut abdomen.

Once she reached her destination, she positioned Emerson’s legs so she had the best access possible and without preamble, she swiped Emerson’s entire center with one pass of her tongue. Emerson’s arms shot over her head and grabbed for the headboard as she gave a small cry, and Cassie smiled, then went to work in earnest.

It was just as she remembered, Emerson’s unique musky tang coating her tongue. Warm and wet, welcoming, Cassie took her time, exploring, testing different spots, varying pressure. Emerson’s hips began to rock, and Cassie clamped both hands on them, holding her as steady as she could while she tasted this exquisite creature beneath her. Eventually, she pushed Emerson higher, toward the precipice she strove for, and then tipped her over the edge. A long, soft keening came from Emerson’s throat as she arched her back and pulled at the comforter. Cassie watched in awe as muscles tensed in orgasm, and she puffed up with pride knowing she was the one who caused such a reaction.

Catching her breath, Emerson reached down and tugged weakly at Cassie’s shoulder. “Come here.”

Cassie climbed up and lay across Emerson’s flushed body so they were nose to nose. “Hi,” she said softly, then kissed Emerson’s mouth.

“Hey. Fancy meeting you here.”

“Yeah, I was just in the neighborhood.”

They smiled at one another. Cassie shifted so her full weight was no longer on Emerson, tucked her head under Emerson’s chin.

“That was amazing,” Emerson said after a few quiet moments.