Page 28 of The Holiday Gift

A stray snowflake landed on her cheek and she brushed it away. “You are my best friend, Chase. I’m so afraid of destroying that friendship, like I’ve screwed up everything else.”

He gave her a careful look that made her wish she hadn’t said anything, had just told him good-night and slipped into the house.

“Can we... More than anything, I would like to go back to the way things were a few weeks ago. Without all this...awkwardness. When we were just Faith and Chase.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You really think we can do that, after that kiss?”

She shivered a little, from more than simply the cold night. “I would like to try. Please, Chase.”

“How do two people take a step backward? Something is always lost.”

“Can’t we at least give it a shot? At least until after the holidays?”

She hoped he couldn’t hear the begging tone of her voice that seemed so loud to her.

“I won’t wait forever, Faith.”

“I know,” she whispered.

“Fine. We can talk again after the New Year.”

Her relief was so fierce that she wanted to weep. At least she would have his friendship through the holidays. Maybe in a few more weeks, she would be able to find the courage to face a future without his constant presence.

“Thank you. That’s the best gift anyone could give me this year.”

She reached up to give him a casual kiss on the cheek, the kind she had given him dozens of times before. At the last minute, he turned his head, surprise in his eyes, and her kiss landed on the corner of his mouth.

Instantly, the mood shifted between them and once more she was aware of the heat of him and the coiled muscles and the ache deep within her for him and only him.

He kissed her fully, his mouth a warm, delicious refuge against the cold night. His scent surrounded her—leather and pine and sexy, masculine cowboy—and she desperately wanted to lean into his strength and surrender to the delicious heat that stirred instantly to life again.

Too soon, he stepped away.

“Good night,” he said, his eyes dark in the glow from the porch light. He opened the door for her and waited until she managed to force her wobbly knees to carry her inside, then he turned around and walked to his pickup truck.

She really wanted nothing more than to shrug out of Celeste’s luxurious coat, kick off her high heels, slip away to her room and climb into bed for the next week or two.

Unfortunately, a welcoming party waited for her inside. Celeste, Flynn and Aunt Mary were at the table with mugs of hot chocolate steaming into the air and what looked like a fierce game of Scrabble scattered around the table—which hardly seemed a fair battle since Celeste was a librarian and an author with a freaky-vast vocabulary.

All three looked up when she walked into the kitchen.

“Chase didn’t come in?” Mary asked, clear disappointment on her wrinkled face.

Sometimes Faith thought her great-aunt had a little crush on Chase herself. What other reason did she have for always inviting him over?

“No,” she said abruptly.

How on earth was she going to face him, again, now that they had kissed twice?

“How was your date?” Celeste asked. Though the question was casual enough, her sister gave her a searching look and she suddenly wanted desperately to confide in her.

She couldn’t do it, at least not with Flynn and Mary listening in. “Fine,” she answered.

“Only fine?” Mary asked, clearly surprised.

“Fun,” she amended quickly. “Dinner was delicious, of course, and we danced a bit.”

“Chase is a great dancer,” Mary said, her eyes lighting up. “I could have danced with him all night at Celeste’s wedding, except Agatha Lindley kept trying to cut in. I don’t think he wanted to dance with her at all but he was just too nice.”

---