Page 42 of Home for the Holidays

Heidi chuckled as she smoothed her hand over the back of Iris’s head. “Yeah, and so do I.”

She pulled away, her hands on Heidi’s hips, and smiled. “Thank you for tonight. I needed it. I needed all of this.”

“So did I.” Heidi moved her hand, placed it on Iris’s neck, and ran her thumb along the line of her jaw before she leaned in and placed her lips on Iris’s. She tasted so lovely, mint Chapstick and espresso martinis and hope, reckless naïve hope. When she pulled away, she said so very softly, “I could do that all night.”

“Oh, how I want you to.”

“How are we going to do this?”

“What’s that?” Iris leaned in and kissed Heidi again. The whimper that came from her when Heidi bit down lightly on her lip was orgasmic. “Goddamn. Keep our hands off each other?”

“Yes,” Heidi whispered.

“I really hope we don’t.”

“Iris?”

“Hmm?”

“We need to stop before I do something we’ll both regret.”

Iris pulled away and her eyes locked on Heidi’s. “I would never regret you,” she said with so much sincerity that Heidi felt it in her chest. “Get some sleep.”

And she disappeared into the house, taking Heidi’s ability to breathe with her.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

Iris’s head was pounding as she peeled her eyes open and blinked a few times. She had slept horribly, plagued the entire night with thoughts of Heidi and what the hell she was doing. Jason Bateman, hanging next to the Chicago flag on the ceiling, finally came into focus.

The clock next to the bed read half past seven. At least she had slept in a little later than the day before. She stretched her arms and legs, expecting to bump into Zac, but when she came up empty-handed, she realized he wasn’t next to her. She sat upright so fast that she had to take a second to let the room stop spinning. The martinis were coming back to haunt her.

She grabbed her phone from the nightstand. Fifteen missed calls. Forty-seven text messages. All from Zac. She groaned as she opened her phone and dialed him. The phone rang and rang and rang until finally, a very sleepy Zac answered.

“Where are you?” she asked with a small laugh. “Are you somewhere next to Evan? Please tell me you are.”

He breathed out before he whispered, “I slept next to him, yes. His parents came and picked him up, and I just came back with them. I couldn’t drive, and I couldn’t get a Lyft. I’m so sorry. I tried texting—”

“Why are you sorry? I’m thrilled for you.” She fell back against the pillows and draped her arm across her eyes. “My head is killing me.”

“Oh no. Did you party with Oscar and Adrien back at the house or something?”

She froze. “No, I, uh, I went to Lincoln’s?”

“Ugh. Love Lincoln’s.”

“Yeah, it was nice.”

“My mom’s best friend, Sandy, is the bartender there.”

Iris sighed. “Yeah, I met her. Had a few martinis.”

“Aww, all by yourself? I’m so sorry.”

“No, it’s totally okay.” She was trying her hardest to not sound upset. Not only was she not upset, but she was also so okay with the way the night had unfolded. “I was alone at first, but then, funny story, I ran into yourmom.” She forced herself to laugh, but it came out as a snort. “Weird, right?”

“My mom? You hung out with my mom?” He scoffed. “Um, yeah, that’s fucking weird.”

“I know. Vale Park is like theTwilight Zone.” She hoped she sounded as unaffected as possible, but, of course, she was an awful liar. “How was your night?”

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