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She inhaled deeply and headed for the door.
Chase was on the other side of the portal. His short sandy-brown hair clean and neatly brushed, his face closely shaven and smelling of aftershave, he was as gussied up as if they had been going on a date.
She’d spent a little time on her appearance, as well.
“Hey,” she breathed, resisting the urge to bring him in close for the casual hug she gave most of her good friends. “You’re right on time.” Something that had almost never been true, years before, when they’d actually been a couple.
He hefted the big beautiful Christmas wreath in one hand, the oversize bag from the hardware store, bearing what appeared to be prelit evergreen garlands and red velvet holiday bows, in the other. She caught a whiff of his brisk woodsy cologne as he stepped over the threshold. He winked at her genially. “And bearing gifts.”
Something he had done a lot, when they were together.
Feeling another whoosh of attraction, she took the packages that he handed her. A self-conscious flush moved from her chest up to her cheeks. “You didn’t have to do this.”
He shrugged affably, his gaze moving up and down the length of her. “I thought decorating the front of your home might help put you in the holiday spirit. You know,” he roughly paraphrased her favorite Christmas story, “deck the halls. And mistletoe...and presents to pretty girls...”
Just being with him again made her heart skip another beat. She focused on the wispy curls springing from the open collar of his shirt. “There isn’t any mistletoe here.”
“Really?” He leaned closer, his warm breath whispering across her ear. “That’s a shame.”
She shot him a “contain yourself” look. “And there better not be any in this bag, either, cowboy.”
“Sad to say.” He sighed comically, holding her eyes in the rakish manner she knew so well. “There’s not.”
Yet, she thought, knowing him a lot better than she wished she did.
Past experience told her he would put the moves on her again.
The current sizzle of chemistry promised she would have a very hard time resisting. No matter how much she wanted to keep them from hurting each other again...
“In any case...” Ignoring the mixture of excitement and ambivalence roaring through her, she worked to get the conversation back on track. “Sorry if I’ve been a little glum. I don’t mean to bring you or anyone else down.” She took his coat and hung it in the hall closet. “But it’s hard to be merry when I’ve got business problems on my mind.”
“Hey.” He curved a gentle hand over her shoulder. Understanding glowed in his gray-blue eyes. “Whatever the difficulties are,” he promised in his husky baritone, “they’re nothing we can’t fix.”
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