My heart trips over itself as Holley and Chloe walk in the door together, arm in arm with a suit-wearing, older, bald man. I don’t recognize him, but I don’t feel any sort of immediate threat from his presence either. And the truth is, when I get one look at the woman I’m waiting for, I can’t even pretend to pay attention to him anymore. In a long black dress with a plunging neckline, Holley’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more. Her lips are painted a dark red, her eyebrows heavy with attitude. Her jade eyes sparkle against the neutral background of the rest of her outfit, and it’s all I can do to keep myself standing.
A hand goes to my chest as my breath leaves, desperate to put some pressure on the rapidly forming void. I know what I need to fill it—I can’t take my eyes off her.
The three of them are stopped by a woman in a bright-red dress not far inside the entrance, and everything inside me vibrates. They unlink arms then, and the man—who, now that I look at him more closely, has got to be Holley’s father—turns to Chloe and says something to make her smile.
Holley chats with the woman in the red dress, her whole head bobbing animatedly in agreement with something she’s saying. I know Holley pretty well, though, and the wide, panicked set of her eyes tells me she’s not actually hearing much of anything the woman has to say.
I wait for her to make her way around the woman and into the main area of the party, but when she gets stopped again by a woman I know to be her editor, Gloria, from our earlier introduction, I make a decision.
There’s no fucking way I’m sitting in this room and watching like a voyeur for another minute.
I don’t wait for the planned introduction to the party guests; I don’t wait at all.
Determined, I stride out into the main room. People recognize me, that much is clear, but I only have eyes for Holley and Chloe.
Chloe spots me on my approach first, smiling widely and giving me a thumbs-up in support.
I vaguely notice some of the other women I went on dates with trying to catch my attention, but I don’t return the gestures.
Holley looks up just as I step closer to her, and with her looking the way she does tonight, I have absolutely no other choice. I have to feel her body against mine, the heat of my flesh on hers. It’s instinctual, basic—I’ve missed it so fucking much.
Her eyes widen, startled by the fact that I’m not slowing down at all, but I don’t stop to explain. Just like the night she opened her door and her body to the possibility of something with me, I take her face in mine and put my lips to hers.
Ever reliable, she gasps, and I don’t waste the opportunity.
My tongue sweeps inside her mouth as a low rumble starts up around us with the unexpected excitement of a total party shakeup. It takes a few long seconds in time, but when Holley’s arms come up to wrap around my neck as she kisses me back, everything I never knew I needed comes crashing down on top of me, filling me with hope and love and the kind of happiness only Chloe seemed to understand I needed.
Speaking of Chloe, she whoops beside us, letting out a cheer and a whistle.
I smile against Holley’s mouth, and without hesitation, she returns the gesture.
Pulling back just enough to look her in the eyes, I’m rewarded with the jade light I thought I’d have to fight and plead for—the look of a woman ready to take the leap with me.
It’s wholly unexpected, but goddamn, it’s so welcome. At forty years old, I’ve already had more than enough drama to last a lifetime.
“I thought I was going to have to convince you,” I whisper softly, pushing gentle fingers into the fringe of her perfectly curled hair.
We’re still close, but not enough that I can’t see when she smiles, her nose wiggling slightly as she pulls her lips into her mouth and shakes her head. “I know. That’s normally my thing, huh?”
I nod, leaning my forehead into hers as she laughs lightly. “I’ve definitely had to talk you into things a time or two.”
“I finally listened to what you were saying, let go, and got with the