Sarah rested her chin in her hand and squinted. “I’m doing my best.”

“What I’m saying is that Emory is ridiculously lucky, and if she doesn’t see that, then you need to move on and quickly.”

Sarah’s eyes widened. “No, I’m not saying she doesn’t. It’s just this little voice inside my head that gets my attention every so often.”

“A little voice that you need to beat the hell out of until it submits to reason.”

Sarah laughed, her mood already lighter after talking with Carmen. “So you think I’m pretty great?”

Carmen rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You know I think you’re freaking adorable, all right? Do you feel better now?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Sarah grinned triumphantly and grabbed the check. “On me.”

“Did I also mention that you’re beautiful and smart too? Because Mama could use a new pair of boots. Just sayin’.”

Chapter Fourteen

It was finally Friday, and Emory was in high spirits. It was the first birthday in a long time that she was genuinely excited to celebrate. All she wanted in the world was a nice meal and the company of a very beautiful woman, one in particular.

The year had contained its fair share of ups and downs, but she was feeling hopeful, and that was worthy of some celebration. She couldn’t have been more excited to get off that plane and see Sarah and Grace, whom she’d not seen in six full days, a torturous eternity. She didn’t know how she was going to maintain the usual stream of business trips her job often called for. Things needed to be different now, and some sort of Plan B might be in order. She’d talk with Lucy about it soon.

As Emory made her way down the long corridor to baggage claim, she searched the faces of the eager family members waiting to greet their loved ones. When her eyes at long-last landed on Sarah’s, it was all she could do to maintain her steady pace and not close the distance between them in a less dignified manner, like an out-and-out jog. Instead, she shook her head, chuckling at the small sign Sarah held that read “Wanda,” and then took in the gorgeous black dress she wore for their evening out.

“You look amazing,” she said in Sarah’s ear as she pulled her into her arms.

“You’re sweet, and have been sorely missed.” Sarah held on to Emory for several long moments. Pulling back, she grinned, her eyes shining brightly. “Happy birthday.”

“Thank you.” Emory took her hand and led them to the baggage terminal. As they walked, her heart soared. She’d found her balance in the world again.

“Can you not go away anymore?” Sarah asked as they stared at each other lazily a few minutes later, waiting on Emory’s bag to make its way around on the carousel.

“Already working on it. But in more pressing matters, what should we do tonight?” Emory asked with delicious anticipation of the evening. “And where’s Grace? I thought for sure she’d have talked her way into making announcements over the PA by now.”

“Grace is being well cared for. You see, it’s somewhat of an important day I’m told, so I took the liberty of making reservations for the adults to celebrate at Donovan’s Downtown. My treat. I hope that’s okay. I know you said no party, but I wanted the night to be special. Thoughts?” Sarah looked nervous that she’d made the right call. But in all honesty, Emory didn’t care what they did as long as they did it together. But now that she thought about it, Donovan’s would actually make for a really nice evening.

“That sounds like the best offer I’ve had in a long time. You, me, and some amazing food.” Emory pulled Sarah’s hand to her lips and kissed the back of it. “Are you sure you don’t want Grace to come with us? She’s welcome.”

“Nope. She’s blissfully happy roughhousing with Carmen and her boys tonight, her idea of a walk on the wild side. She did send a gift for you, however, which I will give you later.”

“Now?” Emory asked hopefully, her right eyebrow arched.

“Later.” Sarah shook her head at Emory’s attempt to appear disappointed. “So incredibly demanding.”

Thirty minutes later, they pulled into the drive of Emory’s house. The idea was to make just a brief stop so Emory could change into something more appropriate for dinner and say a quick hello to Walter, who’d been tended to daily by Lucy in her absence. By the time they actually arrived, however, Emory was beginning to have other ideas. A passion had been lit when she’d first laid eyes on Sarah at the airport and that slow building fire was now going strong. She’d stolen glances at Sarah throughout their time in the car and just couldn’t get past how wonderful she looked in that dress. The occasional placement of Sarah’s hand on her thigh as they drove hadn’t helped her plight all that much either. “What time is our reservation?” she asked nonchalantly as they made their way up the walk.

Sarah glanced over at her suspiciously. “Why?”

“Just wondering how much time we had.”

A knowing smile took shape on Sarah’s face and she brought them to a stop on Emory’s front porch. “I know that look.”

“I have a look?”

“You have the best look. There’s this hunger that shades your eyes and every time I see it, it floods me with…”

“Floods you with?”

“All kinds of thoughts about you, us, together.” Sarah took a step into Emory’s space, her gaze taking on the heat Emory already felt. She slipped her hands under the front of Emory’s shirt and delicately moved her thumbs in circles across the planes of her stomach, not once breaking eye contact. “The reservations aren’t until eight o’clock. We have a little time, if you want to, you know, explore those thoughts I mentioned. God, you’re so warm.”

“Mhmm,” Emory murmured absently in response. “A lot of time between now and eight. A practical lifetime.” Emory closed her eyes, unable to take much more of Sarah’s teasing thumbs and the tidal wave of arousal they were unleashing. There was need coursing through her body and she had to act on it. She reached blindly for Sarah, catching her by the waist and pulling her in tightly until their bodies met. Sarah gasped and captured Emory’s mouth aggressively with her own.

Emory slid into the kiss.

Into lilac and cinnamon.

It had been too long, she thought, too long since she’d held Sarah this way, felt her all over like this. Emory took control, deepening the kiss all the while fumbling with her keys to get them inside quicker. “Damn it,” she whispered when her coordination continued to fail her over and over again.

“I’ve got it.” Sarah took the keys and easily let them in.

Emory followed her into the darkened house, and after only a few steps, wrapped her arms around Sarah’s waist, and she kissed her neck from behind. She snaked one hand up to cover Sarah’s breast, and with her other hand moved her hair to the side for better access to that neck.

“Baby,” Sarah breathed.

Stifled laughter emanated from somewhere across the darkened room. Emory froze. Sarah froze. The lights above them flashed to full illumination and a house full of seventy-five smiling faces screamed in unison, “Surprise!”

“Fuck,” Emory whispered.

“Oh wow,” Sarah echoed.

Emory took a moment to process the scene, pulling her hands from their blatant placement on Sarah’s body. There was a “Happy Birthday, Emory” banner across the mantle and a large, gourmet birthday cake on a table in the corner. Her closest friends and co-workers stood smiling in celebration of her, along with a few faces she was only vaguely familiar with. She managed to smile back at her unexpected guests and whisper to Sarah at the same time, “Did you know about this?”

“Not a clue,” Sarah whispered back, doing her best to straighten her dress.

What an embarrassing entrance they’d just made.

Lucy emerged from the crowd grinning. “Sorry to interrupt, lovebirds, but we have some celebrating to do.” That earned a collective chuckle from the crowd. Emory registered that music was now playing from her stereo system.