I rise from his chest. Trace a flat hand line from his heart up along his neck.

Up and up. Over champagne.

Over stubble.

Overwhelmed.

Just below his temple, a pulse pounds below my thumb. His or mine. Or both.

“Emma, you don’t have to explain—”

“Shh.” My lips find the corner of his eye and brush against it as softly as I can make myself. Because he is not invincible any more than I am invisible.

“Everything.” One whisper to quote the card and carry the promise. My pledge. “There is nothing I don’t want to share with you.” Cheeks align. Heat radiates within. Across and through. Throughout. I hear him swallow as he nods softly in understanding.

And I begin to understand, finally understand, and to accept that something real is happening. Something real, for perhaps the first time in my life. That everything else has been the actual playacting before I would meet this man.

Tonight, there have been avalanches all around. Champagne. Emotions. Epiphanies. There are no more doubts left here. They are swept away.

Because, despite my long held belief that I have suffered from the depth of attraction…fascination…obsession I feel for the man standing here, I have fallen short. True, he has made ludicrous demands and behaved like an entire bright orange metal box full of heavy duty Black & Decker tools. And hidden a fair few things himself, it seems.

But that does not change stone cold facts: He cares. And knows me. And us. And is not running in terror from the prospect of commitment.

In fact, he seems to being jonesing for that “C word” like Cookie Monster would for a snickerdoodle. That’s good enough for me.

Alaric has cared with purpose and direction and tethered patience. He held me fast while I slipped down the rabbit hole of my own daydream. It didn’t matter to him that I have been faking subservience because he knew all along it served a purpose with the best of intentions.

And I know, when I look back, this will be “the” moment. The moment when it all flipped. Stopped holding back. Started holding on.

It is a celebration, a relief, a barrel of rum finding me in the freeze.

His hand slides over mine. I look out the same hotel window as last night. Same stars. Same night sky.

Everything else has changed.

Or has it? Wouldn’t it be this life-altering, axis-tilting moment?

Where are the bells? Angels getting their wings and all that rot? Emma Baker, the man you have crushed on for over a year has admitted he really and truly loves you—what are you going to do now?

I’m going to The Knees Land.

Well, been there and done.

Outside where it is nearly empty, in the darkness of this Christmas morning, a silent pair of taillights disappears along the road outside.

He comes up behind me. Arms wrap warmly around my waist.

“So, um, you say you may have noticed me around the office once or twice,” I say, not looking away from the lightshow.

He leans in. Whispers, so softly. “Red dress and my face full of your hair in the elevator on your first day.”

Oh. That long, eh? So much for surreptitious behavior on my part.

I turn to face him. He’s right here in front of me, hands on my waist, arms bumping against my own. So near me, and finally—finally—I see him level.

He had always felt beyond my grasp. Too beautiful. Too aloof. Too…asshole-y.

To learn this is, in a way, to learn that I have never noticed myself in the way he has noticed me.

I had hoped for a glimmer. A blip. A wink. Then I feared I had deceived him. Changed him in the worst, most deceitful way. Unmade the man.

Instead, somehow, some way, I have unmade myself through whatever bad choices and inane machinations had brought us to this point. I had not shown him. I’d not spoken up. I’d not been together or self-assured enough to just approach him openly.

It occurs to me that there is this woeful, yet distinct prospect: He’s right. Which makes me wrong. I’m quite fond of being right, but I guess I’ll give him his turn.

I have just never let me out before, but I know, now, with him I can do this. His mere presence does that for me. I’m me. Present and accounted for. Willful and strong. Passionate and right. Right for him. The reasoning of why we are right for each other is of no importance.

Those mysterious places in the heart will open their chambers only for so long and to so few.

“I want you to know…” I lean in and place a kiss near the front of his ear. I can do this. I can put myself out there. He…we deserve this. “…me.”

It seems my words echo in the empty space of the room. Yet he listens, as if waiting for a cue. His still champagne-damp skin is nearly hot, humid against my own. “Just so you know…” I breathe. Move nearer still. Leave no room for pride. “I rather like your—” run my hand up his thigh “—taste.”

His low gasp borders on a rumble. Heated breath rushes along my neck.

Suddenly, hands twist within my hair, draw me back, pull my gaze to meet darkened eyes. Eyes that focus, dart from mouth to eyes. Back again.

“Pure, stiletto wearing evil. That is what you are.” He laughs in a broken growl. “Why would you tell me that?” He returns to a whisper. Loosens his grip on my hair. Looks a bit surprised to find his hand there. “Can you even begin to understand…what that does to me?”

I must shake my head in reply because a smile pulls at the corners of his mouth. “It is a dangerous effect.” Then, maybe I need to contact Miracle-Ear, because I think I hear low under his breath some horseshit about me being the most beautiful woman and exciting lover and that he should probably consult a cardiologist.

There’s a quake along my limbs as my body reacts to the tenor of his response. I hadn’t thought about how he would take what I said, but if I had, I wouldn’t have predicted something so…primal. He has always seemed so satisfied with my taking the lead. Not submissive to dominant, but aggressive to passive, if I were to classify it.

Our previous nights together: Me Jane. You Tarzan.

Those things are wonderful, precious.

This is different.

And I want to it happen again.

My hand runs up and along the planes of his face, trembling along its path. He leans into my palm. Eyes fixed on me. Intent. I cannot make myself look away from his mouth, his lips. Warm breath mixes with my own.

He is so beautiful, and though the term is over-used, his beauty is surreal. I run the tip of my index finger along his jawline and then to a perfect imperfection: a tiny scar near his chin. I will ask him about this someday. Someday in the future. Because, I realize, I am going to get more days with him.

Free of pretense, I want feel him, to kiss him. He is the man I have been thinking about for a year. Every waking moment and all the sleeping ones when Honest Abe would get the heck out of the way.

It would be in keeping with my newly minted sexual assertiveness to just lean in and go for it. It would be, but I don’t let myself.

I will force him to take charge. And, yes, I realize that is an oxymoron.

Now would be a great time to grab him and kiss him passionately. That is what I want to do. That is what Scarlett O’Hara would do. Or maybe not. Did she ever get assertive? Well, I heard once Vivien Leigh didn’t want to kiss Clark Gable. She complained he had bad breath. Her reserve comes across as coy on film. Do guys like coy? Rhett seemed to like it. What is coy anyway? Am I being coy now? Why am I thinking about this right now? Oh, my good God. Get a grip on yourself. The man of your (hot sex) dreams is leaning back and looking into your eyes and you are debating the outdated flirtation techniques of period piece cinema.

I draw in a long breath to try to calm myself. Problem is: I am not actually calm and I am freaking out about all this realness and newness, and my unrelenting staccato intake of air highlights that fact.