you sure?” Mary Kate asked, tilting her head to study her sister. “Here he comes.” She moved away before Emma answered. She forgot her siblings. Zach approached and he was the only person she noticed.
After dinner they played a word game around a blazing campfire. When the sun went down the air cooled with a fall chill and the fire felt good. Emma sat close beside him and Zach longed to put his arm around her, but he did not give in to the impulse. It would look far too personal for a boss and secretary. The dancing red flames highlighted gold streaks in Emma’s hair. She sat beside him playing a simple game where they sang and clapped and the little kids could play. Emma’s dad sat with his arm around her mother while she clapped.
Zach continued to marvel at her family. Outside of old movies, he hadn’t known families like this really existed. He completely understood why Emma treasured her weekends at home and her holidays. As a little kid he had hoped for this, but it had never happened with his own family or any that he visited and he finally had come to the conclusion such families did not exist, but Emma was proving him wrong.
Once as she sang, she glanced at him and smiled. More than ever, he wanted his arm around her or just to touch her, but he knew that wasn’t a possibility now. If he wasn’t careful, her family would have them engaged.
It was after ten when they began to break up. He helped clean until he was told to put his foot up. Finally he went with Emma back to her parents’ house. Tonight, everyone was heading home except her younger brother, and Zach wanted to return to her apartment and be alone with her.
Instead, they sat up talking to Bobby until one in the morning. While Bobby and Emma talked about Bobby’s school year, Zach looked at the Christmas tree. He had counted eight Christmas trees of various types and sizes that had been set up and decorated in the Hillman home.
Besides celebrating Thanksgiving, he was immersed in Christmas. The mantels in the family room and living room were covered in greenery and red bows. Decorations were everywhere he looked. No wonder she had tried to decorate the ranch a little. His attention shifted to Emma and his longing to be alone with her increased.
Finally, when Bobby went to bed half an hour later, Emma came to sit by him. He made room for her and she leaned against his chest, his arm around her and her feet beside his on the sofa.
“It’s been fun, Emma. You have a great family.”
“You really mean that?” she asked, twisting to look at him. She was in his arms, her face so close to his. “I love Thanksgiving,” she said, turning and settling back against him. “I love Christmas. Look at the tree. It’s beautiful and so many ornaments remind me of a special thing or person or time. I couldn’t bear Christmas without a tree.”
“I’m not as tied in to Christmas as you well know by now.”
“You should get into the spirit and enjoy Christmas. If you did, you would never return to spending it the way you do now.” She yawned and stretched. “I’m ready to turn in, Zach.” She stood and he came to his feet. She walked to the tree and carefully lifted free a glass Santa to show to him. “This is my favorite.”
He looked at the ornament and her delicate, warm hand. “I hope you have years of wonderful Christmases,” he said quietly.
“I hope you do, too.”
“This is turning into one so far.”
“It’s Thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas holiday. There’s a month to go.” She returned the Santa to the tree. “I love each ornament, Zach.” He came to stand beside her and put his arm around her waist. “Look at our reflection,” she said, touching a shiny green ball.
“I’m going to start carrying a sprig of mistletoe in my pocket,” he said, turning her to him to kiss her.
His arm tightened around her waist and she slipped her arms around him, kissing him while her pulse drummed. She quivered while desire ignited. Finally, she raised her head. “We should go to bed.”
“If only you would always say that at the ranch,” he replied. He smiled and kept his arm around her waist to walk beside her as they headed toward the stairs.
“Night, Zach,” she said and disappeared into the room where she slept. In his own room, he lay in bed with his hands behind his head, thinking about the day and the evening with her and her family. He couldn’t imagine spending every weekend this way, but sometimes it would be fun. He still thought she was missing out on a wonderful world and when his foot was healed, he would try to show her some place exciting out of Texas since she had never even been beyond the boundaries of the Lone Star state. As soon as he thought of traveling with her, he knew it would never happen. When the job ended, she would go out of his life. She had been correct when she said they had vastly different lifestyles. Neither one was the right person for the other in even a casual way.
In spite of that knowledge, his common sense, caution and experience, he couldn’t stop wanting her and he couldn’t shake her out of his thoughts.
He finally drifted to sleep, still yearning to be alone with her.
After Sunday dinner, Zach and Emma left for the ranch.
She drove again while he sat with his foot propped up across the backseat and resting on bags placed on the car floor.
“You have a nice family. I see why you value your weekends. Your family shows they enjoy being together.”
“Thank you. You seemed to like being with your brother and his family.”
“I do, but I don’t think my brothers and I have the closeness your family does.”
Emma could see Zach in the rearview mirror. “You can have that closeness. From what you’ve said, you’re all congenial. Maybe you are alone so much because you keep up your guard, Zach. It might carry over from childhood and times you were alone. Life’s different now. You don’t have to keep everything all bottled up. You can enjoy your brothers and now there’s a half sister. You and Will seem very close.”
He sat in silence. She met his gaze when she glanced at him, but then she had to turn her attention back to the road. “You might be right,” he said finally. “I’ve never looked at it that way. I was disappointed as a kid. So were they. We were dumped and couldn’t even be home together some years. I don’t know—maybe my feelings are a guard left from childhood hurts. As a little kid, I couldn’t keep from resenting it.”
“Well, the nice thing now is that you don’t have to be alone,” she said, smiling at him.
“Maybe you’re right. I’ll admit it’s fun when my brothers are together. And now I enjoy having Caroline and Ava there, too. Your family certainly has a great time together.”
“We do and in a crunch, we can count on each other too. I’m happy you came with me.”
“I enjoyed the weekend. Neither of your brothers were thrilled. I got looks from them the whole time. If they intended to send me warnings, they succeeded.”
“Pay no attention to them. You’ll never see them again.”
Zach smiled and looked at her as she glanced in the rearview mirror at him. “I’m not invited back?”
Emma felt her cheeks flush.
