Nic moved her hands across Abby’s thighs, noting the firmness of them. “You must do something.”

“I go to the gym at least three days a week. I’ll usually do the elliptical. It’s not quite as torturous as a treadmill.” Abby scissored her legs between Nic’s. “What else will you do?”

“I’ll go see my uncle tomorrow. And Addison invited me over for dinner on Wednesday. They want to hear all about my Christmas.”

“Do they…well, do they know about your family?”

“Yes. No one else. Well, other than you now. But I mean, other than Uncle Jimmie, no one knows. I don’t normally make new friends so there’s no one to tell.”

“I’m glad you shared that with me, Nic. It makes this year even more special, I think, knowing it was your first real Christmas.”

“Yeah. I think I might be more receptive from now on. I’ll probably take Addison up on her offer next year, especially since there’ll be a baby now.”

“What is she having?”

“Don’t know. They wanted to do it the old-fashioned way and not find out ahead of time. Eric and I are hoping for a girl. Addison actually wants a boy.” She reached her hand up, running her fingers across Abby’s nipple. “What about you? What will you do? I mean, other than your date with the doctor.”

“I’ll have a ton of work to catch up on, I’m sure. Quarterly reports will be due by the fifteenth. It usually takes me about a week to get back into my routine after a long break like this.” Abby rolled them over, resting her weight on top of her. “I’m tired, but I don’t want to go to sleep.”

She smiled against Abby’s lips as they kissed. “We’ll pay for this in the morning.”

“I know. But right now, I don’t care.” Abby kissed her again. “I just want to make love one more time.”

One more time. Yes. For the last time. Then back to Dallas. Back to their real lives. And their real lives did not intermingle.

And she would miss Abby. Miss her a lot, she realized.

Chapter Thirty-eight

Yes, she was exhausted, but she wouldn’t change it for anything. She glanced over at Nic, who was leaning her head against the passenger window, her eyes closed. She smiled at her sleeping form, then sighed. They’d agreed to change drivers every two hours and she had another thirty minutes to go before she could wake Nic.