Her own were blown wide as if someone was charging straight at her. The warmth of Emily’s hand covering hers pulled her out of the episode. Valentina looked to her, pupils shaking.
Emily’s heart broke seeing such a strong, confident woman like her in this state.
Without saying anything, she gathered her into a tight hug. Her hands moved up and down the length of Valentina’s back reassuringly. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
At that, the dam was broken and Valentina cried in her hold the rest of the night.
49
“Valentina, you made it!”
The woman stood in front of Nicolas’s front door with gift bags in her hands. Emily greeted her with a friendly hug.
“Em, is Valentina finally here?” Nicolas came up from behind her.
“Yup, thanks for having me again.”
“Are you going to stand outside all day?” Emily grumbled, shivering from the cold wind.
Valentina wiggled her eyebrows playfully at her before stepping inside and closing the door.
“Why don’t we show you around? The last time you didn’t get a chance to see the place with all the chaos,” Nicolas offered but then the doorbell rang again. “On second thought…”
He held up a finger before going to check the camera to see who it was.
Chase slipped out of his foreign car and strutted to the front door after pulling out goody bags.
“It’s Chase,” Nicolas announced to the women before he went to open the door. He’d told Emily his best friend needed the company on this special day as well. She’d said the more, the merrier, excited to be having a real Christmas in a long time.
“Merry Christmas, Nick!” Chase screamed as soon as he came face-to-face with him.
Without so much as waiting for a reply, he invited himself in after thrusting the bags into Nicolas’s arms.
He paused in his tracks at the two beautiful ladies before him. “So…who’s the wife?” he asked, eyeing the both of them.
Nicolas rolled his eyes before shoving past him and slipping a hand around Emily’s waist. “Chase, this is Emily. Emily, meet the guy I have the misfortune of calling a friend.”
He took her hand quickly before whispering, “Don’t let his words fool you. Helovesme.”
Emily smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to finally meet you too—wait.” Chase’s hazel-green eyes zoomed in on her face. “Aren’t you that chick who starred in that sad movie four years ago? The one where the girl had a terminal illness and it hit it big at the box office?”
Now that Emily thought about it, she’d done an alarming number of tragic roles.
“That’s me.” She chuckled nervously.
“Cara,you married an actress?” His eyes flickered to Nicolas. “How befitting.”
“Shut up,” Nicolas snapped at him.
“She’s pretty cute though.” Chase smirked as he saw his friend’s eye twitch at the compliment. “I can see why you fell so hard for her.”
His gaze then settled onto Valentina, a spark lighting his eyes.
She raised an eyebrow at it.
“I’m Chase, by the way. Nice to meet you…” he trailed off for a name, his hand stretching toward her.
