She undressed, put on her nightshirt, and crawled into bed. MaybeEmma was right. Maybe she was fucked up. She had definitely stepped over theline tonight by purposely making Dex think she’d fantasized of her in waysother than friendship, that there might be something more between them, butthere couldn’t be. The shock on Dex’s face was unmistakable. Her stomachchurned. The whole conversation had undermined her relationship with Brent andher friendship with Dex. She blew out a breath. She didn’t understand her ownactions and apparently couldn’t control them either.
Emma.The name rang in her head. Why did Grace dislike her so much? She was, in fact,a great match for Dex. But Grace just couldn’t buy into the whole relationshipbetween the two of them. She remembered the first time she’d seen Dex gazing atEmma the way she used to gaze at her. It had hurt more than she’d thought itpossibly could. It was at the Christmas market. Brent was off doing his ownthing as usual, and when she’d turned to talk to Dex, she’d spotted theelectricity between them. Grace had suddenly felt like an outsider, which sentan inexplicable bolt of anger through her.
She’d thought Emma was gone for good after the ice-skatingincident, but when she and Dex had both shown up at Emilio’s Christmas party,Emma had taken center stage again. At the time Grace hadn’t wanted to analyzewhy. She’d just known she needed Dex’s attention. So she’d immediately capturedit from Emma by leaning in and whispering in Dex’s ear, showing some cleavageas she always did. She’d gotten the response she’d wanted. Dex had closed hereyes momentarily and taken in a breath. But then Dex had focused her attentionon Emma, not Grace. From that point on Emma had become the enemy, and Gracecouldn’t stop the wrath she’d rained upon her.
She’d been so nervous tonight with Dex, and with good reason. Eventhough she’d known her practically since the beginning of time, she’d never ledher to believe they were anything but friends before now. Tonight she had donejust that. It was selfish, but she’d pushed Dex to tell her if she’d everthought about her sexually, an intimate question to which she already knew theanswer. Normal conversation had ceased at that point, and the whole eveningbecame a gigantic pile of awkward.
Grace was going to have to apologize for being such an ass andmake it right, or things between them would never be the same again. Dex knewhow insecure Grace was, didn’t she? She’d understand why she’d acted the way shehad. Wouldn’t she? “Fuck,” she whispered. She’d made a huge mess of everything.
Chapter Twenty-Six
To keep her mind off Dex, Emma had been throwing herselfinto her work for the past few days. It seemed to help for a while, but thenher mind would get tired and wander back to Dex. She’d been drinking excessiveamounts of coffee to keep going, because sleeping only brought reality fullforce into her dreams. She gazed out the window at downtown Chicago. It was abeautiful city when the sky was clear. And it was even more gorgeous during theholiday season with all the hues of reds, blues, and greens streaming fromdesigns on the tall buildings.
Lights immediately brought her thoughts to Dex again and all thefeelings for her she couldn’t suppress. Emma had never been able to master theart of compartmentalizing her emotions. Trying to figure out how to make herheart stop aching for the second time in her life was going to be a challenge.The first had been with Amy, her last substantial relationship. It had takenEmma the better part of a year to get over her. Until recently, she’d stillavoided certain restaurants and parts of town because she didn’t want to chancerunning into her. Now there would be new places she wouldn’t frequent in thefuture because of Dex.
A light knock on the door brought her out of her thoughts. “Hey,what’s going on with you?” She heard Brent’s voice and spun around in herchair. By that time, he’d already crossed the room and taken a seat in thechair in front of her desk.
She flipped her glasses from her head to her nose and straighteneda few documents before setting them in a neat pile to the right of the phone onher desk. “Nothing. I’m good.” Brent had been her sounding board since they’dstarted working together. He wasn’t always right, but he’d given her some sageadvice in the past when she’d had relationship issues. She didn’t know how he’dreact to this particular problem.
“Come on. I can tell something’s wrong. You haven’t come out ofyour office in three days, except to get coffee.”
She blew out a breath and rolled her lips in. “I know I’m reallyfucking bad at love, but I thought this time was different.”
He pushed forward in the chair. “What? I thought things were goodwith Dex.” Apparently Grace hadn’t relayed the news yet.
She plucked off her glasses and dropped them onto the desk. “No.Not at all. I can’t believe I did this again. When I saw her at your wedding, Ishould’ve known better. What’s wrong with me?” She dropped her head to herdesk. “Fuck me.”
“What are you talking about? Don’t go all crazy on me.”
She shook her head. “How do I always pick the wrong girls?”
“I picked Dex.”
“Grace didn’t have anything to do with it?” she asked.
“No. She didn’t want to put the two of you together. But I couldtell that you and Dex would be perfect for each other.”
The whole situation made sense now. She bolted out of her chairand paced the office. “This is yourfault.” She stopped and pointed at Brent. “You knew what happened with Amy, andyou still set me up with Dex.”
“What the fuck, Em? Amy was in love with her best friend.”
“So is Dex.” She was so riled up, the words were out of her mouthbefore she could stop them.
Brent pulled his brows together. “But Grace is her best friend, and she’sstraight.” The poor guy honestly seemed confused. He had no idea.
“You are sofucking blind. They’re alwaystogether.” She continued to pace. “Grace is like
