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“Thanks.” Jo grinned broadly. “Was that the only thing you wanted to tell me?”

“No.”

“Then what?” Jo faced Piper fully, staring with wide eyes as Piper pulled her dress off.

She stood with her back to Jo standing in a pair of panties and nothing else. Goosebumps covered Piper’s bare back. Jo wanted to warm that skin, put hot-breathed kisses over each bump and smooth away the cold. She shivered despite still being entirely dressed in the warm clothes they’d planned for the outdoor event.

When Piper didn’t answer her question, Jo hesitated to ask it again. This felt like by far the more serious topic. She rummaged through her own suitcase, turning her back on Piper. By the time she found the perfect pair of pants and the long sleeve blouse to wear beneath her jacket, she turned back to Piper, intent on just snatching one more quick glance. “Do you think we’ll actually be able to convince Bunny and Bea to come out tonight?

“Oh, I’m sure we can talk them into it.” Piper chuckled, pulling down her shirt to cover the last of her bare skin. The pants she wore flowed around her legs and from a distance might even be confused for a skirt.

Taking a deep breath, Jo turned back to her own task at hand and smiled as she noticed the shift of weather outside the small high window.

“Even with it snowing again?” Jo asked as she slipped out of her own dress, letting it fall to her feet in a pile of rainbow colors. She stared out the small window, leaning closer to see the tiny flakes sticking to the outside of the glass as she unhooked the bra from her back.

“It’s snowing?” Piper was beside her, leaning against Jo’s bare arm as she reached her delicate fingers toward the window, as if to caress the snowflakes on the other side.

Jo turned her head, and Piper followed the action until they were face to face and eye to eye.

“Hey.” Piper smiled, reaching up and gently cupping Jo’s cheek in her palm.

“You’re all dressed,” Jo said, as though Piper couldn’t possibly be aware of the clothes she had pulled on, or like Jo hadn’t tried to sneak just one more peek at the perfection beneath.

“And you’re not.” Piper’s voice was rough and low.

“Um. No, not yet. I got a little distracted.” Jo’s cheeks heated, and she half hoped Piper knew the distraction had nothing to do with the snow. “I’ll just—”

“Jo.” Piper stopped her with the lightest of touches along her arm.

Jo’s skin tingled under Piper’s fingers. But this reaction had absolutely nothing to do with the chill in the air. “Yeah?”

Piper stepped in to Jo’s space, her arms slowly wrapping around Jo’s hips, giving Jo the opportunity to back out of the embrace or to tell her to stop. Jo wasn’t going to tell Piper to stop. She would take every last second she could get.

“Damn it.” Piper wasn’t one who normally stumbled on her words. She threw her head back and huffed her breath up to the low roof.

“What’s wrong?” Jo reached up a hand and eased Piper’s chin down as she cupped Piper’s cheek.

“What if it didn’t end?” Piper’s words rushed out.

“What ifwhatdidn’t end?” Jo’s heart beat a little harder and faster. Had she heard that right? Why had she repeated it if she wasn’t sure? But the energy in the air crackled, and even if shehad heard wrong, she knew Piper wouldn’t make her feel stupid or ridiculous for the question.

Piper spoke after a deep breath that seemed to help calm her. “When I proposed, I said a lot of things.”

“They were beautiful things. Pity it wasn’t real.” Jo remembered the words and being swept up so easily in the moment. In the beauty of the wind that kissed her cheeks and gave Piper’s words the perfect background beat. But she didn’t want Piper to be held accountable for words that had been fake for the wholeget Bunny and Bea out of their own headsidea.

“They weren’t just words.” Piper swallowed audibly, and Jo felt the tug at the corner of her lips. Could Piper really be saying this? Was it really what Jo was hoping to hear?

“They weren’t?” Jo encouraged, not holding any of her smile back.

“No, they weren’t.” Piper’s face lit up with joy. “They were how I feel. About you, Jo. What… What if none of it was fake? What if you really said yes to my proposal?”

“You really want to be engaged to me? For real?” Jo was almost certain that was exactly what Piper was saying, but she had to hear it. She had to have the clarification. She didn’t want to let all this joy inside of her swell larger if she was hearing only what she wanted and not what Piper was actually saying.

“Yes,” Piper whispered as she stepped a little closer, her arms snugging Jo a little tighter.

“Yes,” Jo replied, her breath ruffling the now loose hair that hung around Piper’s face.

“Yes?” Piper’s eyes were alive with a mix of emotions, and Jo couldn’t wait to dive into every one of them.