"Cookies."

Amy sat outside Cole's townhouse in her car glancing down at the cookie tin on the passenger seat. She'd been nervous, so she'd called Kelly to shore up her confidence.

"Cookies are good. Now, more importantly, what did you wear?"

"Black jeans, red Christmas sweater."

"No, silly. Underneath."

"Oh." Amy let out a sigh. "Well, I wore...plain white underwear and a white bra."

Kelly's voice brimmed with her usual dry sarcasm. "That'll really turn him on."

"Look, through my entire elf career, I wore a sexy bra and panty set under my elf suit every single day, just in case he ever started reading my signals and made a move on me."

"And...?"

"And, well, after twenty-eight days of lacy lingerie, I guess I'm officially giving up." Even if he had told her she was cute today.

Even if he had invited her over here tonight.

They were friends, after all, so such gestures meant nothing. And although she'd entertained the idea of wearing a sexy teddy beneath her clothes, just in case she was wrong, she'd stopped herself. She couldn't survive feeling the silk and lace rub sensually against her skin all night if nothing was going to happen.

"Giving up?" Kelly spouted. " Now? Why would you give up now?"

Amy sighed. "Eggnog and an old Christmas movie don't exactly spell seduction, so even if I felt hopeful when he first invited me, I've now drawn the conclusion that it's only a simple act of friendship."

Yep, she was finally getting it through her thick head that nothing--sexual, romantic, or otherwise--was going to ensue between them. It didn't matter whether it was because Cole was on the rebound from a recent breakup with a long-time girlfriend or because maybe he just wasn't attracted to Amy. What mattered was that she'd spent over a month in unrequited lust already, and she wasn't the type of girl who liked to waste a lot of time on the chase. Playing hard-to-get had never been a game she enjoyed, either on the giving end or the receiving--she liked to get to the action as soon as possible. So she'd told herself tonight would not be about signals or chemistry or those incredibly sexy grins of his; she was simply spending a holiday with a friend. That way she wouldn't have to be disappointed in the end.

"Okay, listen to me," Kelly said. "How long have you known the guy?"

"Four years." She'd met Cole on the job. She'd been new to both Chicago and the investment firm where they worked. Although in different departments, the two of them had interacted enough that they'd become fast friends and stayed that way.

"And how long have you been wanting to get horizontal with him?"

"Well, I suppose I've been attracted to him since the beginning, but it's only been the last month that's felt like pure torture. And for your information, it doesn't have to be horizontal. It could be vertical, at a perpendicular angle, or upside down for all I care."

Only when he'd told her about his breakup just before Thanksgiving had Amy truly admitted to herself she thought of him as more than a friend. And when he'd invited her to be his elf, explaining the money from the Santa photos would go to a local charity, her eager acceptance had only proven to her how much she wanted him. Green was hardly her best color, yet she'd jumped at the chance to be his elfin assistant.

"But it's not going to happen," she added, reminding herself as much as Kelly. "And in fact, my Christmas gift to myself is going to be getting over him, and my New Year's resolution is going to be moving on and setting my sights on someone else."

If she could. The truth she didn't tell Kelly was that she couldn't recall the last time she'd had the hots for someone this bad. It was worse when the guy was already a friend, because that instantly turned attraction into something that was about more than just sex. She really cared for Cole.

And if she sat here thinking sappy thoughts like this for even a minute longer, spending the whole evening with him would be pure torture, so before Kelly could come up with a snappy reply, she hurried the conversation to a close. "I have to go."

"Just one question first."

"What?"

"If you've known the guy for four years and been flirting with him for a month, and this is the first time he's ever suggested a private evening for the two of you, don't you think assuming nothing will happen is...a little hasty?"

Maybe Kelly made sense, but Amy couldn't get her hopes up now that she'd found the strength to make the decision to move on. She answered succinctly. "No."

"Well, then, one more question. If you're so determined nothing's going to happen tonight, why were you nervous enough to call me?"

Good question. Too good. She answered with a small growl of frustration, speaking through clenched teeth. "I said I have to go. I'll talk to you after Christmas."

With that, she disconnected the call, shoved the phone in her purse, and got out of the car. Despite Kelly's arguments, she was still determined to put the last few wasted weeks of lust behind her, and with that thought firmly in mind, she tucked her cookie tin under one arm and rang Cole's doorbell.

"It's open. Come on in."

Amy sighed. He couldn't even be bothered to answer the door? It solidified her theory that he saw her only as a friend--a very casual, mi casa es su casa kind of friend.

Reaching for the knob, she eased the door inward, surprised to find the lighting so dim when she stepped inside.

The first thing she spotted was the fire blazing in the small hearth in his living room--a toasty welcome from the typical Chicago winter dropping snow on the suburbs outside.

The second thing she noticed was Cole sprawling comfortably in an easy chair.

Wearing nothing but his Santa hat.