I added the final touch to my stunning outfit by zipping up my black knee-high leather boots under the short, velvet dress that hugged my curves in just the right places. I grabbed the keys from the table and got into into my car to go to the Christmas party sister, Feyre, and her boyfriend, Rhysand, were throwing.

If it were up to me, I would plop onto my couch and watch the entire 7th season of Game of Thrones right now. But Rhys insisted I come, claiming he and Feyre had some big news and he wanted both his and Feyre's family there.

As soon as I opened the door and 'Baby, it's cold outside' hit my ears, I steered myself for the bar and began to pour myself a nice, tall glass of whiskey. It wasn't that I particularly hated the holidays; I just wasn't used to celebrating. Solely another inconvenience of growing up with an alcoholic, widowed father.

While I was pouring, I heard a familiar, deep voice behind me saying "Merry Christmas, Nesta. Look up." And when I did, I saw something that I did hate about Christmas. Mistletoe. Who even made up these 'rules' about kissing random people under some poisonous plant?

"I believe it's required we kiss now", he continued, with a hint of amusement in his voice.

I turned around to face a tall hunk of muscle and dark hair, who was grinning from ear to ear. I pasted a cool expression on my face, raised an eyebrow and responded, "If you think some plant is going to dictate who I kiss, you are sorely mistaken, Cassian."

I expertly spun away from him, spotting a bright head of ginger hair and made a beeline for my other sister and her boyfriend, Lucien. I tried to make small talk with them, but my mind kept wandering back to Cassian.

Cassian wasn't exactly a friend and he wasn't even close to being a stranger. We were- complicated, in the simplest terms. For starters, he was Rhys's brother - though there was more. We met at a bar and shared one passionate kiss, all before I knew he was the friend my sister wanted me to meet that night. After that, all we did was bicker and never again kissed-or did anything more. He constantly got on my nerves with his teasing and flirting and I'd once heard him call me a stone-cold bitch. We could never work out romantically - no matter what we felt for each other.

So when he asked me to dance in the middle of my conversation about Elain's flower shop, I scoffed and asked," Are you serious?"

The side of his mouth came up into a smirk. "Why not?"

I expertly spun away from him, spotting a bright head of ginger hair and made a beeline for my other sister and her boyfriend, Lucien. I tried to make small talk with them, but my mind kept wandering back to Cassian.

Cassian wasn't exactly a friend and he wasn't even close to being a stranger. We were- complicated, in the simplest terms. For starters, he was Rhys's brother - though there was more. We met at a bar and shared one passionate kiss, all before I knew he was the friend my sister wanted me to meet that night. After that, all we did was bicker and never again kissed-or did anything more. He constantly got on my nerves with his teasing and flirting and I'd once heard him call me a stone-cold bitch. We could never work out romantically - no matter what we felt for each other.

So when he asked me to dance in the middle of my conversation about Elain's flower shop, I scoffed and asked," Are you serious?"

The side of his mouth came up into a smirk. "Why not?"

I couldn't come up a witty response in that moment so I rolled my eyes, grabbed his hand and dragged him onto the dance floor as Elain giggled and furiously whispered something into Lucien ear.

I looped my arms around his tall shoulders while he placed his hands on my waist with a gentleness I didn't know he had.

When his dark eyes began to intensely bore into me and the silent awkwardness got to loud, I asked, "Do you know what Rhys has planned for tonight?".

He leaned in close enough to tickle my neck with his breath as whispered, "I'm not allowed to tell just yet. But you'll find out soon enough." He leaned back and studied my annoyed expression before he added, "You really don't like surprises do you?".

I merely raised an eyebrow at him before looking away into the crowd behind him. While I danced with him, I was reminded of that first night we met.

I was sitting at the bar, sipping my martini and waiting for my sister when my ex, Thomas, walked in and sat down right beside me. I didn't notice until I heard his rumbling voice order a beer. I quickly moved to get out of my seat when he placed his hand high on my thigh and said in a low voice, "Where do you think you're going, love?" I glared at him with fire in my eyes before I shoved his hand off of me and briskly walked out the door.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed my wrist in the darkness and slammed me into the brick wall before a body pressed into mine and I scented the familiar pine cologne that sat beside me only a few moments ago. I began to panic and tried to shove him away but before I could scream he was ripped away and I heard a satisfying crunch. I saw Thomas curled up in a ball clutching his nose that was gushing with blood- and a handsome, dark-haired man I'd never seen before standing over him rubbing his bruised knuckles.

The next few moments became a blur as it finally dawned on me what had just happened. This tall stranger who was currently escorting my to a table had just saved me and he was asking me something I didn't hear. I came back to the present as I asked him to repeat himself in a hoarse whisper. He asked if I was okay and when I said I was, he introduced himself as Cassian and bought me a glass of water.

We continued to converse, even long after my sister texted saying she'd be late because of traffic. I opened myself up to him in a way I couldn't for years. Then a sudden urge came over me to kiss him so I did, though he swiftly broke the kiss shortly after, claiming I was drunk.

Then Feyre finally arrived and broke the spell. She saw us together and told me who he really was. After that night, whenever he tried to get close to me again, I pushed him away, each time spitting insults.

I didn't know what I was thinking when I trusted him the first night but I wouldn't make the same mistake again as I did with Thomas. It seemed like he eventually got the hint and that he'd forgotten everything about our first meeting. Until tonight when we danced.

I moved closer, just barely, but he gasped as my chest brushed against his. Electricity shot through me. In that moment, everybody around us disappeared and it was just us again, like that first night when we were simply strangers. His hand slowly slid down to cup my hip as the other began to wind through my hair. I reluctantly looked up to find his unfocused, dreamy eyes cast down staring back down at me. I held his gaze as we stopped dancing in the middle of the dancefloor. We were both frozen in time, endless. There were butterflies fluttering, not just in my stomach, but everywhere, under all my skin, sending shivers up and down through my bones.

"Nesta", he whispered in a choked voice. He pulled me closer until we breathed the same breath. I heard him inhale, his breath hitching. The crowd, the music, the mistletoe - it was all a blur of light and colour. His face was inches away from mine as he lowered his head and his eyes fluttered shut. Our lips just barely brushed before what felt like lightning began to shoot between us.

There was loud clinking of glass: shattering, deafening. We tore ourselves apart to face Rhys standing in the middle of the room, holding a glass of champagne in one hand and a spoon and a black box in the other, with Feyre by his side. My heart was still pounding as I tilted my flushed face up to look at Cassian's, swiftly smoothing into a polite smile - almost as if nothing at all had just happened. As if I had just imagined all of it.