Just in case anyone thinks the glue thing is too far fetched... I managed to do it to myself last week, after I had already written this. One perfectly placed drop of nail glue in just the right spot somehow migrated to the opposite hand and got my palm and fingers. They didn't dry before I got it undone but I did have to laugh. Thanks startwriting for that great suggestion!

Chapter Three

"You know…" Della said as they twisted around each other trying to get a bowl out of the bottom cabinet. "This is going to be amusing in a few days."

"Actually," Perry admitted grudgingly, "it's pretty hilarious now. Sort of…" He trailed off as Della bent over, her shapely bottom pressing into his thigh. He couldn't help but look appreciatively… and feel… appreciatively…could he?

"Ouch!" The thunk of Della's head hitting the top of the cabinet as she came up echoed through the kitchen. He suppressed a snorting laugh. She gave Perry an evil glare. "Hilarious…" she responded sardonically.

He took the bowl from her and placed it in the sink then lifted their hands into it and with his free hand, poured the polish remover over it.

"Think positive thoughts."

"Thinking is difficult with my head spinning." Della griped.

Perry tilted her head down and began rubbing the slight bump there. "Better?" He leaned forward slightly and touched the spot with his lips.

"Yes, Daddy," she responded sassily. Trying to raise her head, she bumped Perry's chin, forcing his face upward.

When he looked back down at her a huge smile split his face. "You should have been an elf, Miss Street. Your decorations are perfect."

"Thank you," Della said, glancing around her small living space as she wondered why Perry had dropped the offhand compliment at that particular moment.

He must have read her thoughts on her face because he chuckled as he pointed straight up.

A sprig of mistletoe wrapped with a red ribbon hung from the light fixture just above their heads.

"Gotcha!" Perry teased, lifting her chin with his thumb and forefinger.

"Oh…" Della's cheeks pinked up again. She must have blushed more in one evening, the evening, than in her entire life. "That's just decoration. It doesn't mean…"

"Now, Miss Street, after everything else that has happened this evening we aren't going to run the risk of messing with any more traditions, are we?"

Della's mind raced. 'Don't make a big deal of it, Della.' Nodding, she puckered her lips in an exaggerated fashion.

Keeping his mood as playful as Della's, Perry bent slightly and brushed his pursed lips across hers, the gentlest of touches… barely enough to even be felt.

And the earth moved.

Lightening flashed.

Something akin to electricity coursed through his body as he gasped, his eyes flying open to stare at the feminine face just an inch from his.

Della's eyes were still closed, her lips half parted. Slowly she opened them, the hazel orbs filled with wonder as she stared back into the masculine face just an inch from hers. She had obviously felt 'it' too.

No words were uttered, no sound was made… but together they instinctively moved back into each other. This time lips touched fully, parted and nibbled on their counterpart. Perry was pleased to feel Della as fully engaged in the kiss as he was.

Della was shocked, not at Perry's gentle sweep across her lips but at the intense feeling that resulted from it. She had long accepted that she found her employer extremely attractive but had deliberately buried any further fantasizing along that line. Not that her fantasies could have ever compared to the real experience. An inner voice that sounded suspiciously like her mother's, was screaming at her to stop kissing her boss at once… but Della didn't want too. She wanted to keep kissing him forever. Stepping closer still, Della lifted her arm and wrapped it around his back, her fingers sliding up onto the soft hair on the nape of his neck.

A low moan vibrated in Perry's throat at the feel of Della's soft body pressing into his. 'She's your secretary!' his rational brain cautioned but he paid it not the slightest bit of attention. The beautiful woman in his arms had become so much more to him in just the last few hours, allowing him to see her beautiful heart and caring nature. Her desirability had increased a thousand fold without him even being aware of it.

Perry wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer still.

"Perry…" Della murmured around his lips, obviously reluctant to break their oral connection, "…our hands…"

They pulled apart at Della's words, Perry now grasping what she had said just moments before. The nail polish had softened the glue, allowing them to pull their hands apart as the need to embrace took over.

"Brilliant idea, Chief," Della took a step back as reason began to return.

Recognizing that they both were a bit unsettled by the embrace they had just shared Perry didn't try to hold her. Instead he picked up the damp towel lying by the sink and lifting Della's hand, he held it under running water then carefully wiped away the last vestiges of glue and acetone.

"Thank you, Chief."

Perry simply smiled and raised her hand to his lips, but instead of kissing the back he flipped it over and pressed his lips to her palm. The muffled moan that emerged as a sigh delighted him. It was enough for now.

"Della…"

This time it was she who touched his lips with her hand, fingers pressing over his lips to shush him.

"Blame it on the mistletoe?" She whispered as she smiled at him, a smile that made Perry long to pull her back into his arms.

Perry nodded then pulled her fingers away. He obviously wanted to say something more but after a moment's pause he simply looked at the clock. "It's almost nine… what about that Chinese food you promised me?"

Della smiled her gratitude. "I've got a menu in the drawer. We can call it in if you don't mind going to pick it up."

~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~ ~pd~

With no free hands to knock, Perry kicked the door to Della's apartment several times. He couldn't wait to see her again. He'd only been gone a half hour but he missed her.

"Chief?" Opening the door, Della eyed the boxes in his arms. "That's a whole lot of Chinese food…"

"I stopped by the liquor store and picked up a couple of bottles of wine and a nice brandy… and the market for a few dessert options…"

"A few? Perry!" Della had started unloading the market box "If we eat all of this I will gain twenty pounds! And this isn't all dessert…"

"Your refrigerator is empty."

"I'm going out of town for the holid…"

"You were going out of town. Now you need food. You don't need to lose any more weight."

"I haven't lost weight." Della protested, even though she knew that she had lost several pounds in the last few months.

"And my New Years resolution will be to keep you on a more regular dinner schedule."

That statement earned a disbelieving chuckle from Della but she simply kept putting food up.

"Corkscrew?" He opened the drawer she pointed at and found the tool, soon popping the wine cork with expert skill. He filled the two glasses that were placed on the counter while Della pulled out plates and utensils and put them on a tray with the containers of Chinese food. With both of them moving about, the tiny kitchen felt even smaller, but Della had realized while Perry was gone that without his presence her apartment seemed… empty. She was filled with happiness at his return.

While her boss had been out Della had tried not to scrutinize what had happened between them but it had been difficult. The first brief caress could have easily been brushed off, but the kiss that had followed? That close embrace had been real and solid, no fleeting moment. And, heaven help her, she wanted to feel his arms around her again.

But then what? That was the question that Della couldn't help but confront. By the end of her lonely half hour she had decided that risking the loss of their friendship and working relationship wasn't an option for her. She was strong enough to move forward and put the clinch out of her mind. And then he walked back through the door and all of her resolve flew out the window. Spending the last few hours with Perry in such relaxed surroundings had allowed them to open up to each other, get to know more about each other than they ever had before. As much as she respected the great legal mind that was her boss, the interest he had shown and the help he had offered her this evening had shown her a striking new, and yes, enticing facet of his personality.

"Let me carry that. You bring the wine," Perry took the tray from her and headed toward the small dining table just beyond the kitchen. Glancing back he saw that Della was still unmoving, obviously deep in thought.