Over the next weeks until the holidays, things were going really well with Kori. We weren't officially dating, but I didn't mind that. We were on a positive path. It takes a lot for me to admit that I like someone, but I really liked Kori. It was almost overwhelming, how much I liked her.

At work, of course, it was all kept under wraps. Besides stealing sneaky glances at work, as some flirtation when I would go into her office, it was strictly professional.

However, when I would go to her condo, it was the complete opposite. I was getting to know the real Kori, not just as my somewhat intimidating boss. I was getting to know her for who she truly was, as well as her body.

Her body.

Whew.

When it came to that, Kori was an absolute expert. I have experience, but she blew my experience out of the water, and exceeded any and all expectations. She took me to new heights, and I couldn't get enough of her.

It was difficult to conceal at work, but I thought I was doing a good job of it. I knew that if I wasn't, Kori would tell me otherwise.

For her, and the sake of her job, I had to be strictly professional.

Christmas came and went, and I spent it with my family. Kori spent Christmas with her sister, brother in law, and nieces.

Even though I was tense around my parents, I was glad that I finally had one Christmas where I wasn't working. When I was a nurse, I worked every Christmas and every New Years Eve, so I could have time off on Thanksgiving.

During the week between Christmas and New Years Eve, I received a text from Kori at work telling me to come to her office.

My heart skipped a beat, wondering what she needed from me.

I slipped away from my desk, and went to Kori's office. The door was closed, and when I knocked her voice came through from the other side, "Come in."

I opened the door and entered her office, and when I walked in, she grinned at me, "Just who I wanted to see."

I walked up to her desk and she stood up to face me.

"I'm here at your beck and call," I joked, "Even though I was in the middle of something quite important."

Kori raised her eyebrows, "Oh? You could've told me to wait."

I laughed, "I'm just kidding. I was definitely not in the middle of something important. If I'm being honest, I wasn't doing much of anything."

Kori chuckled, "This time of year, there's not much to do. Hell, I've been in my office on my phone for half the day."

I laughed, "I feel special that you can admit that to me."

"To you and only you," Kori said, a hint of seriousness to her tone, "Anyway, you're probably wondering why I texted you to come here."

"Of course I am," I nodded, "What's going on?"

"Are you doing anything on New Year's Eve?" Kori asked me.

"I was maybe going to go out with Trey but nothing is set in stone. Why do you ask?"

Kori looked a bit bashful as she said, "I was wondering if you'd like to spend new years with me. No pressure, of course. But I wanted to ask."

I couldn't help but smile, "I'd love to."

Kori looked surprised, "You would? I don't want to take you away from your friends."

"You're not, Kori. I'd love to spend the holiday with you."

Kori then smiled as well and said, "Perfect. I'll text you what I had in mind for us to do."

Later that night when I was in bed, Kori texted me what she had planned for us to do for New Year's Eve.

She texted me: Tell me if you're uncomfortable with any of this. I was thinking of ordering us a nice dinner in, and then around midnight, we could go to New Hope and watch the new years fireworks. Does that sound okay?

I texted Kori back that it sounded perfect, and she seemed pleased.

New Year's Eve fell on a Thursday night, and I had work that day.

Grace and I sat together, not doing much work at all in the last hours before we had to leave.

"This is torture!" she groaned, "There's nothing for us to do right now."

"Tell me about it," I chuckled.

As if Grace's prayers were being answered, Kori came out to the IT section and stood in front of us.

"Okay," she said, "Be honest with me. How many of you are actually doing work right now? Raise of hands."

No one raised their hand, and a slight smile fought its way onto Kori's lips.

"Alright. How about you all get out of here," she said, "No point in making you stay if there's no work, right?"

"Thank you!" Grace exclaimed, "I was going stir crazy just sitting here."

Kori rolled her eyes but smiled, "You're all more than welcome to leave early if you'd like. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve, I'll see you all on Monday."

"What do you have planned tonight?" Grace asked Kori, "Anything fun?"

Kori had a straight face as she said, "Getting dinner with a friend. Should be a nice time."

After Kori said that, I swore I saw her glance my way for not even a second.

I almost smiled to myself, but I caught it.

As Grace and I walked out of the office together, we walked past Kori.

"Grace, Ashley, have a great new year," Kori said, "See you on Monday."

"You too, Kori," I said, "See you Monday."

There was something thrilling about the fact that I would not be seeing her Monday, but rather tonight. I was the "friend" she was referring to.

That night, I decided to dress cute yet comfortable. Also warm, considering we were going to be watching fireworks out in the cold together. I lightly curled my hair, put on some makeup and vanilla perfume, and headed to Kori's.

She greeted me at the door to her condo, Chester right behind her, wagging his tail.

Kori smiled when she looked at me, "You look gorgeous, per usual."

"I thought I looked pretty casual, but thank you," I smiled back at Kori, "So do you, of course."

"Casual or not, you're always stunning," Kori said, which made my heart skip a beat.

She then put her hand on my waist, leaned in, and kissed me. When we pulled away, she smiled and gently tucked a lock of hair behind my ear, "Come see what I got us for dinner. I hope you like it."

I noticed that Kori had light music playing from a Bluetooth speaker set up in her living room, and the song "My Little Secret" by Xscape was playing.

Fitting for us.

"Are you playing this song on purpose?" I asked Kori, with a chuckle.

"Oh, I hardly even noticed that music was playing still. I was listening to some songs as I was setting up dinner. I can turn it off."

"No need," I said, "You know I love your 90's music."

Kori flashed me a smile and said, "This song is fitting, isn't it?"

She then took my hand and led me over to the living room, where she had dinner set up on the coffee table for us. Two glasses of wine were also set out, and my eyes widened when I saw all of the sushi she got.

"Oh my...this looks amazing," I looked at her, "I love sushi."

"I know, that's why I got it for us. Not to mention I enjoy it as well. Have you ever had Kanamizu? That's where I got it from."

"Kori, isn't that the nicest Japanese restaurant around? You didn't have to get from there."

All of this sushi must've cost a fortune.

"I wanted to get the best for you," Kori shrugged, "Now sit and dig in."

I did as she said, and we sat next to each other on her couch, each with a pair of chopsticks in hand.

It felt exhilarating yet comfortable at the same time. That's how I always felt around Kori.

Kori was dressed in one of her usual outfits, a very nice hoodie and a pair of joggers. As we sat next to each other on the couch, eating sushi, I looked at her and couldn't help but smile softly her way.

She didn't notice as she said to me, looking down at all the sushi, "I might have gotten a bit too much for just the two of us. It all sounded so good I just went crazy ordering."

She turned her head to face me, and saw that I was already looking at her.

"You're looking at me. Is something wrong?" she asked me, "Like I said, I know I might've gotten too much sushi."

"Nothing is wrong," I said to Kori, "It's the exact opposite, I'm really loving this. It's so nice to be spending my New Year's Eve with you. I wouldn't want it any other way."

Kori held my gaze, "Is that so?"

I nodded, "I haven't had a free New Year's Eve since college. I worked every new year when I was a nurse. This is my first one in a long time, and I'm so glad I'm spending it with you, Kori."

Kori seemed at a loss of words for a moment, but she caught herself and said, "I'm very glad to be spending it with you as well, Ashley. Very, very glad."

Kori and I continued eating, and she poured us more wine.

"You don't mind going to watch the fireworks? I know it's going to be cold, you can wear a jacket or hoodie of mine to bundle up even more."

I mockingly gasped, "Are you really going to let me wear one of your perfect, expensive hoodies without a wrinkle in sight?"

Kori laughed out loud, "Yes, you can wear one. In fact, I'll do you one better. You can keep one. Whichever one you want."

"I'm honored," I said to Kori, "How about you give me your least favorite? I don't want to steal one you love."

"I'm not going to tell you which one is my least favorite. Let's head to my closet."

Moments later, I stood in Kori's color coded closet, surrounded by work shirts and hoodies.

"I'm going to go with this one," I pointed to a baby blue Adidas hoodie, "I like the color."

Kori took the hoodie off the hanger and handed it to me, "All yours."

I slipped the hoodie on over my shirt and said to Kori in a joking tone, "I'm going to wear this to sleep every night."

That's probably a true statement.

At around 11 PM, Kori drove us to New Hope, where there was going to be a firework show once midnight struck.

For a split second as we walked to where everything was gathered to watch the show, I got nervous that we were going to see someone we worked with.

I decided to voice my concern to Kori, "What if we see someone that we work with?"

"Believe me, I've thought of that."

"I know. You think of everything."

Kori looked at me, "I really don't think we will. If we do...then we deal with it. You don't have to worry, I'll handle it. But I truly don't think we will see someone from the company."

Reassured by Kori's words, I took her hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze.

We stood close together out in the cold, and music played as midnight approached.

"You know," Kori said, looking at me, "I did not think that I would be going into the new year with a girlfriend."

Girlfriend.

I raised my eyebrows slightly and asked Kori, "Is that your way of asking me to be your girlfriend?"

Kori nodded, "Sure is."

I smiled, "Of course, Kori. I'm more than happy to be your girlfriend."

Kori's face broke out into a rare, genuine, wide smile.

My girlfriend.

I'll do anything to make you smile like that.

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I'll still be posting the rest of this story all at once, so there will be a break in between this chapter and the rest, but I didn't want to keep leaving you all hanging for too long! <333