Brek’s eyes lit up in response, like he knew exactly what Tucker was doing. “I’m headed back to Denver. Aspen’s pregnant.”
Aspen… Tucker ran through his mental Rolodex. Brek’s sister.
“Uncle Brek, yeah?” Tucker was an uncle three times over. He looked forward to playing up that role, now that he wasn’t tied to a tour schedule.
“Has a nice ring.” Brek shot a look toward Kenzie. “Big plans for the holidays?”
“A quiet holiday for me.” Kenzie was the queen of being vague when she needed to be. Tucker had noted her ability to say something and nothing at the same time. “We do Vail every year. My mother has a big bash. Maybe I’ll crash Tucker’s family party and we can go skiing.” She winked at him.
Dammit, he liked it when she flirted with him. His internal alarm bells started dinging.
Kenzie plus Colorado plus his family was a horrible idea. His mother would go crazier with decorations than normal. They’d be the green and red kind where nothing matched, but everything somehow worked. Not like Hollywood decorations, where everything was silver and gold and positioned for maximum effect.
“I like her, Tuck.” Brek raised his beer bottle in salute. “Let’s touch base after the new year. Plan something. I should go check on the boys, make sure they’re not fucking shit up.”
Tucker nodded. “Good call.”
He and Kenzie stood there, not saying anything. She shifted. He shifted. She tucked her wallet thing under her arm. He stared at the carpet.
“So, hey. We’re here.” Kenzie seemed to study the bubbles in her drink like they were a movie reel spinning an especially good story.
He tilted her chin up, his fingertip resting in the soft skin under her jaw. “Hey.”
The voices in the room seemed to drift aside. They shared the moment, and it was all that mattered.
“I wasn’t serious about the skiing thing. I wouldn’t barge into a family Christmas.” She lifted her drink’s straw to her lips. Closed them around the tip. Took a long drink.
Sonofabitch, he’d never been jealous of a straw before.
“So, Eileen was mentioning that they’d like you to do the music for one of her movies. Have you talked to her about it?” Kenzie broke the spell.
He dropped his hand. “What?”
“Eileen, you know…” Kenzie waved to the producer who’d been hounding him for months about a movie that needed a theme song.
Yeah, he knew Eileen. Relentless Eileen.
“I already told her no.” And why did Kenzie care, anyway?
She fidgeted with her straw. “You know this town. Saying no to a project just means they haven’t offered you enough money.”
Not in his case. Saying no was because he couldn’t deliver, and even if he could, he wouldn’t do a project for Eileen. Just the thought made him shiver. She sucked the life out of anyone in the room. “Retirement usually means a person stops working in the field.”
“Except in Hollywood. You should add that to the end of your statement.” She clearly was trying to make things light.
“In my case, retirement means I’ve got two hundred head of cattle ready for my attention.”
Her expression turned confused. “I don’t get it. Is that a joke?”
He scratched behind his ear. “Ah, no.”
“Oh my God, you’re serious.” She gripped his shoulder with her free hand. “I know you said you’re going home. You’re really giving up on music to raise…beef?”
A slow smile spread through him. That was exactly what he was doing. “Yeah.”
“Holy crap.” She studied him as ifhewas a piece of beef.
He found attentive Kenzie entirely too attractive. The way he was feeling toward her was not light.
