Then she kept her leg there, pressing warmly into Juliet’s, and she scooted in slightly to press back.
“Not really,” she disagreed, after a beat. She bit at the inside of her cheek, before lowering her gaze intently to the popcorn, as she admitted, “I don’t decorate my house much. And when it comes to family–”
She cut herself off, eyebrows furrowing deeply as words about Harrison and her mom and the tense holidays in Texas tangled into a tight knot in her throat.
But she didn’t want to tell that to Darcy.
Juliet didn’t like to discuss her family at all, with anyone. Even getting as close as she’d just gotten put her on alert with Darcy, though, and her heart pounded a little harder.
She… she did trust Darcy. Trust was her barrier to telling most people anything behind the scenes in her life, but it went deeper than trust with Darcy.
She didn’t want to bring that part of her life in here. In this room, where they had Christmas music playing and Blythe and Emerson and Darcy and even Colton, who couldnothold a tune, all sang during random intervals.
None of them were concerned about being in perfect pitch.
Impressively, vexingly, and arousingly, Darcy always was, and it made Juliet shiver every time Darcy sang softly as they sat here at their table.
But none of them snapped at or mocked one another when they didn’t hit the right note or if they screwed up a lyric. It was just – simple.
They weren’t all in here together and decorating for some sort of photo op or publicity stunt; they were all truly here together to work all day on this because it was important to Blythe.
Juliet’s throat felt a little tighter.Ridiculous.
Darcy’s piercing gaze was locked on her, and she knew Darcy didn’t miss a thing. She could feel in her bones that Darcy could see that she’d gone down a road in her mind she didn’t want to discuss.
“When it comes to your family?” Darcy gently prompted, nudging her knee again. So softly, like a little reminder. Like Darcy was saying, under the table,it’s just us.
But, it wasn’t just them. Blythe was routinely checking in on their progress, Colton and Emerson were stringing lights up around the house.
And even if itwas…
She straightened her spine. “Nothing, really. Harrison is essentially the king of Prosperity – where I’m from,” she explained.
Darcy didn’t blink. “I know.”
“Right. Well, Harrison hosts a huge festival on Christmas Eve, at the ranch. It’s a massive production, a whole thing. My mom organizes most of it.” She waved her hand. “So, Christmas isn’t much of athing, outside of the festival.”
“Oh. And… you have two brothers, right?” Darcy asked, that same super intense stare focused on her.
Even though it was public information, Juliet still felt jarred whenever her brothers were mentioned. Especially by Darcy, with whom she’d never talked about them. “Yes,” she replied, succinctly with her standard answer. “They’re twelve and thirteen, so we aren’t very close.”
She could tell by the way Darcy looked at her, by that expression on her face, that she wanted to know more. That she really wanted to know.
But what she’d said was the truth. Harry and Cash were both over a decade younger than she was, and they’d both been under five when she’d moved to spend the majority of her time in L.A.There were a lot of other family politics in play – Harry and Cash were both being carefully groomed into heirs to Harrison’s ventures, while Juliet was just another one of Harrison’s assets – but…
Insanely, her throat felt a little thick when Blythe called out, “Darcy, youbettersing the next verse!” With laughter in her voice.
Darcy snapped her eyes to Blythe, tossing a handful of popcorn in her direction, before immediately turning back to Juliet.
When her phone buzzed where she had it laying on the table, she jumped to answer it. To get away from having this emotional moment right here, in front of not only Darcy but her family.
“It’s Laura.” Her voice was a little thick, but she acted like it wasn’t. She grabbed her phone, standing up. “I have to take this. She’s definitely wondering where the hell I am.”
She knew Laura was, because she’d seen some of the texts from Laura roll in while she’d been at the popcorn table, and she hadn’t responded because she’d been too distracted by Darcy’s hands.
Darcy’s eyes were far too soft. “Did you not tell your faithful assistant what you’re doing today? Where does she think you are? How did you slip her?”
“Oh, Laura’s not in Nashville. She’s not even in the country. She and her family celebrate the winter solstice, not Christmas. I don’t really…” She waved her hand. “Anyway, she flies back home before the week before the twenty-first every December.”
