Jingle Bells Rock & Roll (Sweet Christmas Kisses)

1. Gia

1

Gia

The crowd is loud tonight. So loud I can hear them all the way in my dressing room. I can already feel my adrenaline pumping. My fingers are twitching, my toes are tapping, and I’m ready to give them the show of a lifetime.

I stare my reflection down, challenging the woman in the mirror to make it her best show yet. That’s the challenge I have given myself every night for the past decade—to make this one better than the last.

It can be difficult, though, when my brain is running a mile a minute with a million questions. Not just the what-ifs of anything that can go wrong with a live performance. But what will I have for dinner after the show? And what will the press say about the show tomorrow? And how much will I owe in taxes at the end of the year?

They’re not helpful questions, but I’m not always in control of them. When my nerves flicker through me at a bajillion miles a minute, it’s inevitable that I’ll lose control of the pinball machine that is my brain.

Sometimes, the only thing to do is get my mind off the present moment .

I pull my attention to Bryn, who is sitting on the long vanity table built into the wall, her legs tucked under her, phone in hand. She’s scrolling and typing at a mile a minute, dealing with my appointments, emails, and any number of other things.

She’s the best personal assistant in the music industry. But sometimes I miss when she was just a best friend. “B, what time is the tree arriving tomorrow?”

Bryn’s big blue eyes shoot up like I’ve spooked an animal in the forest. “Don’t worry about that right now. We can talk about it after the show.”

“Trying to take my mind off the show,” I say, kicking my rhinestone-covered boots up onto the vanity. They’re so sparkly they’re almost blinding. “Give it to me, B.”

Bryn smiles and shakes her head before glancing back down at her phone. I remember that look from the year she spent as my tutor when I was a freshman in high school flummoxed with trigonometry, and she was the head of the quiz bowl team. “Tomorrow, you’ve got an interview with the L.A. Times, and then you’re recording your Fresh Air segment and?—”

“When is the tree arriving?” I interrupt.

“Oh, you wanted to know Christmas stuff.”

I grin. “Yes, please.”

Bryn laughs and hops down off the vanity. “Four.”

“Ugh, I can’t wait,” I say. “Well, I mean, I can, but—” My head is swimming with thoughts of tomorrow night. “Christmas music and warm cider and tree decorating and?—”

She leans on the back of my chair. “And I had your mom overnight us a panettone to celebrate.”

My excitement hits a wall. Hard.

“What’s tree decorating without sweet Italian bread, right? ”

I force myself to smile again. “Right. Of course.”

Ever since I moved out to L.A. for my music career, my parents have flown out here to celebrate the holidays with me. Not this year, though. This year is the first year they’re keeping their inn open for the Christmas season instead of closing it and joining us out here, which means they’re stuck in upstate New York. It’s a good thing, really. They can handle more bookings now that they’ve updated all the cabins, and our little town of Blue Flag is now as busy as neighboring ski towns for business to be bustling. No use missing out on a great opportunity.

Still, though. I’m going to miss seeing them on Christmas Day.

Bryn catches my eyes in the mirror. I try to dart my gaze away, but I’m not fast enough. I’m locked in. “Gia, you don’t have to stay out here to celebrate with me and Kade.”

I shake my head. “No, it’s tradition at this point. I can miss one Christmas with my parents.” Saying that aloud makes my stomach hurt. “I’ll fly out on the twenty-sixth to visit with them.”

“Just because Kade doesn’t want to go back to Blue Flag?—”

“Mom and Dad insisted I not change my plans!” I say in a sing-song voice. That’s not the real reason I’m staying, though. I just can’t imagine how quiet Christmas would be for Kade and Bryn if I wasn’t here to enjoy it with them. How empty the house would feel. And something about a quiet Christmas hurts my heart.

They’ve already had too many quiet Christmases.

Bryn huffs. Defeat. Yes.

There’s a knock and a clearing of the throat from my dressing room door. Bryn and I both turn.

Speak of the devil .

Kade is crowding the doorway, all muscle and brawn. His black T-shirt stretches across his broad chest and shoulders, and it’s a true miracle that he can find jeans long enough for his legs. I sometimes forget that Kade and Bryn are twins when she’s so small compared to him. But I’m always quickly reminded by their matching blue eyes and dark brown, almost black hair.

“Interrupting?” Kade asks, always a man of few words and often quiet ones.

I perk up in my seat. “Time to go on?” I ask question for question.

Kade’s brow pinches in the middle. He crosses his arms over his chest. “Stage management just informed me they have to hold. Something about some rowdiness in the pit.”

Bryn and I exchange a look.

“Rowdiness? At a Gia DeLuca concert?” Bryn challenges.

“I’m just the messenger,” Kade says placidly to his sister. Always the encyclopedic definition of calm, cool, and collected, this one. Although I can’t imagine being a bodyguard to a famous musician has anything on the missions he went through as a Navy SEAL. “Something about a photographer without proper credentials.” He holds his hands up before either Bryn or I can interrogate him further. “Again. Just the messenger.”

I collapse into my chair and slide down. “I hate waiting.”

Bryn laughs. “We know, Gia, we know .”

I need something to occupy my mind. To pass the time. Otherwise, my nerves might start eating away at me. I know my set like the back of my hand at this point and have no reason to be worried, but I can’t help those pre-show nerves. They never really go away .

And Kade’s reflection in the mirror is not an appropriate distraction.

I don’t know when it started, my… I’ll call it a crush. Because crushes are silly and never amount to anything. So, anyway, I don’t know when my crush on Kade started. All I know is that one day, not long after he moved into my place in Malibu to lead my security detail, I realized I was watching him. Not just out of the usual curiosity I have for people. No, I was watching him because something about him captivated me. His watchful eyes, his tensing jaw peppered with scruff, the way he rests a hand against his arm and rubs his bicep.

It was more than finding him attractive. It was… something I could write a song about.

So, I quickly capped any of my feelings on that because the second I write a song for someone, I’m totally doomed. Just ask my ex-boyfriend. Not only that, but Kade is my best friend’s twin brother, and while there have never been explicit ground rules laid out on whether he is on or off limits, I don’t want to open that can of worms.

Distraction. Right. I still need a distraction.

“Is it full out there?” I ask Kade even though I know the answer.

“Yup,” he answers efficiently, his deep timbre filling the small room.

I roll my eyes.

“What’s that for?”

“She wants a distraction,” Bryn says, having read my mind. That’s why it’s best to have a personal assistant and best friend built into one. She’s superhuman. “And all you gave her was yup.”

Kade’s eyes widen, and his cheeks sink in. “Oh.” He looks actually concerned that he’s fallen short of the goal. “Um… ”

Bryn goes over to her brother and jabs him in the arm with her elbow. “Don’t burst a blood vessel thinking too hard.”

“I’m trying to think of what else I can say.”

I giggle. Watching Kade be flummoxed is a great distraction. For the most part, he’s on the ball—focused, thoughtful, and direct. You’d never know he didn’t know the next right thing to say or do. But then you get him in a conversation, and he’s grasping at straws to figure out what to say next. It’s cute.

Not cute. Uh… the opposite of cute. A word that won’t make my heart eyes grow any bigger.

“I’ve got a distraction,” Bryn says, clapping her hands. “What are you most looking forward to this Christmas?”

“Oh, Bryn, come on,” Kade says gruffly and starts to leave the room. “I don’t have time for this.”

Bryn grabs his hand and yanks him back into the room, wrapping her arms around his middle so he can’t go anywhere. “Sure, you do! I’ll go first so you have time to think. Ummm…”

Their height difference is even more obvious right now. I can’t help but laugh, especially given how miserable Kade looks being squeezed to death by his sister.

“Christmas Eve movie marathon,” Bryn says definitively. “I’m looking forward to torturing you guys by reciting the entire script of Home Alone along with the movie.”

Kade grimaces. “Oh. Joy.”

“Okay, Gia, you go,” Bryn says.

“I’m looking forward to…” I think. The images of the next week start flying through my head. The parties and the carols and all the delicious food.

Not quite as delicious as it would be if my parents were here to show off all their Italian recipes, but… “I’m looking forward to wearing that new green dress to the label Christmas party. Plus, the cookie decorating.”

Bryn gasps. “I forgot the cookie decorating!”

“How could you forget the cookie decorating?!” I scream in response.

Kade winces as if he’s not made for the decibels of our voices, but a tiny smile plays at the corner of his mouth. He’s used to this, being caught in the thrall of our excitement. And I know he secretly loves it. Last year, after being “cajoled” into cookie decorating, he helmed the project of making a cookie to represent each gift from “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Yeah, it just takes a little push with him.

“Okay, Kade, your turn,” Bryn says, shaking her brother.

“Bryn, do I really have to?” he says, his head tipping back in annoyance, his Adam’s apple strongly protruding.

“Yes! We both did it; now it’s your turn. In the name of distracting Gia.” At the mention of my name, she waves a hand toward me with a flourish.

Kade’s blue eyes land on me. It’s a feeling I know well. Since he’s my bodyguard, he’s often watching everything around me, making sure there are no threats to my safety. But sometimes, he watches me from afar when I’m at an event or on stage.

And the feeling… It’s intense. Makes my heart pump faster.

Just a crush, though. Very clearly just a crush.

He doesn’t linger on me, though. His eyes dart away, and any levity in his expression disappears. “As usual, I’m looking forward to not being in Blue Flag for Christmas.”

Bryn’s expression goes slack, as do her arms .

“I’m going to go check if they’re ready for you,” he says in a low voice like a far roll of thunder before slipping away from Bryn and out of the dressing room.