Hot Christmas Kisses

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His big boots hitting the hardwood floor had them lifting their heads and he saw the misery in their eyes. Yeah, this wasn’t good.

“What’s happened? Where’s DJ?”

Darby exchanged a long look with Jules and she released the breath she was holding. “Matt. Perfect.”

A shed-load of sarcasm in two words. “Is DJ okay?”

“DJ is always fine, Matt, didn’t you know that?” Darby said, her words bitter. But beneath the sarcasm, Matt heard pain and worry.

“She’s in her apartment, Matt,” Jules finally answered. “Yesterday and today were tough for her. If you were planning to keep fighting with her, please don’t.”

So Jules still felt protective of her friend. Her statement lessened one of the many coils squeezing his heart.

“Are you still mad at her?” Jules demanded, obviously curious.

No, his anger now had a different target—himself.

Matt shrugged. He wasn’t in the habit of discussing his personal life, but these women were DJ’s best friends, the people who knew her best. He kept his explanation short. “I’ve been calling her since last night. Messaging her, emailing. She isn’t responding.”

Darby shook her head, disappointed. “Join the club. God, I could just strangle her right now!”

Okay, so he’d obviously walked into some additional drama. Maybe he should come back later, when they were all a little more even-keeled. He was an expert at reading body language, but he didn’t like dealing with drama anywhere other than in court, where he used it to get the result he wanted.

“What happened?” he asked, forcing a gentle note into his voice.

“I—She—DJ...grrr.”

Matt lifted his eyebrows at Darby’s actual growl. DJ had really managed to annoy the crap out of Darby.

Darby shoved a hand through her hair, looked from Jules to him and her chin wobbled. “Yesterday we gave her an ultimatum. It wasn’t pretty.” Darby threw up her hands and rapidly blinked. Yep, definitely tears. And damn, if she was in tears then DJ was more than likely crying, too.

Such fun. Matt sent a longing look to the door.

“I need to get out of here,” Darby muttered, pulling at the collar on her white polo-neck sweater. Since she made no effort to move, Matt figured she wasn’t going anywhere.

But leaving sounded damn good and Matt wished he was anywhere else. Someplace that didn’t have about-to-cry women, best friends fighting, a crap load of emotion. Nailing a bad guy using facts and words sounded like heaven right now.

“Maybe I should be the one to go.”

“Yeah, you don’t get to be that lucky,” Jules told him, standing up. “The easiest way to get to her apartment is to leave the house via the kitchen door, turn right and the stairs to her apartment are there. Tell her that she’s expected to join us ice-skating tomorrow evening. It’s the first of our get-into-the-spirit events.”

“Get into the spirit of what?”

A touch of amusement flickered in Jules eyes. “In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we all do fun things together. It’s a tradition my dad started, and we’ve kept it going. DJ always finds an excuse to avoid any of our Christmas get-togethers.”

“She does? I thought she loved hanging with you guys,” Matt replied, confused.

Jules started to speak then looked at Darby, who shrugged. Some sort of twin-communication thing happened and Jules continued, “DJ gives a lot more than she takes. Despite a quarter of a century in our lives, she still doesn’t talk to us. Maybe you being here can change that.”