Page 31 of Tis The Season for Secrets
“How am I supposed to trust you?!” he hissed. “Next time I’ll have to bring you in with me – I clearly can’t take my eyes off you.”
“You can’t be angry and flirt with me at the same time.” Juliet narrowed her eyes. “I left you at the Bryce because I had to work, not because I didn’t want to stay. Also, you can’t lecture me about trust when you’ve been stalking me for weeks!”
“I wasn’t stalking you. It’s complicated.” Will paced in front of her. “If you’d just stayed with me for breakfast, I could’veexplained everything. You’re lucky that it was Lyla who found you.”
“Why would I believe anything you say now?” Juliet asked firmly, trying to keep her composure.
“I wish you could understand what might have happened to you by running off like that. If Lyla hadn’t found you—” He buried his face in his hands. The deafening silence nearly killed her.
“I’m fine. I’m sorry I worried you. I panicked; this is all so overwhelming.” She reached for his arm, needing him to see that she was okay.
“The cold alone could’ve killed you, since you haven’t acclimatised. I need you to trust me, and if you can’t, then please listen to me while you’re here,” he pleaded, taking her hands in his. “There are rules in Yule about outsiders—”
“How am I supposed to know what the rules are or aren’t? You haven’t told me anything! I’ve just found out that my family is meant to be from some isolated magical village in Yule that I never knew existed until a few hours ago.”
“Lyla told you about legacies,” Will said slowly, letting every word sink in. “The Frost family was banished from Yule three generations ago for reasons I’m not going to get into. The banishment applies to you, and if someone discovered who you were and that you had brought me as well, then we’dallrisk banishment. The council could remove your memories of this place and everything related to Yule, including me.”
“Banished? Why? What did my family do?” Juliet gasped, before the last thing he’d said sank in. “How can memories be altered? Would they really go so far?” Losing her memories was unthinkable, if it was even possible. But then she also would have said that being transported by a tiny bell to a village in the North Pole was impossible.
“I can’t be the one to tell you why. I’m sorry, but I promised your mum that I would only reveal what was necessary to keep you safe.”
As frustrating as the response was, she could see how much he was risking by helping her.Was that the point of the chest? So I could discover all this myself? Or was I supposed to wait until my mom just magically appeared and revealed the dozens of magical secrets that have been kept from me for over twenty-six years?
“This is all so crazy! I don’t even know how to take it all in,” she confessed, trying to make sense of the snippets she knew so far.
“Being overwhelmed is completely normal. If the situation was different I would tell you everything in a heartbeat, but some things shouldn’t be revealed by a stranger.”
“I hardly think we’re strangers; we’ve seen each other naked,” she mumbled.
He grinned. “Flirting with me won’t distract me. Promise me you won’t do this again? Because if Lyla hadn’t found you today, I don’t even know what I’d have done…” His troubled expression squeezed her heart.
“I get it, but I’m here and I’m safe. Can we start the day over?” Juliet closed the gap between them, and his hands travelled up her arms to her shoulders as if making sure she was real. She realised how much she’d missed his touch.
“You’re so lucky that I can’t resist those damn eyes,” he sighed, and she rolled her eyes. “Did you just roll your eyes at me?”
She stilled as he tipped her chin up to make him look at her. “Maybe, but only because your mood is giving me whiplash.”
“Trust me, I’m giving myself whiplash. I’m trying to remain professional – and then I see you, and all my self-control goes out the window.”
Juliet tried and failed not to smile, slightly smug that it wasn’t just her.
“When you smile at me like that it makes me forget that I’m mad at you,” he murmured.
She chewed her lip to stop herself, but he tugged it free with his thumb, then tucked a strand of free hair behind her ear with his other hand.
“And your flushed cheeks tell me you want me just as much as I want you. I think that’s the only truth that matters right now.”
Juliet swallowed as his breath brushed her neck. Being this close to him was dangerous. Her body responded to him in ways she had never really felt before, but she knew she wanted to feel them again.
“And if I do?” She looked up at him through her eyelashes, praying for him to make a move before she lost her mind.
Will pulled back slightly, eyes carefully searching her face.
“Juliet.” He rested his forehead against hers. Juliet felt a shiver pass down her spine at her name on his lips. “What do you want from me? If you want to go home, tell me now.”
“Kiss me.” She had wanted to say those words for longer than she cared to admit.
Will’s lips were on hers before she was aware he’d moved, his hands in her hair so he could control her as he wished. Juliet’s stomach churned with excitement. His body had her trapped against the door, and she brought her hands up to rest on his biceps, holding on to him as though she’d collapse under his touch.
