Page 28 of Baking it Merry

She hated that he was right, but more than that, she hated that she caved and put herself in this position.Lying was something she always avoided and yet she now had to leave this room and lie to everyone she met.

“Tristan…” The sigh was out before she could stop it.“I’m not good at this sort of thing.Lying makes me completely uncomfortable.No one is going to believe that we’re a couple.”

“Why not?”

“Because…well…look at us!You’re all stiff and uptight and I’m dressed like a young Mrs.Claus!There’s no way we’d ever date each other!”With a huff, she blurted, “This is a bad idea!”

To his credit, Tristan didn’t outwardly react.Instead, he gave her a serene smile.“It’s a couple of hours, and most of the time, you’ll be talking about your baking and not about us.I promise.”

“You can’t promise that because you don’t know it for certain.”

A knock on the door had them both freezing.

“Tristan?”his mother called out.“Is everything alright?Guests are starting to arrive!”

“We’ll be right out!”All traces of the serene smile were gone and now he had a bit of a wild-eyed expression.“Daphne,please.If you want me to beg, I’ll beg.”

While tempting, she wasn’t that petty.

However…

“We need some ground rules,” she said, doing her best to sound stern.

“Such as?”

“For starters, no more snarky comments about my gingerbread house.”

“Seriously?That just seems…”

“If you don’t agree, I can leave,” she said with a sweet smile.

“Sure, now you’re smiling for real,” he murmured after a brief eye roll.“And…fine.No more snarky comments.”

“No more sneering whenever you walk by my booth or any of the booths, for that matter.”

“I don’t sneer…”

“You do, and it’s all the time!”

After a moment, he nodded.“No sneering.”

“Thank you.”

“Even though I don’t…”

“Oh.My.God!Are you really going to argue right now?”She laughed softly before continuing.“And lastly, no more making fun of me.No calling me names or mocking my upbeat personality.”

“Daphne…my family is waiting.Can’t we just go out there?”

“Not until you agree to no more name calling.”Crossing her arms, she stood firm.

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth.“Now, can we please join the party?”

Suddenly, she felt a bit self-conscious about…well…everything.What if his entire family was just as snooty as Tristan was?What if they all looked at her and her festive party dress and thought she was weird?

Ugh…what have I done?

The feel of Tristan’s hand on hers broke her out of her reverie, and she looked at him with a bit of shock.“What are you doing?”

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