Page 32 of Baking it Merry

Her blue eyes went wide.“Excuse me?”

Nodding frantically, he repeated, “Kiss me.Please.Preferably before my brother comes in here.”

“What does that…?”

“I saw a stack of them when Tristan and I were in there earlier,” Jacob was saying as he got closer.

“I swear it’s the last thing I’ll ask of you, just…”

“Tristan?You in there?”

“I know I’m going to regret this,” Daphne said as she looked up at him.“But fine.Kiss me.”

Cupping her face in his hands, that’s exactly what he did.

Six

Tuesday morning, Daphne was setting up her muffin display and couldn’t seem to relax.

Actually, she hadn’t been able to relax since she and Tristan kissed Saturday night.

Damn him and his excellent kissing skills!

Yeah, if all she could do is kiss him and never have to talk to him, she’d be a very happy girl because…wow.She knew it was supposed to just be a simple kiss, but as soon as his lips touched hers, it was like they both forgot who they were dealing with.It wasn’t like she was attracted to him.That wasn’t possible.Everything about him irritated her so…no, not attracted.

Although, he smelled really good too.

Like really, really good.

I’m a mess.

His brother had walked in on them—which was the plan—and she had been completely flustered.Tristan, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease, like it was no big deal that he had completely brought all of her girly parts to attention.

The jerk.

After that, they rejoined the party and he stayed at her side the entire time.It had felt like the party would never end, but once the last guests left—around midnight—she went into business mode and worked on helping Marcus and Jackie clean up.Tristan had helped too and made it possible for them to get out the door relatively quickly.When he walked her to the door, she was almost expecting another kiss, but it never happened.

“Probably for the best,” she murmured as she put the last muffin in the display case.“No need to make things more awkward than they already are.”

A few minutes later, she had everything set up and was sipping her coffee when Faye stepped up to the counter.

“Hey!I love the new Christmas decorations you added!Now it’s officially the holiday season!It looks great, Daphne.Really.So festive!”

“Thanks, Faye,” she replied with a smile.

“I hear the party was a tremendous success this weekend.I spoke to Mrs.Knight, and she just gushed about everything!”

Uh-oh…

Don’t freak out.Maybe she didn’t mention the whole dating thing.

“And I hear you and Tristan are dating!”Smirking, she leaned closer.“How did he talk you into that one?”

“Oh, um…it just sort of happened.His parents arrived and found us in a rather…semi-compromising position and just assumed…”

Nodding, Faye gave her a knowing look.“Semi-compromising?That sounds interesting.”

“Yes, well…I tripped, Tristan caught me, and I was in his arms when they walked in, so…not really interesting.”

---