Page 31 of Baking it Merry

“But your dateisworking the party,” she corrected.“I’m the caterer.This is what I do, so…let me do it.”

Sighing loudly, Tristan moved in front of her.“I get that it’s usually your thing, but you have servers here.Can we please just…” Another sigh.“My family is already questioning this relationship so…”

“I know.”Moving around him, she pulled ingredients out of one of her giant cooler bags.“Hmm…this might take too long to make it worth it.Let me see if we went through the second batch.”

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…what do you mean, you know?Who said something to you?”

“Um…”

“Was it my brother?An aunt?A cousin?”he quietly demanded.Grasping her shoulders, he gave her a slight shake.“Is everyone out there talking about this?”

“Okay, first of all, you’re being weird,” she hissed, pulling out of his grasp.“And don’t ever put your hands on me like that again.Second, no one said anything to me.I just had to wonder why your parents seemed so overly surprised that you had a date.”

“Oh.”

“Clearly they’re aware that your personality is a powerful deterrent,” she mumbled as she walked out to the kitchen.

For a moment, Tristan was too shocked to move.He watched as she talked to Jackie and then began going through his cabinets before pulling out a pot.She poured what he guessed was the second batch of cocoa into it and placed it on the stove before waving Jackie away.Groaning, he knew he needed to go out there because it really didn’t look good for her to be handling this herself.

“Daphne,” he hissed.“Please let Jackie do this.”

Rolling her eyes, she said, “No.She’s walking around, clearing away empty cups and plates.Marcus just took out the trash.You need to let this go because you’re being ridiculous.”

“It’s not ridiculous.All I want is for you to be here as my date, not the help.Tell me what’s so wrong with that?”He knew he was frowning and probably looking the least like a boyfriend, but if she would just cooperate, he would feel a lot better.

“Hey, Daph,” Marcus said a minute later when he walked back into the kitchen.“I’ve got this.You go and mingle with Tristan.”Smiling, he turned and took over stirring the cocoa.

Tristan wanted to correct him and ask him to be called Mr.Knight, but now wasn’t the time for that.Instead, he thanked him before smiling at Daphne.“Now, can we please go back to the party and try to look like a couple who actually likes each other?”

Without a word, she walked over to the sink and washed and dried her hands before even looking at him.When she did, he knew she was annoyed.

“May I speak to you?Privately?”

“Um…”

Taking his hand, she led him back to the butler’s pantry and completely out of sight from his guests.

Poking him in the chest, she began.“Look, buster, I stayed as a favor to you, but I will not be trotted around like some sort of show pony!I have been friendly to everyone here tonight and I also don’t believe in making my staff do things I won’t do myself, so deal with it!”

“Okay, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal,” he reasoned.“I wanted you to have the night off.After all, you were supposed to be at a party and I felt bad, that’s all.”

“Ugh…lies just really slide off your tongue like it's nothing,” she murmured.“You know, for someone who claims he’s not a liar, you lie a lot.”

“Daphne…”

“No, I’m serious!I told you this wasn’t going to work and it’s not.You’re lying to your family and I’m not okay with it.”Shaking her head, she paused.“This was all a mistake.”

In the kitchen, he heard Jacob.“Excellent!The cocoa’s ready?I think there are more mugs in the pantry.I’ll go grab them.”

Oh, no…

“I should go, Tristan.I’m sorry, I…”

Panic had him by the throat.“Before you go, there’s just one more thing I need.”

“O-kay…what?”

“Kiss me.”

---