Page 45 of Baking it Merry

“Here or the bedroom?”he murmured against her throat.“I’m not fussy, but I need you.Now.”

Oh, my…

She’d never had sex anywhere other than a bed, so she was a little naïve about how things would work here in the kitchen.

But she was more than willing to find out.

“Here,” she panted.“Now.Please.”

In the blink of an eye, he had her robe untied and he lifted her onto the counter.Stepping between her thighs, the look he gave her told her she was going to enjoy every minute of this.Swallowing hard, she told herself to relax and let Tristan take charge.

And he did.

Again and again and again.

“Seriously, when do you rest?”

They were tangled up in her bed—minus the sheets, but under her comforter—and her head rested on his shoulder.“Next month,” she told him.“My plan is to work as hard as I can until the end of December and then I can relax a bit.On January first, I’ll take down the gingerbread house and put it back in storage, and then I’ll return to working on my web design business full-time.Knowing there’s a light at the end of the tunnel makes it all tolerable.”

“I know we’ve discussed this briefly before, but why don’t you have your own bakery?You can clearly tell that people love what you do.Why not do it full-time?”

Laughing softly, she admitted, “Because I’m afraid of the risk.It costs a lot of money to start up something like that.The setup in your building isn’t ideal because there’s no way I could bake there, but if I had a kitchen in the same place I was selling, I think it could work…like a coffee shop inside an office building or something.”Shrugging, she added, “But for right now, everyone loves what I’m doing because it’s a great wintery treat and they’re ordering stuff for all the holiday parties they’re going to.I’m not sure business would be that steady year-round.”

“I guess that’s possible, but…”

“And renting a storefront and opening an actual bakery requires a lot of capital, along with long hours that never seem to end.With this situation, I know it will be crazy for two months and then my life returns to normal.”

“Yeah, but this is what you love, right?Baking?Is web design your dream job or something you’re doing to pay the bills until you can open a bakery?”

“That was sort of the plan, and the bakery really is something I want more than anything, but sometimes my own insecurities get the better of me.”

“We all have them.I mean…look at me.I’ve designed a lot of homes and buildings and yet I can’t get a building in the one place I want it.So instead of being proud of all of my accomplishments, all I seem to focus on is the one failure.”

“It’s not a failure, Tristan.It can still happen.”

“Maybe.It doesn’t feel like it though.You still have hope and a real chance of opening the bakery.”He kissed the top of her head.“Especially after all the extra money you’re making from my parties.”

Laughing, she tried to pull away, but he held her close.“Stop.I wasn’t really going to hold you to that.You were desperate and just saying things to get me to help.”Looking up at him, she sobered a bit.“I probably would have caved even without the promise of doubling my pay.You can be very persuasive when you want to be.”

Grinning, he pulled her even closer.“I’d like to be persuasive right now…” Once again, he rolled her under her and kissed her until they were both breathless.

“Consider me completely persuaded.Whatever you want, it’s yours.”

All signs of joking disappeared.“You, Daphne.I just want you.”

Aww…

Her hand raked through his disheveled hair.“You have me.”

A curt nod was his only response before he kissed her again.

It was a bitch of a week.

Nothing had gone right.Contracts were delayed, one job that was due to start construction had lost its financing, and the boutique hotel decided to put the project on hold until the spring.To say he was in a foul mood would be an understatement.

So naturally, tonight would be his office holiday party.

Everyone was barely in the mood to work—which only annoyed him more—and Faye had to finally tell him to just stay in his office until the party started.He took extreme offense at being reprimanded, but he knew himself well enough to realize she was probably right.

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