Page 82 of The Mistletoe Makeover

“It’s true, isn’t it?” he asks with a smirk.

“That might work for you, but as long as I’m in Maplewood, I won’t hear the end of it.” The frustration builds in my chest. Jace doesn’t understand why this is problematic.

“I don’t see why this is such a big deal.”

“Jace... my mom doesn’t know.”

Jace pauses as it sinks in. “That you’ve never been kissed?”

I shake my head, then turn away, feeling stupid for letting things get this far. “My mom has certain ideas about love, and one of them is that you do not let someone kiss you unless they’re seriously interested. Now she’s going to get her hopes up, and I don’t want to ruin things by telling her I was just fooling around with you. And if my brothers find out, then it’s game over for you...” I push my finger into Jace’s chest to make my point.

Jace grabs my hand, trying to reassure me. “What if we don’t explain? If we’re going to be seen together anyway, we just let people believe what they want.”

“Which is?” I ask, frowning.

“That thereissomething going on between us.”

“My family would see right through it...” I hesitate.

“Unless it’s believable,” he finishes with those penetrating eyes that make my heart stumble.

“But how?” I’m a terrible liar. Even though with Jace, I don’t have to lie. The way he makes my body light up like a Christmas tree, it’s clear how I feel about him.

He studies me. “The real question is how far do you want to take this charade?”

I pause. “Until Christmas.” I’m walking a dangerous tightrope between what my heart wants and what’s best for my future.

I’m a single woman who’s never been kissed. Maybe a risk is exactly what I need.

The agreement I made to myself was to do things that made me happy. And Jace makes me crazy happy.

I finally meet his eyes. “Whatever it takes to make people believe we’re a couple.”

“You sure?” he asks, still holding my hand.

“Positive,” I say, wondering whether I can see this through without running off like a scared cat.

His dimple deepens as he smiles. “Then let’s finish what we started.”

TWENTY

Mia

He grabs my hand and pulls me outside, where the snow is falling harder.

“Where are we going?” I ask, confused by our sudden change of plans.

“The town tree lighting,” he says. “Did you forget?”

I pretty much forget everything when Jace is around. The committee scheduled the tree lighting as a special event for the community, a way of saying thank you before tourists descend on our town.

Once we open the festival tomorrow, it’s going to take an entire village to pull off this event.

“The perfect chance to be seen together,” he says, squeezing my hand.

“Oh, right,” I murmur, pulling away.I’m his PR improvement project.Whatever almost happened in that storage room wasn’t real, even though every cell in my body was screaming,Kiss me like you mean it.

I glance over at Jace, suddenly shy. “We went over a few rules before...” I let the words dangle in the air.

---