Page 100 of Christmas with the Denton Billionaires

“Downtown for ice skating with my sister and parents.” She rolled her lips inward as she slid the tray where her village assembly had begun out of the tall fridge. “Family tradition.”

“Ah. That’s right. The annual Lancaster family Christmas season should be in full swing. Do you guys still do the after-Thanksgiving group trip to pick out a tree?”

“You know we do.” She smirked as she assessed the village. But when she got to the church, the latest structure to be assembled, she gasped. “Fuck!”

Mara carried the tray carefully over to the workspace, her heart pounding. The two largest walls of the church were sinking, damn-near collapsing inward. Closer inspection revealed the sad truth.

The church walls were shit, and the entire structure had to be redone.

“Dammit,” she hissed, covering her forehead with her palm. She wracked her brain for possibilities. She’d personally overseen the construction of this church. Nothing had gone wrong. So what on earth…

“What’s the problem?”

Chris’s smooth voice behind her made her jump. He’d entered her space without her realizing, peering over her shoulder at the sad truth.

“My church is collapsing.” It was hard to keep the panic out of her voice. She couldn’t leave it like this for the weekend. She needed to get to worknow,so that things didn’t totally derail come Monday. “We spent all day working on this, and it’s fucking ruined.”

“What’s your plan?” Chris sounded more like a surgeon assessing his next patient than a world-famous chef.

“Stay here and redo it,” she said with a sigh. “What other choice do I have?” Disappointment crashed through her as she fished her phone out of her pocket and made a quick call to her sister. She nibbled on her lip as the phone rang.

“Hey, sis,” Kaitlyn said in her trademark bubbly voice.

“Hey. Listen, I have bad news.”

“You got in a car wreck.”

Mara paused. “Well, no. Worse news. Or maybe better. I’m not sure.” She drew in a deep breath. “I have to stay on set tonight to deal with a setback. My gingerbread church collapsed, and I have to redo it. You guys will have to go ice skating without me.”

“Awww but, Mar-Mar!” Kaitlyn’s little sisterly whine was perfectly honed throughout the years, and she brought it out in full force now.

“I’m sorry. We’ll have time to go before Christmas. But with this competition going on, I can’t mess up. You know this. I love you, and I’ll talk to you later.”

Mara hung up before she could get any more blowback from Kaitlyn. Her sister understood, but Mara didn’t want to deal with the familial disappointment. Family holiday traditions were important to the the Lancaster family, and Mara was always happy to participate—but right now, this competition was more important.

She pocketed her phone and slid off her coat. When she turned to drape it over a nearby chair, she noticed Chris taking off his coat too.

“What are you doing?”

“Staying to help you.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’ve got nothing better to do. Besides,” he jerked his thumb toward the collapsed church, “that’s going to take a while. You need the help if you want to get out of here before midnight.”

Mara tried to fight the smile that threatened to take over her face. She was touched by the offer—maybe a little too much. She practically floated over to the cabinets to get the ingredients ready.

“Well, all right.” She brought out the flour and butter, as well as the appropriate mixing bowls and the other ingredients she would need. “If you want to and are offering, I won’t say no. Are you sure you’ll be okay taking orders from me?”

The cool smile that covered Chris’s face threatened to undo her resolve to stay away from him during the competition. Because with looks like his, it was practically criminal to say no. And right now, while his blue eyes crinkled at the edges and took her in, all she wanted to do was melt back into his arms and get another taste of those kisses.

But no. This needed to stay work. Even if she’d continue to fantasize about him every night of the competition.

“Yes, chef,” he told her snapping to attention before he looked around. “How about if I get started on the dough while you get the mold ready.”

She nodded, handing over the utensils. “Great idea. And thanks.”

The two of them worked seamlessly for the next couple hours as the gingerbread baked and they tried to salvage the best parts of the current church. Once everything came out of the oven, it needed to cool and harden overnight, so they wouldn’t be able to assemble the actual church that evening. But they made real headway and saved her a significant amount of work come Monday morning.

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