I jumped apart from Matt.
“Welcome to the Merrie & Bright!” I chirped, face going hot as she and the gaggle of women with heroohedandahhedat my shop.
The customer was wearing an I Heart Baking shirt.
“I am such a huge fan,” she gushed. “Also, you guys are adorable together.”
“We’re not, um…” I pointed between Matt and me. “You know.”
“Really?” Matt said, mildly, “Because you fell asleep on my couch last night.”
Cue more screaming from our fans.
I have fans!
Actually, it was probably more accurate to say that Matt had fans. He looked amazing in his dark navy suit, hair parted just so.
He smiled at the women, and they swooned.
“Can I interest you in a cookie?”
“Can I interest you in one?” an older woman cackled.
“I think Merrie has it covered for me,” Matt said, his eyes flicking over to me.
“I have a lot of cookies,” I said almost robotically while my brain tried to process what was happening.
Matt leaned in to whisper in my ear. “I’m actually only interested in just the one.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t ask him just how interested he was because the shop was packed with fans ofThe Great Christmas Bake-Off, small-town residents who loved anything free, and people in from New York City starting their early weekend.
I couldn’t even fully lose myself in conversing with my newfound customers and ensuring that they had the perfect holiday experience because Matt wasrighttherein my shop, posing for pictures, chatting with the giggling women who had come for the experience. Whenever he was near me, he would find any excuse to touch me or let his hand linger on my waist as he passed behind me to restock the cookies that were flying off the shelves.
My body was abuzz with the electricity of him.
Was giving in to the Prince of Winter a bad idea?
Probably.
But he had tricked out my shop and helped me bake while looking very sexy in his apron. Also, I had seen him shirtless, and I was definitely ready to see the rest of him.
He hasn’t even kissed you. This is why your shop is a failure—because you jump into things feet first and put all your savings on red without really looking at the full proposal.
But what was there really to look into with Matt? He seemed to like me. I thought he was a sex god. Not much that could go wrong there, right?
“You’ll have to bake more cookies tomorrow,” Matt said later that evening after we had sold the last cookie, shaped and decorated like a penguin in a Christmas sweater. “I’m ordering you more ingredients. Double the amount.”
The cookies had gone completely viral. I had multiple requests from news organizations wanting to come out and interview me. Dana with Romance Creative had even called and wanted to do a quick vignette about my shop for theGreat Christmas Bake-Offwebsite.
Too bad the Christmas season was only a few weeks long. If I had until the Fourth of July, I might have actually been able to make some money.
“I can order the ingredients,” I said, tapping the point-of-sale software to generate a report for the evening. “It’s my shop, after all.”
Matt came up beside me and started counting out the cash.
“Holy shit,” I exclaimed as the tablet spat out my revenue numbers. I grabbed Matt’s arm. I felt the warmth of his body as he leaned against me to look at the number.
“Is this right?” I asked in shock. “How did we make this much money? Is this for today and yesterday?”
