Frosting Her Christmas Cookies - Alina Jacobs Page 0,27

We can expense it with Jonathan and pretend it’s part of our dinner!”

“Not to mention,” Emma said craftily, waving one of my sketches around, “he would be the perfect inspiration for your art.”

“I’m not submitting pictures of Jonathan for my scholarship.”

“You don’t have any better ideas.”

She was right. I didn’t have any better ideas, and the clock was ticking. But I was not stooping to making art centered around Jonathan Frost.

“This is a win-win-win all around,” Emma coaxed.

“Plus free alcohol,” Lilith reminded me. “We just give the bartender our account number!”

“A drink would be nice right about now, and I do need backup cash if I don’t win that scholarship,” I said slowly. “Which is looking more likely, because I have no art direction.”

“That’s the spirit,” Lilith said in excitement. “Emma and I will start working on a posting schedule and ideas, because we know you’re about to be getting busy in the hot tub.”

“Take lots of photos!” Emma said.

A text from Jonathan popped up as I followed my friends into the studio building.

Jonathan: I am now your boss.

Morticia: Correction, you’re my customer.

Jonathan: *Wink emoji* and it sounds like customer service comes with a bikini and baked goods.

If Jonathan thought he was going to see me in a bikini, he had another thing coming.

14

Jonathan

I was probably more excited than necessary about the hot tub date. The Romance Creative production company had set up a whole patio and hot tub off of the studio. The bachelorettes made their various hot tub–friendly desserts while the production company took B-roll of me walking around and flirting with the contestants.

Morticia studiously ignored me, but I was going to have her soon enough. I wondered what type of swimsuit she would wear. I wished it would be just us in the hot tub, alone, at night, with candles and snow falling. The chill air would make her nipples hard, and I’d suck them through the skimpy swimsuit I was sure she would be wearing…

“You need to change,” Dana told me. She ushered me into another room, where cameras were set up and a selection of swim trunks decorated in various Christmas characters was waiting. I chose the red pair covered with dancing Santas and started to strip off my jacket.

Dana raised an eyebrow as the cameras flocked around me.

I grinned at her. “Come on, you know I’m sexy!”

“You’re my friend’s little brother.”

“I’m not that little,” I said.

“Just give us some nice shots,” she said, rolling her eyes. “We’re using these as part of the promo.”

After changing and adding a Santa hat to complete my look, I settled down in the hot tub as the first of the bachelorettes came out, bearing a tray of baked goods and cocktails.

“I made peppermint ice cream floats with whiskey,” she said proudly. “And to snack on, holiday sugar cookie bars with cream cheese frosting.”

She was curvy, and her boobs bobbed when she slipped into the steamy pool. Her hands ran over my chest, but even though we were wearing far fewer clothes and were in a much more intimate position, I didn’t get an electric spark like I had when Morticia had simply touched my hand.

“These are good,” I said after taking a polite bite. Actually, the cookie bar was dry. I took a sip of the cocktail to wash it down. It was more like a milkshake. I loved sugar as much as the next person, but this was a lot, and the evening was just getting started.

Another bachelorette paraded out with her offering. Keeley gave me a sultry look. “I made adorable Christmas tree mousse cups with a spiked chocolate malt cocktail.”

I took a bite of the mousse.

“It’s made with white chocolate so that I could dye it green,” Keeley said, giggling as she stepped into the steaming hot tub.

The mousse coated my tongue, and I took a sip of the chocolate malt to try and find some relief. With the heat from the hot tub, all I wanted was a tall glass of ice water and to jump into a snowbank to cool off.

“You know,” Keeley purred while I tried to think of waterfalls and blizzards, “I have another sweet treat you can eat if you want to try.” She drew snowflakes in the water droplets on my chest then reached up to cup a hand along my jaw.

“Next contestant!” a producer said. He waved to the glass garage door that opened between the porch and the back patio. “Morticia, just make sure that you walk