Frosting Her Christmas Cookies - Alina Jacobs Page 0,30

the other. “You are the biggest draw to get people on the page in the first place. Once they’re in our sphere of marketing and see all the yummy desserts and cocktails you can create with the alcohol, it’s super easy to convince people to buy. Plus,” she added, “we have this great idea to set up a special chat room for people who have bought the alcohol. We’ll post extra-special content there.”

“I’ll have my software engineers set that up for you,” Jonathan promised.

Outside in the office, his employees were having an impromptu breakfast party and watching the sales report chart climb.

“That’s all from the stuff we posted last night,” Lilith explained. “Carl gave me access to your special software from ThinkX.”

“Between the company Instagram posts and The Great Christmas Bake-Off, women are ripping off their panties and whipping out their credit cards,” I said blandly, causing Jonathan to choke on his coffee.

A few hours later, after yet another bachelorette had been chucked off Christmas Island, we were back out shopping for the next round of the bake-off.

Even though I was wearing my favorite shirt that said …AND THAT’S WHY MY HOUSE IS FULL OF SPIDERS, I still felt like a zombie.

“You look like shit,” Keeley hissed to me. “Where were you last night?”

“Working.”

“On one of your ridiculous art projects, I bet,” she said snidely. “You should be working on how not to scare off men.”

“She has plenty of interest from men,” Emma said, jumping to my defense.

Keeley pursed her lips. “So now you have your legbeard, forever-alone squad following you around? I guess the walking would be good for her.” Keeley tipped her head toward Emma.

Emma shrank slightly.

Cold fury flowed through me. Emma had always struggled with her weight and was sensitive about it. I would be damned if I was going to let Keeley get away with making mean comments.

“If you must know,” I drawled, “I was working on my grand plan to steal Jonathan out from under you and utterly humiliate you in the process.”

My cousin’s nostrils flared. “As if you’re going to be in this competition much longer.”

“I was just saved for yet another round this morning,” I reminded her. “The judges thought my cocktail and donuts were fantastic.”

“They said it wasn’t restaurant quality,” she countered.

“And they thought your mousse wasn’t fit for selling at a gas station,” I scoffed.

“Jonathan loved it!” she cried.

“Jonathan didn’t like it,” I sneered, “but he did like what I was serving. In fact, he asked me to come back to his condo and make him another round.”

Keeley was shaking with anger. “You’re going to regret this! I’m going to take you down!” she said shrilly. Then she stomped off down the aisle of the store.

“Oh my god, that was epic!” Emma exclaimed. “Did Jonathan really want you to go up to his condo?”

“He didn’t blatantly ask. It’s not like I actually want to go up there. It’s bigger than the one I’m living in, but it’s not anything, you know, super fancy.”

Lilith and Emma clutched each other, shocked. “Wait, you’ve been up in his apartment?” my twin demanded.

“Why are you two acting like this is a big deal? He’s just some douche with too much money.”

“And you went into his condo at night alone,” Emma said.

“Not alone.”

“So it was a gang-bang orgy situation? I mean, I’m not here to judge,” Lilith said.

“Salem was with me,” I told my twin.

“You have to sleep with him,” Emma said, grabbing my arm, “and take pictures and post them online.”

“No way!”

“At least send them to Keeley; she’ll flip her shit!” Lilith said.

I grabbed bags of candy sugar to throw into my cart. I’d made art out of sugar before. “I’m not sleeping with a guy just to make some girl jealous; I won’t stoop to that level. I will, however,” I said, “win the competition, smear the floor with her, and cackle loudly as she’s voted off.”

16

Jonathan

“You have to do a photo shoot,” Morticia announced.

I jumped slightly; it was as if she had appeared out of thin air. However, I was glad she was there. I had been wandering down a thought path that I usually tried to stay away from: the constant worry that everyone I loved was going to leave me. Sarah had. Belle had. She hadn’t seemed happy at the meeting with Greg and the Svensson brothers. I needed to do a good job; I needed Hillrock West Distillery to be a success. If I wasn’t good enough, she might leave