Some holiday arrangements are meant to crumble… others refuse to fall apart.

When meticulous baker Kelly Donner splatters blue frosting all over a ranch foreman’s five-hundred-dollar boots, she assumes she’s just torpedoed her best shot at getting her gingerbread art in front of Diamond Creek’s wealthiest clients. Brian Mitchell, however, has bigger problems than ruined leather—namely, a boss’s daughter who’s decided his future, with or without his consent.

A rushed cake order turns into a deal: Brian needs a “girlfriend” to take the pressure off at the Sullivan family Christmas party, and Kelly needs an introduction to the kind of people who can bankroll her dream bakery. One evening of smiling for the crowd, a few staged photos by the tree, and they both walk away happy. Simple. Clean. Contained.

But between late-night planning sessions, gingerbread catastrophes narrowly averted, and a New Year’s Eve that feels far too real, the lines blur fast. Kelly has spent her life building sugary showpieces that never last past the holidays; Brian has built his entire world on not being the man anyone stays for. When career-defining opportunity collides with a once-in-a-lifetime love, they’ll have to decide whether this was just a pretty façade… or the foundation for something that can actually hold.

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