A Cheesecake Christmas: A Sweet RomCom by Deb Goodman

Author:Deb Goodman [Goodman, Deb]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-12-18T00:00:00+00:00

“You still tasting the cheesecake bath?” Aria asks me as we head out to our cars. It’s nine o’clock and the meeting has ended. We’re puffing out condensation with every breath.

“I had to spritz cologne all over me, even with the new shirt Jesse brought me. And then I took a shower when I got home from work.”

She shakes her head and laughs. “I still can’t believe you got plastered with cheesecake.”

“Speaking of the bakeshop, I have to go over to my office and get some things. The big pro bono case is coming up.”

“Okay, well, I might see you over there,” she says, before hurrying into her car.

Just because my office is right next to her bedroom doesn’t mean I have to see her. I shouldn’t. I have work to do and not much time to do it.

But when I reach my office and grab my files, I’m not sure where my head’s at. I could check to make sure she’s okay. She wasn’t okay last night, and I’m glad I was able to help her not be so alone.

I should probably check on her real fast.

I can hear her move around in her bedroom. I screw up my face in apprehension before deciding to go for it.

“Knock, knock,” I shout through the wall.

“Hey Theo,” she shouts back.

“I wanted to check on how you’re doing.”

There’s a long pause and I’m about to repeat myself when I hear her say. “Can I come over to your office? For just a minute?”

Every emotion under the sun shifts through me. “Uh. Sure.” I start throwing papers and files around to tidy up. “I’ll let you in in like, one minute?”

“Make it two,” she says, and I hear her footsteps leaving her bedroom.

She’s still in her dress when I open the office’s main doors downstairs.

“Come on in,” I say, nervous that I’ve got a single Aria in my midst and we’re alone in the office.

I’m pretty sure Weatherby has security cameras set up in here. I know he did in the old place.

There. That thought alone will keep me from making choices with Aria that I should not make.

Charlotte, the receptionist, has decorated for Christmas with pre-lit birch trees, pinecone garlands, and starry curtain lights. The ambiance is kind of nice—which is hard for a Christmas-hater like myself to say.

But maybe I hate Christmas a little bit less this year with so much of Aria in it.

“Can we sit here?” She motions to the seating area.

I’m relieved we’re not going up to my office. There’s a tension in the air, and I can’t figure out what it is.

“Sure,” I motion to the sofas. “Have a seat.” I rush over to the drink refrigerator behind the reception desk and grab us some water bottles. “And we have playing cards in the side table. Jay sometimes plays solitaire out here when he needs to think.”

She settles onto the sofa and thanks me as she takes the bottle. “I’m so glad there’s been a good response to the advertising for the festival.

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