Chapter 1

One

“ E at your heart out, Food Network!”

Taking a small step back, Daphne Noelle studied the beauty of her cupcake Christmas tree with pride. It was going to be her signature piece this holiday season. Smiling giddily, she reached for her phone and began taking pictures to put up on her website. With any luck, she’d capture the perfect shot that she could also place on her social media profiles and start taking orders.

She ended up with around twenty usable pictures. Feeling satisfied, she moved on to take inventory of everything she was going to need to get her mobile bake shop set up tomorrow at the executive complex in downtown Raleigh. Every year for the last three years, she’d been lucky enough to get a spot in the lobby of the largest building in the complex to set up her pop-up bakery shop. They offered spots to people like herself every year as a way of supporting small businesses and besides her bake shop, there were typically a few others that were more arts and gifts-oriented. Each of the booths was customized for the best visual appeal, and while she didn’t do any baking on site, hers was set up to look like a giant gingerbread house. And, if she did say so herself, it was freaking adorable.

Having designed it herself, it made for the perfect holiday display, with plenty of space for all the freshly baked inventory she made daily. Most days it was a variety of cookies, cupcakes, muffins, and assorted cakes and pies, but the real money came from the orders she got from the people who worked in the twenty-eight-story building.

“Remember to bring extra cupcakes for Sara,” she reminded herself. Her best friend worked for the legal firm on the second floor of the building Daphne would be setting up in, and she was the one who actually got her the opportunity. “Cupcakes this week, cookies next.”

Tomorrow morning, she had a small crew of friends and family who would help her move the display and get it built in the massive lobby. The maintenance team on site was also on hand to help, and she made a note to have a box of goodies for them as well. Daphne didn’t mind the extra work; if anything, it made her happy to share her creations with as many people as possible. It was a labor of love and maybe someday she’d have the courage to open an actual bakery of her own. Right now, she rented kitchen space to do the bulk of the baking while also managing her website design business.

She had wo totally different careers, but both gave her the creative outlet she desired. The website business primarily paid the bills, but her heart was in the baking.

“And someday it will be the only job I have,” she said with a wistful sigh.

But for now, she was happy to juggle both careers. Her computer would be with her during the holiday season at the executive plaza, so during any slow times, she could work on the website jobs she was contracted for. Her busiest times to sell her baked goods were first thing in the morning, the mid-morning coffee breaks, lunchtime, and mid-afternoon breaks. Some days she stayed late to handle special orders or requests, but most days she was done by three.

After dropping off her trays and supplies at her rental kitchen and doing some prep work, she’d go home and eat a pitiful dinner before crawling into bed and starting all over again. Still, she would do it typically only four days a week—a girl had to rest sometime!—and it was only for the months of November and December. For the rest of the year, she baked only on request from orders through her website. The system worked well, but she kind of thrived on the daily face-to-face interaction with customers and potential customers at her little pop-up shop.

“Too bad they don’t have a coffee shop in the complex I could lease,” she murmured, but knew she would be too scared to consider even doing that right now. Maybe in another couple of years she’d be okay with it, but right now she just felt…well…not confident enough in herself.

Someday.

Maybe.

In the meantime, she’d bake and dream and pray that eventually she’d take the leap to make her dream a reality.

“Daphne!” someone called out. “Is this where the racks need to go?”

Turning, she spotted her cousin Tom waving her over. Smiling, she joined him. “Yup! That back corner is where the shelves and racks need to be. Thanks!”

All around her, things were coming together. The other vendors were setting up as well and it looked like there was a soap and scented candle booth, a hand-crafted jewelry booth, and an artist who specialized in pet portraits! It was loud and a little chaotic, but there was plenty of space for them, along with the people who were flooding into the building to start their workday. Everyone waved and several called out how they couldn’t wait to stop by later and see what she had available, and honestly, she couldn’t wait either! She was feeling so many emotions right now and as much as she loved watching her little gingerbread house come to life, she also just wanted it done so she could step inside and start selling.

“There’s my girl!” her father said as he walked over, adjusting his tool belt. “You look like a combination of serious businesswoman and Disney princess.”

“Dad…” she said with a laugh. “Stop it. That’s not a real thing.”

“Daph, trust me. You’re walking around observing everything and you have a very serious look on your face most of the time, but the purple dress and the matching hair bow make you look like a princess.” He hugged her. “I’ve always called you my little princess so…”

She seriously felt herself blushing even as she hugged him back. “Thanks, Dad.” When she pulled back, she smiled at him. “It looks like it’s almost ready. Should I call Mom and tell her to bring the van over with all the inventory?”

If it weren’t for the support of her family, Daphne knew none of this would be possible. Not only did they help with the building of the pop-up shop, but her mother always went with her to events and was eager to lend a hand wherever she was needed.

And today, that was driving the refrigerated van full of freshly baked goods here to the shop.

“It probably wouldn’t hurt to text her to start heading this way. By the time she gets here, we should be ready to help her unload,” he replied. “Let me go help Tommy secure that roof. It looks a little uneven.”

Stepping back, she had to agree.

Right now, her gingerbread building was really just the size of your average backyard shed without the bulk. Plus, for the first few weeks it had a fall theme to it—leaves instead of candy—and all of her treats were more about the flavors of the season. She had baked tons of apple cinnamon muffins, banana nut muffins and banana bread, cinnamon coffee cake, apple pies, glazed pumpkin muffins, plus a variety of traditional cookies and bars. But once Thanksgiving was over, Daphne would be going full throttle with holiday cookies, cupcakes, muffins, and bars here at the booth, as well as taking special orders for cakes and pies. Just thinking about it made her happy.

“Great, it’s that time of year again when all the crap shops clutter up the lobby. Awesome.”

Daphne turned and saw a guy who clearly worked in the building walking toward the bank of elevators. It had to be him who said it because no one else had been that close. Unfortunately, his back was to her so she couldn’t see exactly who he was. All she saw was a navy blue wool coat and a shock of dark hair. In the past, she hadn’t encountered anyone who was openly hostile about the booths being here for the holiday months, so maybe this guy was new or…

He turned as if sensing she was studying him, and she inwardly groaned. She’d seen him before. Actually, she’d seen him every day that she’d been here in the building over the last three years. They’d never been introduced, so she didn’t know his name, but yeah. In her head, she always just referred to him as Grinchy Grincherson because he never smiled.

Ever.

Okay, maybe she couldn’t say that with any great certainty, but every time she’d ever seen him, he was scowling.

Like he was right now.

And that made her do what she always did—she smiled.

Brightly.

Like she was trying to win a sweet smiling contest.

That just made his scowl deepen before he stepped onto the elevator and went to wherever it was he worked.

Jerk.

But she wasn’t going to let Mr. Grincherson ruin her mood. Today was going to be a great day, and if he didn’t appreciate the little things in life that brought other people joy, then…well…that just made her sad.

“No,” she murmured to herself. “No sad feelings. Not today.” Smiling again, she walked over to see how her booth was coming along before walking around to meet the other vendors.

Kaitlyn Martin owned the soap and candles business. She was married with four kids and her business had started out as a way to make homemade teacher gifts. Now it was making money, but she wanted to test the waters to sell someplace that wasn’t her garage or the local craft fair at her church. Plus, her sister was also going to work at the booth with her so she could pick up her kids after school.

Over at the pet portrait booth, she met Ann Bailey, a retired mother of two who loved to paint and wanted to try her hand at offering her services someplace other than her book club or chair yoga group.

“Ooh…a book club!” Daphne said. “I’ve always wanted to join one, but never could find one.”

“You should think about starting one,” Ann suggested. “I’d invite you to mine, but you’re about thirty years younger than our youngest member. Plus, we spend more time talking about grandkids than we do about the books we’re supposed to read!” She laughed, but then instantly sobered. “Maybe we should do one here! You know there’s going to be lulls when no one’s down here in the lobby shopping. If we maybe picked a book or two a month, it could be a great way to pass the time. What do you think?”

“I love it! Hopefully the others will want to join us. I didn’t get to talk about books to Kaitlyn, but she has four kids, so I’m not sure how much time she has for reading.”

“Hmm…good point. Have you met Marcie yet? She has the cutest jewelry!”

“Not yet, but I’m already fascinated by her talent. I’m not creative that way at all. I’d imagine there're all kinds of tools and soldering and…that’s not my thing at all.”

“I already called dibs on a pair of earrings I saw as she was setting up. I have a feeling I’m not going to make any money here because I’m going to spend it at all of these booths!”

That made her laugh. “I don’t mind supplying breakfast for everyone. I wish I could offer coffee, but there’s a Starbucks literally right on the corner and I knew I couldn’t compete, so…”

“I’m sure it wouldn’t be a big deal if you had a small coffee maker just for yourself,” Ann said. “You know, for your own personal use. And maybe ours.” With a wink, she nodded toward her booth. “I need to finish setting up, but I’m looking forward to a sweet treat to reward myself when I’m done!”

“I’ve got you covered!” And with a wave, she walked over to the jewelry booth and marveled at all the pretty pieces. It appeared that Marcie worked a lot with silver because so many of the pieces were made of silver wire and crafted into a variety of shapes. Some had gemstones, some were just simple designs, but they were all beautiful.

“Hi! I’m Marcie! Are you the creator of that adorable gingerbread house?”

“Guilty as charged!” she replied cheerily. “I’m Daphne.”

“It’s nice to meet you, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to be cursing you soon.”

“Um…”

“I have a feeling I’m going to be eating way too many sweets with you only twenty feet away. I mean…that is pure temptation!” Then she laughed. “All my clothes are going to need to have elastic waistbands before you know it.”

Daphne instantly relaxed. “I want to say that I promise not to let you overdo it, but…”

“Oh, I can’t be stopped,” Marcie joked. “Anything with frosting is a total weakness, so no matter how much I tell myself not to do it, the lure is just too strong. I’ve already made my peace with it.”

Honestly, she had no idea how to respond to that, so she quickly changed the subject.

“Any chance you like to read? Ann—who does the pet portraits—and I were talking about having a book club with our little group. You know, to pass the time when no one’s hanging around the lobby.”

“That sounds like fun! I love reading!” Then she paused. “Actually, I love listening to audiobooks. It’s great to do while I’m making the jewelry. I would have missed out on some great books if I had to wait to find time to sit down and read.”

“I do the same while I’m baking. What type of books do you like?”

“Romantic suspense and historical romance,” Marcie told her. “Although I’m good with any kind of romance. My mom’s an avid reader and she’s the one who really encouraged my love of reading, but she’s a romance reader too.”

“I love that! My mom’s an avid reader too. Although I tend to read a little, um…spicier than she does. So we don’t really recommend books to each other anymore. I found out the hard way when I recommended a book that I personally loved, and she called me at eleven at night to yell at me about how much sex is too much sex in a story.”

Marcie laughed out loud. “Oh my God! That’s awesome!”

“Yeah, well…”

“Daph? We need you over here!” her father called out.

“I need to go, but once everything’s done, feel free to pop over. The first order’s on the house!”

“My hips do not thank you, but I do,” Marcie said with a wink before returning her attention to setting up her earring display.

And as Daphne walked over to her little gingerbread house, she felt like skipping out of pure joy. Everything was coming together, and this year’s group of vendors already felt like close friends. It was going to be a great season!

“I hate this time of year.”

Tristan Knight stared out the window from his office on the twenty-eighth floor and sighed. The Raleigh skyline wasn’t anything new to him, but he had been trying for ages to build something that would be a part of it. And now that he had designed the perfect building for his client, the city announced that they weren’t approving any new plans until after the new year.

Normally that wasn’t a big deal, but with this client, they were more than willing to set up shop in other cities if Raleigh took too long.

And at this rate, they just might.

Again, the building was going to get built no matter what and Tristan was pleased about it, but…he wanted to be a part of this particular city’s skyline.

“But no. The holidays mean everything gets pushed off until the first of the year,” he murmured, raking a hand through his dark hair. Their reasoning was ridiculous considering it was only the first week of November. If it had been December, he wouldn’t have been surprised by the announcement, but November first? Come on!

With a muttered curse, he turned and sat back down at his desk and contemplated what project to work on. There were at least half a dozen to choose from, but his motivation was seriously lacking right now.

“Hey, boss,” his assistant, Faye, said as she walked into his office. “Did you decide if you were going to call the city planner and ask for preferential treatment?”

“Excuse me?”

With a serene smile, she placed several folders down on his desk. “You know, about the Bowers' building and not waiting until January.”

Frowning, he studied her. “You think you know me so well, don’t you?”

Her smile never faded. “Oh, I know I do. Just like I know you’ve been sitting here stewing since you got the email from Stan. You know it wasn’t personal, Tristan. It was a basic mass email that went out to everyone who submitted plans to the city.”

“It feels personal,” he grumbled. “How many projects have I designed for the downtown area only to have things go wrong? Either the project moves to another city or they lose funding or decide to go with another architect at the last minute! So yeah, this is just one more thing to add to the list and it definitely feels personal.”

“Okay, clearly you just want to be grouchy, so I’ll leave you to it.” She turned to walk away, but stopped and faced him again. “How about I go and grab you a muffin from the shop downstairs? I’m so excited that she’s back again this year! Maybe something sweet will brighten your mood.”

If anything, that last sentence soured it even more.

“I don’t understand why the landlord allows that nonsense every year! It makes the lobby look like a damn flea market! Our rent is high because this is an upscale building and then they allow those…those… booths here for two damn months.” With a huff of annoyance, he shook his head. “That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to call the landlord and demand they move those people to some other building.”

“Don’t you dare!” Faye cried in dismay, slamming her hand down on his desk. “Everyone in the building loves those booths! And Daphne’s Delights has been a favorite for the last three years! Why would you even think about ruining that? You’re the only one in the building who has a problem with it.”

“We don’t know that,” he countered. “I’m sure there are plenty of executives who don’t appreciate our lobby looking like a craft fair threw up on it.” With another head shake, he added, “You’d think they’d at least require them to be classy instead of cartoonish! It’s an eyesore to walk down there every morning, afternoon, and evening!”

Faye straightened and looked at him with disapproval, and the only reason he allowed it was because she was old enough to be his mother and helped him run his office with the kind of efficiency he needed.

“What?” he snapped after a long moment of her not blinking.

“Are you going to be like this for the entire holiday season? Because I have to tell you, I’m not a fan.”

It would be very easy to remind her who exactly is in charge here, but he had a feeling he’d lose that argument.

“I don’t hate the holidays,” he said carefully. “I just think there’s a time and a place for things like those booths. Just like I don’t believe that everyone is entitled to not work simply because a couple of holidays are scheduled over the next nine weeks. If I’m here doing my job, why can’t everyone else?”

Her expression softened.

Well, it became a little less hostile.

“I have to agree about people using the holidays as an excuse not to work. However, those of us who are working deserve to have a little joy in our workday. And in this case, that joy is found in the lobby in the form of baked goods, homemade soaps and candles, hand-crafted jewelry, and pet portraits.” She leaned in closer. “I’ve already given the artist a picture of Mr. Whiskers so I can get a little gift for myself.”

He fought the urge to roll his eyes and instead smiled tightly.

“You should get one done for your mom! I bet she’d love a portrait of her pups! You know she’s always sharing pictures of them on Instagram, so it wouldn’t be hard to grab some and give them to Ann. I’m sure she could work off of them.”

“Ann?”

“The artist,” she clarified. “Want me to pick some for you?”

“Um…”

“Think of it as one less gift to shop for.”

“Done,” he readily agreed. “And uh…thanks.”

Now she smiled. “And where did we land on the baked goods? Want a muffin? Cupcake? Some sort of cookie?”

“No. I’m already going against my beliefs by getting a portrait from the pet lady. I’m not going to support any of the other businesses down there.”

She shrugged. “Your loss.” And with that, she walked away, closing the door behind her.

Leaning back in his chair, Tristan knew he wouldn’t feel at peace until he let his displeasure with the lobby situation be heard. Instead of calling the landlord, however, he decided to send him a short and direct email describing how he felt about the eyesores those booths were creating. Once he hit send, he pushed the last several minutes aside and put his focus on finding inspiration for whichever project he was going to tackle next.

Knight Architects was started by Tristan’s grandfather, and they were one of the most sought-after architectural firms in the tri-state region. Tristan was the head of their Raleigh office, his father ran their Chapel Hill office, and Tristan’s brothers each had an office in Greensboro and Charlotte. Hell, there were more architects and engineers in the family than seemed possible. Several of his cousins had offices in Virginia in Richmond, Norfolk, and Roanoke, while others were in Tennessee in Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville. They were a designing family and he felt like he was the lone Knight who couldn’t get a building in his base city.

Then he needed to remind himself that he’d designed several buildings in Raleigh.

Just not in the downtown area where he most wanted one.

“This is getting me nowhere,” he murmured. Straightening in his chair, he opened his laptop and began going through the files of his current clients. There were two smaller office buildings which were only four stories each, a massive renovation for an older building in north Raleigh, and a boutique hotel that was being planned for the city of Cary. The older building would be an easy design because it was basically a refit. They weren’t changing anything structural, so he put that aside. The office buildings were going to be even less inspiring because they were very cookie cutter. What he needed right now was something that was going to challenge him creatively, something that was going to be the perfect distraction from the overall disappointment he was feeling.

That left the boutique hotel.

Clicking on the file, he read through the notes on what the owners were looking for and immediately began envisioning it. They wanted something they described as industrial chic, something with a lot of character. Visions of exposed brick walls, columns, polished concrete floors came to mind, and before he knew it, Tristan was on his feet and going to his drafting table to sketch things out. It was a little old-school, but it worked for him. He liked to start with a drawing before taking things to the digital side and plugging it into his design program.

He drew like a man possessed and it wasn’t until Faye came in and asked him if he wanted her to call in something for lunch for him that he realized it had been several hours and he hadn’t moved from his spot.

Stretching, he shook his head. “Thanks, but I think I need to get out and get some fresh air.” It was after one, so he knew she had already taken her lunch break. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

Grabbing his coat, he strode out of the office and went to the elevators. There were several cafes nearby and while it would have been easy to order online and just pick something up, he felt like he needed to walk around and get a little inspiration from the local architecture.

In the lobby, he stepped out of the elevator and groaned. There were crowds of people scattered around each of the booths, and he kept his head down as he made his way toward the door. He was almost there when he walked into something. “Oof!”

He was met with a soft gasp, and when he looked up, he was met with a pair of wide green eyes. He quickly realized it was the baker woman—the one with the ridiculous gingerbread house. Tristan reached out to steady her, but didn’t offer an apology. After all, he had his head down and she clearly chose not to get out of the way.

“You need to watch where you’re going,” he said, his tone a bit harsh. “It’s already a zoo down here thanks to you and these vendors; the least you can do is show some consideration for those of us who actually work here.”

“Excuse me?” she said, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“You heard me.”

“You’re the one who wasn’t watching where you were going,” she told him. “I just put a tray of cupcakes down. A few seconds earlier, and they would have been ruined because of you.”

Was she seriously trying to blame this on him?

“The landlord is a personal friend of mine,” he lied. “And all I have to do is make one phone call, and you’ll be removed. This building houses a lot of multimillion-dollar businesses, and we don’t need the circus coming to town for the holidays.”

He didn’t think it was possible for her eyes to get any wider, but…they did. “Did you just call my business a circus?”

Tristan just stared at her blandly.

“Look, what is your problem, huh? Have I done something to offend you? In all the years I’ve been setting up here, no one’s complained, but every time I see you, it’s like you hate me, and you don’t even know me!”

Sliding his hands into his coat pockets, he shrugged. “I don’t like what you do to the integrity of this building. From January through the end of October, we are an upscale, executive complex, but for the last two months of the year, it looks like…this.” He motioned to the space around them.

“Festive? Cheery? Do you see all the smiling faces?”

He didn’t respond.

“You do realize you’re the only person here who looks like he sucked on a lemon, right?”

“Excuse me?”

She leaned in ever so slightly and threw his words back at him. “You heard me.”

Well played, he thought.

“Consider this a professional warning,” he stated firmly. “Stay out of my way or I’ll call the landlord. What I want holds a lot of weight around here.”

“Your ego alone,” she mumbled.

He had to admire her tenacity. “This was a professional warning. The next time, I’ll make the call.” And before she could utter another word, Tristan stepped around her and walked away.

Let everyone else gush about these seasonal shops. All he wanted was to get some fresh air, eat lunch, and get his work done.