CHAPTER 1


Charlie


Monday: 12 Days to Christmas . . .


Los Angeles



Charlie Goodwin drew a shaky breath and tapped furiously on her phone, the screen illuminating her face in the otherwise dark storeroom. She opened an app and searched for the emergency two-minute stress-release meditation. Once the soothing voice began, she closed her eyes and took another deep breath, trying to slow her frantic heartbeat. But all that did was bring the sharp scent of peppermint extract further up her nose and into her throat. Normally she loved the smell of peppermint and all Christmas-related things. But this had been sabotage. She smelled like a giant candy cane-and she wasn't feeling very festive about it.



Her phone buzzed in her hand and she cracked an eye, glancing at the screen. Priya Basu, her friend and on-set makeup artist.


Don't let him get to you.

He's a jerk and you're YOU.


Priya was right. Sighing with frustration, Charlie leaned her head back against the wall. She whispered the mantra in time with her exhales and peppermint-scented inhales: Don't let him get to you.


Austin Nash. Someone she had a sour history with and her co-host on the network reality baking show Sweet & Salty, which had run for two seasons but was slated to be replaced by a new show, called Bake My Day, after the holidays. The current Sweet & Salty special they were co-hosting-a twelve-days-to-Christmas countdown, featuring twelve amateur bakers vying for the top spot and twenty-five thousand dollars-was meant to be festive and fun. However, Austin Nash left Charlie feeling more bah-humbug than merry and bright. This holiday special was also Charlie's last chance to impress the network executives and secure the Bake My Day hosting job, which would mean the end of having to share a stage with Austin Nash.



The two had known each other back in culinary school, where she'd discovered Austin was more cheater than chef after she'd caught him co-opting one of her recipes as his own. But he was slick, and she could never prove it. After school Charlie headed to Paris for a coveted internship with a celebrated Parisian pastry chef, and Austin went to New York City and, really, she hadn't thought of him again.



Charlie had been "discovered" by the formidable television producer Sasha Torres-who was now her boss . . . and Austin's. Sasha had come into Souci-the L.A. hot spot where Charlie had made a name for herself as head pastry chef since her return from Paris. Charlie had been tasked with presenting Sasha's table with the flambéed cherries the restaurant was known for. Sasha offered Charlie the "Sweet" hosting side of the reality baking show on the spot.



While it had meant giving up the security of Souci, Charlie had known it could lead to even greater, more exciting opportunities-like the chance to be a solo host on a syndicated cooking show like Bake My Day-becoming an established name in the culinary world. Maybe even have her own line of cookbooks. However, what a somewhat naïve but highly ambitious Charlie hadn't realized when she said yes to Sasha's offer was that she'd be sharing the stage with her culinary school nemesis, Austin Nash.



"Worst luck ever, Goodwin," Charlie grumbled, momentarily pulled out of her meditation mantra as she thought back to that day, almost a year ago now. Apparently Austin had gotten the job because he was friends with the son of one of the network executives, yet he behaved as though he deserved to be there more than Charlie. From their first...