The Mistletoe Mandate

He’s the Grinch who bought her building.
She’s the baker determined to sweeten him up.
Their fake dating agreement is strictly business… until the lines between fiction and frosting blur.

Elizabeth Phillips lives for Christmas and for her bakery, The Gingerbread House, the heart of Mistletoe, Vermont. But when a faceless corporation acquires her building and threatens to cancel her lease, her sugar-dusted world crumbles. Her only shot at saving the bakery? Convince the company’s cold-hearted CEO to see its charm before the holidays are over.

That CEO is Callum “Cal” Finch—brilliant, brooding, and allergic to Christmas cheer. Sent to assess the property, Cal wants to finish the job and escape the small-town drowning in tinsel and sentiment. But when Elizabeth’s passionate plea goes viral, the whole town mistakes them for a couple and Cal finds himself trapped in a fake romance he never agreed to.

To avoid a PR disaster, Cal proposes a they’ll pretend to be dating until Christmas Eve. She’ll get to keep her bakery. He’ll get to clean up his image. Easy enough until gingerbread kisses, sleigh rides, and one too many mistletoe moments turn make-believe into something dangerously real.

Now, with the clock ticking down to Christmas Eve, Elizabeth has to decide if she’s ready to risk her heart on the man who swore he didn’t have one.