Page 1 of The Holiday Exchange

Dawson

I have the most ridiculous crush on Briar, a customer who frequents my café. We never run out of things to talk about, and I find myself looking forward to his visits.

Just when I’m about to ask him on a date, he shows up at Sip and Savor with none other than my twin, who beat me to the punch. Definitely not how I hoped things would go.

Except my brother isn’t the settling-down type, so three months into dating Briar, he chooses the worst time to dump him—right before Christmas and straight after Briar asks Nathan to accompany him home for the holidays.

As I try to console Briar, he surprises me by cooking up a plot straight out of the movies, where I go home to Maine with him, pretending to be his boyfriend.

It’s supposed to be a friendly favor, I get a trip to the perfect Christmas town, and Briar can save face with his family and childhood ex. Only just like back in Boston, we have fun together, get each other, and I swear the spark I always felt between us grows.

But how does a guy tell his twin’s ex that he’s had feelings for him all along? And can what starts out as a holiday exchange turn into the perfect happily ever after?

PROLOGUE

DAWSON

Thursday afternoonsaround two are always dead at Sip and Savor. I don’t know what it is, maybe because it’s close to the end of the workweek, after lunch, and no one thinks it’s a good time for a smoothie or acai bowl, but like clockwork, at about one thirty, people start migrating out, and by two, it’s just me and my coworker. Once in a while there’s a straggler or two still around. Today it’s someone in the corner, with earbuds and a laptop with an “I don’t know how to make you care about others” sticker on it.

Nice touch, if you ask me.

The slower pace isn’t what I look forward to every Thursday, though. Nope. It’s because it’s whenhecomes in.

Briar.

An adorable, slightly self-conscious tech guy who works about a block away. It’s not the only day he comes in, but I can always count on seeing Briar every Thursday afternoon.

After the first three weeks, I started to look forward to it, and now, two months in, it’s the highlight of my week…which is maybe a little or a lot embarrassing. Why do I get so excitedchatting with a random guy? Especially one that, at least on paper, isn’t my type.

Where my hair reaches my shoulders, his is always neat and styled, along with his clothes, which consist mostly of khakis and button-downs. On days when he’s meeting important clients, he adds a tie and jacket.

He went to college for computer science, and I had no idea what I wanted until two years ago, when my favorite smoothie place went up for sale and I decided this was the dream I didn’t know I had.

Briar is smart, sophisticated in his own way, and…a little like my twin brother, Nathan, if I’m being honest, which is a strange thought since I have the most ridiculous crush on the guy.

Briar. Not my brother, of course.

The thing is, those similarities are all surface level. Nathan is charismatic and knows it, while Briar is slightly shy, unpretentious, and from what I can tell, humble. He’s subtly funny but doesn’t seem to realize it. And he blushes cutely at the simplest compliment.

I like being around him.

I like talking to him.

I have no idea if he’s interested in me, but I’ve finally decided to ask him out.

Today. Only, he’s not here yet.

The door opens, and I look up just as he walks in. His short brown hair has a bit of a wave today, but it’s still as neat as always, freshly cut, and he’s clean-shaven. And his brown eyes…I swear they look like the finest cognac. My lips automatically pull into a grin, Briar chuckling too…What is he laughing at?I wonder, but then…then he steps aside, and Nathan walks in behind him.

My stomach twists. My twin and I have an…interesting relationship. I love him. I care about him. I’d do anything forhim, but I also never feel as small as I do when Nathan is around. That’s not his fault, of course. He can’t help that he’s larger than life and everyone loves him, but it leaves me feeling insignificant more often than not.

“Hey, Dawson!” Briar gives me a beaming smile that makes me weak in the knees. “I didn’t know you have a twin! We work in the same building. We met today and decided to have lunch together.”

Because of course they did. That’s just my luck, isn’t it?

“Yep. That’s my brother,” I say, trying to hide my disappointment. Not in being related to Nathan, but him having met Briar.

“Big brother,” Nathan corrects.