Page 42 of The Holidays with Mr. Mitchell

Everything just felt a bit warmer, magical, and cheerful, even if we Mitchells had a family war going on in the background. The best part was that the entire company would benefit from it, and my only hope was to make everyone’s holidays this year just as merry and bright as I felt ours had become.

I trotted down the steps after coming out of a long, soaking bath. It had been a while since Jim and I went at it so intenselythat I felt sore, in a good way, the next morning. Before reaching the last step, I heard laughter from the girls just as the scent of baked pumpkin spice filled my senses.

“What do I smell?” I asked, smiling and walking into the kitchen.

“Dad’s special pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin cream rolls with cinnamon and maple syrup,” Addy said, almost too proud of her dad.

Goddamn, I loved everything about my husband.

“And he taught us how to bake them,” Izzy snickered, mischievous eyes meeting her dad’s before they both offered me a smug expression.

“What are these faces?” I asked, hands on both hips.

“These are the faces of your enemy,” Izzy taunted, looking at her dad for approval.

“Enemy?” I looked at Jim. “We werefarfrom enemies last night, Mr. Mitchell,” I said, arching an eyebrow at him.

Izzy groaned and rolled her eyes. “Ugh,gross,” she offered the usual response.

Jim winked at me before turning to his daughter. “Taste the cream cheese filling, Izzy Bear,” he said, taking a scoop out of the mixing bowl that she’d been stirring.

“Yum,” her eyes widened, all three pointedly ignoring me.

“Addy,” Jim scooped her a bit on a spoon and handed it to her, “we need the final call.”

“Dang,” Addy answered. “ThattotallybeatsVelvet Crumb,” she eyed me, then smiled at Jim.

“What’s all this really about?” I asked, sitting at the counter where I wasn’t invited.

“It’s about the fact that you cheated, Mom,” Izzy confirmed again.

“Why suddenly am I a cheater?” I looked directly at Jim. “You know that word magically came up the night you flew off to Madrid to close your deal.”

“You copied us,” he said. “That’s cheating.”

“Copied what?” I asked, confused.

“Velvet Crumb,” Addy answered while Jim smiled.

“Oh, no,” I said, pointing my finger at all my treacherous family members. “I wasinVelvet Crumbwhen I decided to use them for the baked goods at my event. I didn’t know your dad had already booked them, too.”

“Interesting,” Jim said, pouring syrup over three plates of pancakes for him and the girls. “Because when I called Marquee back to request a few more items on our menu, she told me only three could be added—since she’s now booked for two parties that same week. Naturally, I asked why. Turns out, my wife booked her for Mitchell and Associates’secondparty.”

“And?”

“And when the invoices hit my desk, I realized the poor woman’s going to be overworked the week before Christmas—baking thousands of treats forbothof my company’s parties.”

“That’s not cheating,” I eyed each of them. “Cheating is?—”

“Ensuring Spencer urges me to close the Madrid deal and leave the country for four days while you, the wives, and Cat start planning ahead of me. Is that what you were about to say?” Jim arched an eyebrow as the girls followed him, taking their plates to the breakfast nook.

“Um…” I said, following them.

“Not to worry, beautiful,” he said, kissing my cheek before joining our girls around the table. “No jet lag here. I had plenty of time to come up with recipes with our daughters—recipes we’ll have chefs recreate for our event.”

“Well, I…” I didn’t know what to say. I should’ve known Jim would catch on, and in my lapse of judgment, here I was,mouth hanging open, already dreading whatever retaliation was coming my way.

Jim and the girls’ smiles were far too mischievous for me to think that none of them had something planned to get me back. Baking goodies and sharing the recipes with chefs to recreate them was definitelynotwhere this ended.