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The Christmas Arrangement

As the holidays approach, Tessa -- a warm, ugly-sweater loving personal assistant -- finds herself spending yet another holiday away from her family. Unable to fly home, she must find something else to do with her time. Little does she know, she's in for the holiday of a lifetime when she gets called into her boss's office three days before Christmas.<br><br> Colette Sylvestre is not someone you could call warm -- collected, intelligent, charismatic, maybe, but not warm. She is, however, in the running to take over her family business, a prestigious publishing house; all she has to do is convince her grandfather she has settled down enough. Her cousin Bernard, however, is determined to undermine her and take the position for himself. To convince her grandfather, Colette must bring a date back home to celebrate Christmas with her family. The only catch? Colette is currently single.<br><br>n a spur of the moment decision, she asks her personal assistant Tess to be her date for the holidays. What follows is a series of holiday related hijinks, from a fancy gala ball to awkward conversations with Colette's family as Tess tries to convince them she really is Colette’s girlfriend. When Tess realizes her little crush on Colette might not be so little, things are complicated even more and she has to decide whether or not to tell Colette.<br><br>Will Colette return her feelings? Will they be able to convince her family their relationship is real? And, most importantly, will Colette ever forgive Tess for her frankly awful sweater choice?

A.J. Morrow · Urban
Not enough ratings
27 Chs

Chapter 5

Tess stripped off the skirt and stared at herself in the mirror in frustration. She had a soft face, with wide, soulful eyes and full lips, and a nervous air about her. Even in her underwear—red, lacy, with a festive trim she’d thought was funny when she bought it—Tess looked awkward. She sighed. There was no way she’d impress Colette’s family, not really. She just wasn’t the kind of person to impress people who valued the sort of things Colette did. It was a wonder (or a sign of Colette’s desperation) that Tess had been asked, if she was honest.

Eventually, she shoved another armful of books and her most Christmas-y clothes into her suitcase, and decided to leave it be. Holidays were meant for relaxing, after all, so she was probably overthinking it. Just as Tess was zipping up her bag, her work phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Good afternoon, this is Colette.”

“Oh, uh, hi Ms. Sylvestre,” Tess stammered. “What’s up?”