Snuggling With The Christmas Chef — Emily Josephine

Daniel West has a problem. The woman he's secretly been in love with since middle school has no interest in romance or marriage. Michelle Dennis has only ever seen their relationship as best friends, and has told Daniel repeatedly that she doesn't want to get married or have children. Not being able to turn her heart toward his is yet another failure in his life, and he finally gives up on having any chance with her so thoroughly, that he allows his friend and co-worker to pursue her. Michelle carries a secret, too, the only one she's never told Daniel. Her adamant insistence that she doesn't want to complicate her life with a marriage and children is mostly a cover-up for the truth. But it's a truth she keeps hidden so well, she herself is barely aware of it, and is convinced that the main reason she eschews romance is that she doesn't want the potential stress. And she's never had any feelings for Daniel that go beyond friendship. Until the day in mid-December when her sister invites her and Daniel to go snow-tubing with her. When Daniel shows up, Michelle feels something new for him, and over the next few days, the feelings only grow. On top of that, Carlos, a fellow table-server at the fanciest restaurant in Pine Grove, displays unmistakable interest in her. How can she keep working at the restaurant where she's been happy for the past seven years with these new, unwanted feelings for Daniel and the awkwardness of not reciprocating Carlos's interest? Her online business is making enough money to support her, but barely. Needing to get away to clear her head, she leaves town without telling anybody, landing in a place even smaller than Pine Grove called Little River Village. Daniel, having a hunch as to where she's gone, finds her there – in the midst of a blizzard, inside a stranger's house. Though each has decided they'd be better off away from the other, a series of surprises forces them to work together even more closely than they've been working at the restaurant where Daniel is a host. A lot can change in twenty-four hours, but only if each of their secrets can come out into the open without ruining everything… This clean and wholesome holiday romance novel is the fourth book in Emily Josephine's Christmas Sisters series.