She’s stirring up trouble. He’s playing by the rules. Their resident cat has other plans.
For barista Lexie Garcia, taking a gift shop job at a historic North Carolina plantation is a lifeline. Suddenly raising her fourteen-year-old brother, she needs a fresh start and a reliable paycheck. But Lexie isn't one to sit quietly behind a register—she’s determined to turn a corner of the shop into a high-end coffee station to keep the business thriving through the winter.
There's just one Ian MacKay.
On the verge of taking over his family's legacy, Ian needs stability, order, and absolute control to prove to his parents that he’s ready for the responsibility. The last thing he needs is a bold, quick-witted Chicago barista disrupting his meticulously managed property—or distracting him with her warmth and infectious smile.
Ian is determined to hold the line, but keeping his distance becomes impossible. Between strange little things that keep happening, an avalanche of visiting family members, and every guest room on the estate booked solid for Christmas, Ian’s carefully ordered world is thrown into total chaos.
Forced to work side-by-side as the holiday pressure mounts, Ian and Lexie try their best to keep things professional. But with heat building between them that could melt winter frost, they might just discover that the best gifts are the ones you never saw coming.