The Present: Christmas on the Side

Tessa Avery’s Christmas has gone from bad to worse. Unemployed for six months and reduced to cleaning her heartless sister’s apartment to make ends meet, Tess is at her wits end how to get back on her feet. Then her sister comes up with an offer Tess can’t refuse: tell Janice’s boyfriend Hal she’s breaking it off with him—two days before Christmas—or Janice will withhold Tess’s payment.

Hal Chapman is livid that his supposed girlfriend tells him they’re through—not even in person, but by way of her sister—and is oh so ready to get even. He offers Tessa the present he’d gotten for Janice, a pair of diamond earrings worth enough to make Tessa’s financial problem a lot easier in exchange for a little revenge against his ex-girlfriend.

When their escapade is over, Hal asks Tessa out on a date. Tess is thrilled, but wary—is Hal really interested in her, or just interested in more revenge? As they come to know one another better, Tess begins to hope for a new beginning with Hal. But when a sudden crisis calls for her to make a hard choice, will her ultimate decision sink their budding relationship or turn their night together into the best Christmas present ever?