Page 38 of The Mistletoe Mix-up

“That’s perfect. Gives me enough time to feed Duke and take a shower.”

Sam kissed her again, lingering over her lips. “Alright, you better get dressed and leave before I lose all sympathy for your dog and haul your ass back to my bedroom.”

Wren kissed him back before stepping out of his embrace to search for her clothes. Sam made a noise deep in his throat, and Wren blushed when she caught him staring at her ass.

He blew out a breath and rubbed his hand over his hair, gloriously naked and beautiful. “I’m going to clean up. I’ll be right back.”

“No problem,” she said, returning to the kitchen to gather her clothes. She finished getting dressed right as he came back in a pair of pajama pants with no shirt.

Wren headed for the front door and grabbed her coat and her purse off the hook.

“Text me when you get home,” Sam said, helping her into her jacket.

“I will,” she said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders when he leaned over to kiss her. Their mouths moved in tandem, drinking each other in until Sam finally pulled away and jerked the door open for her.

“Good night, Birdy.”

“Night.” Wren could feel Sam’s gaze on her as she walked down the sidewalk to her car and climbed inside, locking the doors. He closed the door while her car was warming up, and she pulled out onto the street and then made the left toward the highway and her home. Although her house was only a mile outside the city limits, Sam’s neighborhood felt like a completely different area, as there were hardly any houses around her place.

Wren’s thoughts drifted to Sam and what had happened between them. She felt bad, leaving the way she did, but she wasn’t quite sure what to say at this point. When he’d told her that he came back for her, she’d been overwhelmed with an emotion she hadn’t been expecting. A joyful warmth spread through her, and she couldn’t help jumping him. Which is how they’d ended up here. Wren let her emotions run away with her, and it could not happen again.

Not if she wanted to start a family.

How would she explain to Sam that while she enjoyed sleeping with him, she was looking for a sperm donor to have a baby with? Better to just cut ties and forget the whole thing.

Except they’d made plans for tomorrow night.

Wren shook her head. She could easily get out of that. Shoot him a text about how great the sex was, so why mess with perfection? Flatter him while she broke things off.

She snorted. “Yeah, that will go over well.”

Her mind occupied, Wren crested the hill no more than a quarter mile from her house. Blue and red lights lit up in her rearview, and she realized she was being pulled over.

Wren wanted to kick herself for being distracted and waited for the officer to approach. He came up to the window and knocked.

Wren rolled it down, immediately apologizing. “I’m sorry, sir, was I speeding?”

He ducked down, shining his flashlight across his face, illuminating her brother Luke’s wicked grin. “License and registration, miss.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you kidding me?”

“I’m ISP, ma’am,” he said, lowering his flashlight. “I never joke about speeding. You were going forty-five in a thirty-five.”

Of course, her older brother had clocked her. “That’s because I was getting ready for the changeover and speeding up.”

“But you hadn’t hit the sign yet. That’s why they call it a speed trap.”

Wren slammed her hand on the steering wheel. “This is ridiculous, Luke. I’m tired, and I wanna go home.”

“Yeah, I heard all about it. You had a hot date tonight with Sam Griffin,” Luke said.

“Who told you that?”

“Our brother’s got a big mouth.” Luke snapped the pen in his hand a couple times before pointing it at her through the open window. “Oh yeah, but you already knew that.”

“I’m going to smother him in his sleep.”

Luke shrugged. “He wasn’t the only one. Other people mentioned that he was leaning over you in front of Kiss My Donut. We live in a small town and, just saying, rumors fly.”