Page 70 of The Mistletoe Mix-up

“Thank you very much,” she said, taking it with a small smile. “I may have a single rose vase that was my grandma’s. Come with me.”

Sam followed her into the kitchen and stood in the doorway as she searched the cupboards, finally finding what she was looking for. She filled the skinny vase with water and slipped the rose inside. There was a packet on the counter, and Wren picked it up, handing it over to him. “It’s a boilerplate agreement. If you could just read through and sign.”

Sam didn’t bother reading the packet but flipped to the last page and signed.

“You don’t want to read through it? To make sure I didn’t promise myself your kidney?”

Sam shook his head. “I trust you.”

They stared at each other over the rose as if trying to figure out how to start.

“How should we . . .” He trailed off.

And she finished, “Proceed?”

“Yeah, proceed.”

“I’m not sure,” she said, rubbing her hands over the jacket. “I’m so nervous. I wasn’t sure if you needed porn or something more stimulating to get things going.”

Sam cocked his head, confused. “Porn? It’s not like we haven’t done this before.”

“It’s different because this is official, right? You agreed to provide sperm, and there’s all this pressure to perform. I have the kit set up on the bathroom counter for privacy—”

“Whoa, show me this kit?”

Wren saw his mouth twitch like he was trying not to laugh.

“Yes, it’s an insemination kit.” She took him to the bathroom and opened the door, revealing a towel on the counter along with the box’s contents, including a sample cup.

Sam whistled. “That’s intimidating.”

“I know.”

He stared at the bathroom counter for a long time before he turned her way, leaning against the doorframe. “Look, I don’t want to cross a boundary, even though I feel like we already have, but can I be honest?”

“Sure,” she said.

“Do we really need this? Can’t we just . . . be us?” Sam reached out and took her hand in his. “We’ve had sex before, most recently two days ago, sans condom. We both enjoyed it, so why not cut out the middleman?” Sam glanced at the counter. “Or cup, as the case may be.”

Wren blinked at him, emotions warring inside her. While the reference to them as an “us” made her heart beat faster and brought out the warm fuzzies in the pit of her stomach, she was mildly irritated that he didn’t want to keep this professional.

Then again, he had a point. They’d already had unprotected sex multiple times, and sex with Sam was amazing.

“Did I say something wrong?” Sam asked, threading his fingers with hers.

“No, it’s just . . . I can’t believe Millie was right. You don’t want to miss out on the fun.”

“What?” he spluttered. “You talked to Millie about us?”

“No, I mean, we talked about insemination, and she said that whoever I chose would want to do it live instead of just into a cup because doing it was the fun part.”

“I can’t argue there,” he said with a grin, pulling her into him as he backed her down the hallway. “Being inside you, tasting you? Definitely a blast.” Sam nodded over her head. “Is this the way to your bedroom?”

“Yes,” she murmured, letting him guide her.

“I can’t wait to have you in a bed. We never seem to make it that far, do we?”

Wren shivered at his words. “So, we’re just going to go about this the normal way?”