Page 57 of The Mistletoe Kisser

“Text message from Joey Pierce. Can you come by early? Jax has writer’s block and I need to take advantage of him this afternoon,”the robotic voice recited.

“Dammit,” she groaned.

“Do all your clients share their sex lives with you?” Ryan asked.

“Most of them. Can you handle one more stop?”

“Fine as long as nothing there bites you or spits on me,” he said.

“You can wait in the car,” Sammy decided.

“Text message from Eden. If you need to get laid and that Fake Mistletoe Kisser isn’t man enough to do it, I’ll find someone who is! Flame emoji. Eggplant emoji.”

“Oh. My. God.” Sammy patted her pockets one-handed for her phone. She’d texted her friends after dropping Ryan off at the ribbon cutting to catch them up on her humiliation.

He snorted next to her. “Typical. ‘No, Ryan. I’m not pissed off at you. Nothing’s wrong. Let’s not talk about it,’” he said, mimicking her in a falsetto.

“Text message from Layla. Find one for me too. I’m overdue for an oil change.”

“Bluetooth is so stupid!” Sammy wailed, poking the touchscreen in the dash looking for some kind of off button.

“Text message from Eva. Describe the angle of your hips when you were astride the grumpy steed on the ground. Asking for a friend who needs a sexy build-up scene in her romance novel.”

“Iknewyou were pissed off that I turned you down,” Ryan said triumphantly.

“Yeah. Fine. Congratulations, dick.”

“Text message from Eden. Davis has a second cousin named Dirk who just got out of a long relationship. Waiting to confirm penis size.”

“Who the hell is named Dirk?” Ryan demanded.

“What do you care?” Sammy gave up the search for her phone and turned off the sound system.

“I don’t.”

“Good,” she said.

“Great,” he shot back.

They were silent for a few moments. “I’m not pissed because you said no,” she said finally. “I’m annoyed because you insinuated that the offer was gross.”

“I did no such thing!”His expression was one of horror between his ear flaps.

“You spit out your coffee and practically gagged at the thought,” she reminded him.

“Sam.” He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh. “As I tried to explain to you, my reaction had nothing to do with my physical attraction to you, whichobviouslyexists.”

“Yeah. Whatever. Let’s go back to not talking about this,” she said, tightening her grip on the wheel and heading out of town toward Pierce Acres.

“No. Not, ‘Whatever,’” he insisted. “I’m not the friendliest guy to begin with. But you surprised me. And I was—am—hungover.”

“I hope for their sake no one ever tries to throw you a surprise party.”

“All of the Sosas hate surprises. My sister’s mother-in-law threw her a surprise baby shower and my sister showed up unshowered in gym shorts and her husband’s dirty t-shirt thinking she was there to help reorganize a closet.”

Sammy winced. “Ouch.”

“I’m human. Okay? I like to know what’s coming and when I fail to anticipate it, it takes me a minute to catch up.”