Page 85 of The Mistletoe Kisser

“A whole lot of things apparently.” Leading with the fact that she’d let a stack of papers intimidate her into backing down. Her attempt to avoid rejection meant she’d set back any hopes of getting the sanctuary on its feet by at least another year.

He reached out and took her hand. “Whatever you think you’re proving by being the first in line to volunteer or the one to never say no isn’t worth never getting what you want. Sometimes you have to say no to everyone else so you can say yes to what’s important to you.”

She blew out a breath. “Wow. You’re good at this. I feel ashamed yet motivated to do something about it.”

He squeezed her hand. “They don’t call me the client whisperer for nothing.”

He’d just chastised her, but one hand-hold and visions of booty calls danced in her head again.

“It’s after eleven. Way past your bedtime,” he said. He tossed his finished wreath onto the floor like a Frisbee. Willis the duck waddled over and climbed into it like a nest.

“So what do I do?”

Ryan stood. “You’re going to go to bed and get some sleep.”

The booty call gods were cruel.

Disappointed, dejected, and downtrodden, she followed him to the door. She clutched a roll of black velvet ribbon as an anchor. He shrugged into his coat and whistled for Stan. The sheep lazily trotted over, a cat on his heels. Ryan turned to face her. She stared down at their feet, not wanting to say goodbye to him yet again. Not wanting to be left alone to face the mess she’d created.

Then he was nudging her chin up. “Look at me, Sam.” His voice had a rough edge to it that made her blood turn to liquid gold. He hissed in a breath when she did as he asked. “Don’t look so sad. I don’t like it.”

She forced a hideous fake smile, and he laughed softly, still holding her chin in his hand. “I’ll be back in the morning, early,” he said.

She blinked. “Why?”

“Because you’re going to call in reinforcements for the wreaths, and you and I are going to fill out those grant applications.”

She grabbed him by the arms. “Are you serious? It’s a lot of paperwork,” she warned.

“Yes. We’ll get it figured out. And we’ll get it all done.”

“What about Carson’s thing? And your secret feud with Rainbow?”

“That’s for me to worry about. Not you. Have the coffee going.”

Without thinking, she threw her arms around him and held on tight. He went still against her and then slowly slid his arms around her. She pressed her face to his chest. His solid, comforting chest. There, wrapped in his arms, she felt safe and warm and not alone.

She peered up at him. “You’re great at your job. Your firm is incredibly stupid not to see that.”

“Thank you, Sam,” he said gruffly. He tucked her hair behind her ear, letting his fingers linger on her neck. Her skin heated at each point of contact.

She couldn’t look away from his eyes. They’d gone silver on her.

Don’t think about kissing him.

Crap.Too late.

“Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“I know I just told you to start saying no to everyone, but…”

“But?” she prompted him, feeling lightheaded.

“But I need you to have one more ‘yes’ in you.”

She couldn’t catch her breath. Her senses were full of Ryan.