Page 35 of Must Love Mistletoe

These were the things a man had to do.

“That’s it?” Sam asked moments later, his face a study in disappointment. “Mom!”

“Practice always helps,” Seth said sagely.

Cal would be seeking revenge at some point. It was the rule.

“My family’s not always like this,” he muttered, tucking Beth beneath his arm. “They’re a bad influence on Sam, I get it. I’ll be having words with them.” Moments later, she buried her face in his chest and started laughing uncontrollably. “What?”

“If only that was true.”

*

The next timeCal called on Beth to take her out for a meal in Marietta, she practically flew out the door to meet him and was halfway to his truck before he’d even got out of it.

“What’s up?” He opened his door to get out as she opened hers to get in. “Because it looks like you’re being chased by a bear.”

“Mistletoe,” she said, with no small measure of dread. “It’s everywhere. Every doorway. Hanging from light fittings. And let’s not forget the fishing rod.”

“Right.” The fishing rod.

“Or the grandma pecks.”

“Who could forget the grandma pecks?” Because she’d eventually told him about her conversation with Sam and the grandma pecks, too.

His heart had never felt so full as it did when he’d discovered that SamwantedCal in their lives to the extent he’d hadwords with his mother about her unacceptable lack of kissing enthusiasm.

That moment had been golden.

“Who’s the babysitter?”

“Your mom.”

“Because I really can’t be seen to be scared of mistletoe, in front of my mom and your son, now can I? What kind of message would I be sending to the youth of today if I came across as too scared to practice something I wasn’t automatically good at? That would be bad.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, you are the mostirritatingman.” She grabbed him by his coat lapels and laid a kiss on him that scorched every brain cell he had. He was still partaking of her when Sam’s outside holler reached his ears.

“Guys.Guys.The mistletoe’s overhere.”

“I had lipstick on two minutes ago,” she muttered. “And now you’re wearing it. And Sam and yourmomare standing at the door, aren’t they?” Her back was to them as if she dared not turn around.

“In my mother’s defense, she birthed five boys.” And maybe being one of them had rendered him far more immune to embarrassment than Beth. “The practice of kissing is not new to her.” He headed toward them, with Beth beside him hastily scrubbing at her lips. “Mom, Sam, greetings. Wow, would you look at that!Mistletoe.And he scooped Beth into his arms and planted a teasing kiss on her willing lips—a kiss that lasted a slow count of ten and definitely included tongue—before turning heel, taking her hand, and heading for his truck.

“Practice makes perfect,” Sam called out from behind them.

“That it does,” he bellowed back, and then softly for Beth’s ears only. “What time does he have to be in bed by?” If he was going all-in on the claiming of Beth, he might as well up the ante on what he intended for Sam, too.

“Ten.”

This required his outside voice. “Ten o’clock bedtime, dude. Don’t wait up.”

*

The trouble withliving the dream was that every so often reality raised its head, Beth decided as she moved bed sheets from the washer to the dryer.

Sam was still Sam and given to testing his limits, and Beth was still his mother and charged with reining him in.

Cal was still Cal and given to prioritizing ranch work and dog training—for which he often required Sam.

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