Page 42 of Dragged Home for Christmas

“It’ll work out,” Sam said in a quiet voice. “You’ll see. We’ll get the money.”

“I wish I had your faith.” Mike loved that Sam could be so confident.

He has enough for both of us.Which was good, because Mike felt sadly lacking in that department.

“You’ve got more important things to think aboutright now.” Sam dipped his brush into the can of paint and carefully filled in the gap where wall met baseboard.

He blinked. “Such as?”

Sam pointed to the wall. “You missed a bit. Sort it out, or no more kisses.”

It was an opening not to be ignored.

“I meant to talk to you about that.” Mike focused on his task. “I know we haven’t kissed that many times since Herring Cove, and—”

“Four and a half times,” Sam interjected. Mike jerked his head to look at him, and Sam smiled. “I counted.”

“Excuse me?Imade it five,” he exclaimed in mock indignation.

“Er, no. We were just getting into it when Jim walked in and didn’t leave, so that doesn’t quite count, but it was nice, so I’m giving it partial credit.”

Mike blinked. “I thought it was nice too. Although I was a little puzzled at the time. Is there anything wrong with Jim seeing us kiss?”

Sam guffawed. “Are you kidding? We’d never hear the last of it. No, he can learn what’s going on when something actuallyisgoing on.” He smiled. “Last night was a step in the right direction, though.”

Mike felt a rush of warmth as he recalled sitting in his room drinking hot chocolate with Sam, everyone else in bed. It could have been the perfect scenario for getting a little physical, but Mike had applied the brakes after they’d shared a lingering kiss that had gotten him all hot and bothered.

Not yet.

Saying goodnight to Sam and watching him cross the walkway to his own room had been tough, but Mike didn’t want to fuck it up.

Not when things looked so promising.

Sam gave Mike an amused glance. “You were saying you want to talk to me?”

“I wanted to share with you why there hadn’t been… anything else.”

Sam chuckled. “Funny. I was planning on talking to you about that very thing.” He balanced his brush on top of the can of paint, and came over to where Mike stood on the ladder. He gazed up at Mike. “Look, you remember I said I had my share of scars?”

Mike nodded.

“Well, as a result, I’ve developed my own safety mechanisms. And one of those is not leaping into bed the minute I meet a guy.” He flushed. “Don’t get me wrong. I’ve had my fair share of hook-ups too—”

“Haven’t we all?” Mike murmured.

Sam chuckled. “And yes, therearetimes when all you really need is a one-night stand. But…” He paused. “Sometimes I meet someone, and I get the sense that he could be… important. And when that happens, I like to take things slow.” His eyes sparkled. “I call it the Ten Kisses rule.” Sam snickered. “And before you ask, no, theycan’tall occur in one night.”

“The idea being that by the time you get to kiss number ten, you usually know if it’s going to work out?”

Sam nodded.

“That means judging by the time scale so far, we should reach number ten by next week?”

“You got it.” Sam cocked his head to one side. “What wereyougoing to say?”

“That I like to take my time. I just wanted you to know Iaminterested in taking things further. But now that I know, I’m prepared to wait.” Mike smiled. “So you think I could be important?”

“Oh, you picked up on that, did you?” Sam grinned. “Duh.”

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