A Christmas Surprise Read Free Page B

the best solution, unless Sandi wants to go stay with the boys at the old place?" he said with a twinkle in his eye. For once, he was going to be able to tell his woman he had one up on her. Finally.
    "Ah no, thank you," Sandi said quickly. "I will be fine here, by myself. This was just a prank. There is nothing to worry about, I'm sure."
    "Well, until I’m certain of that, you will have company. He will be here soon," Jared stated in his most official Sherriff voice. Everyone knew not to argue with him in this mode. The result would not be good. Rarely did he pull that out with his close friends, and his fiancée raised an eyebrow at him, and he smirked.
    Sandi slammed her mouth shut and thought, well, won't the deputy have fun sleeping on my lumpy couch. This night couldn't get any freakin’ worse!
    Just as the thought had run across her mind, there was a knock at the door. Jared went to open it, and there stood Danny. Who in this damn universe was after her ? She knew there had to be someone of higher power that hated her, because if not, she had the shittiest luck around.
    Danny walked in wearing jeans and a black t-shirt that stretched over his muscles like a second skin. He was carrying a duffle bag that he sat down by the front door and then spoke with Jared quietly for a few moments. The lab guys finished up and then left.
    Sandi cussed in her head, she couldn’t believe that Jared hadn’t said who was coming over. If he had, she would have packed up her shit and gone to sleep in the fucking jail for the night. The deputy would have looked out for her. She must have made a noise because Danny frowned at her over Jared’s shoulder. She smiled sweetly at him wondering if she could find some itching powder to put on the couch.
    Jared took Traci's hand and led her out, after she hugged Sandi with a promise that she would call her if she needed to talk. Sandi smiled and waved at them as they left and thanked Jared again for his help. A smile was pasted on her face when she shut the door, and leaned her forehead against it until she gathered herself up.
    As Sandi pushed away from the door, she turned to see Danny standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and staring at her as if she was a wayward teenager. "What?" she said and turned to go into her bedroom to see what kind of mess the lab boys had made, not waiting for him to answer. His hand snaked out, grabbed her by the upper arm, and spun her back around. She was immediately enclosed in his arms, exactly where she wanted to be but for all the wrong reasons.
    "Are you okay?" he asked in that deep husky voice that set shivers up her spine.
    "I'm fine, it's just a prank. Jared was the one who thought I needed someone here, if you have somewhere else to go, or someone else to do, you can go. I will be fine," she said snarkily as she pushed away from him. She was tired and she really did still want that soak—now more than ever since her fall.
    "Jared is right, you do need someone here. I volunteered for it," he said, stunning her by running his hand up and down her arm seductively.
    "Why? We aren't seeing each other anymore, Danny," Sandi said and pushed her way out of his arms and stepping back, making sure she had a good ten feet between them.
    "I know that, but that doesn't mean I don't still care about what happens to you," he growled as he reached over and grabbed his bag. "I assume I am to sleep in here?"
    "Duh," Sandi replied and forced herself to stop from sticking her tongue out at the end of the sentence. "I'm going to go take a bath. Help yourself to the remote and any food." She stomped off to her room to collect her robe and her iPod. She went into the bathroom and began to run the water into the tub. She stripped out of her clothes and added some bath salts, then plugged her iPod into her ears and cranked the volume. She just needed to escape for a little while and pretend that all of this was not happening.
    She lay back in the tub with her