A Bad Boy for Christmas (8 page)

But neither boy answered.

“Gemma, meet Mia. Mia is Nash’s sister, or near enough,” Cutter said, although stalwart supporter might have been a better description. “Mia this is Gemma. Gemma’s a family friend.”

Mia smiled warmly at Gemma and the boys. “So do you all play soccer?”

Finally, the little guy nodded and stepped out from behind his mother’s petite frame. “We do here,” he said.

Mia nodded as if deep in thought. “Think we could get Cutter and Nash to play later? That’d be fun. Although they’d have to play on the same side, otherwise it could get very confusing. We’d keep passing the ball to the wrong one.”

“We could give Cutter the lobster hat Zoey made this morning,” said Bree. “That’s very distinctive. We’d be able to tell the difference between them then.”

“Oh,
yes
.” Mia didn’t bother to hide her grin. “A lobster hat.
Perfect
.”

Not perfect. Cutter had
seen
that thing.

“Whatever happened to tossing a coin for the lobster hat?” he grumbled. “Or rock-paper-scissors?”

“Speaking of Zoey,” Gemma said quickly. “I can see her waving at us from over by the drinks table, so we’ll leave you to your meal and catch up with her. We’ll fill our plates while we’re at it and see you all later. Nice to meet you, Mia. Nash.”

“Likewise,” Nash said politely. Or maybe he meant it. Cutter sure as hell couldn’t tell what his big brother’s thoughts were. All he knew was that Nash had balked at declaring himself a Jackson.

Which, for some reason, had hurt.

The silence that followed their retreat lasted a good long while. Long enough for Gemma to reach Zoey, who promptly engulfed her in a delighted hug.

“Okay, I’ll bite,” said Mia. “What’s with tentative Gemma and the wary kids?”

“You want the short version or the long version?” asked Bree.

“I want the good version,” said Mia.

“Most people in the Bay think Caleb had an affair with Gemma while she was still married,” Bree said bluntly. “Gemma’s ex used to beat her and the boys. Caleb helped her get away from him.”

“I never touched Gemma, for the record,” Caleb said. “She needed someone in her corner, that was all. Still does. I vote we take her under our collective Jackson wing.” Caleb looked to Nash. “The boys spook easily. You might want to remember that.”

Nash held Caleb’s gaze. “I noticed.”

“We all noticed,” said Mia. “Thanks for explaining.”

Silence fell again.

“So, Cutter, how was your week?” Mia asked.

“Good,” he said, as the others began reaching for newspaper in lieu of plates. He’d caught fish, showered, eaten and slept. And he’d dreamed of soft skin and shipwrecks and woken up hard and aching for relief. “Great. You?”

“Three feathers, one skull and a treble clef. Busy busy.”

“Must be quite a change from Melbourne.”

“That it is. Coffee’s good though, from Silvio’s on the corner.”

“Yes, it is.” He turned to Nash next, determined to be pleasant. “Find anything worth buying from the wreckers?”

“Couple of old Fords I could find homes for. A 1959 custom Dodge convertible. Body’s bent but it’s all original. I’d like it but the old guy who owns the place won’t sell it outright. Said it comes with the yard.”

“Wily old goat,” said Mia cheerfully. “I offered to repaint his business sign and everything.”

“Could be he didn’t want mermaids on it,” Nash said dryly.

“Yeah, but … ocean.” Mia waved a prawn-filled hand towards the boats and beyond.

“Yeah, but
cars
.” Nash’s smile could light up a room when he deigned to actually use it. Cutter blinked.

“Is that what I look like when I smile,” he asked Caleb beneath his breath.

“Yep.”

“No wonder I pull.”

“You’re unbelievable,” his brother muttered.

“No, I’m
pretty
. How come you never told me that?”

“I thought you knew.”

“No, I thought I was handsome, not pretty. There’s a difference.”

Caleb’s smirk wasn’t encouraging. “Well maybe you can be the handsome one and he can be the pretty one.”

“Now you’re just humoring me.”

A second later a peeled prawn bounced off his forearm and landed on the newspaper in front of him. Only one place it could have come from, given the flight trajectory.

“Why are you peeling prawns for me?” he asked Mia.

“You put them in your mouth,” she said encouragingly. “It saves putting your foot in it.”

“I could live with someone peeling prawns for me.” This from Caleb.

“Couldn’t we all,” said Bree.

“A toast,” his grandfather said suddenly. “To Jackson and Mia. Welcome to the family.”

Everyone tapped out and drank.

And then another peeled prawn landed in front of Cutter with a wet splat and he looked up to find an utterly angelic Mia reaching for another prawn to peel.

He was losing the battle, the war, and quite possibly his mind, but he picked up the prawn, drowned it in seafood sauce and, with a smug glance in Caleb’s direction, he ate it.

“Happy now?” asked Mia.

Strangely enough, he was.

*     *     *

Two hours later
Mia made her way to Nash’s car with a lazy sigh, her farewells behind her and an evening of small seaside town entertainment stretching out ahead of her. She had a belly full of seafood and salad and a heart that was equal shades light and dark. Light because Nash’s new family seemed determined to make room for him. Dark because her attraction to Cutter was growing.

“I don’t know what to make of them,” Nash said as he strode alongside her.

“They’re a nice family. Gemma’s nice too. You put your foot in it there, by the way. All without saying a word.”

“It wasn’t intentional. You know that.”

So she did. “I saw you talking to her afterwards.”

“I apologized.”

“Did it help?”

“It helped me. The kids still think I’m going to belt them as soon as look at them.”

“They don’t know you. Been there, done that, better safe than broken.” Mia reached the car and shrugged out of her shirt before tossing it on the seat. She had a top on underneath. Possibly not one Cutter would have approved of, but nonetheless, what he didn’t see wouldn’t annoy him. “What?” she said as Nash eyed her funny. “It’s got prawn splatter all over it.”

“Why’d you even wear an over-shirt?”

“Just trying to fit in.”

“Mia, one of them was wearing black feathers in her hair and a corset dress, and most of the others were in swimwear and bare feet. Including our hosts.”

“It was kind of hot today.”

“He thinks I’m the pretty one.”

“Oh, please. Not you too.”

“One of the women told me I had a lot to live up to. She was staring at my crotch.”

“That would be Jessica the brunette with the teeny weeny white bikini and the blue sarong. She’s very subtle. Also one of Cutter’s old conquests, according to Zoey. But, hey, no pressure. Just because you’re hard to tell apart doesn’t mean you’re like him in every little way.”

“I should have let him push you off the jetty.”

“You should have. You could have bonded.” Her smile faded as she looked for signs of strain in Nash and found them. “They’re good people. They’re trying to make space for you. All three of them introduced you as their brother there tonight. No half measures, they went all in. Hell, they’re even trying to make space for me.”

Nash smiled briefly. “You and Cutter fight like three-year-olds.”

“We’re letting off steam.” The alternative being getting him naked and begging him to show her exactly what all the fuss was about. Because women did fuss over him, dote on him, hang off him at every opportunity. And he enjoyed it. “Maybe you and Cutter should get a ruler out and measure up, if you know what I mean. And then you can tell me all about it.”

“I worry about your grasp on reality.”

“Is that a no then?”

“That’s a no.”

“You need to indulge me more.” Mia smiled at the memory of Eli breaking out a classic rock playlist from the seventies because she’d told him that was her favorite music decade, and of Caleb keeping her topped up with food. “Like my
other
brothers do.”

“They’ll realize the fresh hell they’re carving for themselves soon enough.”

“They dote on their women though. Did you notice?”

He nodded.

“It’s a beautiful thing. All that brawn just waiting to serve.”

“And yet you peeled Cutter’s prawns for him.”

“I did and I’d do it again. I don’t meet many guys who can reveal every little insecurity and still remain utterly convinced of their own awesomeness. It’s a gift.”

“You like him.”

“I do,” she said wholeheartedly. “I think he’s glorious.”

T
he following Wednesday,
around three in the afternoon, Cutter came to Beryl’s emporium looking for Nash. Nash wasn’t there but Mia was, diligently working her way through an afternoon of no customers at all while Beryl shopped for groceries. The boredom was overwhelming, which possibly went some way to explaining the way she fell on Cutter like a carnivore on fresh meat.

“Wow, you wore a shirt,” she said in happy greeting.

“I usually do when I come into town,” he told her. “Something wrong with it?”

It was gray, it was old and it clung like a lover to his chest. Never had a gray T-shirt looked so good.

“No. The shirt is perfect. Very pretty.”

“Don’t start.”

But it was so
tempting
. Mia glanced at the dragon she’d been drawing in the vain hope that it might distract her from snarking at the man in front of her. She’d drawn the beast—and it was definitely a he-beast—diving towards an unsuspecting goldfish. Scales featured heavily on both creatures and it would look great as a full 3D sleeve with colored accents. She just wasn’t sure of the symbolism behind a dragon eating a goldfish. A tiger doing battle with a dragon would have meant a more even fight, but tigers didn’t have scales and she’d wanted scales all the way down the sleeve to balance it. Design wise, she liked it. Symbolically it was a dud. Maybe, just maybe, she could keep the shape of the drawing and start again with
two
dragons sparring. Eyeing Cutter speculatively, she picked up the drawing and beckoned him closer. “Give me your arm.”

“No,” he said.

“I’m just testing for fit.”

“Zoey does that too. And then I end up wearing it.”

Mia couldn’t help her smirk. “I looked at her website. It’s gorgeous, and so are you.
Poseidon.
”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he muttered, even as his lips twitched. “Be warned. You’re next. Zoey’s already designing for you.”

Mia could get behind that notion. Zoey Jackson née Daniels was insanely talented. “What’s she designing?”

“It’s white and it’s backless. I think it’s a wedding dress.”

“Oh.” Mia grimaced. “Really?”

“You don’t want a wedding dress?”

“Seems a little useless at this point. I was kinda hoping for something I could wear to work. Maybe Princess Leia’s bikini.”

“You don’t want to encourage that.”

“I don’t?”

“Mia, where’s Nash?”

“Melbourne.”

“He left?”

“He does have a business to run. One can’t just wait around for long-lost fathers to materialize, no matter how welcoming the rest of the family is.”

Cutter had the grace to look discomforted by her observation. “It isn’t easy getting back from England at this time of year without a prior booking. Christmas is coming. Lots of people traveling. Flights are full.”

“Really?” There was probably some truth to his words. “So, no other reason for the delay?”

“Why does there have to be another reason?”

Mia put the picture down and gave him her full attention. “You, your brothers and their wives, your grandparents, you’re all on board with the welcoming party. Every last one of you. And yet there hasn’t been one word of welcome from your father or your mother. Nothing but radio silence there. Even if they’re not inclined or able to cut short their trip, they could have contacted Nash. They could have at
least
done that, but they haven’t.”