A Bad Boy for Christmas by Kelly Hunter

family, you and me. Even if I wanted to start something with you—which I don’t —I can’t, because if I picked you up I’d never be able to put you down again without getting lynched. You’re undroppable! Which is why I have no intention of ever picking you up and disappointing you! ”
    He stormed out and tiny bells tinkled as the door closed behind him. Beryl beamed. Mia waved until he was out of sight and then slumped down on the bench, face down, the better to study the wood grain. “I really don’t think he’d disappoint.”
    “Boy needs a strong woman, that’s all. Always has.”
    “I’m strong.” That was why she was splayed out on the bench after one little kiss.
    Beryl cackled. “He’ll test you.”
    “Bring it on.”
    “He’s running scared,” Beryl said next.
    “Good.” So was she. “I need the company.”
    *     *     *
    Mia you’re going to love me Blake had a habit of getting under Cutter’s skin and staying there. It didn’t help that he adored her brazen approach to just about everything and the playfulness she directed mostly at him. He rose to the bait so beautifully for her; that was the problem.
    And then she just reeled him on in.
    “How is it,” he said to Caleb as he strode into the boatshed, “that all of a sudden I’m the fish?”
    Caleb looked up from the marlin reel he was repairing. “Want to run that one by me again?”
    “Mia baits and I bite. I’m the fish.”
    Caleb nodded. “Got it. Are they coming marlin fishing with us tomorrow?”
    “No. Nash has gone to Melbourne for a couple of days and Mia doesn’t need the practice.”
    Caleb’s eyes narrowed. “Nash left?”
    “Yes.” And that was the other thing. Cutter had no idea how to feel about that. Did they not warrant a heads-up as to Nash’s plans? Especially now that they were family.
    “And Mia still at Beryl’s?” Caleb asked next.
    “And propositioning me for a fling. At least, that’s what I think she’s doing.”
    “Since when have you not been able to tell when a woman’s propositioning you?”
    “Since today. I don’t know where she’s coming from. There’s too much at stake to even think about going there.”
    Caleb snorted. “So you’re thinking about nothing else?”
    His brother knew him a little too well. “She’s smart, hot and forbidden. Damn right I’m thinking about nothing else.”
    “She’s not that forbidden.”
    “She’s family.”
    “Not really,” Caleb said carefully. “Kind of up to us how we want to fit her in.”
    “She’s family ,” he said firmly.
    “Hey, your call, man. You’re the fish.”

Chapter Eight

    B eing on the periphery of the great Jackson integration plan had its benefits, decided Mia three days later. Creative girl-pal types to talk design with, should she have the inclination. Sun and surf and a laid-back holiday village to get lost in. Seafood, fresh off the boat and hand delivered by Caleb, who seemed to have taken over the role of liaison in Cutter’s absence.
    Because Cutter had been absent.
    Mia hadn’t seen him since the kiss.
    Nash was back from Melbourne though, so that was good. He’d brought a semi-trailer car transporter back with him and was busy cramming it full of old cars and farm vehicles. The Jacksons had let him park the rig at the marina and the filling of it was providing common ground for all of them. Nash was trying, bless him, to both get some work done and make himself available to anyone who wanted to get to know him.
    “Is it easier to deal with them one on one?” Mia asked when Nash came into the shop with Thai salad for her lunch.
    “Yes.”
    “How about without me around? Is it easier to deal with them then?”
    “It is.”
    “The sister thing freaks them out?”
    “More like the fireworks between you and Cutter freak them out.”
    “The fireworks have stopped. There’s only a smoldering unexploded rocket shell left,” she reminded him.
    “Probably what they’re worried