A Bad Boy for Christmas Read Free Page B

didn’t make it easy for them.”
    “Yeah, well, you know me and the easy road.” She never took it. As for her and Jackson being family, that one was only as true as they wanted it to be. She’d been eight to his thirteen when they’d first met. Two foster kids kicking around in a broken system where predators flourished and vulnerability was a weakness. Nash had cut out of the foster care system as soon as he could, but not before securing a place in her mind as the best person she’d ever met. He’d kept in touch. Given her a place to stay when she’d needed one and a job when she’d had none. Kept her out of trouble whenever she headed that way.
    She was proud to say that keeping her out of trouble was only a part-time job these days.
    Mia opened the car door, wincing at the heat that shimmered off hot, sticky leather. All hail summer time. The engine rumbled to life and she got in fast, adjusting her voice to rise over the top of the Super Turbo Fire V8. “Do you think that’s why we’ve never screwed?” she asked.
    “Do I what ?” Nash now looked as uncomfortable as his brothers had looked earlier. Apparently she was on a roll.
    “Us. You and me. We’ve never done the deed. Do you think it’s because we think of each other as family?”
    “Yes,” he said firmly. “That’s exactly what I think.”
    “You look just like him, wouldn’t you agree? The oldest one, back in that boatshed.”
    “Mia, where’s this going?”
    “Unexpected places, dude. Because I never felt the kind of instant attraction towards you that I felt towards him. You’re comfortable. He’s fireworks.”
    Nash eyed her warily. “You want to bed the elder Jackson brother? The one who looks just like me? You don’t even know his name.”
    “Wouldn’t have to be a bed. I bet he’s real adaptable.”
    “You know nothing about him.”
    “I know you got an apology out of him. Makes him fair-minded.”
    “Mia—
    “You also got an honest reaction from him. He’s easy to read. None of this wary impenetrable wall thing.”
    “Since when is this a plus?”
    “And I know he has no trouble delivering a smackdown and taking control of a situation when he’s had enough.”
    And then there was the heat thing.
    Because the minute she’d stepped through the door and he’d turned his bright gaze on her she’d felt the burn of it beneath her skin. “So all I’m saying is that I wonder why—when you’re so physically similar to him, and you being the best man I know—why, when I drive around with you all day, did I take one look at him and get all lustful.”
    “Could be your undisputed death wish.”
    “You think I should tell him I want to see him naked?”
    “No!”
    “You’d rather I left him alone?”
    “I’d rather you thought this through.”
    “Yeah,” she said on a sigh as she leaned gingerly back against the hot upholstery. “Maybe you should have left me at home.” She fished around in her bag for her sunglasses and slipped them on, wondering again at the reason for her insta-lust.
    It had been a while since she’d felt desire for a person kick in that hard and that fast. She usually limited her lust to inanimate objects, like flawless graffiti or a fine dark roast coffee blend. Especially the coffee. “Maybe I just need to meet more seafaring types. Maybe I’m developing a thing for them.”
    “Maybe you’re bored.”
    “It’s true you haven’t let me paint a vehicle for a while.”
    “Last time I let you paint one of my cars you put puppies on the hood.”
    “They were Hounds of Hell.”
    “They were Labradors .”
    “It was a phase.”
    “It was a tragedy I don’t ever care to see repeated. Why don’t you ask your new brothers if you can spray paint some of their boats?”
    “I could.” Mia sat forward, the better to unstick her back from the seat. “Did you see them? The fishing trawlers and the dive boats? The yachts? There’s some serious horsepower floating around that marina.