"She's getting to you, isn't she?"

Shit. He tried not to wince as Joel appeared from behind him. Cameron had no idea just how long Mia's brother had been watching their exchange or what he'd witnessed. But Cameron wasn't about to admit to anything.

"Who?" he said with an air of nonchalance.

"Don't give me that crap," Joel said, calling his bluff with amusement. He set a fresh bottle of beer in front of Cameron and then took the seat next to him. "You know exactly who I'm talking about. Mia. You've been watching her the entire afternoon, as well as deflecting her remarks, and I'm just waiting for you to snap and jump her already."

Even though Joel's comment surprised Cameron, he managed to maintain a bland expression. "Not likely."

"Want to bet on that?" Joel lifted his own bottle of beer to his lips, a challenge glinting in his gaze.

"Bet on what?" Cameron asked, not completely sure what Joel was getting at. "That I'm going to give into your sister's taunts?"

Joel grinned. "Yeah."

"Not a chance, buddy," Cameron said with a firm shake of his head.

"If you seem so determined to resist her, it should be easy money for you." Joel thought for a moment, glancing from Mia and back to Cam. "Twenty buck says she'll get the best of you before the day is over."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever," Cameron said, agreeing for the sake of putting an end to the issue, especially because Mia was heading their way. "Speaking of which, here conies trouble right now."

Mia stopped at the table, holding a plate with a large piece of birthday cake. "What is this, the singles' table?"

"Yep, the last of a dying breed when it comes to our family," Joel joked. "Care to join us?"

"That all depends," she said with a mischievous twinkle in her slate gray eyes. "Will I look as pathetic as the two of you do?"

Cameron held back a laugh, and instead thought up an appropriate taunt so Joel would think all was normal between him and Mia. "Girls never look pathetic, even when they're old maids."

She set her plate on the table and sat down next to her brother and across from Cameron. "Just for the record, I'm not an old maid, sugar," she drawled sweetly. "I choose to be single, whereas an old maid is a woman who can't get herself a guy at all. I do just fine in that department."

"You know just how to get them to eat out of the palm of your hand, don't you?" Cameron said, sparring right back.

"Only the ones I want eating out of my hand." She dropped a small piece of the cake in her palm and held it toward Cameron. "Care for a bite, sugar?"

"Oh man," Joel said on a chuckle. "You are so down for the count, Sinclair."

It took a huge amount of effort for Cameron to resist Mia's outrageous dare, along with the urge to grasp her wrist and nibble and lick the scrap of chocolate cake off her palm until she was squirming and just as hot as she was making him.

When Cameron refused to take the bait, or in this case, the cake, Mia popped the crumb into her mouth and ate it herself. "Can you believe all the babies this family is going to have this year?" she said, glancing at Joel. "Chayse just had Brandon, and Ashley is due in a few months. And Dana and Alex just announced earlier today that they're pregnant, too. God, I hope it's not contagious," she said with an exaggerated shudder.

"What, you don't want to have babies?" Cameron asked before he could censure the question.

Her gaze shot to his, and it was clear he'd startled her. "Well, I haven't given it a whole lot of thought, being an old maid and all."

She was trying to be cute and funny and dismissive, but Cameron was thinking about it now. Having babies. With Mia. "I'd like at least three or four," he said.

She lifted a brow as she dipped her fork into her cake for another bite. "Sounds like you want a wife you can keep barefoot and pregnant."

Cameron grinned. "Yeah, I like that image."

Mia rolled her eyes and licked away a crumb from the corner of her mouth. "And I suppose you'd expect your little woman to stay at home with the kids, keep the house clean and spotless, and be sure you had a hot meal on the table when you walked in after a long day at the office."

"What man wouldn't?" he said, admitting as much. "But only if that's what my wife wanted to do."

"What if she wanted to work?"

Somewhere along the way the conversation had taken an interesting twist, and while Joel probably thought they were arguing, Cameron was fascinated with Mia's questions and answers, which said a whole lot about how she felt about having a family of her own.

"I'd like to consider myself a contemporary kind of guy." He leaned back in his chair as he absently swiped his fingers along the condensation gathering on his bottle. "I'd have no problem if my wife wanted to pursue a career, just so long as the family didn't suffer."

"Ahhh," she said, gaze narrowed and her fork pointed in his direction. "So your wife would have to juggle her job and also be sure everything at home ran smoothly, too?"

"No, my wife and I would find a balance to be sure the kids didn't suffer because of our dual careers and we had someone we trust to watch the kids when we couldn't. So there would definitely have to be some compromising to make things work."

She stared at him incredulously. "You're willing to help with the cooking and the cleaning and the diaper changing?"

"I cook and clean for myself now, so I can't imagine changing a diaper is that difficult."

"You're a better man than I," Joel said with a shudder. "Diaper changing is so not my thing."

"Spoken like a true macho man," she said and laughed.

"Hey, at least I'm honest." Joel drained the last of the beer in his bottle. "I think I need another drink. This conversation is giving me the hives since I have no intentions of getting married or having any kids. I'm out of here." Standing, he gathered the empty beer bottles and looked at Cameron. "Can you handle being alone with Mia?" he asked, his tone infused with meaning and amusement.

"Don't worry about me," he said, waving Joel away. "I can handle Mia just fine."

As soon as they were alone, a sultry smile curved Mia's full, sensual lips. Lips he was dying to taste and kiss. "So you can handle me, huh?" she murmured as she slowly, oh-so-provocatively ate another bite of her cake.

While Mia's back was facing everyone up on the porch, Cameron was still in full view, which meant he needed to monitor his actions and reactions to Mia's current attempt to seduce him. "I think I've proved a few times just how well I can handle you."

"Mmmm. So you have." Her lashes fell half-mast, and her voice dropped to a soft purr. "I wouldn't mind you manhandling me again. It's been a while, you know."

"You've made me well aware of that." Reclining, he clasped his hands over his stomach. "Especially today, with you wearing those lace-up boots. You wore them deliberately, didn't you?"

"Of course I did," she admitted shamelessly.

Beneath the linen-draped table, the sole of her boot scraped along the inside seam of his jeans and then continued up his thigh until the toe of her shoe was pressing very insistently against his crotch. Heat and lust rushed straight to his groin, and he clenched his jaw to keep a low, tell-tale groan from escaping.

Bracing her elbow on the table, she propped her chin in her hand as she played with the frosting on the cake with her fork, as if she didn't have her booted foot between his legs, rubbing against him in a very arousing way, making him harder and stiffer than he already was.

"If I remember correctly," she said huskily, "You told me they did it for you, in a major way."

"So I did." She was enjoying exploiting that particular weakness of his to her advantage. And because they were surrounded by her family, he had to act blase, which was one of the most difficult things he'd had to do.

She slowly licked the white, creamy frosting from her fork, a sinful gleam in her eyes. "And judging by the erection you're currently sporting, they're doing it for you, right now, in a major way. Aren't they, sugar?"

He reached down and grabbed her ankle, effectively putting a stop to her foot stroking along his shaft. "You're playing with fire," he warned in a gruff tone. "You have been all afternoon."

"Maybe I'm looking to get burned," she whispered back.

Sitting up straighter in his seat, Cameron leaned toward Mia, using the position to strum his fingers along the sensitive skin at the back of her knee, right where the top of her boot ended. She visibly shivered, offering him a smidgeon of satisfaction that he was able to get under her skin in some small way.

His smile was calm for the sake of anyone who might be looking their way. "If you're not careful, sweetheart, you're gonna end up on this table, with your skirt tossed up over your head, and with me having my way with you right here in front of your family."

Undeniable desire darkened her eyes. "How about you meet me in the upstairs bathroom in a few minutes while Cody and Tara are opening their gifts, so no one will miss either one of us, and you can have your way with me there?"

He released her leg, unable to believe what she was suggesting. "You're kidding, right?"

"Actually, I'm absolutely serious. And I'll even keep the boots on just for you." Standing, she licked the last smudge of frosting from her bottom lip, the glimpse of her soft, pink tongue reminding him of how well she could use that mouth of hers. "Don't make me wait long, sugar, or else I'll have to take matters into my own hands."

As he watched her sashay toward the house, he rubbed a hand along his slack jaw, his mind still reeling from her very risqué proposition. God, she was so bold. So daring. And he was beginning to love those things about her, because all that brazenness was directed solely at him.