The ringing of the doorbell, followed by a brisk knock, jump-started the nerves she'd managed to keep at bay throughout the afternoon. Quickly, she slid a pair of diamond stud earrings into her lobes and put her favorite silver bangle bracelets on her arm. She swiped pink shimmering gloss across her lips and fluffed her hair with her fingers one last time before heading for the foyer just as he knocked again.
Inhaling a deep, calming bream, she opened the door, her delight at seeing Cameron after so many days apart affecting every one of her senses in a heady, overwhelming rush of awareness. That disarming grin curving up the corner of his sensual lips. Those striking green eyes that made her melt inside. Then there was the arousing scent of his cologne that wrapped around her like a seductive spell.
The man was just too gorgeous for his own good. He was wearing casual khaki pants and a collared shirt, and his dark blond hair was slightly mussed, as if he'd combed the strands with his fingers right before he'd knocked on her door. Either that, or he'd driven over to her place with the car windows down to enjoy the balmy afternoon breeze.
"Hi." It was all she could do to keep from throwing herself at him and kissing him liked she'd dreamt about the past four days.
"Hi, yourself," he drawled in a low, intimate tone as his gaze slowly traveled down the length of her, then back up again. "You're dressed very… nicely," he said, a stunned expression on his face.
She laughed at his careful choice of description. No doubt he'd expected her to wear one of her normal racy, skin-baring outfits. "Nice and conservative?"
"You could say that." He leaned against the doorjamb but was close enough to reach out and run a finger along the high collar of her turtleneck, making her shiver from his touch. "Don't get me wrong. You look great no matter what, and for as much as I love how sexy you normally dress, you'll fit right into my family wearing a sensible, attractive outfit like this."
The thought of fitting into his family, or rather, not fitting in, made her stomach knot with anxiety. She so wanted to make a good impression with his parents and siblings. She wanted them to like her and accept her, and she hated that she was so worried they'd judge her and find her lacking. It was a stupid insecurity, but it was there nonetheless.
And it was too late to back out now, despite her concerns. "Let me grab my purse, and I'll be ready to go."
Once she returned with her handbag, she walked with Cameron out to his car. He'd driven his Porsche today, and she slid into the passenger seat and fastened her belt while Cameron rounded the front of the low-slung vehicle and settled himself behind the wheel. The sports car started on a smooth purr of sound, and with a shift into first gear, they were on their way.
Mia's mind was still on the conversation they'd just had at her apartment door. "So your family is more on the conservative side?" she asked, wanting to know what to expect when they arrived at his parents.
"Pretty much. That's probably why I'm so stuffy, boring, and uptight," he teased and flashed her a quick grin.
She ducked her head sheepishly, because she'd made many references to him being all those things over the year or so of them skirting their attraction-mainly, to provoke him, she had to admit. But she'd learned a lot about Cameron and his personality over the past few weeks of being with him. Although Cameron definitely had this serious, focused side to him, he wasn't nearly as straitlaced as she'd once believed.
Resting her head against the seat, she glanced toward Cameron, admiring his strong, handsome profile. "Give me a quick rundown on your family so I know what to expect."
"Okay," he agreed easily. "There's my mom, Barbara, who works for the school district, and my father, Ed, who's an insurance adjuster. The two of them have been married for more than forty-three years."
She was surprised to learn that his father wasn't connected to the investigative business in any way. "With your father working for an insurance company, how did you become interested in being a private investigator?"
"My first year of college, I took on an apprentice-type job at the local police department as an assistant to a detective doing grunt work." He turned the steering wheel as he spoke, and the car took a swerve in the road with ease. "It started as a part-time job to make some extra cash, but I came to realize that I was incredibly intrigued by the whole investigative process. I've always been one of those kids who loves puzzles and mysteries and solving them, so becoming a P.I. was the perfect career for me."
She had to agree that he was good at his job and seemed to really love what he did. She envied him that. "And your sisters?"
"There's three of them. All older than me. Like you, I'm the youngest."
She hadn't realized they had that in common, both of them being the baby of the family. "Except I'm sure you didn't have to worry about your sisters being overly protective of you, checking out your dates in high school, and threatening them with bodily harm if they dared to touch you."
He grinned, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "No, I suppose it's very different being the only boy, as opposed to being an only girl with older brothers. But trust me," he went on, his tone wry, "I had my own share of headaches having to deal with three hormonal girls in the same house." He shuddered for effect.
She laughed, and because she'd been one of those hormonal teenagers at one time, she could easily imagine what he'd had to deal with-times three. "Are they married?"
"Yep. All three of them. To great guys, too."
There was a sense of pride in his voice, as if he approved of his sisters' choice of husbands. Despite him being the youngest of the family, he still obviously had those strong brotherly instincts her own siblings possessed. It had to be a guy thing, she thought.
"There's Claudia and Phillip," he said, giving her a quick rundown of his sisters and brothers-in-law. "Heather and Ryan. Susan and Ted. And a slew of kids among them all."
She found it interesting that he'd remained unattached while the rest of his siblings were married with kids. "And then there's you, the bachelor of the family. How come you're not married, too?" she asked, voicing her thoughts out loud.
"For the obvious reason." He shrugged. "Because I haven't met the right woman yet. When that happens, I'm all for settling down and having a family. But I only intend on getting married once, and I'm waiting to find someone who shares the same values I do."
She glanced out her window as they entered a residential neighborhood. Undoubtedly, Cameron was searching for a woman who wasn't wild and unpredictable and reckless. No, Cameron was the kind of man who'd choose a wife who was sweet and undemanding and respectable. A woman who didn't enter wet T-shirt contests; wear tight, sexy clothes; and dance on tabletops for fun. Mia certainly didn't have a reputation for being the kind of good girl Cameron would expect to have the same standards and values as he did.
"We're here."
She was so lost in her own thoughts she hadn't realized they'd come to a stop at the curb of a modest, single-story house. A group of kids, ranging from young teenagers to toddlers, were playing out in the front yard, and they all seemed very excited to see their Uncle Cameron.
She inhaled a deep breath and wasn't aware of the fact that her fingers were twisting anxiously in her lap until Cameron grabbed one of her hands to stop her fidgeting.
"Nervous?" he asked.
The warmth of his touch and the concern in his voice calmed her immensely. "Yeah, I guess I am. There's just so many of them," she said, meaning the brood of kids waiting for him to get out of his car.
"But they're a great bunch," he said, brushing his thumb along the back of her hand. "Just be your normal, vibrant self, and you'll do just fine."
As Cameron slid out of the car and then came around to help her out of her seat, she didn't have much time to dwell on being apprehensive because they were instantly surrounded by the most animated, friendly kids-all of whom seemed to idolize their Uncle Cameron. Each one tried to get his attention first, and Mia watched as he managed to dole out hugs to each and ever
y one of them.
"Who's the pretty lady you brought with you, Uncle Cam?" This came from a precocious little boy who had the same dark blond hair and green eyes as his uncle.
Cameron ruffled the boy's hair. "This pretty lady is Mia Wilde, who is a friend of mine."
With that explanation, he proceeded to introduce her to each one of his nieces and nephews. There were nine of them in the bunch, and each welcomed her with friendly smiles and boisterous hellos that had her laughing. By the end of the introductions, she was known as "Miss Mia."
Cameron picked up the youngest member of the group, a four-year-old girl named Lucy, with a cherubic face and brunette ringlets, who was looking up at him in wide-eyed adoration. He tickled her neck with his fingers, making her burst into infectious giggles.
"Now, let's go meet the rest of the family," Cameron said and grabbed Mia's hand with his free one.
He laced their fingers and led the way into the house, uncaring of just how intimate their hand-holding might look to anyone who glanced their way. Once they were inside, he let her hand go and set Lucy down on her feet, and Mia followed him into a large, spacious living room where the adults were hanging out.
Another round of introductions ensued, leaving her feeling overwhelmed and certain she'd never remember everyone's names. Between his parents, sisters, their husbands and kids, his family was huge, but they reminded her of her own large clan. And with her cousins Steve, Eric, and Adrian all married off, and recently two of her brothers, even more chaos was added into the mix.
The Sinclairs were loud, openly affectionate, and obviously all very close to one another. Despite Cameron's claim they were on the conservative side, his family was warm and fun-loving and accepted her as Cameron's "friend" without question or speculation, just as he'd promised. And because of that, she was able to relax and immediately felt comfortable with his family.
Before long, his sisters whisked her off to the kitchen, insisting they needed girl time while the guys did their bonding thing during the final quarter of the Sunday afternoon football game. She accepted a glass of wine his sister Susan poured for her, and then she was put to work spreading garlic butter on the French bread while Susan made the salad and Cameron's mom, Barbara, finished up the spaghetti for dinner.
Because it was Claudia's birthday, she was exempt from helping. So was Heather, because she was eight months pregnant and feeling the strain along her lower back and couldn't stand for long lengths of time because of spasms. The two of them were sitting at the counter across from the large wooden island where Mia, Barbara, and Susan were preparing the evening's meal.
As Mia slathered a pat of seasoned butter on a slice of bread, she glanced in Heather's direction. "So you have the three girls, Lucy, Gwen and Alison, right?" she asked, trying to place the kids she'd met outside with their respective parents.
"Yep, that trio is mine." Heather rubbed her burgeoning belly. "Here's hoping this one's a boy to balance out things a bit."
Claudia grinned at her sister. "You mean so your girls have someone to pick on, like we did with Cameron."
"Oh man, we really did torment him, didn't we?" Susan said as she cut up tomatoes for the salad. "Do you remember when Cameron was about five years old and how we used to put makeup on him, curlers in his hair, and dress him up like a little girl?"
Mia had just taken a sip of her wine and nearly choked on the drink. The image of Cameron as a little boy, being coerced by his three sisters to be their miniature-sized doll to do with as they pleased, was just too funny to imagine.
During the next half hour, as they finished with dinner preparations, Cameron's sisters and mother regaled Mia with more amusing tales that had her in absolute stitches. Each story was more outrageous and hilarious than the last.
Hearing how Cameron had grown up, surrounded by fun-loving girls, made Mia realize just how vastly different her life had been with three older brothers watching over her. While the Sinclair sisters had treated Cameron with affection and open candor and acceptance, her own brothers had taken their jobs of protecting her very seriously. Too seriously, she thought, knowing that was part of the reason why she'd rebelled at such an early age.
The kitchen was teeming with feminine giggles and chuckles when Cameron walked in, a playful scowl on his face. "I can hear you girls laughing all the way out in the living room, and I have this sneaking suspicion that I'm the butt of the tales you're sharing with Mia."
"Of course you are," Susan said unapologetically as she grabbed knives and forks from the silverware drawer to set the table for dinner.
From across the wooden island, Mia watched Cameron roll his eyes heavenward. "Did you happen to tell Mia how I had absolutely no privacy in this house and how you'd barge into my room without ever knocking, even while I was changing?"
"Hey, I helped Mom change your diapers when you were a baby," Claudia reminded him with a cheeky grin. "I saw everything there was to see, so it was no big deal."
"Well, it was certainly a big deal to me" he stated with feigned gruffness. "And what about how the three of you hogged the two spare bathrooms for hours on end and used up all the hot water so I had to take cold showers?"
Heather reached out and patted Cameron on the cheek, summoning a sympathetic look. "Awww, poor baby," she said, though it was obvious she was holding in her laughter.
"We were just trying to help prepare you for the future," Claudia piped in as she refilled Mia's empty glass with more wine. "You know, get you used to taking cold showers after your dates."
"Thank you very much." Cameron shook his head ruefully and cast a grin at Mia. "It's amazing that I turned out to be a normal guy without any issues or hang-ups."
"You turned out just fine." Barbara poured the cooked spaghetti into a large bowl and said over her shoulder, "and I have to add that because of your sisters, you learned to treat women with respect. You were a polite boy, and every mother on this street wanted her daughter to end up with someone like you. They knew they could trust you not to take advantage of their daughters."
"Yeah, you were quite the catch during your high school years." Susan picked up the large platter of heated garlic bread and started for dining room.
It was easy to envision Cameron surrounded by a slew of pretty young girls, all vying for his attention. With his good looks and charm, Mia had no doubts he had the pick of the litter. Probably still did.
Barbara placed a big bowl of steaming, fragrant spaghetti sauce in Cameron's hands. "Now help us set the table so we can eat dinner," she said, treating him no differently from the girls she'd had in terms of domestic tasks-even though he was grown man and no longer lived in the house.
He feigned an exasperated sigh, though he was smiling when he glanced Mia's way. "Some things never change."
Chapter Eleven
AFTER dinner and cleanup, the family converged back in the living room with their stomachs filled with a delicious meal and the atmosphere mellowed by good wine. From across the room, Cameron glanced at Mia, who was sitting on the couch next to Heather, while conversing with his family. Thank God his sisters had finally run out of embarrassing stories about him in his youth and had moved on to other topics that no longer centered around him.
Mia laughed at something Susan's husband, Ted, said, the light sound brimming with genuine amusement. Cameron smiled at just how beautiful she looked when she was happy and was glad he'd invited her to come tonight. Not only because he wanted Claudia to meet the woman who'd created her birthday present, but because Mia obviously needed the distraction from the more uncertain issues going on in her life. Even if it was just for a few hours.
She appeared relaxed and very comfortable around his family, which didn't surprise him at all. Despite her initial nervousness, her outgoing personality made it easy for everyone to like her-including his nieces and nephews. The younger ones, especially, seemed drawn to her. And who wouldn't be, considering Mia's warm smile and the way her gray eyes lit up when one of the c
hildren came up to her or tried to get her attention-which she always gave them. And that kept them coming back for more.
Three-year-old Marissa, who seemed completely infatuated with Mia, had managed to maneuver her way up onto Mia's lap in that mischievous way of hers no adult could resist. The little girl leaned against Mia's chest, fascinated with the shiny silver bracelets Mia was wearing on her arm and the tinkling sound they made whenever she moved her hand.
"If she's being a bother, just set her down and tell her to go play with the others," Claudia said about her young daughter.
"She's no bother at all," Mia said and gently ran her finger through the little girl's soft curls. "She's just as sweet as can be."
"At the moment, yes," Heather jumped in. As Marissa's aunt, she was very aware of her personality and mood swings, as they all were. "But that's subject to change at a moment's notice."
Marissa, oblivious to the conversation about her, blinked up at Mia, her dark lashes framing her pretty blue eyes. "Bwacelets on my hand?" she asked and pointed to her own wrist.
Mia gave in to the request without hesitation, and Cameron had to swallow a chuckle at what a soft touch she was. "Sure you can wear them, so long as you give them back before I leave, okay?"
"Okay." Marissa beamed happily, and it was clear to everyone in the room that Mia had just been conned by one very sly little girl.
Mia removed the bracelets from her wrist and slipped them onto Marissa's arm. She immediately shook her fist and squealed in delight as the silver trinkets made that musical, jingling sound for her.
"Tank you!" Marissa said and then scooted off Mia's lap and scampered off to show the others what she'd managed to confiscate, the little imp.
Once the laughter in the room subsided, Barbara made an announcement. "It's time for Claudia to open her birthday presents."
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