A speculative expression crossed his face. “Do you ever think about having a family?” he asked, a question so out of the blue Soleil laughed in surprise.

But he was serious.

“Why do you ask?”

“Just curious.”

“When you look at me, do you see a baby-making machine?”

He flashed a sly grin. “Yep.”

“If that’s your idea of smooth talk, I can see why you’re thirty-seven and still single.”

“Maybe I’m still single because I’ve never met a woman I’d want to make a baby with. Maybe you’re the first one.”

Nausea struck her. Until this moment, they’d seemed equally intent on keeping things casual.

“I don’t want kids,” she said.

She loved children, but there was no way she could have one of her own and continue to do the work she did. And that work was too important to the future communities of the kids she mentored to abandon.

Besides, after surviving her own hippiefied Berkeley childhood, she was hardly a candidate for the home-baked-cookies-and-suburban-play-groups crowd. Even with their limited time together, Soleil knew beyond a doubt that picket fences and minivans featured large in West’s ideal future.

“Oh, come on. Every woman wants to settle down and pop out a few kids.”

“Every woman? Did you grow up in a fifties sitcom or something?”

He smirked. He was pushing her buttons because he enjoyed her temper. And even though she recognized that he was playing again with her, she couldn’t avoid reacting. She was furious.

“You’d look hot in an apron, barefoot and pregnant-”

“Shut up,” she said through clenched teeth.

“It would be great. You could be at home all day with the kids, taking care of the house.”

One more word, and-

“You could be my little woman, and I could be your-”

Fury like a white-hot rod of lightning shot through her. She thrust all her weight into his chest, knocking him backward. He lost his balance and went over the side of the boat, into the lake. She caught the surprise on his face just before he hit the water and enjoyed a moment of satisfaction as she steadied herself against the rocking. Then she grabbed a paddle with shaking hands, not bothering to look back as she propelled the canoe toward the dock.