“You need to leave.” I giggle against Noah’s lips. It’s almost three, and I need to grab the kids from my parents by five.

“When can I see you again?” he asks and then kisses me.

We need to stop before I say screw it and have sex—again. It really is like riding a bike, you get back on and go again. I woke to find him in the kitchen, cooking breakfast, where I thanked him on the floor since that was where we sort of started last night.

Then, when he found out I’d never seen A Thin Blue Line, he forced me to watch two episodes as he said his lines in my ear. That led to an incredibly long shower with lots of . . . soap, but now I have to get my kids.

I push against his chest, and he chuckles.

My hand goes to his mouth before he can try again. “Tomorrow?”

A sly smile paints his face, and he takes my hand in his. “I was thinking tonight?”

“Noah!” I shake my head. “I have kids. It’s way too soon for them to see me with another man.”

He squeezes my hand. “I could sneak in.”

“They could wake up,” I counter.

“Then you’ll have to be very quiet.” His voice is low and drips with sex.

As much as I want to chastise him, now that he’s said it, I kind of want to take him up on the offer. Damn him and his sexiness.

I take a deep breath, step back a little, and focus on something other than what I could do to keep my mouth too full to speak. “The article is due in three weeks so we’ll need to actually work tomorrow. I need material and then a week to assemble it.”

Noah releases a heavy sigh and nods. “I can try to keep my hands off you.”

“You won’t be the only one trying,” I say under my breath.

He laughs. “Well, if you weren’t the best sex I’d ever had, it wouldn’t be so hard.”

“Shut up!” I smack his arm.

“What?” He raises his hands. “I’m serious.”

“Whatever.”

I get drunk one time in front of him and give him enough material for any situation.

Noah walks over, wraps his arms around me, and kisses my forehead. “I’m not kidding, sweetheart. Last night was hands down the best I’ve had.”

I search for the hint of a lie, but he’s dead serious.

His hands move to my butt, and he pulls me against him. “That’s what you do by just making me think about how good you feel.”

My smile grows when I feel how hard he is. “You should know that you hold the top spot for me,” I say, looking in his eyes. I love how tall he is. There’s something positively sexy about how he looms over me, casting a shadow with his body.

I raise up on my toes to touch my lips to his.

Noah groans as he breaks away. “We need to stop before I toss you over my shoulder and take you to the bedroom.”

Would that be so bad?

I open my mouth to object, but he says the only thing that could stop me. “Finn and Aubrey probably need you.”

He’s right. They know that their dad and I needed to do something yesterday, but they, well, Aubrey doesn’t know what it means. Finn is all too aware, and I think there’s a little relief that he can finally say we’re divorced instead of not living together. It’s the period at the end of the sentence so we can all move forward.

“We could do Monday,” I suggest.

“That’s two days away.”

“Tomorrow?” I circle back to my original suggestion.

“Tomorrow.” Noah nods, gives me a quick kiss, and makes his way out the door.

I stand here, hand on the wood, head resting on it with no idea how this is real. Noah Frazier is walking away after the most unbelievable night and still wanting to see me again.

He opens his car door and smiles when he sees me watching him. “I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetheart.”

“For the article . . .”

“And maybe a little fooling around.” He smirks and gets into the car.

I am in a world of trouble.

“Kristin!” Aunt Nina calls as I walk in.

I scream and run toward her and throw my arms tightly around her. “I didn’t know you were visiting!”

“I told your mother.” She rocks me back and forth, squeezing me tight.

My aunt is the coolest person in the world. She was the person I could talk to about everything my mother wouldn’t be able to handle. The first time I had sex, she was who I called to talk about it. When I turned eighteen, she took me for my tattoo. There’s nothing that my Aunt Nina doesn’t know about me. It’s crazy that she’s my mother’s sister.

“She didn’t tell me. When did you get here?”

“Just today. Jackson, Catherine, and the girls are out back, too.”

“Really?” I smile. “I can’t believe I didn’t know! Are Uncle Brendan and Reagan here?”

My cousins and I are around the same age. They moved a lot, but when I was twelve they were stationed at MacDill Air Force Base and we all grew extremely close. Then they left, and it sucked only seeing them for the occasional holiday.

It’s been too long since I’ve seen them.

“I am, I am!” Reagan comes out of the kitchen with Aubrey in her arms. “Look what I found!”

Aubrey squirms, reaching for me. “Mommy!”

“Hi, baby!”

I squeeze my peanut and then hug Reagan.

“Grandma made me wait to go in the pool until you got here.” She huffs. “Can I please go in the pool now?”

There goes any chance of the talk I planned, but then again, I’m happy to put that off. “Sure, go get changed, and I’ll be right out.”

Aubrey runs off screaming to my mother, and Reagan takes my hand in hers.

“You look amazing,” she says. “Seriously, Kris.”

“Look at you!” I touch her hair that she cut to right above her shoulders. “You lost like ten inches.”

“It was time.” She shrugs.

“This haircut looks good on you,” I note.

“I think you mean divorce,” Reagan smirks.

“Well, it’s apparently a look we both wear well.”

Yeah, there’s that. We’re both newly divorced from asshole men.

“You can’t even say hello?” Jackson’s deep voice booms.

“Jackson!” I yell and launch myself at him.

He lifts me and spins around. “It’s been too long.”

“No one told you to move to California and never come back.”

They all moved out to California a few years ago. Jackson owns a security company that does God knows what, and he opened an office there.

“I would’ve wound up there if I were still active duty, anyway.”

We all try to forget his time as a Navy SEAL. I’m pretty sure this is what caused me to have the insane fear when it comes to Heather and her job. Why does everyone think getting shot at is a good career choice?

“Where’s Cat?”

“She’s got the kids in the pool.”

I give him a look, wondering if he’s lost his damn mind. “And you’re in here?”

He lets out a laugh and then pulls me against his side. “You’ll protect me.”

Yeah right, he’s on his own.

We get outside and Finn has their oldest daughter, Erin, in his arms as he moves around the pool. “Hey, buddy!” I smile and wave.

“Mom, look! Erin likes me.” His face illuminates.

“She does.”

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that smile. Erin and Aubrey are a year apart, but God forbid, he plays with his sister that way.

He’d probably drown her.

“Hi, Mom.” I give her a kiss on the cheek. “Did the kids have fun?”

“They always do. You know your father spoils them rotten.” She pats my father’s arm.

“Hi, Daddy.”

“Hi, Krissykins.” He pulls me into his arms. “How’s my favorite daughter?”

I love that no matter how old I am, he still looks at me as if I’m his whole world. My father would slay dragons for my mother and me. He loves with his whole heart.

Sometimes, I wonder what’s wrong with me to have ever thought the way Scott treated me was right. I have the perfect embodiment of love in front of me. Yet, I was willing to take not even an eighth of what my father and mother have.

My father’s eyes narrow as he studies me. “You look awfully happy.”

“I do?”

“You have fun last night?”

Lying is not something I’m comfortable with. It makes me feel gross inside, but lying to my father is abhorrent. I was the world’s best teenager because I couldn’t lie. Sneaking out would never happen because I would go right back in or tell them I had just done it. Nicole hated me in high school for that part. I was always ratting us out.

However, sex is even more uncomfortable to tell your father about.

“I did,” I say simply, hoping he’ll drop it.

“Good. The girls came over?”

Short answers. I have to give him short and pointed answers. “Yup.”

I’m biting my tongue to avoid offering more information than needed.

“Glad you weren’t alone.” He pats my leg before turning and yelling, “Brendan!”

I release a huge sigh, which doesn’t go unnoticed by Reagan.

Shit.

Thankfully, Reagan doesn’t say anything for the rest of the night, and we all enjoy each other’s company. Mom and Aunt Nina laugh about old times, Catherine and Jackson are getting the girls ready for bed, and Reagan and I enjoy a glass of wine by the fire pit.

She tells me about her job, and I tell her about mine.

“Wait, so you’re getting paid to stalk hot guys?” She laughs.

“In theory.”

“Here I am, a divorced lawyer with no chance of making partner, and you’re writing about celebrities and getting to hang out with Four Blocks Down. Man, I got fucked.”

“You’re nuts.”

“This is true.” Reagan grins. “So, don’t think I didn’t see you blush when Uncle Dan asked you what you were doing last night. Spill it.”

“Not on your life.”

She taps her fingernails on the glass. “You had sex, didn’t you?” she whispers—loudly.

“Oh my God,” I groan.

“You did! With who?”

Like I’m ever going to tell her that. Hell no. I don’t even fully believe it happened myself. But the soreness in my legs—and other places—tells me it did. It’s the most liberating thing I’ve ever done. But I’m not telling anyone about it, not yet.

“There’s nothing to tell you.”

“You know it’s my job to read people,” she reminds me.

“Read people doing what?” Jackson returns, taking a seat next to us.

My family is so invasive sometimes. “Nothing. We’re not talking about anything.”

Reagan smiles before drinking her wine.

“What are we not talking about?” Catherine sits on his knee.

Great. A former Navy SEAL, a lawyer, and a publicist all ready to ask me questions. I feel like this is the beginning of a bad joke. One where I’m the punch line.