“I want all the details,” Maria demanded over the phone before I even had a chance to get out of bed.

“There’s nothing to tell.” I lied for good reason. Morgan would freak the fuck out, and I didn’t feel like dealing with my son’s shit first thing in the morning.

“I can keep a secret.”

I burst into laughter because nobody in my family could hold on to anything for too long. “Don’t lie to me. I’ve been your sister-in-law for far too long.”

She made a hmph sound. “Did you fuck him?”

“Yes.”

“Did you suck his cock?”

“A time or two.”

She gasped. “Two?”

“I wasn’t counting how many times his dick was in my mouth.” I stretched and felt the effects of one too many orgasms on my muscles. The last few I had to strain for, but I couldn’t let them slip away.

“Did you have an orgasm at least?”

“A few,” I said coyly and smiled into the pillow I’d placed over my face.

“My girl,” she said before she whistled.

“I lost count, but I sure as hell feel it. My muscles ache like I ran a marathon.”

“When has your ass ever run a marathon?”

“Never.” I laughed. “But I’m sure I’d feel something like this.”

“Tell me more.”

“Want me to draw you a picture, Mar? We sucked and fucked until I literally passed out.”

“My God,” she said softly. “Bear’s a beast.”

“Yep. The nickname fits.”

“You passed out, passed out?”

“Yeah,” I replied and thought about all the naughtiness of last night that almost felt like a dream.

“I did that once. Best night of my life.”

“I don’t want to know.” Sometimes I wished Maria was married to someone else. I wanted to talk with her about sex and relationships, but Sal was my brother, and the thought of him having sex made me ill.

“Why?”

“He’s my brother, and I’ll vomit.”

“Fine. Are you still in bed?”

“Yes.”

I felt like I was on an episode of Family Feud in the bonus round with the way she was rapidly firing questions off at me.

“Get dressed and meet me for lunch. I think we need to go shopping again.”

“Why?” I grumbled and struggled to sit upright. “I don’t think I can walk around the mall.”

“Get your slutty ass up and get dressed. You need more lingerie and clothes. It’s time to throw out the tracksuits and keep that man coming back for more.”

I kicked off the covers and stood on wobbly legs. “I don’t think he cares about my clothes, Mar.”

“He’s Bear. He’s a badass biker. He doesn’t want Sophia standing next to him, with her glasses hanging by a chain.”

“Fuck off,” I told her as I spotted a note on the floor.

“You know I’m right. One o’clock by Macy’s,” she told me before she hung up.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and tried to focus on the blurry words.

Franny,

I didn’t want to wake you. I’ll call later. Rest up, sweetheart, I’m not done with you yet.

Bear

When I woke, my heart had been the only part of me that didn’t feel battered. But after reading his words and thinking of all the possibilities, it started to beat wildly. I collapsed backward onto the bed and clutched his note to my chest. The scent of him, musky and strong, clung to the paper.

Fuckin’ Maria. She was right. I needed to break out of my shell a bit further. I needed to shed my skin, ala my favorite tracksuits, and join the dating world again. To trap a man like Bear, I had to dress like a woman and not a grandma.

---

Walking through the parking lot, I had to stop more than a few times to rub out the aches in my calves. Each one a reminder of the delicious night I’d spent with Bear.

“Jesus,” Mar complained before I even had a chance to step onto the sidewalk. “I’m melting out here.”

“No one told you to wait outside.” I walked past her and opened the door, loving the feel of the air conditioning as it washed over me.

“I need something cold to drink before we start shopping.”

It was her code for getting my ass in a seat and prying all the details of last night out of me. “I’m not giving you the details.”

“You’re a cruel woman, Fran. Cruel,” she complained, following close behind me as her heels clicked against the linoleum flooring of the department store.

I stopped walking and spun around, narrowing my gaze. “How did you even know I was with him last night?”

“Joe told me.”

“Aha.” I pointed at her. “That’s my point. Nothing is secret.”

“What?” She shrugged before smiling. “He called to tell me that it’s all my fault. He knows I took you shopping, and he blames me for setting you two up.”

I walked away from her and headed toward the mall entrance nearest the food court. “Tell him to mind his own business.”

She caught up, standing at my side. “I did.”

I rubbed my neck and tried to ease the stress of the entire situation out of my muscles. “Fucking kids. They’re so goddamn nosy.”

“Don’t I know it.”

“I swear they’re trying to get us back for being good, caring mothers.”

As we were peering up at the coffee shop menu, she said, “You were a little over the top.”

“Shut up, Mar. I had one kid to look after. I got carried away. I can’t help that you pushed out a small army.”

“I hover. I know I butt into their lives, but sometimes they seem to forget that I’m the parent.”

“I’ll take a trip caf half non-fat mocha,” I told the pimply faced teenager behind the register.

She turned around and stared up at the menu. “I’m not sure what that is, ma’am.”

I looked at Maria and rolled my eyes. “Order me something sweet, please. I don’t know why coffee has to be so fucking complicated.”

Maria motioned toward the bustling food court. “Go find us a seat, and I’ll get the coffee.”

“Fine,” I grumbled under my breath as I walked away and found a seat nearby.

I glanced around the food court and felt like I fit in for the first time in a long time. No more elastic-trimmed pants and front-zip jackets. Those were gone and replaced by skinny jeans and form-fitting shirts. I couldn’t forget the latest high-tech bra from the store that reeked of too much perfume, just down the way from where I sat.

“Here,” Maria said, startling me as she placed some cold, blended beverage in a clear cup in front of me.

“What is it?” I stared at it like it had two heads.

“Some fracka something. I don’t know.” She pushed the drink closer to me. “It’s good. Just drink it.”

I wrapped my lips around the green straw and took a sip. To my surprise, it tasted amazing and hit the spot on such a hot, sticky day in Florida. “Thanks,” I said after licking the remnants of the concoction off my lips.

“So let’s talk trash.” She rubbed her hands together and smiled. “Tell me every dirty detail.”

I fidgeted with the cup, wiping away the moisture that started to dot the outside. “What do you want to know?”

“Is he big?”

“Um, his nickname is Bear.”

“I know, dumbass. I’m talking about his cock.”

“It’s pretty.” I giggled and felt my cheeks flush. “And larger than I expected.”

“Really?” She tapped her finger against her coffee. “Tell me more. If you leave anything out, I’ll tell Morgan.”

My eyes widened in shock. “You wouldn’t.”

“Try me. I’ve been known to blackmail a person or two. I have leverage, and I’m not afraid to use it.”

I sighed and knew it was futile to fight with her and keep quiet. She’d eventually get it out of me. And I was actually excited also—I needed to share what happened with someone, and Maria was the only option who could possibly keep my secret without judgment.

By the time I finished telling her every detail, down to the way he tasted, she was sweating and holding her drained yet still perspiring cup against her neck. “Well, fuck. That’s hot.”

“Yeah,” I said and drained the last bit of fracka-whatever from my glass, but I still felt parched.

“Are you going to see him again?”

“Yep. He wants to see me again, and I can’t say no. Especially after last night.”

She straightened in her chair and leaned forward, becoming serious. “How are you going to explain this to Morgan?”

“Um,” I mumbled and mimicked her by leaning forward too. “What is there to explain? I’m an adult, he’s an adult, and it’s none of his fucking business.”

She laughed and bit down on her lip. “It’s about to get really interesting around here.”

I crossed my arms on the table and lowered my voice. “He doesn’t need to find out.”

“Keep living in your dreamland.”

“Just keep your trap shut.”

She pretended to zip her lips. “My lips are sealed.”

At least I knew I had a little time until the shit hit the fan. Morgan hadn’t even entered my thoughts last night when I’d crawled into Bear’s lap. He smelled too good and spoke to me too sweetly for my body not to respond. I hadn’t expected it to be…so…so amazing. I hadn’t planned on him being a gentleman with a raging sexual appetite more befitting a twenty-year-old. But the only thing I knew was that I wasn’t willing to walk away from him just yet.

“Are we going to shop or sit here all day?” I asked when I felt stiffness start to seep into my leg muscles.

“Let’s go get my girl some gear that screams ‘fuck me.’”

“Great.” I rolled my eyes and pushed back the chair, letting it scrape against the tile just to annoy her.

By the time we walked out of the mall, the sun had set in the sky and the cement let off heat in waves that looked like a mirage. “I’m exhausted,” I said as I threw ten bags of clothing, underwear, shoes, and bras in the back of my tiny little SUV.

“Go home and nap. Recharge for round two,” she snickered while she fished her keys out of her purse.

“I could use some sleep.”

She leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “I have to get home and cook dinner. Sal will be home soon from the golf course.”

“Make him take you out,” I told her as I slammed the door closed on the back of my SUV.

“No way. I’m cooking, and he’s eating.” She waggled her eyebrows up and down, and I pretended to vomit.

“I’ve got to go.”

“Bye,” she said as she laughed and walked toward her car in the next row.

“Talk later,” I called out and waved.

“Only if Sal unties me!”

I glanced toward the sky and sighed. She always had to leave me with the most disturbing mental images. I needed to scrub that one from my mind if I was ever to have sex again. “Fuckin’ Maria,” I muttered as I climbed into my car that felt more like an oven than an automobile.

Even after the air conditioning blasted me in the face the entire way home, looking like some old, haggard supermodel in an eighties’ rock-band video, I was still hot. But the heat wasn’t from the sun. It was from the memories of last night, playing in my head like a porn video.

When I walked through the front door with my hands full of packages, the phone was ringing off the hook. Before I could get to it, it switched over to my answering machine.

“Fran?” a man said, but the voice didn’t sound familiar. There was urgency in his tone as he spoke. “It’s Johnny. I need to talk to you.”

I tossed the bags to the floor and went running to the phone. “Hello!” I sucked in a breath, trying to recover from the long run across my living room. “Hello,” I repeated when I didn’t hear anything. “Fuck!” I stared at the phone, knowing he’d already hung up.

I hurried up and dialed the one person I knew would want to know. “Bear,” I said as soon as he picked up. I didn’t even give him a chance to say hello. “Johnny just called.”

“It’s Morgan, Ma.”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and glanced down at it, confused. Did I dial the wrong number? “Morgan?” I asked and placed the phone on my shoulder so I could pick up the clothes scattered across the carpeting.

“Yep. It’s me. What did he say?”

“Nothing. Just that he needed to talk to me, and by the time I got to the phone, he hung up.”

“I really wish you had caller ID sometimes, Ma. I’m going to call my buddy at the phone company and have the number traced. If he calls back, play along and try to get his location from him. Okay?”

“I will. Promise.”

“And, Ma?”

“Yeah, honey?”

“We’ll talk about why you called Bear instead of me later.”

“Bye, Morgan,” I groaned and disconnected the call before he could say anything more. I peered around the living room and tipped over onto my ass. “Fuck.”

Just like Lucy, I had some ’splaining to do.