“Great, you’re in your house or at little league or wherever-the-fuck, try not to do it. Your hooligans are systematically tearing up my place, anything goes.”

He appeared in the door by his sister, grinned at me, leaned out, extending a long arm. His fingers closed on my wrist and he pulled me into the apartment whereupon his arms locked around me and he shuffled me in deeper. And, before I knew it, his mouth was on mine and he laid a hot, sweet, deep, but short wet one on me.

“Gross, Uncle Slim!” a child’s voice shouted.

“Yeah! Gross!” another one chimed in.

“I like her shoes,” another one, this one clearly female and clearly having good taste, observed.

Brock’s head lifted and I had three thoughts. One, even with an audience of family members, some of them being children, he could really kiss. Two, I was obviously meeting members of Brock’s family and I was in no way prepared. And three, I was glad I gave the flip-flops a rest and was wearing a pair of sexy, strappy sandals, really good jeans, and a complicated designer blouse.

Before I could utter a noise or, perhaps, gather my thoughts, Brock divested me of the purse and overnight bag on my shoulder (both he dumped on the floor), the white bag filled with my famous bakery-fresh snickerdoodles (this he tossed on the coffee table) and turned me to the apartment. One arm sliding around my shoulders and holding my front close to his side, he made introductions.

“Babe, this is my sister, Laura, her hooligans Grady and Dylan, my princess, Ellie, and my Mom, Fern. Everyone, this is Tess.”

His mom, Fern?

He kissed me with tongues in front of his mom, Fern?

I scanned the room and a lot forced itself into my brain. Too much to process. So much, my mind started to shut down and it took every bit of effort I had not to lapse into catatonia.

First, the door had been closed and Laura, Brock’s gorgeous sister, was standing by it grinning like a madwoman.

Second, there were two dark-haired boys on the floor. Both of them in little-boy football uniforms (sans shoulder pads). Both of them appearing at some point in the not too distant past to have rolled around in the dirt for a good length of time and my guess was that was at least five hours. Both of them appeared to be arrested in mid wrestling match. And both of them had green Kool-Aid mustaches.