Mama’s Boy by Avery Flynn

Chapter Twenty

Fiona

Fionashut the door behind her and tried to mean mug Peacock. The flufferdoodle was having none of it and responded by sticking his snout under her hand and sliding his head forward so she was scratching his ears.

“You are a glutton for pets.”

Peacock panted his agreement.

If only all men were so easy to figure out. The one next door to her was like that candy her students loved to eat. First he’s sweet, then he’s sour. It was enough to drive her to distraction. Add to that the fact that there was no way she wasn’t going to stare at her ceiling for hours tonight reliving how she’d landed on top of him in the reading room and—accidentally—touched his dick when she’d gotten up. Sure, it was humiliating, but it had also been kind of hot. Okay, it had been really, really hot. And then when he’d come over here and stood out in the dark in only jeans and a T-shirt giving her way too good of a look at his biceps and just how muscular his chest was, it was all she could do to keep from admitting she loved dogs just so she could yank him into her room and—

The shower next door turned on. Oh God. He was taking a shower. Right now, he was naked and getting sudsy and oh God, she was losing it. She needed reinforcements, and Peacock, adorable as he was, would not cut it. She grabbed her phone from the pile of items that had been in her purse before the dog had knocked it over. It was time for a Hartigan siblings emergency group chat.

FIONA: What would Fallon do if she was really into a guy but she knew she couldn’t kiss him even though she really wanted to?

FRANKIE: Please, God, lose my number. You are my sister. I don’t want to know this.

Of course that’s what her oldest brother would say.

FAITH: Shut up, Frankie.

Thank you, my fellow womb mate.

FINN: I second both texts.

How else would Frankie’s twin respond? He was always playing the middle.

FELICIA: Stop being such prudes.

That coming from the baby of the family was something.

FORD: You are our sisters. Can’t you have an all-girl group chat?

Really? Ford had shared a womb with her and Faith but he couldn’t handle the fact that she was a grown-ass woman with sexual needs?

FALLON: We’re women, you dumbass.

And there she was. The baddest of all the mouthy Hartigans.

FINN: No wonder you became a cop, Ford. You were too dumb to be a firefighter like Frankie and me.

FORD: You quit the department, remember?

FINN: Being a firefighter is like being a Marine. You’re always one even when you hang up the uniform.

FAITH: Help. I’m drowning in testosterone and the patriarchy.

FELICIA: And stupidity.

FALLON: You mean that’s not the same thing?

Okay, it was time to rein these people in before they lost the thread completely.

FIONA: Fallon, help. What would you do?

FALLON: I’d fight it as long as I could, and then I’d give in and the orgasms would be AMAZING. Wait, that *is* what I did.

What followed was a bunch of high-five emojis from her sisters and puking faces from her brothers before one last text from the oldest.

FRANKIE: Blocked. All of you.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. In truth, Frankie was the biggest advice-giver of them all, just as long as it was done in secret where no one would realize what a sensitive softie the big, tough firefighter really was. But Fallon had already given Fiona the answer she needed. She had to fight it. The second part wouldn’t come into play, because Fiona wouldn’t let it. She had a plan and she was sticking to it. No more men. This wasn’t dating for fun. This was dating for Nana.

She kept repeating that to herself as she gathered up the rest of the items that Peacock had scattered in his enthusiastic attempts to sniff every last smell. By the time she was done, the dog was asleep in the middle of the bed.

“This is what I get for not actually hating dogs.” She sighed as she got in the bed, grumbling to herself, “I really do need to make better life choices.”

And she would, especially when it came to Dixon Beckett. He was not for her. Not at all. Not even a little. Of course, if he snuck into her dreams, she just might be okay with that.