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Isabel fanned herself. “Not anymore. Not after what I saw lastnight.”

“I knew there was a tiger in there,” Gia said. “She just neededthe right woman to bring it out in her.”

“I have needs, too,” Hadley said. “I just don’t express them allthe time. I actually enjoy sex a lot.”

Gia touched her coffee mug to Hadley’s, who nodded back at her in appreciation,because she wasn’t a shrinking violet. It was true that she’d never been ago-getter and hadn’t exactly taken the dating scene by the horns in the past,but that was because she was aromanticand it was important to wait for someone she truly connected with. She feltthat connection with Spencer, ideal or not.

“So, you enjoy sex. You’re an unleashed tiger, but you stillwhisper swear words. How does that work?”

Hadley shrugged, because that answer was easy. “Swear words areentirely different from sex. They’re forbidden and crass. At least when I saythem. Sex is natural and amazing and sensual.”

Isabel pointed at her. “You are the most foreign creature.”

“Tell us more,” Autumn said.

“Well, she’s a really good kisser. The best, actually. Not at allshy or timid about it.”

“She wasn’t,” Isabel said seriously. “I love it when they justgrab you and go for it, and you walk away wondering what the hell just happenedto you, ya know?”

Autumn and Gia nodded in hearty agreement.

“That was last night.”

Isabel grinned. “Trust me. I know.”

“What else?” Autumn asked. “Give us more. We need it. This islifeblood for a cooped-up mom.”

“Well, Hadley had Spencer up against the car in one of thosemoves.” Isabel stood to demonstrate.

“Oh, that’s lovely,” Autumn said, sighing.

“But Spencer had a hold of Had’s waist and then her neck and thenface.” Isabel swapped out positions to demonstrate Spencer’s portion, like thecover of a torrid romance. “I have to say that they were a very evenly matchedpair.”

“Wow,” Gia said, blinking hard. “Then what?”

Isabel straightened out of her pose. “They talked for a minute andthen more kissing.”

Hadley smiled and nodded at her friends. “That’s true. There wasdefinitely more.”

“More passion this time,” Isabel said dramatically, leaning acrossthe table like a leopard. “Lips were parted. Tongues clashed. The sidewalk wason fire.”

Autumn and Gia smoldered, and for the first time, Hadley could nodalong with them, because she got it now. The romance novels had not inventedmoments like last night. They weren’t unicorns in the mist. Unbridled passionexisted! And there could quite possibly be more of those moments in her future.But then she remembered the rest.

“It’s not all great, though,” Hadley said, deflating their veryfull balloons. Three crushed faces turned to her in accusation. She was killingtheir fantasies of romantic grandeur, and as much as she hated to do that, sheneeded advice.

“No. Really?” Isabel asked, in disbelief. “What’s gone wrongalready? This was mere hours ago.”

“Spencer doesn’t believe in marriage or forever.”

Her friends stared at her. “Okay,” Autumn said, holding up acautionary hand. “That doesn’t have to be awful. Whatdoesshe believe in?”

“That people find each other for a reason and drift in and eventuallyout of each other’s lives, making way for a new chapter. That’s how she put it.Life is about chapters.”

“Chapters,” Gia said. “Nope. I don’t get it.”

“I’m as cynical as they come, and even I’m not that dark,” addedIsabel.

Hadley shrugged, not sure she could explain something she didn’tfully understand herself but gave it a try. “She’s an artist, so she has herown take on the world. I also think her parents’ divorce might be aninfluencing factor.”