Free It Must Be Your Love: The Sullivans by Bella Andre

time. “We all know what Ford Vincent looks like, and I can imagine what poetry falling from his lips would sound like, especially if the sex really was as great as you said. Honestly, I don’t know how easy it would be for anyone to get over someone like him.”
    Mia’s stomach twisted tight at Brooke’s words. She could always lie to herself. But to her friends? It was another one of the big reasons she’d never mentioned her week with Ford. Because she wouldn’t have been able to lie about what it had done to her.
    “He’s the only man I’ve ever loved. And no matter how many times I look back and remind myself that I was young and foolish and still in a place where I believed that fantasies were possible, and that it was perfectly normal for me to lose myself entirely in him and his oversized life...” She sighed. “What I felt for him was still real, despite all of that other nonsense.”
    “You know,” Colbie said slowly, “maybe there’s another reason why he was able to get past your defenses this morning. From everything you’ve just told us, it sounds like you never got a chance to give him a piece of your mind, not five years ago and not today either, because he made sure to take you by surprise. I, for one, would sure like to hear you rip him to shreds.”
    Though Mia had already said what was supposed to be her final goodbye to Ford, she couldn’t help but feel that Colbie was on to something.
    Brooke gave Mia a pointed look. “The only problem is, do you think you could give him a tongue-lashing without yours ending up in his mouth again?”
    It was the same question Mia was already asking herself. Because she hadn’t yet figured out the honest answer to it, she said, “What has my brother done to you, Brooke? I never thought you’d talk about tongues lashing in any way.”
    Her friend was flushing but grinning a wicked little grin as she said, “Don’t you mean, what have I done to him ?”
    Halfway through her friend’s sentence, Mia’s hands were over her ears. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you say that. Although it’s totally my fault since I keep forgetting how weird it is to think about my brother’s sex life. Especially when it’s with one of my best friends.” She made a show of scrunching her eyes up and shaking her head hard a couple of times as if to toss the vision away. Far, far away from her brain.
    “Does that mean that it’s not weird for you to think about my sex life with Noah, since he’s not related to you?” Colbie teased.
    “Are you kidding?” Mia replied, glad to feel like she was back in the normal world for a few seconds. “If you knew how many times I’ve thought about your fiancé naked...”
    The three of them laughed, but all the while Brooke’s unanswered question hung in the air between them. Mia had never been a woman who wavered. She had neither the time nor the inclination to waffle back and forth on important decisions. She wouldn’t start now.
    “We’ve got Marcus and Nicola’s wedding in Napa this weekend,” she said to Brooke, who would be attending with Rafe, “which should give me a little rational distance from Ford’s sudden reappearance this morning. Monday morning I’ll call him and finally get it all off my chest.” Having a plan made her feel better, back in control of her life, the way she should be. “I’ll even let him make whatever apologies he feels he needs to make and then I’ll forgive—and forget—him completely.” She met her friends’ gazes, one after the other, before adding, “And I promise there will be absolutely no instances of my tongue going into his mouth during any of it.”
    “Here’s to only putting our tongues into the mouths of the men who deserve us!” Colbie said as she raised her glass in a toast.
    “To Mia, for being one of the most strong and amazing women I’ve ever known,” Brooke added as she raised her glass.
    Mia lifted her glass to press it against those of