Toria

I'm not actually the kind of person who likes to shower at public places like gyms. I grabbed my gym bag and purse from my locker, sneaked out, headed home, showered there, and drove to my older sister's house in Maple Valley. It took me over an hour to get there. Traffic was a bitch. Typical for the Seattle metro area.

By the time I arrived, dinner was ready and on the table. I had a few hours with Kellie, my brother-in-law Sam, and the kids before the children went to bed and Sam headed out for a night with the guys. That left my sister Kellie and me to our night together.

We'd planned to watch a movie, but Kellie quickly took control, also typical. She wanted to talk.

"Thank goodness those two went to bed easily tonight. Those little bugs will wear you out." She sat cross-legged on the sofa with a glass of wine to soothe her nerves. A day of mothering wore her out and wasn't the best endorsement of future motherhood. If I'd been smart, I should probably have been scared off the idea.

But though Kellie complained voraciously, and I saw firsthand that her life wasn't glamorous—but then, neither was mine—I wanted a husband and children for myself. And suddenly Cam's face inserted itself into that dream. Some people don't believe in instant love or love at first sight. But not me. As someone who's experienced it before, I'm a believer. In regard to love, when I needed sunshine, I got sunshine. And I needed it now.

At one time I'd been so close to having the dream. Close to having a husband, at least. I loved children. At two and four and a half, my niece and nephew were adorable little bugs, as Kellie called them.

"Soooo. Who's the guy?" Kellie eyed me over her glass as she took a sip, closed her eyes, and sighed with happiness. "Tell me all about him."

I laughed. "Who's the guy? I've known him for two days and had exactly two dates with him. What all do you think I can tell you?"

She opened one eye. "Naïve baby sis." Her grin was devilish. "Is he well hung?"

I nearly spat out my wine. "Hung like a horse." I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"Liar. You have no idea."

"Did you miss the part where I said we've had two dates?"

"Dates aren't a requirement for judging hungness. I knew how well Sam was—"

I held up my hand. "Uncle. TMI. That's you, not me. I'm the good girl of the family."

She laughed.

"Seriously. Ashley, our matchmaker, has a rule—no sex until five dates, two months, or exclusivity. Break that rule and woe unto you. You've succeeded in having sex for fun, not finding a life mate. How to succeed in love, according to Ashley. She's written a bestselling book on it."

"Good for her," Kellie said. "I'll look it up. You're forty percent of the way to the goal line. You like this guy. You're hot for him. It's written all over your face. If you'll take some advice from your big sis, cure yourself of the itch. Get those five dates in ASAP and then see if he's worth keeping."

I laughed. "Has anyone ever told you you're a corrupting influence?"

She shrugged and refilled her glass. "Never."

I shook my head. "Consider yourself served."

She laughed. "Seriously—has the matchmaker made a difference? Could you have found this guy or better on your own?"

"Obviously not," I said. "I mean, I didn't, did I? This was my first match, and things are going pretty well."

"First match. Immediate sparks." She grinned at me over her wine. "Either beginner's luck or she's as amazing as advertised."

Kellie had been excited for me when I told her about meeting Ashley and signing up for her dating database. She looked pleased with herself and had that smug trust-your-big-sis look on her face. "You're being awfully tightlipped about this guy. What's the problem? Don't want to jinx it?" She raised an eyebrow.

Kellie was two years older than me. Neither of us were particularly superstitious, but we'd had a running joke about jinxing relationships for as long as I could remember. We had as many rules to follow for not jinxing things as Ashley had for making a relationship succeed. Getting too excited about a guy too soon was rule number one.

"I'm not ready to bring him home to Mom and Dad yet," I said. Which was only partially true. Yet being the operative word. Sometimes you get a feeling about someone. You just know things are right from the very beginning. I felt that way about Cam. But no, I didn't want to jinx it. I'd had enough of jinxes.

Kellie sighed dramatically. "All right. No jinxing. If you're not going to spill on how well hung he is, you can at least tell me something boring. What does Cam do for a living?"

"He's a tech millionaire. He developed a dating app." I described it, realizing that what I knew about was mostly what I'd read. Cam hadn't actually talked about it much or what he was doing now, since selling it. Probably counting his money.

"That app? That Cam? I've heard of him. He's loaded."

It was hard to tell whether she was impressed or jealous or both. Sam was a good guy. He made a good living, and so did Kellie. But they were by no means multimillionaires.

"Judging by the app and his connection to the matchmaker, he should be an expert dater, then." Kellie swirled her wine and lifted an eyebrow. "How are his moves? He must have made some?"

"He's been a perfect gentleman."

"That doesn't sound good," she said. "No chemistry?"

"Chemistry in spades." I told her about our dates.

Since she was "an old, married mom" now, she listened intently, living vicariously through me and peppering me with questions—Where does he live? Does he own a home? How does he spend his days? What's he working on now? Does he want children?

I realized that we hadn't talked about the facts of ourselves.

"We had two beautiful, astounding, fun dates," I said, not sounding defensive in the least. "I think it's a good sign that we're beyond the boring date questions—what do you do for a living? What's your favorite color, etc. If I want to know those things, I can ask Ashley for his profile."

I smiled, trying not to look too dreamy. "I'm seeing him again on Tuesday for a massage and on Saturday. He's promised to surprise me."

"You're certainly smitten with him."

"Risking a jinx, yes, I am."

Kellie pursed her lips, started to speak, and backed off. But just for a second. The impulse to second-mother me ran strong with her. It was a force of habit. Big sisters generally have a reputation for being bossy, and mine was no different. "I suppose working with a matchmaker is different. She screens out the liars, the cheaters, the deceivers, and the sponges. If I were you, though, I'd find out more about him. Not the public persona, not the one-quarter of Seattle's hottest bachelor thing, but him."

Yeah, he'd been voted one-quarter of Seattle's hottest bachelor with three of his friends, all of whom were no longer available. I knew that about him, but I didn't dwell on it.

"I know his character," I said. "He's sweet, kind, smart, confident, and thoughtful. He's not a douche, believe me."

We'd both dated far too many of those.

"What does he know about you?" Kellie said. "Have you told him about your awesome business?"

"Just that I'm defending my office space against an unknown entity of evil and arrogance."

Kellie let me divert the conversation to my troubles for a while and rant about the bastard who was trying to steal my office space from out from under me. "Believe me, Cam is the opposite of that douchebag."

"Does Cam know the details of your business? Have you told him what you do and why? Does he know why your mission is so important to you? Have you told him about Adam?"