Once we got into the house and set the cake on the counter, it took Emmett roughly thirty-eight seconds to tell his mom I had, and I quote, broken up with my fist because I had a girlfriend. My brother-in-law literally doubled over and howled with laughter so hard I think the fucker almost pissed himself.

“Emmett!” Jamie scolded sternly. “I told you that wasn’t what I said—wait a minute! What do you mean, girlfriend?”

“Her name’s Julia and she made my bots,” he informed her. “She makes sweet things.”

Jamie’s eyebrows shot up as she looked to me in shock. “You’ve been dating someone and you didn’t tell me?” she shrieked.

“No, I—”

“We met her at the shop and he just asked her, Mommy. Why’s you yellin’? I thought you wanted Unca Ry to have a girlfriend.”

“Hold on a minute,” she said as her eyes darted between Emmett and me. “What the heck? Did you even know her before tonight?”

I shook my head, but Emmett answered before I could.

“Nope, but he’s gonna marry her and give me…” Emmett trailed off, looking to me for an assist. “What are them called again?”

“Cousins,” I answered with a laugh. “Lots and lots of cousins.”

Jamie huffed out an annoyed sound and gave me a dirty look.

“You two are hilarious. You had me going for a second there.”

Emmett shrugged. “I’m gonna go watch Iron Man with the girls,” he said before walking out of the room.

Jamie scowled at me as she went and stood next to Harrison, who was still chuckling about Emmett saying I was breaking up with my fist.

“Neither of us were kidding,” I assured her. “I asked Julia on a date and as soon as she says yes, I’m going to marry her.”

Harrison stopped laughing, mostly because his jaw dropped open in shock. He and Jamie stared at me like I’d grown a few more heads.

“What the actual fuck happened at that bakery?” he asked.

I took a seat on one of the oak stools at the island before answering. “Everything happened,” I said after a few seconds. “I saw her and I just knew. No doubts, no equivocation, no uncertainty. I’m meant to spend my life with this woman. She’s the one.”

Jamie looked concerned. “Do you have a headache? Does everything smell like hardboiled eggs? That’s a sign of a stroke,” she babbled.

Before I could get a word in edgewise she plowed on.

“Wait! Did you eat anything while you were in there? Maybe a brownie or some magic mushrooms? Shit,” she hissed frantically, “we’re going to need to throw away the cake. Clearly that place is selling laced goods because there is no way you’re this gone over someone you just met. They seemed so nice…”

I waved her off. “Jesus, JJ. Way to take it to Defcon one. I’m sober as fuck, never felt steadier or more solid a day in my life. Facts are facts. Julia is it.”

JJ’s expression was dubious. “So in the last hour and a half you’re telling me you’ve gone from confirmed fist fucker to ready-to-settle-down-man?”

Harrison barked out another laugh, which I shut down with a glare. Being known as the fist fucker was really not cool.

“All I can tell you is what I know,” I said when I looked back at Jamie.

“Ryan” she huffed, “you barely believe in love much less love at first sight.”

“I do now,” I answered.

“What the hell?” she asked.

I shrugged as Harrison looked at me curiously.

“You’re serious about this, aren’t you?”

I nodded. “More serious about this than I’ve ever been about anything.”

He nodded before he turned and wrapped an arm around Jamie’s shoulder. “Remember when we met, baby?”

Jamie’s face took on the dreamy quality it got whenever she and Harrison talked about any portion of their love story.

“Yes,” she said sweetly. “You were in the seat next to me at the Twilight movie with your little sisters. They forced you to take them to the midnight show, and you were mad that it was sold out since it meant you had to sit next to strangers. I remember walking toward you and feeling some kind of weird pull. When I sat down and you looked over, I was so flustered I dropped half my troth of soda into your lap, while the other half wound up in mine.”

“How many hours passed before I asked you to marry me?” he asked.

Jamie giggled and leaned into him even more. “I see what you’re doing.”

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at them both. “Uh, anyone want to clue me in? As far as I know, you asked her to marry you a month after you met.”

Jamie blushed as she rubbed her pregnant belly and beamed up at Harrison. “We left the theater together to dry off in the bathrooms. We ended up talking in the hallway the entire time the movie was playing. Missing the midnight premiere of Twilight to stand and talk to a guy… I knew I was in love with him from the first. I’d read those books nearly a dozen times each and I’d had my ticket for almost a month but none of that mattered when I met Harrison. My friends came to check on me twice, convinced I was losing my mind, but I waved them off both times. I just wanted to be with him.”

Harrison traced a finger across her cheek reverently as he smiled down at her. “I asked her to marry me as the movie let out and people started spilling out of the theater. She said yes. The next night I took her back to the movies to see Twilight, and we haven’t spent a day apart since.”

I knew that part. I’d hit the roof when I realized my sister admitted she’d moved in with a guy I’d never met, someone she’d only known for a matter of hours. I’d grown to love Harrison like a real brother, but for the first few months I really thought they were both whacked out of their fucking minds. After meeting Julia, I understood exactly why they’d needed to be together from the first.

“So you understand,” I said. “That’s what this was like. I saw her through the window—just the back of her—and I felt the craziest pull. When she turned around and looked at me, I almost fell on my ass. She’s everything.”

“Do you think she felt the same?” Jamie asked hopefully.

I nodded definitively. “It’s almost bizarre how sure I am of all this. The connection—we both felt it. I’m taking her out tomorrow and I’m never letting her go. She’s just… mine. And I’m hers.”

“Hmm,” Jamie murmured. “I wonder…”

I waited for her to follow up, but she just stared at me like she was trying to solve a mystery.

“You wonder what?” I prodded.

Hands on her hips, she cocked her head to the side. “What’s your gut say about a pre-nup? Yes or no?”

I glared down at her as I shook my head emphatically. “Absolutely not. What’s mine is hers. Not that it matters since we’re never getting divorced.”

“Holy shit,” she whispered, “you’re really serious and all the way in with this girl.”

“I am,” I confirmed.

I spent the rest of the night thinking about Julia. I was anxious to know everything about her. Did she like coffee, or was she a tea drinker? What was her favorite season? How would it feel to have her under me in bed? What would she want to name our children?

I barely slept a wink due to my dick being hard as a titanium rod for hours. I could’ve taken myself in hand but I knew it wouldn’t help. The only thing my dick wanted was Julia.

* * *

The following morning, I went to Emmett’s birthday party and hung out with the kids for a few hours. I was thrilled that my meeting Julia meant my sister didn’t try to hoist me off on Harrison’s friend's secretary. Like every other woman I’d ever met, she did nothing for me. Julia was the only one who had ever sparked my interest. More accurately, meeting her had started a fire inside of me.

My sister was cool about my leaving a couple of hours before the conclusion of the party because she understood why I was going. Emmett was pretty psyched that my departure meant he was able to slice into his robot cake early. True to his word, he let me munch on a fondant covered rice crispy filled leg. The cake was the best I ever had, and I planned to enjoy a lot more of Julia’s baking for years to come.

The anxiety I’d felt being apart from Julia for almost twenty hours slowly melted away the closer I got to her work. When I pulled into an empty space in front of the store I took my first deep breaths of the day. Seeing her through the glass settled me—even as it made my cock harden. Barking out a laugh of disbelief, I adjust my jeans so that the head was tucked against my waistband. Since my blue t-shirt was not tucked in, I was in the clear. No one would be any the wiser to my perpetually hard situation.

When Julia looked over and smiled the second I stood from the car, my heart skipped a dozen beats. I’d spent twenty hours thinking about her and her effect on me, but it was even more potent than I’d remembered. I kept my eyes on her as I strode across the sidewalk and walked into Sweet Like Candy.

“You’re here,” she said shyly as she came around the counter.

I grinned at her as I did what I’d wanted to do every second since I’d seen her the first time. Without hesitation I reached out and linked my fingers through hers.

“Did you think I might not show up?” I asked.

She hung her head shyly before nodding. “I started to think maybe it had all been a figment of my imagination,” she admitted.

I squeezed her fingers. “This is all real,” I assured her.