Page 410 of The Winslow Brothers

I blush. But also, I smile. “That sounds promising.”

“Oh, Rach. This is just the beginning.”

Over five months later…

Saturday, July 20th

Ty

“You ready for lunchtime, Tilly?” I grin down at Matilda, and she purrs her approval. Once I set down a bowl of tuna on the kitchen floor, I rub my fingers through the soft fur at her back. “Here you go.”

She purrs again, rubbing her side against my leg, but only dallies about ten more seconds before getting down to chow-time business.

Miss Matilda used to be the official cat of Little Rose Bakeshop, but about a month ago, after Rachel and I moved in to this Greenwich Village apartment together, my girl missed her feline friend too much to leave her behind.

Though it did take an undercover, secret-agent mission of us sneaking into the bakery after hours when Lydia and Lou weren’t there to successfully get Matilda to our apartment, we eventually managed to move her in.

Rachel’s sister wasn’t that thrilled—pretty pissed, actually—but she got over it when Rachel gifted her with a new “service animal” bakery cat. A boy this time, that Lydia and Lou named Heathcliff.

Personally, I’m a fan of theWuthering Heightsreference, even if that wasn’t the intent.

My phone vibrates from the kitchen counter, and I snag it off the marble surface to find a text from my eldest brother.

Remy: I’m on my way.

Fucking finally. I’m not sure when his plane from LAX landed, but it feels like he should’ve been on his way over an hour ago.

Me: You got the goods?

Remy: No, Ty. I’m just coming over to have afternoon tea.

Smartass.

Me: At least tell me this, you bastard, are said goods being carefully handled and protected during transport?

Remy: Yes.

Me: By yes, do you mean that you are guaranteeing that you are not going to lose, drop, or ruin the very expensive goods on your way here?

Remy: For fuck’s sake, Ty. Relax. I’ll be there soon.

Relax?Pfft.It’s hard for a man to relax when he’s relying on his brother to deliver the most important thing he’s ever purchased.

What am I talking about? Well…the answer to that question would be…an engagement ring.

Rachel’sengagement ring, in fact.

The ringI’ve been searching for ever since she told me she loved me at my sister’s house, in the middle of a Winslow family dinner. A dinner that was planned under the false pretenses of us meeting our mom’s main squeeze, Howard, but I later found out was planned by RemyforRachel. I didn’t end up meeting Howard—who is actually a pretty nice guy—until a few weeks later when my mom found the courage to drag him into the viper’s den that is her four protective, asshole sons and nosy-as-hell daughter.

But that dinner where Rachel ambushed me in Winnie’s dining room? Well, it changed my life. It sent me from rock-bottom misery to a man on top of the fucking world. A man who can officially say: love isn’t bullshit. It’severything.

Yeah. I know. Pretty damn crazy, huh?

I, Ty Winslow, have found the one woman who makes me the kind of man I used to make fun of Flynn and Jude for being. And even though I hate to say that ol’ Crazy Cleo was right, the quackwasright—fate led me to finding the one woman I want to spend forever with.

And after Remy drops off the ring he picked up for me from an expensive LA boutique while he was in town meeting with some rich hedge fund investors, I plan to get down on one knee and ask Rachel to marry me.

The whole idea makes me smile so big it should be embarrassing, but fuck, I’m a man in love, and I don’t care who knows it.

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