Baking Me Crazy (Donner Bakery, #1)(74)

His eyes searched mine, his mouth opening and closing a couple of times before he spoke.

"There's something I never told you," he said, his fingers twining through mine. "And it might sound a little … crazy."

"Oh gosh, now what?" I eyed him. "Is it some weird, disgusting quirk you've hidden all these years? Because we signed a twelve-month lease, and I really don't want to move again if you're about to tell me something about you is a deal breaker."

Our house—a small two-bedroom bungalow on the south side of Bellevue—was perfect for us. All on one floor, wide doorways, a covered patio large enough for Nero to be able to go outdoors, and a kitchen that I could maneuver easily in. After our first trip to Seattle, we'd both decided that downtown life wasn't for us even though we loved to explore it on the weekends. If he was about to tell me something freaky, I'd really, honestly kick his ass out and keep the house for myself because I loved it.

"I don't think it's deal breaker status," he murmured, still smiling at me. Ugh, we were disgusting. All he had to do was smile in my general direction, and I wanted him to do naughty things to me. "Do you remember me telling you about when my parents met?"

Insert my confused blinking. "Uhh, I think so? They were super young, right?"

Levi nodded. "Fifteen. My dad told us the story a hundred times growing up. Just like we heard the story about how his dad met his mom. And how my great-grandpa met my great-grandma and the same for their parents."

"Levi," I said on a laugh, "what are you talking about?"

He let out a slow breath. "I used to think their stories were crazy, that it wasn't true, that the men in our family were … cursed in love."

My eyes narrowed. "What now?"

"Not cursed in a bad way," he rushed to add. "But, it's like, every man in the Buchanan family falls in love once, and it's fast, and once they meet her, they know. And there's no going back, no one else could ever come close."

As he said it, eyes serious and glowing and intense in a way I'd never seen, I felt my cheeks get hot. But still, I laughed under my breath. "You can't be serious."

"Trust me, until the day I saw you, I thought the entire thing was just some wacky Southern family story."

I licked my lips. "And what happened the day you met me?"

Levi smiled again, and I felt that smile in my heart.

"My world shifted," he answered, leaning forward to give me a soft kiss. "I don't know how else to explain it. Before then, I would've bet a million dollars that love at first sight wasn't real, couldn't be real."

I sat back, staring into his face. "Levi, you're seriously telling me that the day you saw me, not even the day we talked, you fell in love with me. That some weird family legend had us … like, fated or something?"

He shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know what terms to use, Sonic. Fate or destiny or a curse, all I know is that once I met you, there'd never be anyone else. Not ever."

"That's why you asked me out even though we'd barely spoken," I said, my brain furiously trying to replay that day in the community center more than five years earlier. It wasn't cemented in my memory, not like it was for him, I had to assume. For me, it was the day I met my best friend, and some snippets of it were clear, and some were fuzzy. I rubbed a hand over my heart, that organ currently flopping around in my chest like a gasping fish.

"Are you freaked out?" His thumb traced the knuckles of the hand he was still holding.

I was shaking my head before I'd really processed my answer. "No. Not freaked out."

With a laugh, he cupped my face and pressed a sweet, sweet, lingering kiss on my lips. "Good. Because I kinda like living with you."

"I love you," I told him, my mouth brushing against his as I spoke the words. "I'm really glad that your wacky family curse exists."

He laughed. "Me too, Sonic. Me too."

We kissed again when I abruptly pulled back. "Dude, you're going to be late. What are you doing?"

"Dude," he repeated, "I've got plenty of time."

Our house was about thirty minutes north of the Wolves training facility, and he was supposed to be at work in forty-five minutes.

"You're not even dressed, Levi."

He rolled his eyes but stood from the bed, dropping a kiss on my head as he did. "It'll take me four minutes to get ready."

"Men," I muttered. "You don't even know how easy you have it."

Levi was still laughing as he grabbed some athletic pants and his black Washington pullover. His phone buzzed from the top of our dresser, and I turned my chair so I could grab it for him.



Grady: Tell me that moving to Green Valley is a good idea because I think I'm trying to talk myself out of it.



With a grin, I handed him the phone, watching his smile broaden as he read his cousin's text.

"So obviously Grady hasn't been cursed yet," I said.

Levi typed out a response before looking up at me. "Not yet, but they were raised by their mom out in California, so I don't think they ever actually thought it was true. She and my uncle Glenn had a nasty divorce when I was little; I don't even remember them being married because they met at college out west. Kinda makes it hard to believe in love at first sight if your parents are the example, you know?"