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“Ryan, that is ridiculous.”

Jumping up from the couch, he storms over to me and grabs my arms, yanking me up off the couch and pulling me in close. “No, it’s not.”

His grip on my arms is painful and as I wiggle out of his grasp, I try not to panic. Backing away from him, I shake my head because I know this is going nowhere good tonight. He takes a step toward me, reaching his hand out and I flinch, backing away from him.

“You’re afraid of me?”

I take a step back. “You put your hands on me tonight.”

He blinks, like he can’t quite comprehend what I’m saying before recognition fills his eyes.

“You mean when I grabbed your face?”

I nod and he starts laughing, taking me completely by surprise. Anger and embarrassment swirl around inside me, fighting for dominance as I watch him laugh in front of me.

“Baby,” he coos, as if speaking to a small child who just told him a tall tale. “You are so dramatic.”

“I am not dramatic,” I growl, my anger winning out but it just makes him laugh harder.

“Sure you’re not, sweetheart,” he says, reaching out and grabbing me. He pulls me into his body and presses his lips to the top of my head, his body still shaking with laughter. “Let’s go to bed, huh?”

In my shock, I allow him to lead me into the bedroom and as I climb under the covers and stare up at the ceiling, I wonder how the hell I got here.

* * * *

Checking my appearance in the mirror one last time, I grin, letting my gaze runs down the white lace dress I picked out for tonight. I know I’m not supposed to know about my own surprise party but the men in my family are the absolute worst at keeping secrets, especially when it comes to me. All I had to do was produce a few fake tears in front of Tucker about how everyone was busy on my birthday and he was spilling his guts. Not that I was all that surprised anyway. Birthdays are big in the Harrington household and my parents always went the extra mile to make the day special for us. When we were little, Daddy would take us out for a special breakfast before we came home to a party filled with all our friends. Mom would make us each a cake and it never mattered what elaborate design we dreamed up. She always came through.

Slipping behind the wheel of my car, I turn the radio on and blast Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke as I back out of the driveway. I swear, nothing is going to be able to bring me down today. This is also the first birthday that Ryan and I have spent together and I’m excited to see what he got for me. Unfortunately he had to work this morning but I made my brothers promise that they would invite him to the party.

Pulling into the parking lot, I smirk. It’s fairly empty but I can see the tail end of a car poking out from behind the building and I wonder if Moe made everyone park out back. There’s plenty of room but more than a few times we’ve stumbled across a gator while taking the trash out. I pull into a spot right in front of the door and turn the car off before jumping out. As much as I want to rush inside, I force myself to stop and take a breath before calmly walking to the door and throwing it open.

“Surprise!” rings out from all around me and I laugh as Trey and Tucker shoot off confetti from both sides of the door. The bar is packed with all of our family and friends as a live band plays country music from the stage. Purple and white streamers are strung all across the room and the smell of barbecue fills my nose.

“Wow, you guys,” I exclaim, trying my best to act surprised but Mama’s not fooled. She turns to my brothers and puts on her best “stern” face.

“All right, y’all. Who spilled the damn beans?”

Tucker raises his hand. “Yeah, sorry, that was me. She started crying, though. What was I supposed to do?”

“Every year,” Mama mumbles as she turns to me with a wide smile on her face. “Happy Birthday, baby.”

“Thanks, Mama. And thank you for the party.”

She wraps her arms around me, pulling me into a hug that still has the power to make everything feel all right in an instant. “Of course.”

“Can’t believe you’re twenty-five,” Daddy says, shaking his head. “I swear, it was just yesterday I was carrying a little pink bundle home from the hospital.”

Trey and Tucker both roll their eyes as I laugh and let him scoop me up in a hug.

“Are we going to do this every year, Daddy?” I ask and he nods.

“Damn right we are.”

“Yeah, yeah, Happy Birthday, Em,” Tucker says, rolling his eyes again and I punch him in the chest.

“Don’t be a butt.”

He rubs the spot I hit and playfully glares at me. “Ow. See if you get a present from me now.”