Page 60 of Yours to Lose
Our eyes hold for a beat and something intense passes between us before Jordan leans over the center console and wraps his arms around me, pressing a kiss to the side of my head. “Thanks, Hurricane. You’re the best.”
“Oh, I know,” I say with a smirk when we break apart. “I’m fantastic.”
“Here.” Jordan clicks on his phone and flips to his Gallery, clicking on a picture and handing it to me. “I forgot to show you this earlier today.”
I look down at the phone and grin at the picture of Dippy wearing a scarf covered in cars. “Your commitment to dressing him appropriately for the occasion is noted and appreciated.”
“Scroll forward.”
I scroll to the next picture, and it’s Dippy wearing a Pittsburgh Renegades scarf, and then one of him in a scarf covered in the Statue of Liberty. The smile I’m wearing is so enormous I must look borderline deranged. “You took three pictures?”
Jordan shrugs, shifting a little like he’s uncomfortable. “Today is Friday and we won’t be back until Sunday. Three pictures for three days. I didn’t want to break the streak.”
I beam up at him. “Jordan Wyles, you are too good for this world.”
He shakes his head, taking back his phone when I hand it to him and dropping it into the center console. “I’m not. I just like it when you smile. I like being the one who makes you smile.”
With our eyes locked, we both fall silent for a beat, the air thick between us, heavy with an unnamablesomething. Asomethingthat seems to wrap around us, pulling us closer to each other. Jordan’s eyes are dark, and my heart thunders in my chest. The space between us slowly disappears until we’re just inches apart, and his cinnamon-scented breath flutters over my face as a shiver works its way down my spine, and it’s just him and me and want and need and the pure, unadulterated rightness of it all.
The squeal and banging behind me has us jerking apart. I hear Jordan inhale sharply as I whirl around in my seat to see Hannah grinning at me through the window and waving like a lunatic.
“Fuck,” I mutter. I close my eyes and take a breath, trying to calm my galloping pulse as I turn back around to face Jordan, who’s still looking at me, his expression a mix of shellshock and confusion. “I’m sorry about that. Her. I don’t know. All of it.”
That we almost kissed.
That I wish we had.
That most of all, I hope we didn’t just fuck up the best friendship I’ve ever had.
I feel a gust of relief when Jordan does the exact right thing, which is to lean over and wrap his arms around me again, whispering “I’ll see you Sunday,” into my ear.
When we break apart, he has a half smile on his face, and it calms my heart down the rest of the way. “If you need me, call. Seriously, J. Anytime. Day or night.”
He nods. “I will. Have fun with your sisters. Snuggle all the babies.”
Hannah pounds on the window again. “Jo, get the fuck out of the car.”
I roll my eyes. “Sorry about her. She’s annoying as fuck, but I love her.” I push open the door to the car, grabbing the Fireballs on my way out. “I’m taking these. You don’t deserve them after the way you wimped out after only, like, twenty.”
He groans. “Take them. I never want to look at another Fireball ever again.”
I flash him a grin. “Liar. You’ll be begging me for them on the way home.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Don’t you have some babies to get to?”
“You know it. Have a good weekend, J.”
“You too, Hurricane.”
I get out of the car and grab my bag from the back. As I stand on the sidewalk in front of Hallie’s house and watch him drive away, Hannah lets out a low whistle and wraps her arm around me. “Girl, you’ve got some explaining to do.”
I blow out a breath and lean into her, taking comfort in the familiarity of my sister. “Hans, you literally have no idea.”
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
JO
Fifteen minutes later, I’ve hugged Hannah and Hallie for five straight minutes and smothered Caitlin and Jack with kisses, and now I’m planted on the couch with a sister on either side of me and a baby in each arm. It’s good to be home.
