Page 116 of Just My Type
“Yeah, yeah,” I grumble, wondering what everyone’s deal is today.
I throw open the front door to the brownstone and leave Cooper at his first-floor apartment, taking the stairs two at a time to the top floor.
“Don’t say goodbye or anything,” Cooper yells after me.
“You’ll survive,” I yell back.
Panting slightly, I reach the top. Throwing open the door of Hannah’s apartment, I walk straight into the living room, desperate to get my arms around her. “Four hours is an eternity, Gorgeous!” I yell as I yank my shirt over my head. “You better be naked!”
I toss my shirt to the floor and then freeze as I take in my surroundings. “What the…” I trail off as Hannah strolls into the living room, wide smile on her face.
“What do you think?” she asks.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
NOAH
Ilook around Hannah’s apartment, trying to understand what I’m looking at. “What is happening right now? Where am I?”
On the surface, it’s a stupid question, but in reality, my brain can’t process what my eyes are seeing. I know I’m in Hannah’s apartment, but it doesn’t look like Hannah’s apartment at all. Her couch is still here, but the chairs that face it are the ones I bought three years ago when I decided to start living like an adult and less like a surgical resident who only spends, like, ten hours a week at home. The six-seater round table that used to be in the dining room is gone, replaced by the dining room table that, until this minute, was in my dining room downstairs. Family pictures that used to be in my living room are now hanging on Hannah’s wall, and looking past her to the kitchen, I see my mugs lined up in her glass-fronted cabinets.
I look back at Hannah, at her bright smile and her sparking green eyes, and what I see on her face has my heart galloping in my chest. I take a step towards her, linking my fingers with hers. “What’s going on, Gorgeous?”
She shrugs casually, smile spreading. “You moved.”
“I what?”
“Okay,” she starts. She pushes me backwards gently, and when my knees hit the couch, I sit down, and she takes the seat next to mine. “See, I’ve been doing some thinking, and it occurs to me that we might have skipped a very important step in the wholewe got married, andact out my fantasies, andyou’re my muse, andI feel forever about you.”
“Did we?” I ask, loving whatever playful mood she’s got going on, even though I’m still not entirely sure what’s going on.
She nods, tucking her feet under her to face me on the couch, her eyes holding mine. “The one where I tell you I love you.”
Every single thought slips from my brain while Hannah’s words play over and over, my heart thudding against my ribs. The words dance around us in the air, and her apartment is immediately brighter. Warmer. The world is beautiful and the sky is lit up like the Fourth of July and every single color on earth is brighter and I am a different person than I was thirty seconds ago.
She loves me.
No single moment has ever been better than this one.
She must sense that I am entirely without words even though my brain is screamingI LOVE YOU TOO, because she grins at me and keeps talking.
“I love you, Noah. You are the best person I have ever known. You helped me find my words when I was missing them and gave me more fun over the last few months than I’ve had in years. You’ve stood by me and with me and you haven’t ever asked me to be anyone other than who I am. You make me feel safe and steady and braver than I have ever been in my life. You are joy and laughter and light, and I never want to live a single day without you, ever again.”
Hannah splays her left hand out between us, and her wedding band circles her ring finger. My stomach swoops as she tucks afinger under my chin, bringing my gaze back to hers. “I don’t just feel forever about you, Noah. You are my forever.”
“Hannah,” I manage, my throat clogged with emotion and tears burning my eyes. Cupping her face in my hands, I lay my lips on hers in a kiss that’s soft and sweet and tastes like forever. Then it’s not soft or sweet as I pour everything I feel for her into it. I tilt her head back and lick along her lips, diving inside when she opens for me to sweep my tongue against hers. She tastes like candy and sweetness and something that is quintessentially Hannah.
Mine.
Possession roars inside me, but I force myself to slow down. To break the kiss and rest my forehead against hers, thumbs stroking her cheeks so I can give her part of me too.
“I love you too,” I whisper, feeling everything inside me take flight at finally letting the words free. “I love you,” I say again, louder, leaning back so I can see all of her. The eyes I love so much are clear and full of happiness as she watches me. Waits. And then, exactly on brand for me, the words come so fast they practically trip over themselves in a race to get out of my mouth.
“I’m pretty sure I fell face first in love with you the day we woke up in Vegas and you looked at me like you wanted to tear my balls off and told me to be so fucking for real while you were holding your dress to your chest with one hand so it wouldn’t fall straight to the floor. Every moment we’ve spent together since has been the best moment of my life because I’ve spent it with you. I love being your licorice supplier and biting the ends off your Twizzlers so you can use them as a straw, and sitting on the roof with you, and doing things at midnight because we both know it’s the best time of day. I love that I get to be your muse and witness your absolute brilliance as you tell your stories because writing is the thing that you were absolutely meant to do, and I love that I get to watch you do it and have your beautiful words all over my shelves. I love that we got married, even if it happened by accident, and I hope that thering on your finger right now means you want to stay that way because I sure do. I want to tell everyone in the whole entire world that you’re my wife and I’m your husband because I love those words and I love being married to you and I just love you.”
I dig into the pocket of my shorts and pull out my own wedding band, holding Hannah’s gaze as I slide it onto my finger, taking her left hand in mine. “I love you, Hannah. Always. Just the way you are. You are exactly, perfectly, mine.”
A tear slides down Hannah’s cheek and I reach out, catching it with my thumb and wiping it away a split second before she launches herself at me. With a watery laugh, Hannah straddles me, wrapping her arms around my neck and holding on tight. I wind my arms around her waist and bury my face in her hair and breathe her in, feeling everything inside of me settle.
