Page 54 of Just My Type
Sensing my discomfort, Jo reaches out and clasps hands with me. She may be frustrated that I won’t tell her everything, but I know she has my back no matter what, and in this moment under the stars, I’ve never been more grateful for her.
“He’s a very, very good man,” Pam says, giving me a look of such understanding that my eyes burn.
“I know,” I say quietly, not entirely trusting my voice right now. “I’m not just using him because I can write when I’m with him, I swear.”
Pam waves that away. “Hannah honey, I would never, ever think that. I don’t think I’m wrong when I say you’ve been though a lot. And for what it’s worth, I think he needs you just as much as you need him.”
“He absolutely does.” Cece nods. “I knew the two of youwould be a match from the start. You have very complementary auras.”
“What was the start, exactly?” Amelia asks. “When Jordan and Jo got together?”
“Oh, I think it goes back a whole lot farther than that,” Cece says.
The look she gives me tells me that she knows exactly how far back it goes and also exactly what happened in that hallway at the back of Ben and Jeremy’s bar all those years ago, but that she’s leaving it to me to decide how much to tell. I give her a grateful smile.
“We met for the first time three years ago,” I tell them. “At the bar, after Allie’s funeral.”
“You were there with Brett,” Jo says, her tone telling me she’s trying to put the pieces together.
I nod, my anxiety spiking at the thought of that day. The way Brett acted. What he said. What he did. The way I brushed it all off and stayed. God, I never should have stayed. “We just met briefly. It was no big deal.”
It was.
“I would venture to say it was a very big deal to Noah.” Pam furrows her brow in a way that tells me she’s arguing with herself over what to say next, and I’m instantly curious because Pam always knows what to say. Finally, she shakes her head and speaks. “He hasn’t dated much in the last three years.”
“How much is not much?” Amelia takes the words right out of my mouth.
Pam looks directly at me. “At all. He hasn’t dated at all.”
“Oh, my god,” Jo squeals, literally kicking her feet. “I love this so much. He’s been pining for you, and now it’s finally happening and we’re going to marry brothers and like I said, everyone’s going to live happily ever after.”
I have to metaphorically slap my hand over my mouth to keep from blurting out that I don’t have to get married becauseNoah and I are, in fact, already very, very married. For the moment. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“Too late,” Jo says. “Getting ahead of myself is my very best thing. And I need something to distract me from the fact that my wedding is still a month away. I want to get married right this minute.”
“That can definitely be arranged if that’s what you want, Jo Jo.” Jordan sidles up to the bonfire and picks Jo up from her chair, sitting down himself and settling her on his lap.
Jo kisses his cheek and leans against him. “Nah, I want the whole wild party, but I just wish it wasn’t so far away. And that I wasn’t so impatient.”
Jordan chuckles, wrapping his arms around her and pressing a kiss to the side of her head. Seeing the two of them together, how much they love each other, has my heart squeezing. “It’s my favorite thing about you.”
“Everything about her is your favorite thing,” Elliot says, leaning down to kiss Amelia and taking the chair next to her, capturing her hand in his.
“Like you’re any better.” Cooper grabs the bag of marshmallows from Cece’s lap and plops down on the grass. “Simps. Both of you. You too, Dad,” he says, as Rob settles on the arm of Pam’s chair, wrapping an arm around her and stealing a sip of wine from her glass. The look on Cooper’s face is soft as he glances at all the couples, and I can tell he likes seeing everyone settled, even as he lives to give them all shit. I think he’s a caretaker through and through.
“What are we talking about over here?” Noah asks, appearing next to my chair. His deep voice and the way he ghosts his fingers over my bare shoulder have a shiver rolling down my spine and lust curling in my belly.
“How our older brothers are displaying embarrassingly simp-level behavior.”
Noah opens his mouth and then slams it shut, glancing down at me, and I’m one hundred percent sure he was about to saysomething that would out us as…whatever we are…and stopped himself, not knowing whether I would want it broadcast. His care and understanding of what I might want or need makes me even more sure that telling everyone was exactly the right thing to do. For me and for him.
I smile and nod at him, hoping he gets the message, and I know he does because the grin that breaks across his face is dazzling and has my throat clogging with unexpected emotion.
“What about me?” he asks Cooper, sitting on the ground in front of my chair, leaning against my legs. “I’m a simp too.” He cranes his neck up to grin at me and then kisses my knee before settling back against me. My entire body goes haywire at the small contact.
“Are you though?” I can’t help but smile at the glint in Cooper’s eye. I love these brothers so much. “I haven’t seen much simp behavior from you. In fact, I didn’t even realize you and Hannah were actually a thing until just this minute, and you know how I hate being out of the loop.”
“For what it’s worth, I didn’t know until like half an hour ago and Hannah is my literal, actual sister.” Jo gives me a stink eye, and I just grin innocently.
