Page 49 of Just My Type (The Boston Hearts #3)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

NOAH

“ I s that strippers?” Cooper asks at the knock on the door of our hotel suite.

I snort out a laugh, dropping my phone on the coffee table and standing to answer it. “Why would you think it would be strippers?”

Cooper shrugs, leaning back on the couch, beer bottle dangling from his fingers. “I honestly don’t know. None of us have ever gotten married before. I don’t know how it works.”

I have to practically clamp my mouth shut to avoid telling him that Jordan is not, in fact, the first of us to get married.

Fuck, I want to tell them. I want to yell from the rooftops that Hannah is my wife.

I want her to be my wife forever. But I’m also fairly attached to my balls, which she will absolutely remove from my body in the most painful way imaginable if I spill the secret before she’s ready.

Jordan tosses an Oreo at Cooper’s head. “It’s food, asshole. We ordered pizza.” Cooper catches the Oreo on the fly and shoves it into his mouth. “How it works is that we eat the pizza and then I go to Hallie and Ben’s house to sleep with my girl. ”

I pull open the door and take the pizzas from the delivery guy, coming back into the room and setting them onto the coffee table.

“Aren’t you not supposed to see the bride before the wedding?

Bad luck or something. Isn’t that why we got a massive hotel suite?

So we could all stay here together the night before? ”

Elliot laughs, slapping my hand away when I reach for a slice and handing me a plate. “Use a plate like an adult. Jesus. Also, are you new here? As if Jordan would ever spend a night away from Jo when he didn’t have to.”

Jordan rolls his eyes. “Like you’re any better. How long before you’re driving straight to Gabe and Molly’s house to hop into bed with Amelia?”

Elliot grins, grabbing his own pizza slice. “I’m not the one getting married tomorrow, so it isn’t bad luck for me to see my girl tonight. I’m giving her some time with her brother and sister-in-law, but when you leave, I’m out too. I’m sleeping there tonight.”

Cooper nudges me with his elbow. “Looks like it’s just you and me in here tonight.”

“Hang on.” I look between Jordan and Elliot, dropping my plate on the coffee table. “You guys get to see your girls, but I don’t get to see mine?”

Jordan gives me a lazy grin. “You’re so obsessed with Hannah; I just figured you made plans to see her tonight too.”

I frown at him. “I would have, but I thought we were having night before your wedding brother time.”

Jordan shrugs. “We are. That’s what this is. And then later I get to have night before my wedding with my girl time.”

“Can’t even spend an entire night with his brothers,” Cooper mutters. “It’s like we’re not even us anymore.”

Jordan just laughs. “Do you need me to cuddle you to sleep or something?”

Cooper reaches over me and punches Jordan in the shoulder. “Fuck off, I’m just feeling protective over brother time now that the three of you are all coupled up. It’s like I never see you anymore.”

I toss an arm around Cooper’s shoulders. “We literally live together, dude. And if you don’t see us, it’s because you spend more time at your office than you do at home.”

Cooper blows out a breath and leans back against the couch.

“Fuck,” he mutters. “I know, and I’m mostly just kidding.

I think maybe I’ve forgotten how to go with the flow lately.

” He turns to Jordan, his expression softening.

“If I haven’t said it enough, I’m really happy for you.

And I think you should spend tonight with Jo.

Fuck tradition. You’ve been through enough.

If you want to spend the night before your wedding with your girl, then that’s what you should fucking do. ”

Jordan reaches behind me and ruffles Cooper’s hair. “You’re the best, Coop, even if you have been kind of a grumpy asshole lately.”

I pick my plate back up, taking a giant bite of pizza. “Can we get back to the thing where El is going to Molly and Gabe’s to be with Amelia, and Jordan is going to Hallie and Ben’s to be with Jo, and I’m here without my girl? That doesn’t seem fair at all.” I turn to Jordan. “I’m coming with you.”

“You’re coming with me where?”

“To Hallie and Ben’s. My w—” I break off, stopping myself from saying the word wife just in time. “My girlfriend is your almost wife’s sister, or did you forget that little detail? Hannah is staying at Hallie and Ben’s too.”

“You know,” Elliot says thoughtfully. “Sometimes I literally do forget about that. We’re a weirdly tangled web.”

I shrug. “I kind of like it like that. It’s nice, this big, sprawling found family of connections. Like this is the way it was always supposed to be.” I wince as I replay my words in my head, looking at Jordan, realizing how they sound. What he’s been through.

Before I can open my mouth, Jordan smiles a little and holds up a hand, as if he’s reading my mind. “It’s okay, Noah. ”

I shake my head. “It’s not. I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to insinuate that what happened to Allie was meant to be. I didn’t mean that.”

Jordan reaches over and lays a hand on my shoulder.

“I know you didn’t. And it’s okay, I swear.

Jo is my whole damn world, and I’m so glad I get to marry her tomorrow.

That she’s our family now too. It doesn’t lessen what I had with Allie to say that Jo is meant to be a part of us.

She is. And it doesn’t take anything away from what I have with Jo that I’m thinking about Allie a lot this weekend.

” Jordan’s eyes go soft. “Some people don’t get to have even one love of their life, and I’m lucky enough to have had two.

I can miss Allie and grieve what we didn’t get to have and also know without one single doubt that Jo is my future.

I’m not going to Hallie and Ben’s tonight because I can’t spend a night without Jo.

I’m going because I know better than anyone how short life can be, and I don’t want to miss a single minute of mine. ”

My heart aches a little at Jordan’s words, even as pride swells in me for how far he has come. How hard he worked to put himself back together when his life fell apart. No one deserves this happy ending more than he does.

“Fuck, Jordan,” Cooper says, sniffling a little. “When did you get so wise?”

Jordan grins, grabbing another piece of pizza and stretching his legs out in front of him, crossing his ankles. “I’ve always been wise, but I get to be introspective the night before my wedding when I’m having pizza with my brothers.”

“You didn’t want to invite your friends?” Elliot asks, standing up and grabbing another beer out of the minifridge in the corner. I thought the same thing earlier. Jordan’s best friends all live here in Pittsburgh, so I figured he would want to be with them the night before his wedding too.

Jordan shakes his head. “We hung out earlier today, but they all have little kids, and it’s easier for them to be home before it gets late.

And I kind of wanted it to just be us tonight.

” He glances at the three of us. “It’s nice.

Besides, without any of the girls around, I figured it would be as good a time as any to ask Noah what’s been going on between him and Hannah since he spilled his guts at ax throwing a few weeks ago.

” He turns to me. “You called her your girlfriend. Does that mean things are going well?”

I give him a lazy grin. “You could say that.”

My brain plays a highlight reel of the last couple of weeks with Hannah.

Since our night on the roof when I made her read to me, things have been amazing.

Better than amazing. Perfect. I’ve spent almost every night at her apartment, and I get to wake up with her every single morning, bringing her coffee and muffins in bed before she’s even awake, instead of just leaving them at her door.

We’ve explored every inch of Boston together, gone on a North End food tour, and spent endless amounts of time strolling bookstores, pointing out books we’ve both read or books we want to read.

We end almost each night on the roof, me with my Kindle in my hand and Hannah with her laptop on her knees, stopping to read me little pieces of what she’s writing as she works.

She’s almost done with her book, and having a front row seat as she created it is the best part of my days.

I love her so much my heart is practically exploding with it, and the only thing that would be better is if I could tell her.

If I could give her the words that bubble up inside me every time we’re together, just dying to get out.

And if she would tell me that she’s staying in Boston for good.

That this isn’t a temporary place for her, but one she wants to make her home.

With me. I know she’s getting closer. I can feel it.

But I also know she’s not ready yet. I would wait for her for an eternity, but that doesn’t mean I’ve suddenly become a person with patience.

I am who I am.

Cooper snorts out a laugh. “That’s an awfully satisfied smile on your face for someone who didn’t even try and make plans with his girl tonight. I figured you for sneaking right out of here after dark. ”

“Right?” Elliot says. “You guys are always walking around in the middle of the night. It’s like your thing or something.”

“How do you know?” I ask, realizing it’s a stupid question the second the words are out of my mouth.

Elliot rolls his eyes. “We literally live together. We may have separate apartments, but I live right below you and I hear every damn thing. I also know I never hear your footsteps in the morning, which means you’re spending your nights on the top floor with Hannah.”