Page 53 of Just My Type (The Boston Hearts #3)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

NOAH

“ I know that look,” I say to Jordan, glancing over at where my brother stares down the long aisle between rows of chairs as wedding guests take their seats. “You’re thinking about something dirty.”

It’s absolutely true, but I mostly say it to distract Jordan, who is practically vibrating with anticipation as the four of us and Ben stand at the front of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Hall of Sculpture where we’re waiting for Jo to make her entrance.

Jo used to work at the museum before she moved to Boston.

It’s one of Jordan and Jo’s special places, and a really cool place to have a wedding, but I don’t think Jordan really sees any of it.

Never has there ever been a more impatient groom.

Cooper backhands me across the chest. “Can you go, like, one second without being gross?”

I just turn to Jordan, looking at him expectantly. He glances at Cooper and shrugs. “He wasn’t wrong.”

Elliot laughs, which sets off not only me and Cooper but also Ben.

Then Jeremy, Asher, and Gabe crack up from their seats in the front row, and I literally watch the nervous energy drain out of Jordan, replaced by a relaxed sort of happiness mixed with something else I can’t quite name, but Elliot seems to understand.

“We’re all thinking about her too,” Elliot murmurs to Jordan, and I know he’s talking about Allie.

Jordan turns to him, giving him a grateful smile.

“I know. I think she’d get a kick out of all of this.

” He gestures to the soaring ceilings of the Hall of Sculpture, the massive replica of Dippy, this dinosaur that Pittsburgh is famous for and Jordan and Jo are obsessed with, and the high-top sneakers we’re wearing with our tuxes because Jo told us that life is way too short to wear uncomfortable shoes.

I grin at Jordan. “Everything in here looks exactly like Jo.”

Cooper leans around me to talk to Jordan. “It’s perfect. Jo really takes herself wherever she goes.”

Jordan grins back at him. “It’s my favorite thing about her. One of my favorite things. Fuck, everything about her is my favorite thing.”

I reach around Elliot and squeeze Jordan’s shoulder, just as music fills the hall. My gaze snaps to the back of the room, and my brain empties of every conscious thought.

I inhale sharply as Hannah appears. Her pale purple dress dips low in the front and leaves her shoulders bare.

The material floats around her legs as she walks, shimmering under the dim lights.

Under different circumstances, I would be admiring the bare expanse of her thigh that peeks out through the slit in her dress or thinking about the way I want to run my tongue over every inch of smooth, glowing skin.

But it’s Hannah’s face I can’t look away from.

Her eyes lock with mine, her expression filled with joy and a touch of heat and something that looks a whole lot like love as she walks towards me, and it has my stomach flipping with anticipation, like I’m hanging at the top of a roller coaster, about to take flight.

Her brown waves tumble down her back and her eyes sparkle, and with each step she takes, my heart pounds harder.

The entire room fades until it’s just Hannah and me, and as she walks towards me, it’s easy to imagine that she’s walking towards me in a room full of our family and friends for an entirely different reason.

Even though legally we’re already married, I want the image my brain conjures more than I want to take my next breath.

Mine .

It takes every ounce of restraint I possess not to stride up to her and claim her in front of this whole room. To kiss her breathless and demand that Ben marry us instead, even though we are, in fact, already very, very married.

“Dude, cool down,” Cooper mumbles under his breath. “You can’t maul your girlfriend at our brother’s wedding. I figured you got it out of your system last night. I heard you sneak in when the sun was rising.”

I huff out a laugh because yeah, I did sneak in when it was basically already morning, after spending the night lying under the stars with Hannah in Hallie and Ben’s backyard.

And doing…other things in Hallie and Ben’s backyard.

Cooper is wrong about one thing, though.

There is no amount of Hannah that would ever get her out of my system.

She’s part of me for good. But I cannot, in fact, maul her at my brother’s wedding.

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly, and with my eyes steady on Hannah’s, I slip my hand into my pocket, closing my fingers around my wedding ring. The feel of the smooth silver band grounds me to this moment.

To her.

When Hannah reaches the front of the room, she gives me a grin and a wink, taking her place on Ben’s other side.

We may be six feet apart, but in every way that matters, we are tethered tightly together.

As Hallie comes down the aisle and Ben murmurs that’s my girl , as Jordan gets impatient and leaves his spot to meet Jo halfway down the aisle and walk her the rest of the way, as they make promises to each other that are full of laugher and love and a few tears, as they exchange rings and Jordan kisses Jo like she is the reason he breathes, Hannah’s gaze doesn’t stray from mine.

She is the reason I breathe. And from the look on her face, she knows it.

I want her to know it. I want her to understand.

She’s everything.

When the ceremony ends and everyone heads back down the aisle, I find myself standing next to Hannah, my eyes still locked with hers. We should be walking down with everyone else, but I’m frozen, my feet fixed to the spot and refusing to move, and Hannah is right there with me.

I reach up and push a piece of hair behind her ear, letting my hand linger on her cheek as feelings swirl inside of me.

“Hannah.” It’s all I can say, her name laced with every emotion I can’t fit into words.

Hannah’s eyes shine, and her lips curve up in a small smile as she leans into my touch and brings her hand up to cover mine. “I know,” she says quietly. “Me too.”

I’m lost in her, unable to break away, not sure how I’m going to make it through the rest of this night without telling Hannah how much I love her. How much I want every single thing between us to be real.

Marriage and all.

“Dude, they need us for pictures. And I’m not sure if you’ve forgotten, but there’s a wedding reception to get to.” Elliot’s voice breaks me out of my trance, and I blink back into the room. Right. Brothers. Family. Wedding. Pictures. Be here now.

I huff out a little laugh, and when I look at Hannah, she’s grinning at me, like she knows exactly where my mind went, and if I’m not mistaken, her mind went to the exact same place.

It settles me the rest of the way down, realizing that we’re both right here, right now.

Together. There’s time for everything else.

I smile and wink at Hannah, holding out a hand. “Want to go to a party with me?”

She smiles back and slides her palm against mine. I get a little zap of electricity where our skin touches and my chest fills with warmth. “Are you asking me to be your date?”

I lean in and press a kiss to the top of her head, breathing in her vanilla scent, and say the first words that come to me. “I’m asking you to be my everything. What do you say, Han?”

For a few seconds I think maybe I’ve gone too far, but then a brilliant smile spreads across Hannah’s face, and she bumps her shoulder with mine. “I say you better save me a dance.”

I grin, and we start walking towards the sounds of the cocktail hour kicking into full swing. “Gorgeous, all my dances are for you.”