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CHAPTER THIRTEEN

AMELIA

“ E lliot’s airplane girl is here. This is her.

” Noah gestures to me with a massive grin on his face, immediately dispelling the awkwardness I feel standing by the table currently occupied by Noah and two other insanely attractive men, all of them dressed in running clothes, faces still flushed from the cold.

Good lord, the Wyles genes are fucking spectacular.

“Sorry about them,” Elliot murmurs from behind me. “They’re going to be insufferable.” His breath ghosts over my ear when he speaks, and a shiver works its way down my spine.

I turn slightly, suddenly fully aware that if I moved my head one inch, I could graze my lips over the stubble on his jaw and also overwhelmed by the need to do just that.

I take a deliberate half step away to try and get a little distance, giving me a full view of him in his own running gear, which does absolutely nothing to dump ice water on my attraction. “Don’t worry about it. It’ll be great.”

He smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes like it usually does, and I wonder if he’s nervous. He’s still himself, but it’s like his volume is turned down slightly.

Before I can ask him if he’s okay, the guy sitting next to Noah lets out a low whistle, his lips curving in a slow smile.

“No fucking way,” he says, his gaze drifting down to where my pinkie is still linked with Elliot’s and then up to Elliot’s face, his searching expression giving me the impression that he’s checking to see how Elliot feels about all of this.

The protective vibes are strong with this one.

I’m almost positive he’s the youngest, but it’s obvious that he misses nothing.

“Jo is going to lose her shit,” the fourth guy says, his bright blue eyes alight with curiosity.

“My girlfriend,” he clarifies, the love on his face unmistakable.

“She’ll be here in two minutes, and she’s been rooting for this love story, so be prepared for that.

I texted her already. You better save the story about whatever is happening right now until she gets here, or there will be hell to pay.

Also, hi, I’m Jordan and that’s Cooper.” He waves his hand at the younger guy across the table. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

“This is Amelia,” Elliot says from behind me, his pinkie squeezing mine just a little tighter.

“Before you bombard her with a million questions, remember that you’re all adults with manners and shit.

” He doesn’t say anything about Jordan’s love story comment, and I allow myself to indulge in a brief fantasy where I’m here meeting his brothers as part of a couple, instead of what we are, which is two people insanely attracted to each other, kept apart by bad timing and circumstance.

“But are we really?” Noah asks, big grin still planted on his face.

I laugh, which dispels my angst over our current situation, and sit down in the chair Elliot pulls out before he takes the seat next to me. “It’s fine, El. I have a brother. I know how it goes.”

“Well then you should know that obviously we’re going to need to know everything,” Noah says, propping his elbows on the table and resting his hands on his fists, glancing between Elliot and me.

“My question from before stands. Are you, like, together? How long have you been keeping this from us?” Noah shoots a narrow-eyed, accusatory gaze at Elliot.

“I’m here! Sorry I’m late! You better not have gotten to the good stuff yet!

” Before either Elliot or I can answer Noah, a woman about my age dashes up to the table.

She’s a whirlwind of brown hair, fuzzy jacket, and pink Converse sneakers.

She flops down in the empty chair between Jordan and me, cupping his face in both hands and kissing him enthusiastically.

“Hi,” she says when they break apart, grinning up at him.

“Hey, Hurricane,” Jordan says, leaning in and kissing her again, matching grin on his face. “We saved the good stuff for you.”

“Bless. Traffic was murder,” she says, shrugging out of her jacket at the same time she turns to me, grin still plastered on her face. “Hi, I’m Jo, and I am so fucking happy to meet you.” She is sunshine in human form, and I like her instantly.

“I’m Amelia. Or I guess you might know me as airplane girl,” I say, grinning back at her.

“Oh, my god,” she squeals. “The first time I came to Boston with Jordan over the summer, Elliot told us he met a girl on a plane, and he was, like, half in love already.”

“I was not,” Elliot grumbles while managing to sound amused too. When I glance over at him, his face holds nothing but affection for his brother’s girlfriend.

Jo scoffs. “You completely were. And now you’re here. This is the best day of my life. I can’t believe you found each other. The way you just walked into his classroom, oh my god. I’ve definitely read that romance novel before.”

“You read romance?” I ask her.

“Absolutely I do. You?”

“Yep, romance and true crime. It’s a weird combination but, well, I’ve kind of always been the weird girl.”

“Gah, same, I love you already.” She whips out her phone and unlocks it, holding it out to me.

“Give me your number, I’m adding you to the group chat I have with my sister, Hannah, and these guys’ mom, Pam.

She’s the best. We have an informal romance book club of sorts.

My oldest sister sometimes joins too. You’ll love it. ”

“Slow your roll, Jo Jo,” Elliot says, his voice carrying a protective edge that does something to my insides. And…other parts of me. “How do you know she wants to join a book club?”

“Oh, I definitely want to join a book club,” I say, taking Jo’s phone and typing in my number.

I don’t usually open up like this, especially around a table full of strangers, but something about Jo’s cheerful enthusiasm has me wanting to beg her to be my friend.

I don’t have very many of those. Any of those, actually.

Something tells me Jo is an excellent friend.

“See?” Jo says, shooting Elliot a look. “We try and meet a couple times a month. My sisters live in Pittsburgh, so it’s mostly me hanging out with Pam with my sisters on video chat, but Pam is amazing and now you’re here, so you can come hang with us.

I’ve been in the market for a new bestie since this one got upgraded to boyfriend. ” She hooks an arm through Jordan’s.

“I’m not at all sure how I feel about you looking for a new bestie, Jo Jo,” Jordan says, leaning down to press a kiss to her hair in a gesture so sweet it makes my chest ache.

Jo leans up and kisses his jaw. “Listen, J, you know you’ll always be my number one, but there are a lot of men around this table and in my life, and my sisters live too far away. I need a Boston badass girl gang.”

“Well, I don’t know if I’m badass, but I think I’d like to be a part of a girl gang.”

Elliot presses his leg against mine under the table. “You are so completely badass, Mystery Girl. And brilliant.” I lean slightly so the right side of my body presses up against his, my entire body lighting right up at his proximity, and the note of awe in his voice when he talks to me.

Fuck, I’m gone for him.

I’ve kept my distance the last week or so after the dean walked in on our lunch date.

The suspicion on his face and his too intense questions about what we were doing had anxiety curling in my stomach while I thought about all the ways this could blow up my life—not to mention how it could affect Elliot’s job.

But when I walked in here and saw him earlier, my heart literally leapt, and I now know for certain staying away from him isn’t going to change the way I feel.

Everything about it is a risk, and I’m not sure I’m ready to take any kind of leap, but I do know that I like being around him, and for now, that feels like enough.

“Mystery Girl, huh?” Cooper asks, sitting back as the waitress comes over and pours coffee for everyone and takes our orders.

Jordan orders two different breakfasts in what is obviously some kind of inside joke because he winks at Jo, who promptly flushes and smiles softly at him.

Then I order a Diet Pepsi and practically die when Elliot tells the waitress to leave the empty mug sitting in front of me.

Ten out of ten, I will not survive the way my body, mind, and heart react to this man.

“Okay,” Noah says when the waitress walks away. “Mystery Girl. You’re here when last we heard this was all forbidden and shit. Explain, please.”

“Yep,” Jo says, tearing open two Splenda packets and pouring one into her mug and one into Jordan’s, while Jordan does the same with the milk. Fuck, they’re adorable. “We need to know all the things. How long has this been happening? And most of all, why didn’t you tell us you’re together?”

“We’re not,” Elliot and I say at the same time.

“Wait, what?” Cooper glances between us.

Jordan wraps an arm around Jo and looks over at us. “You look pretty cozy for not together.”

“What he said.” Jo points to Jordan.

Elliot glances at me, and somehow we manage to have a whole conversation without speaking.

I don’t have to tell them.

They’re your brothers.

That doesn’t matter. You matter.

It’s okay, really.

Are you sure?

I nod slightly, and he studies me for a few extra seconds, his deep blue eyes locked with mine in a way that makes me feel like we’re the only ones in the room. Then he sighs, pressing his leg against mine again as he looks around the table.

“Amelia is helping me with a project, so we’ve been spending some time together. The professor/student thing hasn’t gone away, and the dean of the computer science department is suspicious, and it all makes this…complicated.”

He doesn’t mention to his brothers that the project we’re working on is a personal one, which makes me wonder whether he’s told them.