“I get that. Are your brothers okay?”
“For the most part. I mean, they’re all worried about Mom, mostly. And about me.”
I leaned up again. “And are you okay?”
Jordan kept his eyes on the ceiling, thinking for a while before he answered with a small smile. “Yeah… I am.”
“You are?”
He nodded, sweeping my bed hair out of my face and holding my cheek as I leaned into the touch. “I still have a lot of questions, and a lot of feelings — especially regarding my biological parents. But… mostly, I feel at peace. I feel like my dad can finally rest, that my family can finally heal, that we can finally have justice and resolution that we have wanted for so long.” He paused, tapping my nose. “And I have you,” he whispered. “Which, honestly, is what makes me feel the best right now.”
I smiled. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said on a nod, leaning up to kiss me gently before he rolled us so he was nestled between my legs, and my head was flush against the pillow. “I know we still have a lot to figure out, but… hearing that you love me? I think that gave me the sense that nothing else matters.”
My heart squeezed. “I wanted to tell you before all of this. You know that, right?”
“I wanted to tell you, too. At Thanksgiving, actually. But then everything happened with Mallory, and you were so upset, and I didn’t want to put any pressure on you.”
“I seem to remember you putting a lot of pressure on me that night,” I teased, rolling my hips up to meet where he rested between my thighs.
He groaned, pinning me with a kiss before he pulled back and smiled. “It’s just crazy. My entire life, I watched Mom and Dad love each other and wondered if I’d ever find someone like that. And honestly, I’d given up. My brothers found their girls, and I watched from the background, just imagining that I would never be able to open myself up like that, or to have someone who would open up to me like that, either.”
“And then I came along.”
“Yep. And you put my ass in place.”
“Someone had to.”
He chuckled. “Well, you were perfect for the job.”
“I knew I was in trouble after that first game,” I confessed. “When we fought in my office, and you were all up in my space, and you looked at my mouth like you wanted to kiss me.”
“I did want to kiss you,” Jordan groaned, and he kissed up and down my neck like a feverish mad man as I laughed and shoved him off. “And I’ve wanted to kiss you every moment since, too.”
“We broke all the rules.”
“I’m sure we’ll break a few more.”
He hovered over me, eyes searching mine as I played with the hair at the back of his neck.
“I love you,” I mouthed.
“I love you, too,” he mouthed back.
Then, his head disappeared under the covers, his lips trailing a path down my navel to the band of my flannel pajama pants.
And we were done talking for the night.JordanThe next day, Sydney and I gathered with the rest of my family at Mom’s house before the parade.
It was tradition in Stratford — which I found pride in, seeing as how it could only be tradition if we won. The town had thrown one the past two years after we’d won the State Championship, with the team being the focal point.
I knew this one would hold more weight.
The entire town was buzzing with what had happened with Patrick Scooter and Randy Kelly, with more and more accomplices to my father’s murder being outed each day.
And this would be the first time my family and I would make a public appearance.
Ruby Grace and Mallory made a giant breakfast for everyone at Mom’s, and I sat at the table, mostly playing with my food and watching everyone who sat around it. Everyone was there — my brothers and their significant others, Mom, Betty, Sydney, Paige, and even Sydney’s sister, Gabby, who was visiting from out of town to help with Paige.
She’d already pulled me to the side to threaten me within an inch of my life if I hurt her little sister.
But I know she believed me when I swore I never would.
“You look like you’re about to play the championship game,” she teased me. “Not go to a parade celebrating the fact that you already won it.”
“Oh, that’s just his permanent state of being,” Betty chimed in. “He’s the quiet type. Sydney didn’t tell you?” Betty clucked her tongue. “Could be in a romance movie with all that broodiness.”
Gabby laughed at that, and Betty steered the conversation away from me and onto Gabby’s job, which Betty seemed to be interested in. She was especially interested in Gabby’s hot doctor boss. And Betty winked at me as the conversation turned, as if she knew I just wanted to be alone.