Page 29 of Sweet Twins For My Brother's Best Friend

The air between us crackles with newfound tension as Hannah and I stand in my kitchen, our lips still tingling from the heat of our first kiss.

It's a moment suspended in time, teetering on the precipice of uncertainty and possibility.

But then, just as quickly as the spark ignited, it fizzles out into an awkward silence.

Hannah's words hang heavy in the air, the weight of her confession settling like a stone in the pit of my stomach.

My hands are still on Hannah Jackson’s ass. That’s a sentence I never imagined being true. Hannah breaks away from me, her hands flying to cover her mouth.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her again, swallowing, afraid that she already regrets it. I can still taste her mouth on mine.

"I'm a virgin," she murmurs, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment as she averts her gaze.

For a moment, I'm at a loss for words. My mind races, grappling with the weight of her revelation.

Disgustingly, the first thing I think of is Tyler. I wonder how bad Tyler would kick my ass if I not only dated his sister but took her virginity, too.

And it was going so well just a moment ago.

I want to reach out to her, to reassure her that it's okay, but I’m choked by the swell of emotions swirling within me.

Instead, I simply nod.

She pushes my body off hers. I want to grip her hand and tell her not to leave, not to be embarrassed.

I want to tell her that I don’t care about any of that, but instead I stand looking at her. She looks small, which is impossible at 5’9”, but she does. She’s hunched her shoulders forward and her hair falls forward like a curtain.

My heart aches for her, but words elude me. I hold my hands out and bend my fingers at the knuckles like if I try hardenough I can pull them from the air, the perfect sentence already prepared.

Hannah gathers her things to leave, her bag and her papers, and at the door she turns to look at me, her teeth grinding at her bottom lip.

She wants me to say something, and I want to say something, too. A strange sound comes out of me, a word stifled before it ever turns into one.

“Bok choy?” comes out, but it’s not what she wanted to hear, and it’s not what I wanted to say, and she rolls her eyes before slamming the door.

The weight of her confession hangs heavy in the air, casting a pall over the room as I watch her retreat, a knot of regret coiling in the pit of my stomach.

I'm left standing in the wake of her departure, grappling with the aftershocks of our encounter.

I run my thumb over my lips, thinking of her warm mouth on mine, the serious look she had given me before taking my face in her hands.

Little Hannah Jackson being a virgin was not at all a twist I had considered.

She’s so beautiful, so self-assured, that I wouldn’t have thought that men were something she had trouble with. And if theyaren’t, does that mean she’s been waiting…did she tell me because she wanted me to take her virginity?Could I even do that?

I don’t know that I have what it takes to deal with the emotional aftermath of our encounter.

Since Julie, I’ve struggled with emotional vulnerability, and only Hannah has been able to reach down far enough to find it.

A few days later and my mind has been bustling nonstop from Hannah to my finances, back and forth like a very confusing game of ping pong.

Work used to be my solace when life got hard, but now work feels like a minefield because I’ve got no idea when it’s coming, the realization, the bomb dropping.

Eventually, I have to face the money problem, and I know that.

Or do I? It’s only $120,000 a year. No biggie. Joking, I really do know I have to face it.

Worse yet, I’ve been avoiding Tyler, afraid that we’ll hang out and he’ll see the kiss on my face somehow.

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