Page 16 of Just My Type
He chuckles. “It’s way better than fine and you know it, but we live to fight another day. Anyway, let’s get down to business. I have a proposal for you.”
I take a sip of my latte and I do, in fact, make a humming noise. Fuck.
Noah snorts out a laugh. “Just fine though, right?”
I circle my hand in aget on with itgesture, even though, if I was being honest with myself, I would say that this may be the best morning I’ve had in a long time, Noah is really good company, and I’m not in any kind of hurry to kick him out of here.
Good thing being honest with myself is not where I excel.
“Okay.” Noah puts his coffee down on the table and looks at me, eyes serious. “Last night you told me you can’t write.”
I suck in a breath and clench my fists, my hand tightening so dramatically on the mason jar handle that I’m sort of worried I’m about to break it right off. I know I can’t write. I live in my head. But hearing Noah say it so matter of factly has something akin to grief settling in my chest. God, I miss it so much.
“That made you sad,” Noah says quietly.
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Yes. It’s one thing to think it in my own head. Even for me to say it. But something about hearing it from you is a shock to the system. I miss it. I miss it so much, and I don’t know how to get it back.”
Noah nods, taking my free hand in his. His palm is warm against mine, and something about our fingers twined together is so comforting that I leave my hand exactly where it is.
“What if I showed you what a real boyfriend is like?”
“What if youwhat?” I exclaim, a little louder than I intended. This time, I do yank my hand away from his.
Noah just laughs and hands me another donut, which I take because if there is ever a time for multiple donuts, this is it. “Hear me out. You told me you can’t write because you think you’ve never experienced a real relationship. Your ex-boyfriend was an asshole, and it’s fucking with your head. What you need is a little reprogramming.”
“And you want to do that by, what exactly? Pretending to date me? I’m pretty sure I read that book. Fuck, I wrote that book.”
“I know,” he says absently. “It was one of your best.”
Noah’s gaze snaps to mine, and I can see all over his face that he didn’t mean to say that. But he did say it, and I can't unhear it. “You read my books?”
He just shrugs. “I’ve skimmed one or two of them. Anyway, back to you.”
I just stare at him, trying to make sense of this man. He takes advantage of my silence to start talking again, moving straightpast his maybe confession of being a closet romance reader. A closet romance reader of my books.
What a weird fucking morning.
“I don’t want to pretend anything. I want to show you how a man is supposed to treat a woman he cares about. I want to take you places. Make you coffee in the morning and buy you dinner. Do fun Boston things and have movie nights and hang out together when we all go to Vegas for Jordan and Jo’s bachelor/bachelorette party. It sounds like you haven’t had the easiest time in the last few months.”
“More than a few months,” I mumble, taking the last bite of my second donut.
Noah nods like he understands. “You need a reset. You need to have some fun, and I promise you, I am really, really fun. Let me show you how you deserve to be treated, Gorgeous. Then you’ll know what the real thing is like, and you can go forth and write your swoony book boyfriends once again. At worst, we’ll have some fun. At best, maybe it’ll help your brain make stories again.”
I think I might be losing what little I had left of my mind, because at the earnest look on Noah’s face and the excitement in his voice while he makes his borderline insane proposition, I find myself wanting to say yes. Wanting to put my entire career in this man’s hands. Because nothing else has worked, so honestly, what do I have to lose? But there’s one thing I can’t figure out, and the question falls directly out of my mouth.
“Why would you help me?”
CHAPTER SIX
NOAH
Why would you help me?
It’s a reasonable question, so I’m an idiot for not having an answer ready. I definitely need a better one thanI kind of adore you and I haven’t been able to get you out of my head for three fucking years, and I’m so glad you broke up with your asshole boyfriend because you deserve so much better and also I’m pretty sure I would do anything for you and I don’t totally understand it but I don’t think these feelings are going away and this way I can help you and also be near you because I really like being near you.
Yeah, that’s definitely not going to work.
Instead, I say something simple, but no less true. “Because I want to.”
