Page 203 of On His Team

I kiss him. “I’m happy for us.”

His hands settle around my waist, and he chuckles. “Yeah.”

That admission gets him another kiss.

By seven, the happiness has turned into nerves. Not enough to make me regret anything. Just enough that when we pull into Hawthorne, and I see the cars lining the street, my stomach gives one hard flip.

Everybody is here.

I was fine in my apartment. I was fine picking up sushi. I was fine in Rowan’s truck. Now I can see people through the front windows of Hawthorne, and suddenly this feels like walking onto a stage.

Rowan shuts off the truck. “You good?”

“Yeah.” I look at the house. Then at him. “Excited.”

He gets out and comes around to help with the food. I carry two bags, he takes the rest, and we start toward the porch.

Halfway there, Rowan shifts everything into one hand and reaches for mine. His fingers slide between mine. I look down at our hands. This is the part that feels new.

Walking into Hawthorne holding his hand and knowing nobody is going to pretend not to see it. I squeeze his fingers once.

He glances down at me. “Ready?”

“No.”

He smiles. “Okay.”

“Don’t okay me.”

His smile widens. Then he opens the door.

The house is already loud. Blue and Melly are on the couch, Percy and Penelope beside them. Lucy is at the kitchen table with her legs across Benson’s lap. Aspen is leaning against the island while Stanley stands in the middle of the kitchen telling some story with both hands. Mara and Mila are digging through something on Mara’s phone.

Stanley sees us first. He’s standing in the middle of the kitchen with a plastic cup in one hand, halfway through telling Aspen something that has his other hand moving through the air. The second Rowan and I step through the door, the sentence dies in his mouth. His head pops out of the kitchen. Then his whole body.

His eyes land on my face first, then shift to Rowan beside me. He looks down at our hands. Then back up.

His mouth drops open.

That alone is enough to get Mara’s attention, because Stanley Ermington going completely silent in a room full of people is basically an emergency alarm. She looks over from where she is sitting with Mila near the island, follows the direction of his stare, and her whole face lights up.

“Oh my God.”

Every head in the house turns.

Bodies spill out of the kitchen.

Blue looks from me to Rowan. Aspen takes one look at our joined hands and starts smiling. Percy’s eyebrows rise, which is probably the biggest outward reaction I have ever seen from him.

And Benson—

My eyes find him without meaning to.

He is sitting with Lucy’s legs stretched across his lap, a drink in one hand, and when he sits forward and looks at us, there is no shock in his face. No confusion either.

His eyes drop to Rowan’s hand around mine, then return to me.

That’s all it takes for me to understand that my brother knows. He has known. Or suspected. He’s not shocked. He’s probably been watching this develop for longer than I gave him credit for.