15. Daisy
***Daisy***
“Did someone die?” Flynn spoke up from the side door into the kitchen after slipping inside without me noticing. “I haven’t seen this much food outside of a funeral since the last time you were upset.”
I didn’t look up from the bowl of focaccia I was tipping onto a baking sheet.
It was a great excuse to not make eye contact with him after the night before.
Even as mad as I was at my sister, I still had space to be embarrassed.
“A couple of months ago I had a cake request come in for a funeral. That’s not completely abnormal, people like to buy their loved ones favorite baked goods as a special nod, but this one was…
Well, the woman wants a devil’s food cake with black frosting, licorice flavored filling, and she wanted us to write across the top.
Which is kind of strange for a funeral cake, but she took it one step further.
She wanted it to say good riddance. And the card?
She wanted it addressed to her husband, who wasn’t the diseased, and she wanted it to say that she hoped he’d join his mistress soon. ”
Flynn snorted. “Jesus. Did you do it?”
I did glance up then, eyes bright with mischief.
“Hell, yeah, I did it. How often do you get to make a cake like that? I refused to send it to the funeral, though. I’d only agree to send it if we sent it to her husband.
Thank God I thought to ask about allergies, though, because the way she hesitated gave her away.
He’s allergic to licorice. I skipped that part, of course. ”
“And here I was, thinking that you’re a rule follower.” He’d moved closer, his voice lowered in a way that sent tingles up and down my spine. “What made you do all this baking today?”
I pushed the dough to the edges of the baking sheet and chewed on my lower lip.
It was already raw from how much I’d been doing that same stress response.
“I found out that my sister is using her access to the bakery’s social media account to promote her and Tyler’s relationship.
She’s been posting as me cheering her on during her romantic journey across Europe. ”
Flynn stopped next to me and extended a finger to gently touch the dough.
I slapped his hand away and told him to wash first but it didn’t even phase him.
He leaned against the counter so he was facing me.
“And here I was thinking you were still being weird about what happened between us last night.”
I froze mid-pour, the expensive olive oil filling the small pot more than I’d meant for it to.
My pulse started its audition for a drum line and left me breathing heavier than I should’ve been.
I licked my dry lips and used the back of my wrist to dab at the sweat suddenly forming along my forehead. “You can’t just say that out loud.”
He caught my wrist and pulled it down and then used his other hand to gently dab at my forehead with a napkin. It was surprisingly sweet and everything I didn’t need while trying to forget what we’d done. “No?”
I looked up at him and felt the ground shift beneath my feet.
His blonde hair was curling wildly around his head, a little too long and a lot too handsome next to those blue eyes that left me thinking of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
It wasn’t fair that he was sporting Butch Cassidy charm and blue eyes while I was doing my best to forget what we’d done.
My voice had lost its lingering anger over Brooke; it was slightly shaky and so low it felt intimate.
I had to look away so he couldn’t see the heat in my eyes. “No. We can’t talk about that.”
He hummed low in the back of his throat and moved away to wash his hands. Then he was back where he was, even closer, and instead of touching the dough, he was touching me. He ran a fingertip over my forehead and down the tip of my nose. “I think we can. And I think we should.”
For some reason knowing he’d washed his hands before touching me hit me low and hot. I swallowed and braced my hands on the edge of the counter, giving up on the bread. “What are you doing, Flynn?”
He hooked his finger under my chin and lifted my face until I had no choice but to meet his gaze. “You seem nervous, Daisy.”
I was flustered and out of my depth. I wasn’t used to being touched and treated like he was treating me, like I was something he wanted to devour. “Stop it, Flynn.”
His other hand settled on my waist. “This dress should be illegal. I was distracted all day thinking about whether or not it would blow up in the wind.”
My lower stomach tightened. He’d dropped his voice into the same growly whisper he’d used the night before while pinning me to the counter with the sledgehammer between his legs. “Flynn.”
“The way I see it, you can spend your time angry and baking enough food to feed an army, or you could spend your time enjoying yourself with me.” His eyes left me no room for misunderstanding when they slowly moved over my body with molten heat radiating from them.
“Don’t you want to see what the rest would be like? ”
I didn’t do well with prolonged fluster.
It made me awkward and louder than I meant to be and it filled me with the need to run as far and as fast as I could.
“Of course, I’m curious! If hooking up with you was anything like last night, I’d probably die a very happy woman and want an impression of your dick etched onto my headstone!
But you’re Tyler’s brother. I can’t hook up with my ex’s brother.
And I’m here as the nanny. For the kids.
For your kid. I’m supposed to have self-control and exercise good behavior for them.
Or whatever nannies do. I can’t just rip my ruffled panties off because it would feel good. ”
I was breathing hard by the time I finished and all too late I noticed two large figures behind Flynn.
Wes and Max were standing just inside the door, bodies frozen as they stared at me with varying degrees of shock on their faces.
Flynn’s lips twitched like he wanted to laugh but he contained it. Luckily for him.
“Someone needs to put a damn bell on that door.” I turned around and went to the sink, needing to hide my face and just how red it was. I turned the water on and just stood there with my hands gripping the edge of the sink like it was the only thing holding me to the earth.
No one said anything. Max, Wes, Flynn. They all went silent and it was killing me.
I slumped forward just the slightest bit so my hip rested against the cabinet, pinching my wrist against the sink.
I didn’t even feel it. I could only feel my burning skin and the slight pain from the ringing in my ears as I strained to hear even the smallest sound from them.
“We’re hungry!”
“And the movie ended and we’re bored!”
“And Hank ate all my crayons and Charlie said he’s going to poop a rainbow.” Poppy’s voice was the loudest as the three kids raced into the kitchen. “Is that true, Aunt Daisy? Can Hank poop a rainbow?”
Hazel giggled. “What kind of gold would be at the end?”
I let out a strangled laugh, thrilled for the three of them and their demand for an instant topic change. “I don’t think any of us would be interested in that kind of gold. Sorry, Poppy, Hank will poop the same disgusting poop as always. He might just do it with a little more flare than normal.”
“You lied, Charlie!”
Charlie was busy following Hank around with his head ducked down near Hank’s butt. “You’ll see. I’m going to watch him until he poops and then you’ll all see!”
Hank had a pattern in the evening when Wes got home, though, so he wouldn’t be pooping anytime soon.
He went straight to Wes, the one person in the house who didn’t want his attention, and sat on his feet.
He rested his chin on Wes’ knee while staring up at the man with his big eyes set to dangerous puppy eyes.
Charlie nudged Hank aside until he could sit on one of Wes’ feet. “Good choice, Hank. Uncle Wes has giant feet. If you poop a rainbow on them, there’ll be plenty of room for the gold.”
I pressed my fingertips to my lips to fight back a hysterical laugh.
Things were out of control. The kids were nuts.
The men were too hot. I was losing my mind.
But I wasn’t sure I’d ever had more fun.
Even with the scalding embarrassment still strangling me when I met the gazes of any of the brothers.
I knew a conversation had to happen if I wanted things to be any kind of normal again.
Ignoring whatever was happening in the house wasn’t working.
I kept catching the men looking at me with questions all over their faces.
I had to be an adult and handle it, no matter how torturous the idea sounded.
“Adult only talk later?”
Wes grunted an agreement while staring down at the breathing weights on his legs. Flynn murmured an agreement while passing behind me, close enough that he brushed his hand over my waist. Max just locked his gaze on mine and gave a single nod before disappearing out the silent side door.
I looked around at everything I’d made for dinner and accepted that I wasn’t going to be able to eat any of it with the talk looming in the very short distance.