Chapter 17
Pre-approval by the under-ten demographic required
Alex
My brain was spinning at hyperspeed while my body lagged behind, still humming from Finn’s touch.
The way his hands had felt against my back, how his growl had sent heat straight through my core, the way his eyes had gone dark when I’d tugged at his hair.
The shocked expressions on my aunts’ faces. My mom’s serene satisfaction.
My skin still felt too warm, my heart still hammering against my ribs like it was trying to escape.
“Earth to Alex,” Jason’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts. “You’re doing that thing where you look like you’re solving complicated puzzles in your head.”
Before I could deny it, Finn’s hand moved over my back, up and down. “She does do that,” amusement threaded through his voice. “It’s very intimidating. I like it.”
I shot him a look.
Tony’s booming voice cut across the yard. “Jason! I need another set of hands over here, mijo. This brisket isn’t going to move itself!”
Jason rolled his eyes. “Duty calls. Try not to scandalize any more aunts while I’m gone.” He headed toward the grill, leaving us alone.
“Your thoughts are loud,” Finn whispered, close enough to my ear that only I could hear. “What’s going on in there?”
“Nothing,” I responded automatically, then caught myself. “I mean, everything. Too much everything.”
His thumb traced a small circle against my back. “Better or worse than Catalyst?”
The comparison made me pause and consider the question instead of just deflecting. Work stress felt manageable because I had systems for it, protocols and procedures, and Tabitha to help me organize the chaos. This felt different. More personal. Less controlled.
“Different. More... unpredictable variables.”
“Like what?”
I glanced around at my family. Enzo was still talking about the wedding venue while my aunts interrogated Dom about his skincare routine.
Tony had gone back to manning his grill.
“Like whether Aunt Margaret is going to corner you alone and ask about your financial prospects while my mom demands to know how many kids you want. Or if Graham is going to say something that makes me want to throw him into the sound system.”
Finn’s mouth twitched. “Those are your biggest concerns right now?”
The way he asked it made me realize those weren’t my biggest concerns at all.
They were just the ones I felt comfortable acknowledging out loud.
The real concern was the way my body was still humming from his touch, the way part of me wanted to pull him into the house and forget this was supposed to be fake.
The growing fear that I was getting too attached to someone who was just being kind, just playing his part perfectly.
“No,” I whispered. “But they’re easier to solve.”
We stood there watching everyone, including the chaos machine rolling our way.
“Aunt Sasha!” I looked down to find Madison, Marcus’s seven-year-old looking up at me.
Behind her trailed what looked like the entire under-ten contingent, including her twin sisters, Sadie and Rose, and brother, Carter, clutching a juice box, along at least three kids I didn’t immediately recognize but who were probably second cousins or neighbors’ children swept up in the excitement.
“Hey, Mads,” I shifted into kid-management mode. “What’s up?”
“Is this your boyfriend?” She pointed directly at Finn.
“This is Finn,” I said carefully, needing to put distance between my heart and that term for a minute.
“Are you gonna marry him?” Sadie piped up, sticky fingers wrapped around a half-eaten cookie.
“Are you rich?” One of the unidentifiable horde added, apparently having overheard some adult conversation. “Mom says Aunt Sasha needs someone rich.”
I felt heat creep up my neck, but Finn crouched down to their eye level. “I’m rich in personality and have excellent scrambled egg skills. Also, I know all the words to all the songs in Moana.”
“Do you really fly planes?” Madison’s squinted at him.
“I used to,” Finn replied. “But the Navy decided I was too handsome, and it was distracting the other pilots.”
The kids erupted in giggles, and my shoulders relaxed. This I could handle.
“What happened to your face?” Rose asked, pointing at Finn’s scars.
“Rosie!” Madison scolded. “You can’t ask that!”
“It’s okay,” Finn smiled at them both. “I had a disagreement with gravity. Gravity won.”
“Did it hurt?” Rose reached out with tiny fingers to trace the marks across his nose.
“Only my ego,” Finn stayed completely still.
“What’s… ego?” Carter wanted to know.
I jumped in before things spiraled into an impromptu philosophy lesson. “It’s the part of Uncle Finn that thought he was tougher than he actually was.”
“Like when Daddy thought he could beat you at Mario Kart?” Madison turned to me.
“Exactly like that.”
“Can you teach me to fly?” The oldest boy asked Finn hopefully.
“I can teach you to make paper airplanes that actually fly.”
“Now?” Three voices asked in unison.
Finn stood and glanced around, calculating whether he had time and space for an impromptu aerodynamics lesson, and I felt my chest warm. Most adults would have deflected with “maybe later” and hoped the kids forgot.
“After dinner,” I laughed, rescuing him. “If you eat all your vegetables and don’t start any food fights.”
“What if we only start small food fights?” Sadie negotiated.
“Then you only get small paper airplanes.”
“That’s fair,” Madison declared.
“Are you a pa… paternal twin?” Rose asked next. Finn scrunched his nose thinking for a minute.
“Do you mean fraternal?” I clarified. “Like you and Sadie?”
Rose nodded.
“No,” Finn smiled. “Dom and I are identical twins. It means we’re exactly alike and it’s a fluke of nature.”
“A flute of nature?” Sadie tilted her head.
“Fluke. Remember how your mom is a twin too?” I asked. Both girls nodded. “It’s because it runs in your family. It doesn’t for Uncle Dom and Uncle Finn. That’s why they look so much alike while you both look a little different, especially with your hair color and your eyes.”
“Ohhh…” Sadie nodded as if it all made perfect sense.
“Are you the evil twin?” One of the smaller boys squinted at Finn.
“Obviously,” Finn shrugged. “That’s why I’m more handsome.”
“But Uncle Dom is on TV,” Rose pointed out.
“TV makes everyone ugly,” Finn answered. “It’s science.”
“That’s twue?” Carter asked me, juice box forgotten.
“Completely true,” I fought to keep my expression serious. “That’s why I don’t let Uncle Dom visit very often. Can’t risk the contamination.”
“Are you gonna have babies?” One of the girls blurted out, apparently unable to contain herself any longer.
The question hit me like a cold splash of water. I opened my mouth, then closed it, completely unprepared for that level of directness.
“We’re still in the reconnaissance phase,” Finn shot me a sideways glance that was both reassuring and amused. “What do you think? Should I keep her?”
“YES!” They shouted in unison.
“She makes the best birthday cakes,” Madison added as evidence.
“And she lets us jump on her trampoline when we come over,” Rose contributed.
“I don’t have a trampoline,” I responded in confusion.
“The big bouncy couch thing,” Sadie clarified with exaggerated patience from having to explain something so obvious to a slow adult.
“My sectional is not a trampoline.”
“It bounces though,” Rose pointed out.
Before I could argue further, Finn crouched down again, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. “Can you keep a secret?”
Small heads nodded with all the seriousness of junior FBI agents.
“I think I should definitely keep her. But don’t tell her I said that. It might go to her head.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“We won’t tell,” Madison whispered back, then immediately turned to me. “He wants to keep you but don’t let it go to your head!”
Finn groaned dramatically. “You lasted exactly three seconds.”
“Why do you talk funny?” One of the visiting kids asked Finn.
“What do you mean funny?”
“Like cowboys on TV.”
I snorted.
“I’m from a ranch,” Finn explained. “All ranch people have to talk like cowboys. It’s the law.”
“Do you have horses?” Sadie’s eyes went wide.
“Lots of horses. And cows and buffalo. And some very judgmental chickens.”
“Can we visit?” Rose asked hopefully.
“Rosie, you can’t invite yourself places,” Madison scolded with authority that I recognized came from being the oldest.
“I didn’t invite myself. I asked if we could visit. That’s different.”
“It’s really not,” Sadie informed her.
Before this could escalate into a full debate about invitation etiquette, my brother’s wife, Holly, appeared from across the yard, looking frazzled but determined.
“Alright, you monsters,” she called out. “Wash up time. And yes, that means soap and water, not just running your hands under the faucet while making spaceship noises.”
“But we were talking to Aunt Sasha’s boyfriend!” Madison protested.
“Finn will still be here after you wash the dirt off,” Holly replied firmly. “Besides, Tuto says dinner’s almost ready and if you’re not clean, you don’t get to sit at the big table.”
The threat of being relegated to the small table was apparently serious business, because the entire group scattered like leaves in a windstorm, racing toward the house.
“Remember what we talked about!” Finn called after them. “After dinner!”
“We’ll remember!” Madison shouted back, already halfway to the patio door.
And then, suddenly, it was quiet.
Finn cleared his throat. “So. I guess I’ve been pre-approved by the under-ten demographic.”
“They’re easily impressed,” I lifted a shoulder. “You told them you were too handsome for the Navy.” I watched the last of them disappear into the house. “That was...”
“Intense?” Finn straightened with a slight grimace that suggested crouching repeatedly hadn’t been his best idea.
“I was going to say adorable. But intense works too.” I studied his face, noting the warmth in his expression. “You were good with them.”