Chapter Six
Mira
Ohmigod, I was going to Finn Murphy’s house.
He was going to make me dinner. What if I made a mess?
What if he didn’t like the way I chewed my food?
Ohmigod, he's divorced. Why does that make me happy? I cannot be lusting after a student's father, nope not a good idea. We’d known each other most of our lives, could I still consider us friends instead of him being a student’s dad.
I was doing him a favor, maybe that constituted as friend’s behavior.
Pulling up to the small ranch style house I was blown away by how pretty the outside was.
Maybe Savannah had decorated before they divorced?
There were pretty ceramic pots on both sides of the door filled with an array of colorful flowers.
The faux shutters were painted a pretty teal that matched the front door, and there were lawn gnomes along the front path.
Getting out of my car I started up the path toward the house.
That’s when I took a closer look at the ‘cute’ lawn gnomes.
These were not your standard lawn gnomes.
Nope, there was a very curvy stripper gnome who was in front of a bearded biker gnome.
Then there was a set of mini gnomes being eaten by a t-rex, and finally near the front door there was a gnome mooning everyone with his middle finger stuck between his legs.
I couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.
Standing in front of the door all the sudden my nerves were on high alert.
This was just a favor for an old friend, it wasn’t like it was a date.
Or was it, could it be considered a date.
What if he considered it a date? No, he wouldn’t consider it a date.
Finn is so out of my league there was no way he’d ever think of this as a date, especially not with me.
Just as I’m running my hands down my dress to smooth out invisible wrinkles the door opens to a smiling Finn.
“Hey there, come on in. I’m almost done with dinner.” He motioned for me to come inside and closed the door behind us.
“You have no idea how grateful I am to you for doing this for me and for Paisley. I’ll go grab her out of her room.
Go ahead and have a seat at the table,I hope you like lasagna.
Oh shit, I hope you aren’t gluten free or lactose intolerant.
Damn it, I should have asked you that before I made dinner.
Just say the word and we’ll go out to dinner, my treat.
” He was so cute, all flustered over making lasagna for dinner.
“Lasagna is fine, I’m not gluten free, and with the amount of ice cream I eat on a weekly basis definitely not lactose intolerant.” I smiled at him and his shoulders seemed to release all the tension he was holding in.
“Okay good, I’ll go grab Paisley. She was resting with the heating pad for the cramps.
” He whispered the last part like said cramps were going to get worse if he talked about them too loud.
Poor guy had no clue how to deal with a teenage daughter on her period.
I watched him walk down the hallway to Paisley’s room and I couldn’t help but think about how pinchable his ass was.
Omigod, I needed to stop looking at his ass, he wasn’t interested in me for anything but help with his daughter.
Ogling him was a bad idea if I wanted to keep everything in the friendzone with my heart.
I’d already been down the crush aisle with him, that ended with him married to my best friend and me crying into my pillow.
Nope, no more ogling his booty. Okay, just one more peak and then I’d stop.
God, his jeans molded to his ass like a second damn skin.
Just as I decided to stop staring at his ass Finn turned back around and caught me.
The smirk on his face said it all. My face felt like a thousand suns were beating down on it and I was sure it was as red as a beet.
Oh, he was totally going to bust me out in front of his daughter and then I’d be completely embarrassed and have to change my name and move to another country.
Did they have something like witness protection I could use?
“Someone is a bit grumpy.” Finn motioned to Paisley who gave me a wane smile before plopping down in the seat next to mine.
I blinked up at Finn a few times to be sure I’d heard him correctly.
He hadn’t busted me out, he’d pretended like it didn’t even happen.
I’m not sure if I should be angry or happy.
“Hey Ms. Gordan, thanks for saving me from having to go with my dad to buy stuff. There’s no way I wanted to go to the store with him. He’d probably ask a million embarrassing questions.” She looked over at her dad, sticking her tongue out at him and I couldn’t help but laugh at the interaction.
“Oh I would totally ask embarrassing questions, loudly. Thankfully your dad has amazing friends like Mira here. Even if we haven’t been friends since like junior high, it still counts.
Hey, why did we suddenly stop being friends in high school?
” His question takes me by surprise and I’m not sure how to answer it without giving away how I felt about him all those years ago.
“We were still friends; we just didn’t hang out anymore.” I try to be diplomatic about it, without giving too much of myself away. There is no way he needs to know how much of a crush I had on him growing up.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I barely had time for any socializing back then thanks to football, and what little time I had was spent with Savannah usually.
Here we go ladies, I hope you brought your appetite because I made a big batch.
” Finn set a giant pan of lasagna down on the table before turning around and grabbing garlic bread and a bowl filled with salad.
“Wow Finn, it smells amazing. When did you learn to cook?” I smiled as he handed me a plate filled with lasagna, salad, and bread. He wouldn’t stay single long if this was how he cooked on a regular basis. Stop thinking about him being single, he is not interested in you.
“Oh dad’s always been a good cook, it’s mom who can’t cook. It was mostly takeout and drive thru while he was deployed.” Paisley declares right before practically inhaling her food, guess she was hungry.
“Don’t mind her, she eats like a linebacker whenever I make lasagna, it’s her favorite. I wouldn’t say I’m a good cook, I’m passable and we don’t starve. Dig in and tell me what you think.” Finn laughs as Paisley growls at him before shoveling more food in her mouth.
“Omigod, this tastes as good as it smells. So, I’m just gonna move in and eat at your place from now on. Oh, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.” I try to backpedal as Paisley laughs around another bite of food. I’m pretty sure she’s thinking this lady is crazy thinking she’s going to move in.
“It’s fine Mira, I knew what you meant, and I’m glad you like my cooking.
You’re welcome to dinner anytime, consider this my open invitation.
” He smiled warmly at me and I suddenly felt like I had a swarm of bats in my stomach.
Of course I couldn’t have cute butterflies, nope I had to have giant bats flapping around inside my stomach when the hot guy talked to me.
Damn if Finn wasn’t the hottest guy I’d seen in a long time.
He had a ruggedness about him that screamed experience.
His shirt fit him like a freaking glove, molding to his chest where I could even make out his perky nipples through the fabric.
Who knew guys got perky nipples too? Omigod stop looking at his perky nipples!
I started to sputter a little, thankfully Finn thought it was from lack of fluids.
“Oh shit, I forgot to offer you a drink. I’d offer you wine, but you’re about to drive with my daughter so that’s out.
How about sweet tea? Or maybe some juice, or a soda?
” He was rummaging around in the fridge, and I was trying to make words come out, but he was bent over with his jeans snug to his ass and all the words failed me.
“Geez dad get her something before we have to call for an ambulance.” Finn kicked into overdrive and before I could blink, he was handing me a glass of something. His hands touched mine as he wrapped mine around the cup for me to hold, sending tingles of awareness up my spine.
“There you go, sorry about that. I’m so used to it just being us I forget my manners sometimes.” Sipping the drink slowly, like I’m not completely flustered by the man sitting next to me, I try to thank him.
“Oh that hit the spot, sorry about that. I promise I’m house trained.
” Did I just say I’m house trained? What am I a damn dog?
Please floor just open up and swallow me whole, end my misery.
When I chance a glance at Finn, he’s trying very hard to contain his laughter. Great, now he’s laughing at me.
“I’m glad at least one of us is, because I’m definitely not house trained yet.” Finn bursts out and then we’re all laughing.