by Jenny Wood
“Of course.” Morgan scoffs. “It’s a singing, cartoon movie. She won’t move the whole hour and a half, I betcha.” He’s probably right, she loves that stinking movie, and we’ve seen it at least a hundred times. I could sing to you the whole first half of it.
I let Lenny run around for a few more minutes, talking with the guys like I haven’t just spent the day with most of them. Looking at my watch, I realize I need to get us home and put my groceries away and wash up before my date. I don’t dare tell the guys of this, and thankfully, no one has brought up the “hot nurse” in a couple of days.
Thankfully.
Jay
I have a date with Finn. I know it’s a date because he texted me this morning and told me he was looking forward to our “date.” To say I’m nervous, would be a ridiculous understatement. It makes it a tiny bit better that Lennon will be there, but not enough to quell my nerves.
My shift at the hospital dragged on today, and I was scatterbrained with anticipation about tonight, all day. Not even talking to Grandma helped and she sent me some of her joo-joo, through the phone so I’d calm down and enjoy myself. Dad was feeling okay, and we talked a lot more today than we ever had. Nothing of importance, just mundane things like books and my job. It was nice not to have to force myself to sit through the pain that is talking about my mother or our past like I had been. But I enjoyed his company at least, which was new for me. I was still working my way through that.
Finally, I’d gone home and gussied myself up for a home date and settled on a t-shirt and tighter than normal, black jeans with a rip in one knee. I had to say, they made me look my age, which I wasn’t usually prone to doing; but I liked the way they fit, and they hugged my ass in a way I hoped Finn would notice. Ever since that kiss, I’ve thought of little else but doing it again.
I found Finn and Lennon’s place, no problem; it was a cute little bungalow, with matching white shutters on the windows. The door was a creamy white, with a wreath that said “The Finnley’s.” I thought that was cute too. I noticed my hand shaking when I raised my fist to knock, and I tried to calm myself down before anyone answered. I was not prepared for the gorgeousness of Felix Finnley in a button-up, red flannel shirt and regular ol’ faded blue jeans with no socks or shoes.
“You’re here.” He breathed, pulling me in by my shirt and dropping a quick kiss on my lips. I wasn’t prepared for it, and it was over before I realized it, but it momentarily took my breath away, anyway. I couldn’t help but smile back. “Hope that was okay, I’ve been wanting to do that, since… pretty much the last time I did it.”
“Do it again,” I whispered, not able to take my eyes off his lips. His massive beard and mustache might not be a “thing” for some people, but it’s almost my favorite thing about him. I want my fingers in it, in the worst way. He leans down again and kisses me, slower and sweeter than before. I can taste the sweetness of whatever it is that he'd just drank on his tongue. I do what I’ve been craving to do since pretty much the last time I did it, and sunk my fingers in his beard and held him to me. It was soft, softer than I imagined facial hair could be. I just realized how badly I wanted to feel it scrape all over my body.
“Daddy! No-No!”
“Fuck.” He whispered against my lips before pulling back and seeing a tiny little black haired angel, slapping at our legs.
“No, no, Daddy, no, no!” She juts her finger at him with a little furrow in her cute little brow. She’s a doll. I squat down to be level with her, and her face lights up as she remembers me.
“Hi there, pretty.” I poke her belly and watch her hands slap where I’d poked. She bounces a little bit on her chubby legs and jabbers a mile a minute. I don’t understand half of it, but she says some words that I catch, Owie, kitty, Kay-kay, cookie, Daddy and I think bye-bye. Interesting. I can’t help but smile.
“You sure have a lot to say, huh? I’m intrigued.” I tell her as if she understands me any better than I understand her. She starts to walk away but turns back and waves me to follow.
“She’s going to make you hold every toy she owns…. Twice.” Finn chuckles and follows like we were instructed. “You guys have fun in here, I’m going to go finish up dinner. I hope alfredo is okay, I got a salad and roasted broccoli as well?” He looks hopeful, and I tell him it smells great.
“Can I help with anything?” I offer, used to being useful. It’s awkward to see someone doing something nice for me. I feel like I should do something.
“She’s not going to let you leave this area until she’s convinced you’re impressed with every toy she has.” He teases. “I’ve got it though; you’re our guest. Let me woo you.” He smiles and turns away.
“He’s wooing me.” I whisper to myself and earn a “No, Daddy!” screamed at her retreating father. He laughs at her admonishment and disappears into the kitchen. Finn had not been lying; Lennon did, in fact, show me all of her toys, twice! I “oohed and “ahhed” in all the right places and she looked so proud of everything she handed me. Even the tongue depressor I gave her from the hospital the first night I’d met her. I assumed it was the one I’d given her. I dunno how many a kid would have lying around.
“Lenny, time to eat!” Finn hollered from the kitchen, and I watched Lennon’s head snap just a second before she started running. She reminded me of the road runner, leaving nothing but dust in her wake. It was comical.
“Mon, Dot’ter” She hollered for me in her squeaky little voice. I’m assuming she’s calling me “Doctor.” Adorable. “Mon!” one more time for good measure, then she disappeared.
“She’s summoning you.” Finn pops his head out of the kitchen and winks at me. I follow them into the big roomy kitchen that looks more at home and lived in than any kitchen I’ve ever seen. There are pictures and paintings everywhere. Lennon’s work, no doubt. There are letter magnets and pictures on the fridge and every available surface I see. It felt cozy and lived in, and I love it immediately. The whole house is like that, from what I can tell.
Finn starts dishing up the plates, and again I ask if I can help.
“No sir, you just sit and enjoy.” He tells me with another wink and a flash of those perfect, white teeth. Lennon is in her highchair, digging in with her hands already. Watching her slurp her noodles and clap for herself is the most precious thing I’ve ever seen.
“We have water, beer, wine, tea, and soda,” Finn tells me while handing me a heaping pile of pasta. It’s littered with big chunks of chicken, with roasted broccoli on the side. There are several salad dressings on the table, and the salad is loaded with cherry tomatoes, cheese, and croutons.
“You’re going to have to roll me out of here,” I comment, salivating at my plate. “Water’s good.” I smile at him, and he grabs us both a bottled water from the fridge and sits Lennon’s cup in front of her.
“Chane-chu, Daddy.” It sounds like she says.
“You’re welcome, baby.” He answers, absentmindedly. Is that not the cutest? She’s so polite. I think I love them both already. My stomach growls loudly, pulling me out of my revery and has me wondering how I’ll tackle this mountain of food.
“You don’t have to eat it all,” Finn smirks at me, seeming to know how intimidated I am by this mountain man-sized ration. Saying, fuck it, I dig in.
“Oh, no. This is amazing.” I groan, covering my mouth to talk around the bite I just took. King sized plate or not; I’m going to want to eat this until I’m sick. It’s the best fettuccine I’ve ever tasted, and the chicken is so juicy and spiced with something so mouthwatering, I cannot stop. I barely give myself time to chew before I take another bite and react the same way. Finn seems to like my reaction.
“Like it that much, huh?” He teases before taking his own bite.
“What did you make this with? Magic?” I wonder aloud, earning a chuckle. “So good,” I repeat, just to reiterate the goodness. Much of the meal goes on the same way. I eat until I’m stuffed, and I tell him over and over how amazing it is
. He seems to like that I think so and I like the way he nervously looks away from me when I say so.
While Finn is cleaning Lennon up, I start to wash our dishes. He cooked and didn’t let me do anything; I’m glad to be able to do at least, this.
“I can hear you doing the dishes! Knock it off!” He yells from the bathroom, earning the louder yell from Lennon, wanting to get in on this hollering action. “Tell him, Lenny.” I smile at their cuteness. Her bath takes longer than it did for the dishes, but when she comes out all clean in her little duck pajamas with washed and brushed, drying hair. She runs right to me.
“Hi, little duck.” I watch her climb up on the couch where I’m sitting. She grabs her babies from the end of the couch where they were napping, and she snuggles close to my side. Popping her thumb in her mouth with her black-haired baby in her lap, she leans into me and kicks her little feet, like she’s waiting patiently.
“Sorry that took so long, alfredo is messy,” Finn says, walking into the living room, shirt damp in the front and sticking to his belly. I can see the lines of his abdomen, the softness that I’m sure is under the small fluff of hair. What is it about this man and his hair that has me turned so inside out? I just want to bury my face in it. My face goes up in flames as I notice him stopped in the middle of the room, watching me check him out. I’m trying not to get too turned on, with his daughter leaning against my side. Her daddy is gorgeous though.
“We usually watch a little bit of cartoons until bedtime, that okay?” He asks, brow raised in question. That smirk he’s wearing isn’t fooling anyone though; I know he caught me gawking.
“Perfect.” I smile back. My age, barely twenty-one, you’d think that I’d desire nights out or clubbing with my friends. Adventures and life experience, right? Not me, I want stability. I want a home. I want a family and a few good friends. I want to know what love feels like; like bone deep, soul crushing, love. I know Grandma loves me, obviously; but she’s quite literally the only person who does. I want passion and romance and sex. I want love-making and cuddling and quiet nights at home. That’s the life I want. The life I dream of.
I’m not a virgin. Especially in college, I was young and naive; younger than my peers by a few years. I was kind of a novelty. I equated sex with feelings, and I got my young, naïve, heart broken on more than one occasion. In college, that’s your first lesson; sex didn’t mean anything. It was used to de-stress, have fun or just cure boredom. Nobody fell in love in college; if they did, it was rare.
It had been a long time though, a long time since I’d let my guard down and been close with someone. An even longer time since I’d felt a connection like the one I feel with Finn. Like when he touches me, my skin is on fire. When he kisses me, I can’t think of anything else. I can’t imagine what it’d be like if I actually got him to unleash all that power I know he possesses and unleashed it on me. I wanted that more than almost anything.
Instead of taking a seat on the chair that sat diagonally from us on the couch, or even on the other side of Lennon; Finn picked her up and sat in her spot, letting her curl into one side and snuggling up close to me on the other.
“This okay?” He asked, putting his arm around my shoulders. I only nodded and scooted closer. He smelled so good, like baby shampoo and cologne or manly smelling deodorant. It wasn’t strong or overpowering; it was just a hint of some hidden scent that I wanted to search his body and find.
It felt like the movie just started when I felt Finn shifting on the couch. My eyes fluttered open, and I noticed the TV turned down low and Finn gently rising a sleeping Lennon up on his shoulder.
Be right back, He mouthed, carrying her down the hallway to where I assumed her room was. He was back before I had a chance to think about taking this as my cue to leave. He sat down in his place next to me and took my hand in his. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was having trouble finding the words.
“Thank you for inviting me, tonight.” I smiled as he relaxed. I couldn’t imagine he was nervous, but he almost seemed to be.
“I’m glad you came.” He says. He finally looks up at my eyes, and I’ve noticed that every time he does that, he seems to search them. I wonder what it is he’s looking for. “Do it again, sometime?”
“Whenever you want,” I answered honestly. If he’d kiss me one more time, I’d say this night was pretty damn perfect.
“The guys from the shop are taking Lennon to “movie in the park” on Tuesday. You doing anything?” He asked. Other than work and visiting my dad; I didn’t do much of anything.
“Not in the evening.”
“If you come back, I’ll feed you again.” He smiles at me, and I swoon.
“You bought dinner both times; it’s my turn,” I tell him. “My house isn’t near as cozy, and I can’t cook like you can, but I’d love to spend time with you again.”
“I’m not keeping score. You can buy dinner, next date… or something.” He laughs at my scowl. I didn’t like not being on equal footing. I wanted to do something nice for him as well.
“Sorry I fell asleep on ya.” I whisper, loving the feel of his fingertips running from my shoulder to my elbow. I wanted to slide my hands under his shirt and just feel him. He kept inching me closer; I didn’t think he’d mind.
“You can come sleep on me, anytime.” He wiggled his brows at me, and I couldn’t stop my giggle. It wasn’t a manly giggle, it wasn’t a girly one either, but it embarrassed me when I let it slip out.
“You’re something else; ya know that?” Finn asked, done with trying to inch me closer. He pulled me right up against him; my hand to his chest to prop myself up. “I can say I don’t know what it is about you that attracts me to you so damn much, but to be honest, I could tell you at least a dozen things. I don’t want you to think I’m a creeper or anything, but I like this…dating thing with you, I want to keep doing it. I’ll go ahead and tell you that I’m not dating anyone else, I’m not even interested in anyone else… haven’t been for a long time, so this here, It’s something I wanna explore with you. That okay with you?” He rambles rather bluntly. To be honest, its makes things a lot less complicated when people are just upfront with what they want; unfortunately, at this moment, I’m not sure what to say.
On the one hand; what he’s offering is exactly what I’d want with him, exactly. Doesn’t matter it’s only been two dates, he gets me out of my head and as of late, that’s not been a fun place to be. But on the other hand; I dunno how long I’ll be in town for, and I know his friends are important to him, really important, and I know that they’ll remember who I am and where I came from and not want one thing to do with me.
“Too much?” He asks, taking my silence the wrong way.
“No,” I answer honestly. What he’s offering sounds perfect. “Just, you know, we don’t know much about each other, and I’m afraid what you’ll find out, you might not like.” I keep with the honesty.
“Can’t imagine that you ever killed anybody?” He questions. I roll my eyes and tell him, no.
“You hate kids? Be mean to em’?” He tries again. Again, I answer honestly. I love kids.
“Mug little old ladies? Steal cars on the weekends? Steal anything, ever?” He keeps going, enjoying this game that he knows he’s winning.
“I’m not a bad person.” I declare. I try my hardest to be the best person I can be, despite the hell in which I was brought up in.
“I know that.” He says confidently. He sounds like he means it.
“Alright then.” I give in. One day at a time, right? I can do that. I can do with him what I’ve been doing since I’ve been here. Just taking everything one day at a time. I just hope I don’t regret it.
Finn
The weekend had gone to shit.
Jay had gotten roped into a back-to-back shift, and I’d hardly talked to him since he left my house, Friday night. After he had agreed to do this dating thing with me, we spent the next hour making out on my couch like a couple of teenager
s, sneaking around after curfew. We didn’t get much talking done, but we’d text each other off and on throughout the day when one of us had time, and we spent our nights talking about everything and nothing.
He tried to keep his dad off limits, but I could tell shit was bothering him pretty bad. I didn’t want to pry, but I didn’t know why he was keeping everything to himself; I was half convinced his dad was a famous serial killer or something. He’d share the basics, and he told me a little of his childhood, which was heartbreaking, by the way; but any specifics, he kept to himself.
The guys at the shop caught me smiling at my phone, one too many times and they’d all asked question after question about Jay. I told them the very basic’s and Morgan could attest to his adorableness. I wasn’t ready to share the rest of him with them yet, thankfully, the guys had a new friend, Wade, that they had been hanging out with, so he kept them entertained and they’d forgotten about hounding me to set up a barbecue or something so they all could meet him. I figured he’d at least need a warning about Kayson and Kingsley. You don’t thrust someone on them, “willy-nilly.” That is a quote directly from their husband’s, so I knew to take them seriously.
Tomorrow would be our third date and as cliché, as it sounded, it seemed like it had been much longer. I was looking forward to it, more than I had anything in a long time. I knew my girl was going to be with two guys she adored and was going to have a good time and I was going to have uninterrupted time with Jay. Bonus.
Monday’s are always a hectic day, and I was exhausted by the time I got home, fed and bathed Lennon and picked up the house for tomorrow’s date. I knew my little hurricane would run through and destroy what I’d just tidied, but if I kept her contained to one room, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
Nightly routine done smoothly; by the time I got out of the shower and into bed, my phone was lit up with a text from Jay. Instead of checking it, I dialed his number.