Page 71 of Falling for Her

“Can you sit down and do that so you don’t fall and hurt yourself?”

He only stops when he’s next to me, sitting on the floor, and putting on his socks and shoes. He jumps up and hops three times. “Ready, Freddy.” Another thing that Finley taught him.

“Let’s go.” We walk out, and again I look up at her parking spot and see that it’s still empty.

We get in the truck, and I put on my sunglasses and wait for Asa to be buckled in before I pull out. As I drive down Main Street, my eyes survey the parking spots, but I don’t spot her SUV.

At Harmony and Brady’s house, the street is lined with cars, and I park behind the last one. Asa is out of the back seat at the same time I open my door. We walk side by side as we approach the house. I can hear the voices coming from the backyard. When I turn the corner, it’s as if my body knows Finley’s near, because my heart starts to beat a bit faster.

“Wyatt!” Asa shouts, running away from me and toward his best friend at the end of the yard. Wyatt looks over and waves. Lucy and Sage are with him, too.

My eyes flit around until I see Finley sitting with Collins and Everleigh. She’s saying something, and she throws her head back, and all I can hear now is her laughter. Two things happen at the same time: my heart stutters and my cock twitches.

“Hey.” Brady is coming toward me, a beer in one hand. “Glad you finally got here.” He holds out his free hand for me to shake. “If I heard ‘Is Asa here yet?’ one more time, I would have had to call you.”

I laugh and look over at Asa, who has just spotted Finley. He ditches Wyatt in a split second.

“Finley!” he calls. She looks over, and the smile on her face is radiant as Asa runs to her, his arms windmilling.

“Asa!” she says, and he flies into her arms. His head goes to her shoulder as if he’s been hugging her like that since he was born. She kisses his head. He stands up in front of her, and she holds his hand in hers as he tells her some sort of story. She nods the whole time, as if he’s telling her state secrets, and she’s hanging on to his every single word.

“I see he likes her,” Brady comments from beside me.

“Yeah.” I put my hands in my pockets. I’m glad I have my sunglasses on, so she doesn’t see me gawking at her. My eyes roam slowly from her crossed legs to her top to her hair, tucked behind one ear and draped over the other shoulder, leaving her neck bare. Perfect for me to lean over and kiss.

“Not going to lie, we were taking bets on how long it was going to take you to figure it out,” Brady teases, bringing his beer to his lips. I glance at him. “She was telling Harmony that she’s never had a job before in her life.” My head swivels back to her. “You knew that, right?”

I exhale. “It was either her or Mrs. Larue.”

“Yikes.” He cringes.

“Exactly.” I shake my head. “She destroyed all my laundry. My dark work clothes are now either mustard-colored or tie-dyed. My towels are pink.”

He spits out the beer he just sipped and starts to choke as Theo comes up to us.

“What are you two laughing about?” he asks me. I tell him what I just told Brady, who is still coughing as he tries to catch his breath.

“I mean, I knew she was a trust fund girl, but I thought for sure she had some experience,” Theo says. Trust fund? I don’t give away that I had no idea, but everything makes sense now. How she never cooked, cleaned, or did laundry. She probably grew up with a silver spoon in her mouth. Now she’s living in a space that is probably the size of her closet at home, and I wonder why. “Her ex is a dick.”

“No shit,” I say, finally adding something to the conversation.

“He refuses to divorce her unless she gives him half of her trust fund. Even after cheating on her.” My hands form fists in my pockets. I have to bite down hard so as not to roar out or stomp over and ask her about it. I hate knowing nothing about that side of her.

“He cheated on her?” Brady questions.

“Oh yeah, constantly,” Theo confirms.

For the first time, I feel guilty about giving her a hard time. I know what it’s like to have been cheated on. She must have come here to escape whatever was happening at her house. And all I’ve done is be an asshole to her.

“She tried to kick him out, and he refused to leave,” Theo continues. “So she asked to come and stay here. She’s hoping that he just leaves. She said her lawyer is working on it.” He shrugs. “She’s going to go back home when everything’s settled.” My chest gets tight.

“Well, good thing I only needed a temporary nanny. Worked out for both of us,” I say, as if the world isn’t shifting under my feet.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

FINLEY

Sitting at the barbecue, I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my skin. My stomach has been a mess since Asa came over to me. Kissing his head, I could feel eyes on me. When he walked away, I made the silly mistake of looking around and seeing Lincoln standing with Brady and Theo.