Midway down a hallway of offices, I reach Finn’s open door. He sits at his desk, a dove gray dress shirt stretched across his back and shoulders as he hunches toward his computer screen. His lips move as he reads silently from the monitor. When hedoesn’t turn my way, I let my eyes snoop around his office from the doorway, greedy for this tiny glimpse into his brain.
One wall of his office is floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with what looks like mostly textbooks. On his desk sits a framed picture of him beaming as he holds a swaddled baby in each arm. There are two drawings on the wall near his bookshelf. One is a stick-figure woman in a dress, holding two little girls’ hands, and the other looks like a row of planets with faces floating in a starry sky.
Finn’s chair creaks, startling me from my prying. “Good afternoon, Millie.” He turns and meets my eyes.
Something yanks on my heart when he says my name, like an invisible thread pulling between us, tugging me slowly toward him.
“Dr. Ashford.” My pulse hammers a little faster at the full force of his attention, but he’s not scowling today. His eyes are brighter than usual, and his mouth is set in a neutral line. He looks...normal. “Are you busy?”
“Not at all. Come in,” he says, waving me toward a chair in front of his desk. The plush cushion dips beneath my weight as I settle into it. Finn leans back, clasping the arms of his chair and making his shirt stretch tight across his chest. His tie looks like the surface of the moon, splotched with different shades of gray.
I drag my eyes back up and attempt a confident smile. “I wanted to apologize. I’m worried I made a mistake, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”
He raises a brow. “Are you apologizing for spilling coffee all over my tie?”
I narrow my eyes. “I’ve already apologized, even though it wasn’t just my fault. And I wouldn’t say coffee was ‘all over’ you. There was a barely visible speck on the edge of Neptune.”
“Well, Neptune is very sensitive.” He sighs, and a fluttery feeling creeps into my belly. “You must be here to apologize for smashing my nose in the middle of a meeting, then.” He steeples his hands under his chin.
That memory has me straightening in my seat. “That was justice after you mocked me for feeling nervous.”
He drops his hands and leans forward, brows pinched in concern. “I wasn’t mocking at all. It was a failed attempt to check on you. I’m genuinely sorry if I sounded heartless.”
My throat feels like the Sahara Desert as I try to swallow what he’s telling me. I chew the inside of my lip. “I guess the monologue you were forced to give about Pluto was punishment enough.”
He chuckles, and the deep sound rolls over my skin, leaving tingles behind. “I do feel passionately about Pluto. He spent years in the planet club and then was suddenly exiled. I worry about him.”
He grins.Grins.
Am I in the right office? Does Finn have an identical twin, with the same gorgeous face, but without the grumbly personality, and I’ve actually foundhimthis morning?
“If you’re not here about the coffee and the nose incident, you must be here to apologize for the bumper.”
Heat rushes to my cheeks, and my molars grind together. Seems he’s just going to bring up every single embarrassing thing I’ve done in his presence. “You’ll feel my apology when that insurance claim goes through,” I sass.
Silent laughter plays in his eyes as they graze over my warm cheeks.
Sitting up straighter, I try to get back to the real business of why I’m here. “I came by because I wanted to apologize for my response when you told me about your sister. I feel like I didn’t say the right thing.”
His brows furrow. “You didn’t do anything wrong, and it’s not quite as fresh now, so it hurts a little less to explain to a new person.” He lifts a shoulder in a small shrug. “It’s our reality, and I’m getting used to being up-front. Your response didn’t bother me at all.”
A little of my swirling anxiety loosens in my chest knowing that I didn’t completely ruin our professional relationship with my fumbled words.
Finn leans back in his chair to continue. “It has been six months since she passed, and the girls have been with me full-time since a few months before that.” His chest heaves as he sighs. “I should’ve warned you ahead of time about Avery and Eloise in case something comes up while they’re at camp this week. This is actually their first time away from me or Gabriella, their nanny, since Clara passed.”
My heart aches. Those two little girls have been through so much, and it doesn’t seem fair at all. “They had a great day yesterday. They were talkative and laughing, and I wouldn’t have known they were going through something like this if you hadn’t told me.”
“That’s good to hear.” He nods, a deep line creasing between his brows as he looks down at his hands. “I know it’s hard to find the right things to say sometimes, but you did great.” A smirk flashes over his lips. “And you made me laugh, which is the best medicine, right?”
I shake my head, remembering his unbridled humor. “I didn’t know those names werethatfunny.”
He laughs suddenly, just like yesterday, and it has the same startling effect on me, completely ripping the breath from my lungs. His eyes shine brightly as he winces to confess, “It’s because it sounded like you were picking out a stripper name.”
Oh my god.
A giggle snorts out of me. And then another, until I’m dropping my forehead into my hand as laughter fills Finn’s office.
“They were good names, though,” he says. “Maybe not for your nieces and nephews, but in case the entomology thing doesn’t work out.”
