Finn’s hands glide over my face as he pulls them away to reveal a hunter-green KitchenAid mixer on the counter between the girls.
I step up to it and glide my hand over the cool top. “This is beautiful, girls,” I whisper.
“We didn’t buy it. Uncle Finn did,” Eloise corrects me.
I chuckle under my breath and turn around to see Finn watching us. “Why?”
He shoves his hands into his pockets and lifts his shoulders in a shrug. “You wanted one,” he states simply. “And I wanted to do something nice after everything you’ve done for us.”
“I haven’t done anything for you.” The backs of my eyes burn as I try to convince him I don’t deserve this.
He looks down at me with knitted brows. “You’ve done... everything. So much more than you know.”
Chapter 17
Finn
Standing at the entrance to the kitchen, I watch Millie as she helps the girls measure sugar into the bowl of her new mixer. Ave and El sit on the counter on either side of the mixer, dancing and singing along with the Disney music that fills the house.
No matter how hard I try, I can’t take my eyes off them. There’s nothing that can hold my attention like Millie and the girls. They’ve put some sort of spell on me.
I went to three different stores looking for that mixer yesterday before game night, trying to find some way to thank her for everything she’s done for us.
Maybe I wanted to be the one to put that beautiful smile on her face.
I think I’m addicted to it.
Add it to the ever-growing list of things about Millie that I’m addicted to.
The sound of her laugh, her teasing, her magnetic energy, the tilt of her lips when she’s feeling sassy, her lemony scent, and the feeling of her lips on my neck from yesterday.
I’m starting to think the list will never end.
And I’m so fucking done trying to convince myself I want it to.
El drops an egg on the ground with asplat. “Oopsie,” Millie sings. “I wish Pepper was here to clean that up for us.”
“You should bring her next time,” Avery says, licking her finger and dipping it in a pile of spilled sugar on the counter.
Millie wipes the egg up with a towel and helps El crack the next one into the bowl. “That’s up to Uncle Finn. When I’m cooking at home, I drop a lot, so Pepper’s always right by my feet.”
“Uncle Finn likes dogs. He’ll say you can bring her every day,” Eloise says as she watches Avery’s sugar method and mimics it.
IwishMilliecould be here in our house every day.
That thought crashes into my chest, and I can’t breathe around it.
Millie’s eyes catch mine in the doorway, and I force myself to say something before she realizes I’m standing here watching them like a lovesick puppy.
“Let’s order some dinner. What sounds good?” I ask, approaching their spot at the counter.
Millie licks her finger, hips swaying to the beat, and dips it in the sugar on the counter. “We’re having cookies for dinner.” She pops her finger into her mouth and smiles around it.
Fuck me.I want to be that finger.
My jaw clenches, and I have to school my face to remain neutral.
Eloise raises her arms in the air and chants, “Cookies for dinner, cookies for dinner!”
