Page 23 of Daddy's Little Cupcake

He made her nervous, and Finn didn't know if he liked that or not. Was she nervous because she liked him? Or was she nervous because of what he was going to talk to her about?

Finn wanted it to be because she liked him, not because they had things to discuss. He didn't like making people nervous and anxious. He knew sometimes it was unavoidable, but he tried to make people as comfortable as possible.

“Take a couple deep breaths in,” Finn said. “It always helps me calm down when I'm anxious.”

Charlotte gave him a tight, thin smile but took several deep breaths in.

“I want you to know that what we're going to talk about is nothing bad. I just want to know why because I thought we had a connection last night,” Finn said right before the waiter came and dropped their drinks off.

Before Charlotte could grab her drink, Finn took it, opened the lid, took a straw and dumped it in before placing a little tea on the back of his hand. Cafes were notorious for having drinks way too hot, and he didn't want Charlotte to get burnt.

Charlotte watched in fascination as he did this.

“Perfect temperature,” Finn said as he placed the lid back on her drink.

“Thank you,” she quietly said.

“Why didn't you respond to my texts?” Finn asked. “Did I make you uncomfortable?”

Charlotte stared at him with wide eyes. She opened her mouth several times and closed it. If this was any other situation, Finn would have found it amusing. She was at a loss of words, but right now, he didn’t find it amusing.

In the beginning, Finn thought that she might have not gotten home all right last night. But that quickly passed when he remembered her friend took her home. It eased some of his worry but not all of it.

His only other thought was that he made her uncomfortable somehow. That wasn’t his goal, and if he did, he wanted to clear it up.

“Were you asleep when I texted you last night?” Finn asked.

Charlotte looked down at her drink. “I was about to go to bed, and I tried not to get on my phone.”

Finn could tell that she was telling the truth, and he was glad she didn’t get on her phone right before she went to bed.

“I was gonna respond this morning, but I was running late for work, so I didn’t,” Charlotte said quickly. “And then. And then. And then.”

Finn watched as Charlotte stumbled over her words. He seemed to think that any time she got super nervous or tried to talk really fast she stuttered over her words.

He thought it was cute that whenever she got flustered, excited, nervous that she stuttered over her words, but at the same time, he felt sad because right now he knew that she was nervous.

Finn didn’t want Charlotte nervous.

“It's okay, take a deep breath in. Let it out. That's it. Take another deep breath in, and let it out slowly,” Finn instructed her, and she followed what he said.

Charlotte calmed down, and a blush took over her face. He loved that he made her blush. He could get used to seeing her cheeks rosy red.

“And then I got busy working when you texted the second time and didn't have time to reply. And by that point, I hadn't replied to either one of them for several hours, and I thought it was just better not to respond,” Charlotte said, looking down at her hands.

Finn took a deep breath and nodded his head.

“I want you to know that even if you don’t respond for hours because you’re working doesn’t mean I don’t want you to reply. If you were my little girl, I would expect a reply,” Finn said.

Charlotte’s head moved back, almost like a flinch, and it caught Finn’s attention. What did he say to make her react that way? Was it when he said if she were his little girl? Was that a step too far?

“I don’t expect an answer right away because I know work comes first, but I would like a response. Even a short text saying you’re at work is fine. I just want to know that you’re okay and safe,” Finn said.

Charlotte finally looked into his eyes, and he saw so many emotions swirling in her eyes. He wanted to know what she was thinking.

Was he going all wrong about this? Should he have talked to her last night about responding?

“What are you thinking? Give me all your unfiltered thoughts,” Finn said, catching her off guard.

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