Page 3 of Hound Dog
I expected Linda to step forward, but instead Finn took the box from her. “Assorted cupcakes,sans coconut, coming your way,” he said. With gloved hands, he began filling the cupcake box.
Meryl and Linda stepped aside, chatting near the register, leaving Finn and me standing across from each other with only a glass case and dozens of cupcakes between us.
He grinned at me from over the counter. “This might be the biggest order we’ve ever had that didn’t involve a birthday party or wedding.”
A silent laugh shook my chest. “Yeah. Aunt Meryl likes to support local businesses.” I’d seen her do it a few times. “Once, back in Rochester, she bought every last remaining donut at Donuts Delite and then walked around downtown passing them out to strangers. Even on the drive here, she paid for every car’s gas at the gas station.”
His brows disappeared beneath the flop of soft-looking brown hair hanging across his forehead. “Wow. If I’m ever rich, I hope I can do the same thing.”
He reached for a blue frosted cupcake, slipping four of those into the box.
“Aunt Meryl’snotrich.” At least, I didn’t think she was. She certainly wasn’t hurting for money. But rich? No one in our family was anything close to rich. Except maybe my dad.
Then again, calling him ‘family’ was a stretch. “She’s just… generous.” I shrugged as Finn held up a rose-colored cupcake toward me.
“Want one now?”
I nodded and he passed it to me from across the counter. “Thanks.”
I dipped my finger into the frosting before pushing it into my mouth, andholy Lord. My taste buds sang with the explosion of delicious sweetness. “Holy crap, that’s good,” I said.
His grin widened, revealing a single dimple on his left cheek. “I know, right? My mom’s secret recipe.”
He finished filling the second box and secured it with a single piece of tape as Aunt Meryl finished paying Linda.
“You know,” Finn said, “I’d be happy to show you around town tonight after my shift is done.”
My heart sputtered in my chest, nearly coming to a full stop.
Wait. Justwait. Was this sexy God among men inviting me out? Asking me out on a… adateof sorts? “I… uh… I was planning—”
“She’d love to,” Meryl answered for me, taking the boxes of cupcakes from him.
Finn’s brow arched and he looked directly at me. “Is that true? Would youloveto?”
Something about how he said that word ‘love’ made a whirlwind swirl in the pit of my belly.
“Sure. Sounds fun.” The words cracked at the back of my throat.If fun involved nervously throwing up in my mouth at the thought of going out with the hottest guy I’d ever seen!
“Okay, then.” He grabbed a business card from the stack on the counter and scribbled his number onto the back. Sliding it over to me, he said, “I know where Jimmy’s house is in case you ghost me.”
Linda smacked the back of his head… hard. “Don’t be creepy. I raised you better than that.”
“Ow, mom!” he gasped and rubbed the back of his head. “I wasn’t being creepy.” Then, he looked at me. “I swear, I wasn’t trying to be creepy.”
“If she wants to ghost you, she can ghost you.” Linda turned and looked right at me. “I swear to you that if you choose not to go out with my son tonight, he will not show up unannounced to your house. Ever.” She fixed him with another glare.
“But,” Meryl said, “she won’t ghost you. No niece of mine would blow off a boy as attractive as that.” My face went hot as she gestured up and down at Finn with her pointer finger.
“Aunt Meryl!” I buried my face in my hands and when I peeked through my fingers, Finn was suppressing his laughter with bouncing shoulders.
With her boxes of cupcakes perched on one hand, Aunt Meryl wrapped her free arm around my shoulders and guided me out the door. “Don’t you worry, Finn. She’ll be in touch!”
Then, leaning into my ear, she whispered, “Life Lesson Number Twenty-nine:neverturn down a hot guy offering to show you around a new town.”
6:54p.m.
“Your aunt is seriously letting you go on this date with a stranger?” My best friend Maisie shrieked through the phone.
