Page 22 of Molly's Mr. Wrong
Of course it was.
Molly glanced down at her old comfy T-shirt and oversize work jeans with the paint on them that barely hung on her hips, then snapped off the burner under the kettle. She was at a disadvantage, but that was okay. She could deal. Besides, she had some things she wanted to say to Finn, and now he was here.Thank you, flood.
“And he brought someone with him.”
“Mike?”
“Not Mike,” Georgina said. She gave a soft cough. “Definitely not Mike.”
Molly couldn’t help herself. She went to the window and peered out over her sister’s shoulder. Finn and a guy who looked to be in his very early twenties strode up the walk and out of sight of the window as they climbed the porch steps. Georgina was on the way to the door before they knocked.
“Hi,” she said, stepping back so that Finn and his friend could step inside. They were both bareheaded, their hair soaked, even though they’d only walked a few yards through the rain from the truck to the house. “Thanks for coming!”
“Not a problem.” Finn smiled at Georgina. “This is Chase. He works with me.”
“I’m Georgina,” she said, the dimple appearing next to her mouth. “That’s my sister, Molly.” Both Chase and Finn turned toward Molly, and while she understood Finn’s cool expression, she was a touch puzzled by the odd look Chase was giving her.
Finn jerked his head in the direction of the garage. “If you would open the garage door, we’ll bring the snake in that way. So we won’t have to lug it through the house.”
“Right.” Molly headed for the kitchen, where she hit the garage switch. Finn followed her, opening the door leading from the kitchen to the garage. He let out a low whistle, then looked over his shoulder at Molly.
“If you had waited much longer, it would have been in the house.”
There was a note of accusation in his voice, as if she should have called him earlier but hadn’t out of sheer stubbornness. Well, he hadn’t been on her call radar.
“I phoned every plumber in the book. Nothing.” Molly cleared her throat. “I really appreciate you coming.” Totally true, even though she felt uncomfortable with it. He turned, cocked an eyebrow at her.
“I bet.” His voice was low. Halfway ironic. An unexpected quiver of...something...traveled through her. Molly abruptly jerked her chin toward the water. “What can I do to help?”
“Got it covered.” He glanced toward the living room. “Chase!”
Chase came into the kitchen, the remnants of a smile still playing on his lips. From behind him Georgina lifted her eyes upward in a way that clearly conveyed her interest in the guy.
Great. But young lust could wait until after the flood.
“Whoa, shit,” the kid said when he saw the water. He glanced at Molly. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it. This is a whoa-shit situation.” Molly stepped back to allow him to move past her. Georgina shrugged into the coat she carried in one hand and followed the guys outside. Molly stayed right where she was. In the kitchen with her thoughts. It wasn’t like she could do anything out in the cold and wet to help the situation, and she had no desire to be a cheerleader.
A good twenty minutes later Chase and Finn tramped back into the kitchen, their jeans soaked from the knees down. “We got it,” Chase told Molly, a smile on his handsome face. He glanced over at Georgina, who smiled back at him.
“I videoed it,” Georgina said, holding up her phone, “so we can do it ourselves if we need to later.”
“Good thinking.” She glanced casually up at Finn. “I made coffee and we have hot water for tea. You guys have got to be cold.” And Finn probably wanted to get out of those wet jeans. She understood that, but she did want to talk to him and had no idea if she’d get another chance.
“We should get back to the store,” Finn said as Chase headed out to load the snake in the truck.
Georgina put her hands on her hips and cocked her head at Finn. “Have a cup of coffee. It’ll warm you up.”
Molly had a feeling that Finn knew as well as she did that Georgina wasn’t so much concerned about warming their rescuers as keeping them around a little longer. He met her gaze, then gave a quick nod. “Thanks.”
The furnace came on then, filling the kitchen with a blast of warmth—the house seemed to have only two temperatures, almost too cold and almost too hot—making Molly suddenly feel overly warm, but she had a mission and she was going to accomplish it. She went to the cupboard for cups while Georgina found a bag of Oreos.
Georgina poured two cups and took them into the living room, leaving Molly to follow with Finn. Only she and Finn didn’t follow.
“I want to talk to you,” she said as soon as her sister was out of hearing range.
Chase came in the front door then, but didn’t come close to making it into the kitchen. He saw Georgina and the coffee and took an instant detour.
