Page 16 of Off-Limits Love
He grimaced at the way the word emerged, cringing internally and avoiding eye contact with Mak, paddling faster out of frustration.
“Max’s Uncle Sam’s dog,” Emi corrected, her words followed by another giggle. “I wanna dog, but Mommy says no.”
“Dogs are a lot of work, sweetie,” Mak said. “And Max is our dog now.”
Finn paddled, still angry with himself because he couldn’t even answer a child’s question without the stupid stutter making an appearance.
But now that they were on the water and it was just them staring at the crowd and the tents set up around the lake, he felt even more self-conscious about being alone with Makayla.
Emi got quiet for all of two seconds. “Uncle Sam said Max likes to visit Harriet. I wanna go with him when he goes.”
“You can only go when I take you,” Mak quickly countered. “No wandering off on your own. Not again, remember?”
Finn noted that Emi tucked her chin a bit and wrinkled her nose in visible disgruntlement, leading Finn to think her mama might need to have another talk about roaming too far from her side.
Apparently Mak felt the same because Finn caught the worried expression that flashed across her face as she looked back at her baby girl.
He doubted Mak could see Emi’s expression since the girl sat directly behind her, but Emi’s crossed arms and pouty silence spoke volumes.
Finn inhaled and before he could stop himself, he stretched out a hand and grasped Mak’s, squeezing gently.
Mak’s gaze shot to his, and after a moment, she inhaled what appeared to be a steadying breath and nodded.
He released her hand and then shifted to tug on Emi’s hair. “Mom’s right,” he said slowly and carefully, stumbling over theMand on therbut keeping his tone stern despite the wide megawatt blue eyes staring up at him like a baby owl.
Emi seemed to come to terms with the rule, and after a few long seconds she went back to trying to see everything at once as they moved across the water with the repetitive thunk-thunk-thunk of the paddles beneath the boat.
The breeze shifted, and in the process his nose picked up the light scent of Mak’s perfume or body lotion. Or maybe it was just her.
She smelled like heaven. Like sugar and vanilla frosting and…everything a home should smell like the moment you walk inside. It made him think of comfort and peace. The kind that came with memories of his family—before the accident.
His hand clenched over the lever guiding them through the water because he thought about his empty house. It didn’t have a scent unless dirty laundry counted. And while it was his safe place, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel like something was missing.
Silence fell between them with Emi pointing out all the fish jumping out of the water, more turtle sightings, and a piece of trash too deep to retrieve.
They paddled and floated and lasted about forty minutes of their allotted hour before agreeing to head back to the dock when Emi said she was hungry.
“Did you have fun? What do you have to say to Mr. Finn since he paid for our boat ride?” Mak asked Emi as they bumped against the wood planks by the other boats.
“Thank you! It was fun. I can’t wait to tell Daddy. He always says no to doing it.”
Finn caught Mak’s barely contained a grimace.
“Your dad probably just didn’t have time that day, baby. There’s no need to say anything because you got to paddle today on our day out, right?”
Finn stiffened, and Mak looked up in time to see him studying her as he weighed her words. But had they hit wrong because she’d made an excuse and defended her ex—or that she’d basically told Emi not to mention their outing because she didn’t want to be associated with him?
It had happened before. Plenty of times.
Women liked how he looked but when he opened his mouth? Different story.
He and his brothers were fairly well-known in the area due to their many business ventures and charitable pursuits. Out of all of them, he was the one known to be a cranky recluse due to his inability to speak properly, and since it made so many people uncomfortable, they left him to it.
Did Mak not want her ex to know she’d spent time with him because he wasn’t someone she could be with? Be proud of? Was she like all the other women but too polite to say so?
And what did it matter if she was? It wasn’t like he was actually looking for someone. He’d given up on that a long time ago after all the failed attempts in the past and the curse of his speech. He knew the outcome because he’d already experienced it and reminded himself that this—today—was him being neighborly.
“Will you come to our picnic?” Emi asked Finn as she raised her arms for him to transfer her from the boat to the dock.
