Don't Drop the Ball [Completed]

Two

Bree's POV

I pulled my shirt away from my body a few times to get some air flowing. Holy moley was that man gorgeous. Nora mentioned to me many times that her son, Fin, or as I now know him, Finnlay, is a looker. I always waved her off thinking she was exaggerating since he's her baby boy. She's showed me old photos before trying to see my reaction, but I thought he always looked like an average teenager in the photos-- or the stock photos she shared of his baseball pictures.

His hair is voluminous and black as the night sky. I think I could lose my fingers in it seeing how thick and long it is. He has it styled in such a way that gives it more volume too. The slicked back, yet messy vibe. His eyes are more blue than they are grey, but I could see his father in him. Nora has shown me many photos of her late husband. I always wanted to wrap her up in my arms as she mentioned how kind, tender and dedicated her husband was to Finnlay. That is until he died serving his country.

Finnlay is tall as heck, too. Well over six feet. I'm the average height of five foot five-- just a hair taller than Nora. His slightly off centered smile is a heart stopper too. He has these dimples and they hit my weak spot.

I set the stain down and moved to answer the pinging alarm. I helped set Nora up with online orders. It's been a steady flow of orders and I think that Finnlay has been the one to help keep that going.

I got the job with Nora at a great time. It was May and I was about to be kicked out of my dorm on campus. I ran out of my scholarship and decided to convert to online school and get a full time job to pay for rent. Nora had just posted the job offering when I was packing up my dorm. She originally was hiring for an assistant, but when she found out what I am getting my degree in, she let me create my own job here at her business.

Nora has owned her own handmade wooden, steel, and canvas sign store for over a decade. The business has been picking up a lot and she found it hard to keep up. Especially in the past few years. Not only did Finnlay make it to the MLB and begin promoting her on his social media platforms, but her father was also struggling with a heart condition. She has been a warrior these past few years trying to keep her father on his own two feet.

I took the two new online order slips and stuck them to our "upcoming projects" agenda. There are seventeen in front of them. She does have a busy business.

The bell rang in the doorway and I peeked through the office entryway to see Finnlay helping his mom carry in a box. She must have went to get more paint from down the street. The phone rang and as she grabbed it, she took a smaller box and brought it outback to the shop. I made my way to the counter to see Finnlay's blue eyes on me. He set the box down on the ground and I watched as his forearms flexed from the movement. His arm veins sticking out. My god arm veins for days on this man.

"How long have you been working for my mom?"

"Since May," I started out and grabbed our planner to plot out when we need to complete some of our projects. I looked back to him to see him staring down the hallway at his mom who is on the phone. Looking closer at Finnlay I could see the weight that is on his shoulders. Not only from the grief, but from being here for his mom who is hurting. "You know, your mom said you are here until February..." I trailed off and he looked back to me.

"Yes, I am."

"I don't want to influence you to stay, especially if other things pop up, but..." He is starring at me now and not his mom. I, however, looked to her. "She told me how excited she is to have you back for two months. It's making her heart full again to have you back." He stared at me in silence for sometime before nodding and looking back at her. I couldn't figure him out just yet.

"Did she tell you how he passed?" Finnlay looked to me and now his eyes are grey. Somber. I took that as a no. "He was on the golf course." I gave him a soft smile. "Nora told me that if he had to pass away doing anything in his life, she was glad it was golf. A sport he loved."

Finnlay rubbed at his jaw line that is coated in dark stubble. I wanted to run my fingers along it as well. Stop it, Bree. "He did love golf. That man tried to get me into it." He gave me a heartwarming smile at the memory before shaking his head. "Once he saw my potential in baseball, he helped me through that after my dad died. He was a great man." I nodded and held the agenda book close to my chest watching as he flipped through his memories of his grandfather in his mind.

"I'm sorry you lost him..." I whispered out. His blue eyes snapped to mine and his shoulders sagged a bit. "I know you also lost your father. I'm sorry they are both gone." Finnlay looked like he was going to say something when Nora came in.

"Bree dear, is it okay if you handle the store for the rest of the day? I have to head to the funeral home with Fin." I nodded and took the keys from her.

"Of course. Do what you need. I'll take care of anything you ask." She gave me a thankful nod and turned to Finnlay. She whispered to him a few things before grabbing her purse. I bid her a goodnight and headed back to the office to make sure we had everything on the right timeline. After all, the holidays are upon us.

"Bree?" I turned around to see Finnlay paused in the doorway. He gave me a little smirking grin and a tip of his head. "See you soon."

Again the heat flash that encased my body is making me pick up and fan myself with my own shirt.

I walked up the stairway and to my apartment door. I live right above the wood shop. I have a separate side door that is all mine and a private stairwell. I'm the only one here at this unless Nora is working late. I started boiling a pot of water for some pasta and then made sure to boot up my laptop. I needed to finish this one paper about my internship with Nora.

This semester I was unfortunately kicked out of a class because I was remote, and when I called my advisor she suggested doing two semesters with an internship. I was just supposed to do one, which I was going to have to figure out next semester, but now I have Nora. It's crazy how much she has helped me out over the past half year. She's given me a job, an internship, a place to live, and someone to look up to. I've been on my own since I started college. Literally the day I got accepted, my parents left all my stuff in a tub, a U-Haul box and one duffle bag on the front steps. Everything else was packed up, sold, or going with them to wherever they went.

They disappeared on me. Left me for dust.

I entered the three year marketing and business program at UCLA. My first two years I roomed with Winnie. She's a crazy gal. My freshman year she learned that her boyfriend cheated on her. After that she plunged herself into the hockey world. She graduated this past May but has followed through her internship with the Kings until June. She runs her own podcast, to which I have no idea what they are talking about half the time, but I listen to. Her and her co-host Chase, put out episodes twice a week. I opened my podcast app on my phone and opened up to her podcast and hit play. It started in the background and I continued to make my pasta and made sure I have all my documents for my paper.

I cannot wait to be done in May.