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.Crawford frowned.“Why what?”Finn’s cheeks burned.“Why did you ask me out?”He grinned.“I didn’t exactly ask.”Finn smiled then, feeling just a little bit better.“Why did you inform me that I was going out with you?”“Because I’ve spent most of the two weeks since I moved here sitting in my house alone.I need to do something besides work and so do you.That and the fact that I’ve wanted you from the moment I saw you fall over your dog gate.”“W-wanted?”Crawford winked at Finn.“You heard me.” Then the hotter-than-he-should-be man turned and walked out without saying another word.Finn sank into the closest seat to prevent himself from collapsing.What the hell was he going to do? Finn wished he wasn’t drowning in work, fighting to keep his job, when what he really wanted was to only teach private lessons, take more time for himself, maybe run a community theatre.But that wasn’t going to happen—at least not if he wanted to pay his bills.Chapter ThreeAfter Crawford declared that he and Finn were going out, Finn couldn’t stop thinking about him—his broad shoulders, his deep voice, his confident air.Finn, with his nervousness and inability to stop talking, was like a buzzing gnat, while Crawford was steady and solid, a man anyone could rely on.That desire to just melt into Crawford and let the man slow him down and hold him up was terrifying.Finn had struggled with anxiety his whole life.His dad had never been in his life, and it was just him and his mom growing up.She’d supported Finn when he’d come out and worked as hard as she could so he could have music lessons and develop his natural talent.His last year of college, he’d fallen for a guy his mom didn’t like and he and his mom’d had a falling out.A month after Finn realised the guy had been cheating on him the entire six months they were together, his mom had told him she had cancer.His world had come apart.He’d tried to quit school, but his mother wouldn’t let him.He’d urged her to try any treatment available to her.They’d got a second mortgage on the house, and Finn had spent every spare moment and every cent he made caring for her.When she’d died, he’d barely been able to function for months.Two years had passed, and he was doing better.His anxiety was under control more often than not, but he didn’t know if he was capable of having a relationship with a man.He didn’t know if he could let himself feel deeply enough.Near the end of rehearsal on Thursday, Finn was in a foul mood.Mark had obviously not been practising the songs or his spoken lines.They needed to nail down Mark and Becca’s duet of Rock Around the Clock, but it wasn’t going well.“Mark, take a seat,” Finn barked.Several of the kids’ eyes widened and whispers spread through the auditorium.Finn was being uncharacteristically bitchy, but between his nerves about going out with Crawford making him jittery and the stress of pulling the musical together much too fast, he was a mess.“I’m going to sing Mark’s part and we’re going to take this scene from the top, okay?” All the kids on the stage nodded, and he began.“One, two, three o’clock, four o’clock rock.”Becca was incredible, and the other kids really got into their dance moves with Finn on the stage with them.When the song ended, applause erupted in the auditorium.Finn looked down and saw Mark and the students who weren’t in the scene smiling and clapping.At least Mark had seen what he needed to do, and he appeared enthusiastic.A loud whistle startled Finn, and he looked farther out in the audience.The sound had come from Crawford.He was grinning like crazy, but he wasn’t looking at Becca.He was looking right at Finn.Finn’s breath caught and he had to clear his throat before he could speak.“Okay, that’s it for today.Be ready to go through scene four tomorrow.”The kids started to clamber off the stage.Finn wanted to avoid talking to Crawford, but he wasn’t sure Crawford would let him get away with that.He followed Becca down the stairs.“You were fantastic,” he told her.She beamed.“Thank you.”Crawford hugged her when she reached him.“Great job!”“Thanks.Finn’s pretty awesome too,” she said, looking back at him and grinning.“That he is,” Crawford said.“I’m going to go catch Marcie.I need to ask her something about our math homework.”Crawford nodded.“Okay, just don’t be long.”“I won’t,” she called as she skipped off.“You were incredible,” Crawford said, looking back at Finn, his blue eyes intense.Finn looked down at his feet.“I…not really.I just needed to get them inspired so I—”Crawford lifted Finn’s chin with his fingers, forcing Finn to meet his gaze.“Your voice is beautiful.”Finn sputtered, not sure what to say.He couldn’t believe Crawford was touching him here in the auditorium.“Y-you shouldn’t.”Crawford dropped his hand.“Sorry.I didn’t think.”“No, it’s okay.I…um…”“I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”Finn sighed.“About that…”Crawford’s eyes narrowed.“You’re not backing out.”“I really have to work.I need to rewrite the last song in the musical, and I’m laughably behind on making plans for my classes, and—”“You have to eat.”Finn realised his hands were shaking and clasped them together.“No.I mean yes, but—”“You get caught up working and forget to eat sometimes, don’t you?”Finn frowned.“Yeah.”Crawford gave a smug smile.“Well, tomorrow you won’t.”“But—”“If you don’t have time to go out, I’ll bring takeout to your house.How about something from Brent’s Burgers? I usually walk by there when I’m stretching my legs at the end of the day.”“Um…”“You’re not a vegetarian, are you?”Crawford looked concerned.Their hip neighbourhood was populated with scads of raw food enthusiasts, gluten-free vegans and others who denied themselves the joys of a good bacon cheeseburger.“No, I love meat.”Crawford gave him a sly smile.“Do you now?”Shit! Finn realised what he’d said.“I’d be more than happy to bring you some delicious meat.”Finn’s face was on fire.“Y-you would?”“Oh yes.I’d even feed it to you.”“Oh my God.” Do not get hard.Do not get hard.Finn pictured the foetal pig dissections he’d seen while passing by the bio lab earlier in the day and the vomit he’d witnessed a janitor cleaning up in the hall outside the cafeteria.He felt a little nauseated, but at least he’d kept himself from popping wood in the school auditorium.* * * *On Friday, as Finn drove home from a music store where he occasionally gave private lessons, he considered how badly Crawford was screwing with his equilibrium.He’d been jumpy and unfocused through all four of his lessons.And he’d been short with his students all day.He had to get himself together.He hadn’t even had a date with Crawford yet
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