Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

BARRETT

Owen had successfully avoided me for more than two weeks. The afternoon we'd scheduled to visit Stone and Vine, he begged off with an undetermined emergency. Miraculously, the emergency was resolved when I had to go out of town, and he made arrangements with the construction crew and architect to meet down there. Late summer had bled into fall, and I was no closer to Owen than I had been before.

Then he and Levi went to visit their families, which I'd never begrudged, but usually, he invited me to go with him even when he knew I couldn't. Not this time. When I messaged him, as always, he said he couldn't text because he wanted to be present. I mean, great, but he'd never worried about being present before, and his mom loved me. Half the time, we FaceTimed while they were having dinner so I could be there too. I missed my best friend, goddammit, and I wasn't ready to give him up.

Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to bridge the impasse we'd reached. In the meantime, I'd spent my time at work this morning staring out the window into the harbor .

My downtown office had a birds-eye view and was usually enough to transfix me. I loved watching the ships and boats coming in and out of the channel. Now, all I did was stare into space and turn over in my mind why Owen was fighting so hard against something between us. I was so busy doing nothing productive that I almost missed the text messages vibrating my phone in rapid succession.

Jakob

This conversation never happened.

We can't have this conversation unless it never happened.

Got it? Never. Happened.

Barrett

Are you drunk? It's not even noon.

Jakob

Okay, Judgey McJudgerson. I've seen you pop a beer at 10 a.m.

Barrett

At a derby party and that doesn't count.

Jakob

You say that like it's a holiday. Also, I'm at work, so not drunk.

Barrett

Uh-huh. Anyway, this conversation never happened.

Jakob

Do you have plans for lunch?

Barrett

No, why?

Jakob

Meet Rory and me at Stone and Vine at noon.

Barrett

Am I going to regret this?

Jakob

We would never steer you wrong. See you at noon.

I wasn't surprised that the boys picked Stone and Vine for our meeting. It was a favorite of Rory's since it was where he and his Daddy, Gabe, hatched their cover story for an ill-fated fake dating plan. I'd been filling in at the counter because our regular person had been out sick, and I'd known they were besotted from the beginning. It was beyond me why they'd thought it wouldn't turn real immediately. They'd spent the whole date making heart eyes at each other.

They were relationship goals. Gabriel was thrilled to have a partner who traveled with him, and Rory found someone who unapologetically cheered him on.

Jakob and Reed were just as in love. They'd met several years ago when Jakob ran into Reed with his car. It had absolutely been Jakob's fault, and he'd decided on the spot that it was fate.

Jakob was like a dog with a bone when he pursued Reed. The doc never had a chance. As I remember, he didn't try hard to get away. Jakob was sweet, but that man had more depth than people realized. Between his genius IQ and a backbone of steel, I didn't relish the idea of getting on his bad side.

Rory and Jakob were already there when I arrived. Their heads were together as they worked on a shared coloring book at one of the back tables. Rory always liked to sit close to the fireplace because he said it gave him the best views of the mural Owen had painted on the walls. As I approached the table, I saw it was the custom coloring book we kept in stock that had images from the mural. I was struck by how jealous I was of their Daddies, and that came with more than a dash of shame. I wasn't begrudging their happiness but damned if I didn't want some for myself.

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late. I couldn't find parking."

They both looked up and gave the most suspicious smiles I'd ever seen on them. I felt like prey for two Cheshire cats. Whatever reason they'd summoned me for, I knew I'd have to accept it. The gleam in their eyes told me my fate had been sealed and there was no point in pretending we were on equal footing.

"Oh, no worries, I never mind spending time here," Rory said with a fond smile.

"But we need to have an important conversation," Jakob interjected.

Before I could ask what the important conversation entailed, our server interrupted to bring the drinks the boys had already ordered and my usual cup of black coffee. We ordered our lunch and waited until the server moved away to continue our conversation. The wait was about to send me over the edge.

"Is someone going to tell me what's going on?" Blunt, yes, but I couldn't make myself wait any longer.

"You know Owen is signed up for the date auction, right?" Rory started.

I nodded.

"Do you know he signed up for the vanilla date option? No kink, and he threw in a design consult. I think it's going to raise a lot of money."

"Okay…" I said warily.

"You also know I will have the totals, right?" Jakob aske d

I nodded slowly at his words. "Yeah, the bids are online, and the winners are announced at the club, right?"

"Correct," Rory said crisply, but his faux-seriousness was ruined by the mischievous sparkle in his bright-green eyes.

"For an appropriate donation, we can make sure you win," Jakob said in a rush when the secret plan became too much to be held in. "But it has to be triple since it's for charity."

"Done." Holy shit. I had been thinking about the auction, and my original plan was to donate a shitload and hope it was stupid high enough to win.

The thought of Owen on a date, even one for charity, made every nerve in my body twitch, and not in a good way. I knew we were destined to be more than best friends, and I just needed to figure out how to make him see that too.

"This went much better than I thought it would. I expected you to talk nonsense about integrity and not cheating and letting Owen come to you, blah, blah, blah," Rory said with a laugh.

"Oh, fuck that." If it meant getting a date with Owen that he couldn't run away from, I was willing to fix the auction. "Where's Anders? Is his boss being a dick?"

Anders was more their friend than mine, but I knew enough to know that his boyfriend-slash-boss was a Grade-A asshole. For the first time, I saw a hint of chagrin and nervousness in their expressions.

"Anders had some concerns about this plan," Rory finally offered.

"Concerns about me?" That surprised me because, as far as I knew, Anders and I were cool with each other.

"No, not you. With the plan in general but mostly with our part in it," Jakob added.

"What does that mean exactly? "

The pause stretched to an incredibly awkward length.

With a huff, Jakob answered, "He refused to come today. He said we should stay out of it, and it didn't matter how much he thought you two were meant for each other. And totally does, by the way. I think his exact words were, ‘This has disaster written all over it. You two need to mind your own business and let them sort themselves out.'"

I was somewhat mollified. Anders didn't object to me, just the methods. In any other circumstance, I would have agreed with him, but for this one time, I was willing to have some rules broken.

Something had to give between Owen and me. I knew him better than anyone, and whatever was keeping him from deepening our relationship had nothing to do with me. If I could figure out what held him back, we could sort ourselves out. A rigged date auction was a small price to pay.

Our food was delivered to the table, and I played uncle for a little bit. There were napkins to be unrolled and manners to be reminded about. Before the afternoon with Owen, it had been months since I'd been around anyone in a little headspace. Rory and Jakob tended to float in and out of it, especially when they were around each other.

I suspected Owen confined his to more specific boundaries. There was no one way to do this, but self-prepared bottles and solo rocking to sleep was not ideal for any little especially if they deeply regressed.

Owen deserved to have a Da do all the things for him. I wanted to be the only one up for the job. But in the meantime, I had the pleasurable task of holding the crayons and providing them upon request when the boys returned to their coloring.

"Kim, could you ask Owen to come by this afternoon?"

I'd returned to the office after lunch to finish some work. One less worry meant I could move through the stacks of files on my desk. Considering how little I'd done in the morning, it was a win. Now that I knew a plan was in place, I could consider how to move forward, but there was also the design aspect of the auction to consider.

Owen had signed up as a vanilla date so my initial idea to have him design the world's most perfect nursery wasn't an option, but the drive back to my office had given me an idea that felt not completely harebrained.

"Boss, why don't you call him yourself like you always do?" Kim asked when she poked her head inside my office.

"Because I'm the boss," I said in a hopeful tone. It was true, even if I rarely played the boss card.

"That's not a good reason. Did you two fight? Because I gotta tell you, it was weird when I dropped off the keys."

Kim sauntered into my office and dropped into one of the chairs in front of my desk. She steepled her fingers and gave me a speculative look. The woman was here for the long haul.

"No, of course not. In all the time you've worked for me, have you ever known us to have an argument? We don't fight."

"In all the time I've worked for you, I've never known him not to pop in here at least once, usually five times a day."

It was beyond me why I tried to pretend this woman, who was meticulous in all things, wouldn't have picked up on the noticeable cooling between Owen and me.

"It wasn't a fight."

"So it was a positive interaction?"

"It wasn't a fight."

"You already said that."

"It was…it was a moment when we shared parts of ourselves we didn't plan on sharing, and now we feel a little aw kward about the whole thing." That was a nicely euphemistic way of describing it.

"I love how you think that I don't know what that means. I am slightly, give or take a couple of decades, older than you, but I'm not a complete idiot."

Her face was deadly serious, and her eyes bore into mine. It was creepy. And weird.

"You need to tell him the truth about how you feel. If you don't, you might not get to have the future you want."

"How do you even know that I want a future with Owen? I could want my friendship that we went and made awkward back."

"That's a straight-up lie. There was a lot more than friendship going on that morning. And you need to talk to him. He can't feel secure in speaking about his own wants if the Daddy who wants to apply for the job doesn't speak up."

" What? What are you even talking about?"

"Stop. You're not dumb, and neither am I. How many years have I sat at that desk? There's nothing to be ashamed of. Do you, boo, as the kids say."

"Pretty sure kids don't say that anymore. Also, how on earth could you know what you think you know?"

"Because I listen when sweet Jakob and his Papa have stopped by to drag you to lunch, and that boy's happy dance has more butt-wiggling than a puppy. If you don't want me to know Gabe's planning the perfect playroom for his boy, you shouldn't brainstorm color schemes when he stops by and all four of you guys walk out the door together. By the way, that navy blue and coral will be beautiful. Furthermore, you've dated before. Granted, not much lately, but you've done it. They've called you Daddy. Birds of a feather blah blah blah."

She looked as smug as the cat who ate all the cream. "And last but not least, you own a kink club, and you take particular care in making sure the Rumpus Room section is always, always, always top-notch."

"I could fire you for insolence."

"Do it. Good luck finding anyone as discreet and wildly organized as me. It is a tough combo to find in one package."

"Even if you're right—and not conceding that you are—but if you were, what would you do?"

"Something holds him back from being all in with you. He's never been able to keep his eyes off you when he thinks no one is paying attention. When you've dated in the past and had a little PDA, the man flinched. Flinched . Not wanting to be with you isn't the problem. Why he won't let himself be with you is the problem."

"We're rigging the auction."

"Pardon?"

"Me, Jakob, and Rory. We're rigging the date auction at Wilde Dandies so I'll win the date with Owen."

"Or you could talk to him."

"Don't be silly. That's too easy. Also, it hasn't worked so far."

"Rigging the auction is a mistake you'll regret." At that ominous warning, she stood and headed for the door. "Call him yourself."

"I could fire you!"

"You won't."

After the absolute audacity of my assistant, I brooded at my desk for a bit while I pretended to work. Until whatever this was with Owen was settled, I continued to be useless at work. It had been too long since I'd seen him, and I couldn't take it anymore .

Decision made, I left my office and headed for the stairs. I studiously ignored the cackling laughter that trailed me down the hall. Maybe I wouldn't fire that woman, but I could damn sure ignore her.

I stalked down the stairs to Owen's office. When he joined the company, I'd offered him a higher office with a view of the harbor that equaled my own. He'd declined before the words had even finished leaving my throat.

Owen was no fan of heights, and the view would only remind him of it. Always the practical one, he'd said samples would be easier to move around on the ground floor anyway.

Since he wouldn't take the amazing view, I gave him the best available on the floor he wanted. His office was tucked in the back of the building with a door that opened onto a tiny walled courtyard. Owen had added outdoor seating and plants. If the weather was nice, always hit-and-miss this time of year, he'd be outside working. And that's exactly where I found him.

When I opened the door to the courtyard, I asked, "Hey, are you too busy to take a break?"

Owen sat at a reclaimed table in the middle of the space, surrounded by plants overflowing with late-season color. He looked up and smiled. A real smile. A genuinely happy-to-see-me smile. It warmed my heart and stirred my cock.

"I'm not too busy for the boss."

"I'm hardly your boss."

"You sign my paychecks. That makes you my boss."

The words hit a tender spot with me. I was the man who signed his paychecks. I thought he knew me well enough to know I'd never take advantage of that connection, but wasn't that the exact thing a person who intended to take advantage would say? I shook my head at the errant thought.

"I was checking to see if you were available to go to Stone and Vine for a status check. The contractor emailed this morning to say they had fixed the drainage issues and erected the overhead structure. I figured you'd want to see it sooner rather than later."

Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes.

Owen typed a few things into the laptop he was working on before closing it with a decisive snap. "I am now. If the structure is complete, I can give the go-ahead to ship the patio furniture. Fingers crossed you like the vibe. It's from the same outfit that made this table," he said, smoothing his hand over the patio table.

"It's gorgeous. It'll give that space the fairy cottage vibe you wanted."

The silence this time felt companionable rather than the strange and awkward vibe that had plagued the last couple of weeks. Maybe we were back to normal? If I mentioned it, it might ruin the spell he'd fallen under today, and I wasn't going to risk it.

"Thank you for the updated pictures of Elizabeth. It looks like she's put on a little weight."

"She has," Owen said as he pulled his phone from his pocket and opened his photo app. "She's settling right in."

Owen had a series of photos he'd taken but hadn't shared yet. Elizabeth was a lounger—on her tree, on the back of the couch, and on Owen's hangers in the closet. "The only thing I don't like is that she can't go outside and enjoy the sunshine."

"What if we built something at my house? The family room has that patio right off it. We could enclose it and then turn it into a catio. I'm not sure how it would work in the winter with all the rain, but I'm sure a contractor could figure out something. If he's at the restaurant when we get there, we can talk to him about it."

"You'd do that? "

"Sure. I have all the extra cat paraphernalia because I want her and you to come over. I miss her already."

I hoped he felt the weight of my words and heard the unspoken and you missing from my last sentence. There was nothing I wouldn't do for him, and if that meant we were building a catio, then that's what I would do.