Chapter 21

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

BARRETT

Barrett

Is anyone free tonight?

Gabe

I can make myself free. You good?

Reed

If it's closer to seven, yes. I'm on shift until six.

Barrett

Quill at seven?

Gabe

thumbs-up emoji

Reed

thumbs-up emoji

Barrett

No boys, please.

"Hey, boss, your guests are here."

"Thanks, Remi. Can you get them seated, please, and let them know it'll be about ten minutes?"

"Sure thing."

Remi retreated from my office and returned to his post at the hosting station. Once again, I was left alone to stare at Owen's mood board that he kept stashed in his drawer in my office. I doubted he even realized I'd seen it, but I'd been taking peeks at it since he'd started working on it.

He'd mentioned it by accident one day and then told me it was just a way to clear his mind for work. Naturally, I'd gotten curious and went looking for it. It was stashed in the back of his drawer and given that it was mislabeled, I wasn't intended to find it easily.

I'd been speechless when I pulled it out. It was also the moment I knew that ten years of bullshit excuses were just that—bullshit.

His dream nursery was his personal style of dark academia vibes with signature touches of whimsy, but that wasn't what my attention zeroed in on. The sketches were all set in the secret room hidden off my bedroom. There was no mistaking the unusual room shape or lack of windows.

The meaning wasn't entirely clear, but it was enough that I thought there was a chance Owen was interested. For the next six months, I'd redoubled my efforts to show him he was the only one I wanted in my life. Owen had seemed oblivious to all of my efforts, which, given the sketches, confused the hell out of me.

I needed to send that bear a goddamn honey basket.

The last thing I wanted was for Owen to realize I knew about his mood board before I could get my plan into place, and that's where Reed and Gabe would—I hoped—help me show Owen exactly how invested I was .

When he told me he loved me a few nights ago, I was floored. I never expected him to say it, but I damn sure welcomed it. It was time to make clear that I wanted him to be in my home as a permanent resident, not simply visiting. If my plan worked, and I sure as fuck hoped it would, Owen would understand how much I wanted him to stay.

I put away the board, locked up my office, and wound my way through the hallways of the back of the house until I reached the dining room, where my friends were already seated at our table. Owen had designed the space to create maximum privacy at each table, so even if you weren't tucked away into the alcoves, each of the round tables was surrounded by high-back upholstered chairs. Gabe and Reed were already reviewing the menu when I joined them.

"I didn't have time for breakfast or lunch today, so I'm about to eat this tablecloth," Reed groused as he looked over the menu.

"I get why you might not be able to take lunch, but why not breakfast?" Gabe asked.

"Well," Reed answered with a wicked grin, "Jakob woke up in a mood, and I sure as hell wasn't going to turn him down."

"There are much worse reasons to miss breakfast."

"Damn straight, but the donut I grabbed at the coffee cart and the snacks from the vending machine don't do much for the rest of the day," Reed groused.

Lucky for him, the waiter set a bread basket in the middle of the table. Reed fell on it like the starving man he was.

"Enzo, you might as well bring another basket because I don't think this guy"—I pointed at Reed—"is going to share with us."

"I will stab you before I share my bread with you," Reed deadpanned. "But it's fine because my stitches are so pretty."

"Can stitches be pretty?" Gabe pondered.

"If you'd ever seen ugly ones, you wouldn't ask that question," Reed answered around a mouthful of bread. "But since you're getting another basket, you'll survive. What's good?"

"Everything is good, so how about I tell the chef to prepare three courses of whatever he wants? I guarantee it'll be amazing."

"Fine with me," echoed around the table, and we all put our menus aside.

Gabe and Reed focused their attention on me and stared expectantly. I fiddled with my silverware. Now that the moment was here, I wasn't sure how to start the discussion. I needed their help, and more importantly, their boys' help, to show Owen how much I wanted him in my life.

"Barrett, is everything okay? I'm always happy to have dinner with you guys, but I'm not sure what's going on," Gabe said with a hint of concern. "Is everything all right with Owen?"

"Yeah, dinner is great, but I was worried when you said no boys," Reed added.

"Yeah, no, I understand, and everything is good. But I need to show Owen how much I want him to be a permanent part of my life. I want to create a life with him. It has to be so clear that he can't rationalize it away."

"Have you tried telling him?" Gabe asked with a raised brow. "Is there something that stops you from just saying it? It's hard to go wrong with communication and shit."

"Owen is crazy talented but thinks he's too much." I appreciated their scoffs and continued, "It doesn't make much sense to me either. He's not nearly as hard to care for as he imagines."

"All right, so what do you want to do?" Reed asked. "You know we'll do anything we can to help."

"I need Owen out of my house, but I don't want him to return to his. If he goes home, it will be harder to get him to return to mine. The lodge is officially purchased so I thought the boys could go into the mountains with him for the weekend. Tell them it's so they can experience a weekend as tourists so we can figure out what might work at the lodge."

"Uh, look, I don't want to ruin the plans here, but there is no way that is going to occupy them for a weekend. There aren't any actual amenities for them to test," Gabe said skeptically.

"I know, and here's where the boys are going to save my ass. They aren't actually going to stay at the lodge. They will stay at the local competition to see what parts of their operation they liked best for the perfect mountain getaway."

"So you want the boys to go away for the weekend to spend it at a resort and test amenities?" Reed's clarified with a laugh. "Jakob may never come home."

"I have no doubt Rory will be able to force himself to go."

"Hopefully, Anders will be able to join in too. Since I'm the one footing the bill, his asshole boyfriend won't be able to bitch about that."

"I know I should insist on paying for Rory and Anders, but fuck that." Gabe rubbed his fingers together and added, "I'm gonna let you spend whatever you want."

"Very generous of you, asshole."

"Ha! I'm not arguing either. Consider it our extra gift to you. I don't know how I'll get Jakob home."

"Just tell him you're going to clean his office."

"Oh shit. He'll go come and chop off my balls or something. The Wrath of Jakob isn't a show I want to see again. Once was enough, and I didn't even get a T-shirt. Reconstructing the rat's nest was a nightmare all its own. How the hell he really knew what was in each pile is beyond me."

"How will the boys going away for the weekend help you show Owen you're all in?" Gabe asked .

Reed nodded. "It's a nice gesture, and I legit mean that, but I don't see the connection."

Before I could answer, Enzo delivered the cocktails they'd already ordered and brought me my usual. We all chose the chef's choice for our meals but waited to continue our discussion until Enzo had cleared the area. The last thing I needed was for Owen to get wind of my plan because I spoke about it in front of someone. I needed complete secrecy if I wanted this plan to work.

"There's a secret room attached to my bedroom behind a bookcase…"

"Well, that's just really fucking cool."

"I want a secret room."

"If I may continue?" I asked with a haughty tone. They rolled their eyes but shut up so I could finish. "Right now, it's a sitting room, but I want to turn it into the nursery of his dreams."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…hold up," Gabe interrupted me. "Owen hates your taste mostly because it's garage-sale chic, and he's right that it sucks. He won't want you to design his nursery."

"Fuck you, but also, I already know what he wants because I found his nursery design board hidden in my office. All I have to do is follow the directions on there, and it'll be perfect. He's done everything."

"Everything?" Gabe and Reed asked in unison.

"Yes, literally everything. Owen doesn't fuck around with his designs and his level of organization. So while the boys are gone, I'm going to make his nursery, and he'll come home to it."

"Well, damn. It's a big effing deal gesture. Go big or go home," Reed said. "But I get the feeling there's more."

"Goddammit, I knew it was too good to be true. What do you want from us?" Gabe sighed .

"Now that you mention it, there is something you can do. It's not even that hard." I smiled at them, and they both gave me the finger in response. "You can help me put it together."

"Fuck. I hate manual labor," Reed whined. "I'm a doctor. My hands need to be pristine."

"Oooookay, Mr. Big Shot, you're a hospitalist and used to be in the ER. You're not a surgeon."

"You're a hospitalist. You're not a surgeon." Reed mocked Gabe's tone before he added, "Hey, I'm very busy and important."

"Yes, yes, the big doctor is special. Super special. We'll give you the fanciest brush."

Gabe and I laughed at Reed, but everyone at the table knew he'd be there helping. He was going to whine about it first though. Truthfully, I wanted to join him in the complaints. If I tried to wheedle another emergency job out of Quinn, he was likely to fire me as a client, which was the last thing I wanted or needed. That catio had been a legit emergency though.

"That's right. I am special because Jakob says so."

"Jakob wants to get laid."

"Well, if he does, I'm not going to turn him down." Reed laughed. "Why can't you call Quinn?"

"Because I dragged him off another one of my projects to build a catio for Elizabeth," I answered.

"Barrett, the obsession you have with that cat is reaching Swiftie levels," Gabe offered.

"Are you talking shit about Mother? I will call Rory right now, and you won't survive the night."

"I would never, ever insult Mother. Also, don't call Rory because I really would like to not get murdered in my sleep. He takes that shit personally."

"Who the fuck is Mother?" Reed asked in confusion.

"Your Swiftie-obsessed husband is going to hear about this. You really do like to live dangerously, don't you?" Gabe smirked.

I cleared my throat to get their attention focused back on my genius plan. "Here's my only downside. The only time I would get them in and coordinate the delivery is the few days before the Halloween party at Dandies. So they'd go up there on Wednesday and come back on Saturday, but the party is that night, so it will be a long day for them."

"If I tell Owen I need him to work out some issues with Quinn's foreman, he'll definitely go. Then Quinn's guy will ‘cancel'"—I paused for air quotes around the last word, then continued—"and if he's already up there and the never-a-real-appointment cancels at the last minute, there's no danger of him coming back early."

"That should work. As for Saturday being a long day, the drive itself is just a couple of hours. The hospital is pretty good with flex time, and I know Jakob has plenty of comp time available, so it should be fine." Reed turned to Gabe and asked, "What about Rory and Anders?"

"Rory is fine since he works from home, but Anders having to take a couple of days off might be difficult."

By the time our food arrived, I'd explained how I'd been working on this plan for a few months and already had the custom pieces ordered and had only needed to schedule the delivery. The wallpaper company had recommended some contractors, and I was able to get the wallpaper installation scheduled because there was no damned way we'd figure that out without the paper being ruined.

By the time dinner ended, the guys had texted their boys, who all enthusiastically agreed. Anders said he couldn't take off Wednesday but would try for Thursday and Friday. Hopefully, he'd be able to join them because if anyone needed a break from work and life, it was him. All that was left to do was convince Owen he needed to turn the reins of the Halloween party setup to the extremely competent banquet staff at Quill and the club.

"Barrett, are you sure this is a good idea? Could we reschedule this for next month or in the spring? You know how seriously Rory and Jakob take themselves at the Cuddle Crew Conference for the party planning in the Rumpus Room."

Owen stopped briefly and added, "Will Anders be stuck doing all the work because that's not fair. He has enough to worry about without adding party planning to the mix."

"I think they named it the Cuddle Crew Confab, and I won't let him do any work. He did call me about it, and I told him the banquet staff would handle setting up everything and there wasn't anything left to do. He accidentally mentioned that his boyfriend was the one who refused to approve his leave request for Thursday or Friday, but I don't think he meant to tell me because he ended the call right after.

"Babe, it's going to be fine. The banquet staff knows what to do. They have your phone number, your email, and your social media. And they have all that for me too. I will keep an eye on everything. I can even send you pics to check their progress." I ran my hands up and down his arms in a losing battle to soothe him.

"And you're sure this can't be rescheduled?"

"I'm one hundred percent certain. You and the boys need time to check out the amenities at what will become our closest competitor. Plus, Quinn is sending Tye out Saturday morning to do the walkthrough with you. That was the only time he had available, and the room situation at your hotel only gets worse the closer it gets to snow potential. "

"Uh, when you were a kid, didn't your mom tell you never to trust anyone who says things like trust me?" Owen snorted.

"No, but she told me I should tell my boyfriend I love him at least twice daily. "

"Is that what we are?" Owen leaned back so he could look me in the eyes. I dropped a soft kiss on his pretty lips because why the hell not? "Is that how you see me?"

"We live together. I thought the boyfriend thing was self-explanatory."

"Temporarily. You can't just decide arbitrarily. We need to have discussions about these types of situations."

"We do?"

"Indeed, I also think it's best if we table this discussion until a more appropriate time and place."

Ha . Owen's tone and words had turned formal. His forever tell that we'd reached uncomfortable territory for him.

"Perhaps we could schedule it for several weeks until we've had a chance to discuss it properly and see how everything else goes."

"Or," I said with a smirk, "we discuss it next week after you return from the mountains. That clean air is good for clear thoughts or some such shit."

"I'm not familiar with that phrase."

"Me either, but it sounded good."

"Debatable." Owen reached down to pick up his toiletries bag and weekender suitcase, which I plucked from his hands and moved to carry myself. I had them halfway to the door when Owen stopped dead in his tracks. "What about Elizabeth?"

"What about her?"

"What if she thinks I'm abandoning her?"

"Babe, I promise you can FaceTime her so she knows you'll be back. It's going to be fine."

As if she knew she was needed, Elizabeth jumped off the bed and wound her way around his ankles. Owen lifted her and snuggled her all the way down the stairs. Owen spoke to her in a low tone, and she answered with a series of meows and mewls. Weird but also so frigging cute.

At the bottom, Owen took Elizabeth to the catio and put her on her favorite perch. I sidled up behind him and rested my chin on his shoulder. He hung on my arms with his hands and leaned his head back. "I'm being silly."

"About what?"

"I feel so strange when I'm away from her. Like something is missing. And"—Owen cleared his throat—"I'm going to miss you too. I haven't slept alone in weeks. I've gotten used to you and your snores."

"Why you gotta ruin our sweet moment with lies? I don't snore."

"You, my sexy man, snore like a bear."

"You think I'm sexy?"

"You think you're not?"

"I only care about what you think."

"Check your ego, but yes."

I pulled Owen into a fierce hug and buried my face in his hair. He smelled like citrus and musk. It was a heady combination. His body melted into mine, and I felt all the ways a Daddy was supposed to feel.

"I'm going to miss you too, baby. You're going to come back with such great ideas for the lodge and relaxed after having time away with the boys. It'll be so much fun. And Anders needs a weekend, so hopefully, he finds a way to get up there. He mentioned to Rory that his boyfriend actually threatened to fire him."

"Jesus. That relationship is the poster child for why mixing business and pleasure is such a bad idea. It's the scenario I was worried about back in college."

"It is the worst-case scenario, but don't you think the people involved matter too? If the couple is toxic, then it's doomed."

Owen shoved himself out of my embrace and looked at me through narrowed eyes. "If you think Anders is toxic, then you can fuck right off with that bullshit. His shithead boyfriend is toxic. Anders is kind and sweet and only wants other people to be happy. He just doesn't know when to let go and tell the boyfriend to get fucked. But Anders is not toxic."

Owen glared daggers at me, and Elizabeth popped up out of nowhere on the foyer table and hissed at me, complete with puffed fur and arched back. She even took a few swipes.

"No, no, I absolutely didn't mean to say Anders was toxic, and I don't think he is. I do think the relationship he's in is toxic and his boyfriend is a complete dick. I don't understand why he stays, but it's not for me to decide to do something about it. Gabe has shared how worried Rory is about him, but that's all. I'm sorry I wasn't clear." I rubbed my hands up and down Owen's arms before reaching out to scratch Elizabeth.

"Thank you for clarifying," Owen said, somewhat mollified. "I don't understand it either. And thank you for paying for the rooms and the spa. That was nice of you."

"You are there for business, and so it should be covered."

"And there'd be no way Anders could come if you hadn't with as little as the dick pays him."

"I've told him we could always use someone with his organizational skills at Strega, but he said he wasn't making the mistake of mixing employment and friendship again." Owen grimaced but stayed silent. "I mean it. He has an open offer of employment."

"Maybe he'll take you up on it," Owen said with a sigh. "I'm going to pick up Jakob and Rory. "

"Not letting Jakob drive you all?" I couldn't stifle my laugh at Owen's horrified expression.

"Oh, hell no. That man is a menace behind the wheel. Speed limits are suggestions, and he gets too distracted while my life flashes before my eyes. Rory, as you know, hates to drive, so that leaves me, which is infinitely better than Jakob driving."

"Yeah, Reed says the same thing," I said with a chuckle. "But his shitty driving is how they met, so maybe not the worst." I leaned down to give Owen a soft kiss. "I need you to be careful on the road. I love you, babe."

"I love you too."

He gave me another kiss, but this was not nearly as sweet or chaste. Heat pooled in my stomach, and I regretted that there was no time to drag him back upstairs.

"I'll be careful." Another kiss curled my toes. "And I'll see you on Saturday." Owen turned to Elizabeth for one last snuggle. "And I'll see you on Saturday too. Be good for Daddy."

Elizabeth cocked her head, narrowed her golden eyes, and I swear she hmphed before jumping out of Owen's arms to return to her catio.