Unfortunately for Blake, he wasn’t able to see Linc for almost a week. Caroline had caught a cold and had been miserable for several days, wanting only Blake by her side. He’d even had to miss a couple days of work to take care of her. By the time Linc called on Friday afternoon to say the house was ready for his final walk through, Blake was so tired he thought he might fall over.

They’d managed to time everything well. The movers had called that morning and had moved their arrival up a day. They were able to start unloading that evening, so Blake couldn’t delay things further. Aunt Paula offered to come over to Blake’s parents house to keep Caroline occupied so he could handle the first phase of the move.

Kale arrived with his mom and shoved Blake into the passenger seat of his car. “No way you’re driving. You look like a zombie. Let’s run by Common Grounds and get an espresso before we go. We can drag Micah away from the books and make him help.”

Blake grunted his agreement and laid his head against the cool glass of the window. He dozed off and only woke when Kale put the car into park outside the shop. “Dude. Did you sleep at all this week?”

“Not much,” Blake confessed. “I hate it when she’s sick. And she needed to be propped up or she’d get a coughing fit, so she ended up sleeping on me most of the week.”

“I hope you don’t get sick.”

“Mom’s been pumping me full of vitamin C, so let’s hope it works. I just want to get this move finished and sleep in my own bed. That sounds amazing right about now.”

They went into the shop and found Claire working her normal spot behind the coffee bar. “Oh, Blake. You clearly need some caffeine. One extra large quad vanilla latte coming up.”

“Make that two,” Kale said. “I think it’s going to be a long night.”

Micah carried a box behind the counter and smiled at them. “What’s going on tonight?”

“We’re going to help Blake move into the new house. So go ahead and finish up what you’re doing and come on.”

“I can’t leave the—”

“Yes, you can,” Claire interrupted. “We won’t go bankrupt if we close the store early one day. You go with them, and I’ll close up.”

She handed over their drinks and gave Micah a shove toward them.

“I’m not sure if you remember that I’m the boss here,” Micah complained.

“You sure about that?” She grinned and batted her eyelashes at him.

“Oh, shut up. Come on, Blake. Let’s get you moved in.”

Claire snickered and waved as Micah stomped out the door. “Don’t let him pout for very long. I’ll be over in a little while once I get everything closed up for the night.”

The supercharged latte did the trick and by the time they arrived at the house, Blake had managed to wake up a little. Linc was standing outside when he arrived and Blake’s heart did a little flip at the sight of him.

“Wow. You’ve got it bad,” Kale teased. “I’m pretty sure you just swooned a little.”

“Don’t make me hurt you. Besides, that was a yawn, not a swoon. You clearly haven’t had enough of your latte, so shut up and drink.”

Kale snickered and took an obnoxiously loud slurp. “Better? Now go drool on him for a minute until the others arrive. I’ll keep everyone outside for a bit to give you some alone time.”

“I don’t need—”

“Just go. God. Play tonsil hockey for a minute or something. Jesus. You’re no fun at all, Blake.”

“Fine. I’m going.”

Blake climbed out of the car and walked up the sidewalk toward Linc. He barely noticed the new landscaping and fresh paint, unable to tear his eyes away from the man standing there waiting on him.

“Hey,” Blake managed to blurt out once he’d stopped in front of Linc.

“Hey,” Linc replied. He reached up a hand and cupped Blake’s cheek. “You look tired. Caroline feeling better?”

“Yeah, she’s doing a lot better.”

“Good. Come on and let me show you around.”

Linc grabbed his hand and led Blake inside. Everything smelled fresh and new. The tiles were perfect, such an improvement over the dirty concrete floors that had been down on Blake’s last visit to the house. He’d chosen a pale gray paint with crisp white trim throughout the main rooms.

“It looks amazing.”

Linc grinned and led him through to the kitchen. The cabinets were a deep charcoal gray, and they’d installed a white subway tile backsplash above the white countertops. The appliances he’d ordered were all in place.

“Wow. Seriously, Linc. I’m amazed at how much you’ve done. I can’t believe how good it all looks.”

“Come see Caroline’s room.”

Blake followed him down the short hall to his daughter’s pink bedroom. It was the first time Blake had seen the castle wall Linc had told him about. It looked like a fairytale, with a pale purple castle and bright pink turrets. Her bed would fit right beneath it. Linc flipped a switch on the wall and the castle windows lit up with a soft night light style glow.

“She’s going to lose her mind.”

“I hope she loves it. The guys suggested we light it up. One of my crew has a daughter about Caroline’s age and he says she thinks the lights make it look more real. We were going to add bookcases to it too, but I didn’t know what kind of furniture you had so… anyway, I hope you like it.”

“I love it. She will too. I can’t wait for her to see it.”

Blake turned and pulled Linc close. “Thank you so much,” he said. He leaned in and captured Linc’s lips in a teasing kiss that quickly turned into something more. Linc had him pressed against the wall with a hand on his ass before Blake realized what was happened.

“I missed you,” Linc grumbled once he let Blake come up for air.

“Same.”

“Blake! The truck is here!”

“Dammit.”

“Come on,” Linc said with a grin. “Let’s get you moved in.”

All of his cousins had arrived while he’d been inside and they were all standing around the driveway.

“We have a plan of action?” Abe asked.

“Uh… get moved in?” Blake replied.

Danielle sighed. “Kale, you take the kitchen. Carter and Nathan can help. Audrey, Claire and I will handle Caroline’s room and the hall bathroom. Blake, you’ll have to direct us some but focus on your bedroom and bathroom. Josh can help. Micah, you tackle the bookcases. Abe, you and Matthew get the living room set up and then you are in charge of getting things hung on the walls. Linc, you’ll wrangle the trash and empty boxes. Any questions?”

They all blinked at her for a moment.

“Nope,” Blake finally said. “No questions.”

It surprised Blake how quickly the movers had the truck completely unloaded. Within a couple hours, the house was full of boxes and they all had plenty to keep them busy. With twelve people working, it stopped looking like a house and started looking like home pretty quickly.

Blake left Josh hanging his clothes into the closet and went to check on everyone else. Caroline’s room was almost finished, as was the living room. Kale was hand washing all of the dishes, but there weren’t many boxes left.

“Special delivery!”

Aunt Paula and Caroline came into the house. Caroline had her stuffed raccoon held tightly in her arms. She didn’t look very happy.

“Daddy!”

He lifted her up and she leaned into his neck with a sniffle.

“Sorry,” Aunt Paula said. “She really wanted to be here. I told her we’d bring you guys some pizza for dinner and check on how it was coming along.”

“No worries. She lasted longer than I thought she would. She’s a bit clingy when she’s sick.”

“Abe, can you get the pizzas out of my car? There are some drinks as well.”

Abe moaned and rubbed his stomach. “I sure can. I’m starving.”

Blake rubbed Caroline’s back and held her close. “Hey, Mouse, you want me to show you our new house?”

She nodded but didn’t raise her head. Blake pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, but it was cool. She was just tired.

“There’s my girl,” Micah said. “How are you feeling, little bit?”

She sniffed and raised her head. “I has a cough, Uncle Micah.” She proceeded to cough pitifully before laying her head back onto Blake’s shoulder.

Micah melted. “What does she need? What can we do?”

“Calm down, Micah. She’s fine,” Aunt Paula said. “She needed her daddy.”

Caroline yawned and wiggled closer to him.

“Did you bring her blanket?” Blake asked.

“Yeah, it’s in the car. Micah, make yourself useful and go get it.”

Micah practically ran for the door, opening it just in time for Abe to come back in with a stack of pizzas. While Abe and Kale got the pizzas set up and drinks poured for everyone, Blake sat down at the dining room table. Caroline had dozed off again once he’d gotten her blanket wrapped around her.

“Made you a plate,” Linc whispered. He crouched down beside Blake and brushed his hand down Caroline’s back. “She okay?”

“Yeah. Just worn out.”

“Pepperoni okay? Abe almost stabbed me when I tried to get a piece of the supreme.”

Blake grinned. “He’s got issues.”

“What I have is hunger pains,” Abe griped. He sat down next to Blake with three large pieces of pizza on a plate.

“What you have,” Kale countered, “is an unhealthy addiction to junk food. It wouldn’t kill you to eat something green once in a while.”

Abe pulled one of the tiny pieces of green pepper off his pizza and held it up. “Look. Green.”

“Don’t even try to argue,” Carter said. “Mom never won that battle with him and you won’t either.”

Aunt Paula huffed. “I take that as a personal challenge.”

“I do, too,” Kale said. “I bet I can make something green you would eat.”

“Yeah, lime Jello,” Carter teased.

“Oh, key lime pie is kinda green. He’d eat that,” Claire said.

“Shut up, you two. Abe, what do you say? You up for a bet?”

Abe groaned. “I don’t know. There’s nothing wrong with what I eat. Besides, you make half of it already, so it’s not like you don’t already control what I’m eating.”

“Hey,” Danielle complained, “I don’t get leftovers, Kale. What’s that about?”

“You know, Kale,” Linc said. “I did help build your fancy kitchen. I don’t get leftovers either.”

Kale groaned and thumped his head down on the table. “Save me, Mom.”

Aunt Paula laughed. “No can do, kiddo.”

Blake adjusted his hold on Caroline before snagging a piece of the pizza Linc had brought him. He grinned as he chewed, happy that Linc fit in so well with his cousins. Michael never really had, and it was always something he’d wanted. He watched them all laughing and teasing each other, trying to decide how they were going to divide up the vast quantities of food Kale ended up producing as part of his show.

* * *

After the big move, Blake’s plans to see more of Linc didn’t work out for the next few weeks. Not that they didn’t see each other at all. They passed in the halls at Bartlett Construction on several occasions and Linc always shot him a wicked grin which Blake devoured at every opportunity. But between a software update that had left the office staff in chaos and a clueless Uncle Henry leaving him in charge of fixing all things related to those “blasted machines,” getting settled into the house, figuring out a new schedule for himself and Caroline, and Linc’s work schedule, they hadn’t been able to carve out any time.

Blake was getting desperate enough that he wanted to be clichéd and pull Linc into the office supply room for a quickie. He didn’t. But damn if he didn’t have some excellent fodder for his alone time after he imagined being on his knees with Linc above him while trying to keep quiet so no one would hear them. Linc had been a frequent guest in his fantasies recently, distracting Blake at really unfortunate moments more than once over the past few weeks.

Almost lost in the fantasy once more, Blake was startled back to reality by Uncle Henry bursting into the office and slamming some paperwork down on the desk. He scowled darkly, opened the file cabinet, then slammed it shut again in frustration. He turned to Blake, opened his mouth, snapped it shut, then stormed out of the office.

“What the hell?” Blake stood up and followed his uncle down the hall and out the back door of the office. Henry was pacing back and forth, cursing under his breath and kicking at the gravel.

“You want to talk about it?” Blake asked after a moment.

“That damned architect screwed me over again! This is the last time, dammit. I sent detailed specs, followed his plans to the letter, and now I’ve got a screwed up mess that the engineer says is a flaw in the plans. And this isn’t the first time! Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!”

Uncle Henry thumped the concrete wall with his fist and then yelped in pain.

“Hey, come on. What do we need to do? Call the lawyers, yes? Let’s do that. If the flaw is on him, he’s responsible, right?”

“Well, yeah, but do you know how long it’s going to take to straighten this mess out? And we’ve got a client waiting on a finished house that I can’t give them until I get a new architect, new plans, and redo what we’ve already got done!”

“Okay,” Blake said as he guided Uncle Henry back inside and into the break room. He fixed him a plastic baggie of ice and wrapped it over his swollen knuckles. “I’m calling the attorney. We can go over the contract. Abe is waiting to hear back on the Maynard House job, so we can pull him onto this and double the guys on it in the short term, which we will be adding to the claim against the architect.”

Uncle Henry leaned back against the cabinets and smiled at him. “Yeah. That’ll work. It just makes me mad. Sorry I lost my temper.”

“No worries. You need anyone else on this job to make it right?”

“No, Abe can handle it. Between the two of us, we can help Jose and his team undo the shit and make it right. I’ve got another architect firm we use a lot so I’ll see if they can help me out of this mess. They’ll probably charge me double.”

“And if they do, we’ll have the lawyer add it onto the claim against the original architect. Let’s make it right for the client. That’s what you taught me.”

Henry grinned and pulled Blake into a quick hug. “You’re right. And I’m more glad than ever you took on all this office work. I’m loving being back in the field again with the guys. I’m thinking I can cut down to four days a week once we get this mess fixed. You okay with that?”

“Yep. I know I can call you if I get stuck. I’ve even pestered Uncle David a couple times with questions.”

“Good. Hey, will you go see if you can catch Jose and Linc? They were getting ready to make a run for the hardware store when I came in. I’m going to get on the phone with the other architects and see if they can bail me out of this mess.”

“No problem.” Uncle Henry went into the office they were still technically sharing, even though his uncle hadn’t sat behind the desk in almost a month. Blake hurried out front, but while Linc’s truck sat in the parking lot, Jose’s was gone. He sighed and went back inside to let his uncle know.

He’d been looking forward to seeing Linc, if only for a second. Blake stopped, then glanced back toward the truck. If nothing else, he could at least let Linc know he was thinking of him. He hurried back over to the truck and checked the door. It wasn’t locked. He’d have to fuss at Linc for it later, even if the toolbox fitted to the pickup’s bed was locked down tight, he should at least keep the doors locked too. He fumbled around for a pen, then grabbed a notebook laying on the seat. It looked like the ones Linc had stacked on his kitchen table the other day.

Blake flipped it open, stunned to see that it was actually a sketchbook. Inside were beautiful line drawings, each more detailed than the next. Blake traced his fingers over one of a beautiful tree, then flipped the page to find a sketch of a house. He flipped through a few more pages before freezing, realizing just how much of Linc’s privacy he was invading.

He quickly dropped the book back onto the seat, but it bounced and fluttered to the floor, where it opened again. This time to a drawing of Blake, sleeping on Linc’s couch. He stared at it for a long moment, noticing how peaceful and happy he looked. Content.

With a soft smile, Blake carefully closed the book and put it back where he found it. He walked away from the truck, butterflies tripping around his chest. So much talent. It was another facet of Linc to learn, and Blake hoped he’d share the secret of his art one day soon.