THE SUN ON his face and a strong arm wrapped around his waist was what Tate woke to the following morning. He cracked his eyes open to see that the curtains were exactly how they’d been the night before, and though the bedroom was now awash in sunlight, the safety of the silence that greeted him had a content sigh leaving his lips.

“Good morning.” Logan’s voice was soft as it drifted over his shoulder, and Tate reached for the hand on his stomach, craving the extra contact.

“Morning,” he said as he rolled over so he was face to face with the man who’d taken such care with him last night.

Logan had a hand under his cheek where it rested on the pillow, and squeezed the fingers Tate now had wrapped around his, as he asked, “How’d you sleep?”

“Good, I think. I don’t remember waking up until now, so…”

“That’s good. You needed the rest,” Logan said, and then released his hand so he could cup Tate’s cheek. “Yesterday was—”

“Intense?”

Logan swept his thumb over Tate’s lips. “That’s one word. Unexpected is another.”

Tate nodded, understanding what Logan meant. He highly doubted Logan had anticipated him having a breakdown after the dinner with Jill. Hell, he’d been the one who’d told Logan they should do it and it would all be fine. Yeah, and look how that turned out. “About that. Last night, when we got home. I’m sorry—”

“Hey. Hey,” Logan said. “That’s not what I’m looking for here. I don’t want an apology. I want to know if you’re okay.”

With Logan’s attention fixated on him, Tate could see the stress in his eyes, and Tate hated that he’d put it there. “Yeah. I’m okay. It was just…” He paused and tried to think of the best way to put into words what he’d been feeling last night. “It was a lot to take in. More than I expected. I figured it would be dinner, we’d talk and get shit off our chest, and then we’d go home. But…” Tate shrugged. Logan didn’t speak, though—he was waiting for him to finish. “Some of the things she said to me outside, they cut deep. About how I hadn’t given the people in my life a chance to know the new me. I didn’t realize how much I’d, I don’t know, cut people out. Kind of buried them and moved on.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed a fraction as he placed a hand on the sheet covering Tate’s hip. “You went through a lot back then. You were dealing with your family. Then your accident. Me.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Maybe it was just your way of coping. And after the way your family reacted, no one could blame you for being cautious about who you let into your life.”

“That’s the thing, though—I didn’t let anyone in that I knew, did I? Fuck, Logan. How can you not hate me for that?” Tate said, and rolled to his back, realizing that that was one of the things he was most upset about. He’d done exactly what that fucker Christopher Walker had done back in the day. Hadn’t he? Shit, that thought made him want to be sick.

Logan scooted into his side and took his chin in a firm grip, forcing Tate to look at him, and he wasn’t surprised to see annoyance in Logan’s eyes. He’d be pissed off at him too.

“Why would I ever hate you?”

Tate’s jaw bunched, but Logan held him in place, his hold and stare demanding an answer.

“Because I always thought I was so fucking brave and honest about how I felt for you. Turns out I wasn’t so brave, huh?”

“What the hell are you talking about? You were always brave. Always honest,” Logan said. “From the very beginning, you owned it.”

“But I never once took you around to the people that I grew up with. Never introduced you to my friends, did I?”

“So the fuck what? You gave up everything to be with me. Everything, Tate. Don’t think a day goes by that I don’t know that. That I don’t think about it. If I was a better person, maybe I would’ve encouraged you to track them all down. But I’m selfish. And the thought of anyone else coming between us or filling your head with bullshit freaked me the hell out back then. So if we’re sitting here writing down our transgressions then make sure you add a column for me, I have plenty.”

Tate sighed, and Logan raised an eyebrow as if daring Tate to refute him.

“I don’t know,” Tate finally said. “I don’t think you have enough time before work for me to write down all of your transgressions.”

Logan stroked his fingers over Tate’s shoulder and then kissed his cheek. “All I’m saying is stop beating yourself up about things that aren’t true. There is enough for you to deal with without worrying about things you don’t need to. If, and when, you ever want to meet up with old friends, family, hell, your first kiss—what was her name? Dani Bosley?”

Tate started laughing, which he suspected was Logan’s goal. “How do you remember that?”

“I remember everything about you. Don’t you know that by now?”

Tate’s lips quirked. “That brain of yours is fascinating and slightly terrifying.”

“I’m glad you think so, but I’m not done. My point is, if and when you want me to meet them, you tell me, and I’m there. But Tate?”

“Hmm?”

“Never think for one second I have ever thought anything other than the world of you. Because it wouldn’t be true.”

Tate’s throat choked up at the sincerity of those words, and then he reached for Logan and kissed him hard. “I feel exactly the same way about you.”

“You better,” Logan said against his mouth.

“I do.”

“Good. Then it’s safe for me to leave you here this morning? Because I have a new office space to—”

“Claim. Uhh, that’s right.” Tate nodded. “Yeah, you can go. I’m sure I’ll survive fine without you for a few hours.”

Logan gave him another kiss and then shoved the sheet aside so he could get out of bed. As he made his way toward the en suite, Tate let his eyes travel over Logan’s wide shoulders, trim waist, and tight ass, and then he called out his name. Logan stopped and turned to face him, and Tate kicked off the sheet and crossed over to him.

When he reached him at the door, Tate took Logan’s hand in his and grinned, then tugged him inside the bathroom. “I changed my mind. I’m not quite ready to face the day without you yet. Maybe we can reevaluate my state of mind after we shower.”

* * *

“AHH, THERE HE is,” Cole said, as Logan pushed open the door to his office and stepped inside.

With his briefcase in one hand and his coffee in the other, Logan looked over to where his brother stood beside Joel Priestley, who was seated on the three-seater leather couch. “Here I am,” he said with a grimace. “As are the two of you.”

Cole checked his watch and then frowned. “We were coming to get you to head upstairs. Have to say, we were shocked to find your office empty. I figured you’d be the first here today, or at least be up there with your measuring tape.”

Logan crossed to his desk, put his briefcase down, and rubbed his fingers across his forehead. God, he was exhausted, mentally and physically. “Who says that’s not where I’m coming from?”

“Sherry,” Priest said as he got to his feet and slid one of his hands into his pockets.

“Remind me to fire her.” Logan took a sip of his coffee and hummed in appreciation. “Or at least reprimand her.”

Priest said nothing, merely arched an eyebrow before he headed over to the door to wait for the two brothers.

“Well, if you’re quite ready. Do you want to head upstairs, Your Highness?” Cole crossed over to Logan with an expectant look on his face. “Josh should be here soon if he’s not waiting on us already.” As Cole came to a stop on the opposite side of the desk, he seemed to finally get a good look at Logan, and whatever he saw there had him pausing. His eyes narrowed, and then he looked over his shoulder to Priest. “Would you give us a minute?”

Priest gave a nod and then reached for the door to shut it. Once it was closed, Cole rounded back to Logan. “What’s wrong?”

“Hmm? Nothing’s wrong.” Logan took another sip of his coffee as Cole crossed his arms over his chest.

“Bullshit.”

Logan shook his head. Fucking Cole and his ability to see right through me. “Nothing is wrong. I just had a busy weekend getting the house sorted and everything.”

“No,” Cole said. “If all you had was a busy weekend, you wouldn’t look so…so…”

“Oh yes, please finish that sentence. Because if I’m not feeling awesome already, hearing I look like shit is going to help.”

“You look stressed. Worried. Not like shit. But you’ve barely cracked a smile since you walked in that door, and I know you were looking forward to today.” Cole came around the desk, and when he reached Logan’s side, he said, “Was it the dinner last night? Did something happen? To you? To Tate?”

Logan put his coffee mug down on the desk and brought his hands up to rub them over his face. Christ, he hadn’t realized just how tense he was until Cole had said something. He’d been trying so hard to keep it together around Tate that he’d barely realized the toll last night and this morning had taken on himself.

“No, Jill was fine. I said all the things I wanted to say and she sat there and listened. She was apologetic and regretful, and receptive to the two of us in general.”

“Okay. Then what’s with the frown? You look like someone ran over your cat.”

“I don’t have a cat. Nor do I want a pussy of any kind.” When one of Cole’s eyebrows rose, Logan sighed. “I don’t know. A few things came up last night, and they…”

“They…?”

“I don’t know. Rattled Tate, I guess.”

Cole moved so he could rest his ass against Logan’s desk, and then braced his palms on either side of himself. “I imagine that’s pretty normal, given the circumstances. He hasn’t spoken to his sister in years. Do you remember when we first met? I was pretty rattled.”

Logan cast his eyes in Cole’s direction. “You were an asshole.”

“Because I was rattled. I’d just found out I had a brother.”

“Sure. Keep telling yourself that. But that’s not the problem here. This isn’t so much about Jill as it is about Tate.”

Cole quietly contemplated that before saying, “Would you rather I butt out?”

“No. No, it’s not that. I’m just trying to work out what I think is going on with him. A lot of old emotions came up last night with his sister. Talk of his nephews, old friends, seeing them again—with me. I don’t think he’d really thought about that since he’d left it all behind. And now…”

“Now it’s all flooding back in,” Cole said.

“Yeah. It’s like he’s got to come out all over again. And we both know how well that went the first time around.”

“Geez. That’s got to be rough. One minute you two are buying a house and everything seems right side up, and the next day it gets flipped on its ass.”

“No kidding,” Logan said.

“So what’s the plan?”

“There isn’t one yet. We talked some last night and again this morning, but ultimately, it’s his decision. He’s got this misplaced sense of guilt that he owes me this proper introduction to his friends and family. Like he was hiding me from them or something. But I don’t want him doing this for me.”

Cole pushed off the desk and faced him with an expression Logan couldn’t quite decipher. “Did you ever think that maybe it’s not about owing you? Maybe it’s about wanting to give this to you.”

When Logan merely stared at Cole, waiting for further explanation, Cole sighed. “What was the one thing that Chris never did for you? The one thing that asshole denied you at every turn? Meeting his friends and family. Tate knows that.”

“Oh, come on.” Logan gave Cole an incredulous look. “This is nothing like that. Tate is nothing like that,” he said, his hackles starting to rise.

“I know that. But does he?”

“Of course he does. That’s never even crossed my mind. I love Tate. I want to marry him, for God’s sake.”

“Wait up…what did you just say?”

As soon as the words left Cole’s mouth, Logan realized exactly what he’d just said.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. But there was no way he was able to take it back now, so Logan suddenly took a great interest in the mail Sherry had left in his tray earlier that morning.

“Logan,” Cole said, and when Logan continued to avoid eye contact, Cole grabbed his arm. “Did you just say you want to marry him?”

Logan looked into Cole’s eyes, unable to form a coherent response, but he knew the truth was written all over his face.

As the blood started to ring in his ears and his pulse went haywire, Cole pulled him into a hug and thumped him on the back. And all Logan heard was, “Well. It’s about damn time, brother. It’s about damn time.”

* * *

“YOO HOO, EARTH to Tate…” Robbie waved a hand in front of Tate’s face where he stood behind the bar with a glass and towel in hand. They were around twenty minutes away from opening, and ever since he’d arrived at The Popped Cherry, he’d been…distracted.

After Logan had left for work, he had dived into the mammoth task of packing. He’d cranked up the music, grabbed some boxes, and attacked the living room, deciding the busier he was, the less likely he’d sit around and dwell over last night.

But hell if he’d been able to shake it.

Between the night with Jill, his breakdown with Logan, and this morning? Nothing short of a major catastrophe was likely to take his mind off all that was going on with him. Something Robbie had definitely noticed.

“Sorry,” Tate said. “What did you say?”

Robbie glanced at the glass in his hand and then nodded at it. “You hoping a genie is going to appear if you rub it long enough?”

Tate rolled his eyes and put the glass on the counter. “Smartass.”

“You’ve been polishing that one for the past ten minutes.”

Tate tossed the towel onto the bar beside the glass, and then turned to check out the back shelf to make sure their staples were all stocked enough for the evening ahead. Shit, he needed to get his head on right or he’d be no good to anyone when they opened.

“Hey?” Robbie said as he came up beside Tate. “You okay? You seem a little, I don’t know, off tonight.”

Tate cast a quick look in Robbie’s direction, and when he cocked his head to the side, Tate shrugged.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just a bit distracted. Lots going on with the new house is all.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Robbie said with a grin. “Settling down out in the ’burbs.”

“Wicker Park is hardly the ’burbs.”

Robbie placed a hand on his hip and pursed his lips. “True. But still, I saw pictures. It has a little fence and everything.”

“A black iron fence. There’s no white picket shit anywhere. God forbid; Logan would have a coronary.”

“Ha. You’re probably right. But if anyone could get Logan to do something he didn’t want to, it would be you. White picket fences, a parcel of kids, a dog or three?”

Tate immediately screwed his nose up at Robbie’s words. The idea of Logan ever doing something he didn’t want to for him made him incredibly uncomfortable. And the idea of changing Logan horrified him even more. “No way. That’s so not Logan. Or me, for that matter.”

“Fair enough. I’ll keep the white picket fences in my dreams, then.”

“Yeah?”

Robbie’s face took on a dreamy quality. “Yeah. One day. I can see it now. A white picket fence, surrounding a little red and white house where a sexy man in nothing but an apron has dinner waiting for me on the stove.”

“That’s…very specific.”

Robbie’s eyes widened. “Well, of course it is. If you want something, you’ve got to visualize it.”

“Really?”

“Yep. My nonna always used to say, if you can’t see it in your mind’s eye, how are you going to be able to see it when it’s right in front of you?”

Okay… So that actually makes sense. “She sounds like a smart woman.”

“The smartest.” Robbie smiled and then added, “Also the kindest and toughest.”

“You’re lucky to have her. From what you and Logan have told me, she sounds like one hell of a lady.”

“She is. And you’re right. I am lucky. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her these last couple of months.” Robbie paused, and Tate figured he must’ve been thinking about his own distractions, before he focused again. “What about you? Your family cool?”

And just like that, Robbie inadvertently reminded Tate of what had been bothering him in the first place. “Yeah, uhh…some of them are.”

“Some of them?”

Am I really going to talk to Robbie about this? Tate thought, but as Robbie stood there with an earnest expression on his face, Tate found himself wanting to. “Yeah. My dad’s a pretty stand-up guy.”

“Geez, don’t sing his praises too loud. He might hear you.”

Tate turned and leaned back against the bar, crossing his ankles. Then he did the same with his arms over his chest. “Well, we’ve had an interesting relationship over the last few years.”

At the serious tone in his voice, Robbie walked across to the other side of the bar and mirrored Tate’s stance. But instead of crossing his arms, he fiddled with a towel he held in his hand as if he was uncertain of his next question. “Because of Logan?”

Tate nodded slowly.

“Your family didn’t like that you, uhh…”

“Fell in love with a man?”

“Right.”

“You could say that. Last night was the first time Logan met my sister. Well, the first time he’d ever actually had a conversation with her.”

“Oh my God.” Robbie brought his fingers up to cover his mouth. “No wonder you’re a head case today.”

A head case… Yeah, that about sums it up.

“Was she horrible to him? Was it awkward?” Robbie asked. “Was Logan horrible to her?”

“No. It was the exact opposite, actually. It went great. She was…apologizing for past behavior.”

“Oh, okay. So if it all went well, what’s with the frown?”

“Remember your nonna’s speech about visualization?” Robbie nodded. “When I first started dating Logan, I visualized taking him home to meet my very Catholic family, and all the friends I grew up with. I figured at first they’d freak out, but then, well, then they’d come around and everything would be fine.”

Robbie winced. “I assume that didn’t happen?”

“No, it didn’t. My family disowned me that day. Kicked me out of the house, and told me not to come back unless it was without Logan. After that, my life changed, and I didn’t really think about taking Logan around to my old friends. I was too busy trying to work out how to live my new life.” Tate ran a hand through his hair and then gripped the back of his neck. “But I’m starting to think that maybe that was just a good excuse, and that I was a fucking coward.”

“Okay, first up,” Robbie said, stepping forward with his hands on his hips, “you are not a coward. Are you kidding me? Have you forgotten the first time we met at the Daily Grind?”

Hell no, he hadn’t. Robbie had been seated opposite Logan flirting outrageously, and Tate had wanted to strangle him. “No. I remember.”

Robbie smirked and raised an eyebrow that screamed exactly. “There was nothing cowardly about the way you looked at me that day. Or spoke to me, for that matter. And even though you didn’t outright say I was trespassing where I shouldn’t be, your attitude sure as shit let me know you already thought of Logan as yours. There was no mistake.” Robbie laughed. “God, you were pissed at me.”

When Tate stared at him, Robbie reached out and poked him in his forearm.

“All I’m saying is, there was—is—nothing cowardly about you. Were you still getting your footing? Yeah. But you made it very clear that day that Logan was yours and I needed to get lost.”

Tate finally cracked a smile at that. “You were a little shit that day.”

“It’s all part of my charm.”

“Uh huh.”

“But seriously. Why would you ever think that?”

“Think what?”

“That you’re a coward, silly.”

Tate shrugged. “Oh…I mean, I guess I don’t. Not really. It’s just my sister wants us to go to this get-together with all my old friends and people I haven’t seen for years, and…”

“And?”

“I freaked out about it.”

“Umm, after what you just told me about your family, why wouldn’t you?” Robbie asked. “Seriously, I had no idea you went through all that.”

“Why would you?”

“I don’t know. I just assumed you guys were, like, perfect and happy and shit.”

“We are,” Tate said. “And my dad. He came around right after my accident and loves Logan. But I have no contact with my mother at all.”

Robbie’s expression turned to one of sympathy and understanding. “I’m so sorry that happened to you. And to Logan. I was lucky. My family is very understanding; they just don’t live close by. But I have friends who’ve been in similar situations. I also dated, well, you know, my ex-boss. I guess that wasn’t really dating, per se. But anyways, he was terrified of his friends and family finding out because of the same reaction you got. Difference is, you were brave. It’s so fucking ridiculous that in this day and age people are still so narrow-minded. So judgmental. What should it matter who we love? Who we’re attracted to? Pisses me off.”

“Pisses me off too,” Tate said.

Robbie huffed and then a devious smile quirked his lips. “Then don’t let them win.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t let the ones who have judged you in the past get in your head. Be like you always were with me. Brave and ballsy as ever. Rock up to this thing hand in hand with Logan and show them how happy you are. You were invited, so go.”

Jesus, how is it I’m standing in my bar getting life tips from fucking Robbie? “You’re right.”

“You don’t have to sound so shocked, you know.” There was a buzzing noise, and then Robbie pulled his phone out of his back pocket. He frowned at whatever he read on the screen before turning it off and aiming a dazzling, but forced, smile in Tate’s direction. “I better go get the doors. We open in five.”

And as Robbie walked off to do just that, Tate wondered when Robbie was going to take some of his own advice and decide to once again be brave and ballsy.