“You promised I would never stand in the way of your dreams.” I opened the oven door, let the blast of heat dissipate, and then stuck a thermometer into the pork loin. Probably another fifteen minutes. “And now, here we are, hardly any time since we became official, and you’re already breaking your word.” The handle of the oven door slipped through my fingers and slammed shut, making it sound like I was angry. Which, I supposed was fine. I was angry.

Micah paused from slicing the onions and wiped the back of his arm across his eyes. “Number one, I never promised that, at least not in that wording. Number two, that isn’t what’s happening here.” He sniffed, this time wiping the back of his arm under his nose. “And three, that’s seriously how you’re referring to us as now? As official?”

He was so damn cute, standing there, eyes watering and nose running. Maybe I wasn’t quite as mad as I wanted to believe. “That’s exactly what’s happening. You can’t even deny it. You’re standing there crying. It’s killing you not to go to New York.”

He balked. “Crying? I’m not—” He realized I was joking and grabbed the dishtowel and threw it at my head. “Shut up, jackass.”

I caught it, but got a spray of water across my face anyway. “Careful. You might accidentally throw the knife.”

Micah glanced down at the blade and lifted it, shaking in my direction. “Seems to me you’re the one who should be careful. Throwing around accusations while I’m wielding a weapon.”

I crossed the short distance from the oven to where Micah stood at the counter and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Here, let me do that. You really are crying and snotting so much it’s going to get in the salad dressing.”

“Would serve you right.” He shrugged me off, then scraped the onion slices into the bowl of olive oil with blue cheese. “Besides, I’m done already, so great timing. Now it just has to sit.” He began to stir the mixture, and the teasing left his tone as he spoke again. “Seriously though, Connor, I’m not giving up my dream. It’s only a week. It’s just a few songs on one album. Anybody could do it.”

I sighed, some of my frustration returning. “Exactly, it’s only a week. You’re acting like I’ll fall apart if you leave.”

From the look he gave, I knew that was exactly his concern. “Come with me, then. A week in New York could do you good.”

As much as I needed a break or a vacation, I never found the city relaxing, which Micah knew. Though at any other time, I would do it for him if it meant him actually saying yes to the recording gig he’d been offered. “I can’t leave. What if Moses shows up?”

“Exactly. You think I don’t want to be here if Moses comes back? And I’m not leaving you. Not right now. There’ll be other albums. Plus, we are already shorthanded at the Green Violin and the farm. There are several interviews lined up over the next couple of days. I can’t leave Adrian to do them by himself. You know he’d just hire the cutest thing that walked through the door and not somebody who actually had a decent work ethic.”

I pulled up close to him, choosing to be glad he wasn’t going to be gone, even if it meant I was selfish and should push harder. “Well, I can’t have that. I don’t need any cute men around you all the time trying to pull you away.”

Micah didn’t give into the flirting. “I told you, Walden said he texted Moses a couple of times. That he answered. You should text him.”

“Babe, just because your family came around… our family came around, quicker than I thought, doesn’t mean Moses is going to change. I’ll admit I’m a little surprised he’s willing to even talk to Walden, but if there was anybody he would talk to, it makes sense it would be Walden. Chances are he’s blocked my number. Or simply changed my name to the Devil or something.”

“You’ll see. He’ll come back. I know it. Walden thinks so too.”

I sighed, suddenly feeling tired. I didn’t want to argue, I didn’t want to speculate about Moses. He was on my mind all the time. I was driving myself crazy. At a time when I should be the happiest. In the week since Moses had left, things had gone better than I could’ve ever imagined. Well enough that Micah was able to say I told you so more than once. Though things were still tense with the family, and a little strange, I hadn’t lost anyone. Neither of us had. It was definitely going to take some time before everyone was used to it, probably take even longer until Micah and I were comfortable holding hands or acting like a couple in front of the rest of the family, but it would get there. We would get there. The only exceptions were Moses and Gilbert.

“We’ve got about ten or fifteen more minutes before that pork loin is ready to come out and rest. Can we not talk about Moses or anyone else in the family? Just for tonight? Let’s just have dinner, watch TV and forget the world even exists.”

Micah moved to stand in front of me, pressing me against the edge of the counter, and kissed me. His tongue caressing my lips, seeking entrance.

I opened to him, growing hard instantly at the touch of his tongue on mine.

His hand snuck between us and squeezed my cock. He broke the kiss, leaning back, squeezing again. “That’s all you want to do tonight? Eat, television, and forget the world? Personally I had a lot more fun options in mind.”

I thrust against him, reveling in his body, even clothed. I relished how easy things suddenly were between us, how normal. Somewhere in the back of my mind I’d been worried, or at least concerned, that some of our fire would be lost when things were out in the open, no longer having that secret thrill. If anything, things were better. Freer. “What did you think I meant by forgetting the world exists?”

Another squeeze and then he released me. “Oh, good. That will work, then.” He stepped away, leaving me standing there with a raging hard-on, and grinned viciously. “Something to look forward to.”

I looked down at the bulge in my pants, then back at him. “Are you kidding me? You’re leaving me like this?”

Despite his attempts at seeming uninterested, his gaze lingered a few seconds too long on my crotch. “Before we get to that, I actually wanted to talk about home decor over dinner.”

“Home decor?” I barked out a laugh. “You trying to channel Debbra Kelly right now?”

He shrugged, his playful smile returning. “Maybe.” He pointed to one of the stalks of asparagus in his newly colored-in tattoo. “I was doing some planning the other day. Now that we’re… official, like you say, I’d actually like to start working on the house again. Really get it up to snuff. I was thinking this color for our bedroom. You like it?”

Ridiculously, my heart rate sped up. “Are you asking me to move in?”

His brows furrowed and he looked at me like I was a moron. “Is that something I have to ask?”

My mouth moved, but words weren’t even close to appearing.

“Never mind.” Disappointment crossed his features. “I can tell from the panic on your face it was a stupid assumption on my part.”

Moving in. To Micah’s house. “Like soon?” God, I really did sound like a moron.

“I said never mind. It’s not a big deal.” He forced a smile and shrugged. “Forget I brought it up.”

Moving in. I glanced around the kitchen. Stared off into the living room and the distance. Out the window that looked over the distant cliffs, in the direction of the cavern. This could be home. Our home. I looked back at Micah. “Could we do red?”

“What?” He’d started to walk to the fridge, but turned around.

“The bedroom. Could we do it in red instead of green? Not bright red, but that deep purplish color, like a red wine. Not all four walls, maybe just a couple of them. We could do accents of eggplant and off-white or something, maybe an ivory.” My heart still raced, but the panic was giving way to excitement.

A smile began to form, erasing the hurt that had been on Micah’s face. “Why in the world do you want a red bedroom?”

I shrugged and couldn’t meet his eyes. “It’s the color that always comes to mind when I think of you. It’s the color of the sweater you were wearing the night you played ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ for the first time. Right after I got back from the Clarks.” I could see it like yesterday—Micah had always been home. Always. “It makes me feel safe, loved.”

Micah sniffed, and this time the tears brimming at the corner of his eyes weren’t caused by onions. He walked toward me once more. “I didn’t know you were such a sentimental sap, Connor Clark.”

I shrugged again. “It’s not my favorite quality.”

He laughed and kissed me. “So I didn’t freak you out beyond repair, assuming we were going to live together?”

“You really sure you want to live with me? I can be kind of a pain in the ass. And I snore, and I—”

He smacked my arm, laughing again. “You think I don’t know that? I heard you snore nearly my whole damn childhood. Not to mention the past couple of weeks.” His expression grew serious again. “I wasn’t trying to assume. I’m sorry if I crossed a line. It’s just—”

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry.” Now that he’d said it, it was so obvious I wasn’t sure why it hadn’t already crossed my mind. Maybe simply because I’d refused to allow myself to see a future with Micah for so long, the habit had stuck. “Of course I’ll move in. We’ll make this place exactly how we want. Give this house the happy ending it deserves. And if we can’t figure it out, we can just move into the cave. Couldn’t ask for a better view.”

Micah beamed. Absolutely beamed, and was so fucking beautiful it hurt.

The sound of someone clearing their throat startled us apart. I looked over and saw Gilbert standing in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Sorry.” He cleared his throat again, eyes cast down at the floor as he shuffled his feet. “I knocked.”

Micah and I both stared at him.

After a second, Gilbert looked back, his gaze flicking between the two of us. Finally he pointed back over his shoulder. “I can… uh… go, if you want me to.”

“No!” We both lurched toward him, crying out at the same time, then stopped, laughing self-consciously.

Gilbert raised his hands. “Okay. I’ll stay. Don’t hurt yourselves.”

I studied him, daring to hope Micah had been right yet again. That Gilbert had forgiven me. Surely that was the case if he was here. “You’re back in town?”

He nodded. “Yep. Just drove up from flying into San Francisco.”

“Is Walden with you? How’s his dad?” Leave it to Micah to ask the important questions instead of stating the obvious.

“We think his dad is going to be fine. Probably not quite back to normal ever, but he should be okay. Walden’s going to stay down there another week or two. I’m going to grab some stuff from the cabin and then fly back down. We left in a hurry, and I still need to get some work done. Hell, if we stay long enough and I keep pretending to have a pleasant disposition, Walden’s folks might start to forgive me for not being a daughter-in-law.”

He’d flown to San Francisco instead of directly to Lake Tahoe. That had to mean something. Although, he’d left his car at the San Francisco airport. Maybe that was all it was.

Micah was thinking the same thing, obviously. “You came here first?”

Gilbert shrugged a third time, then let out a long sigh, sounding somewhat defeated. “Mom, Lacy, and Andrew have called every goddamn day telling me to get my ass up here. Dad and Hayley called a couple of times as well, along with about every other stupid member of our idiotic family.” He rolled his eyes. “And you’d think, with his dad being sick, Walden wouldn’t have been focused on me the whole time, but I swear I thought I’d never hear the end of it. It was like Walden had turned into a preacher or therapist or some shit instead of a teacher. Figured I’d better do what everyone said I needed to do if I wanted to get my husband back. And to shut everyone else the fuck up.”

“What did they tell you to do?” I was sure I knew, but I needed to hear him say it. Desperately.

“What do you think they told me to do, you idiot?” Despite the growl in his voice, the corner of his lips began to curve into a smile. “To pull my head out of my ass and talk to you. You big fucker.”

“Can you quit calling him names already, Gilbert? You’re kind of being an asshole.” Micah sounded like he was beginning to get pissed off.

I started to tell him it was okay, but it wasn’t like the two of them hadn’t had endless spats over the years. All of us had. At the end of the day, we were brothers, after all.

“None of that. You have met me, you know. It’s no secret I’m an asshole. And if I’m here to forgive that big bitch you think you’re in love with, there’s going to be quite a few names. Probably for a long, long time.” Gilbert pointed at Micah. “You and I will chat later. But Connor and I go back to before you ever met him. Before your damn voice even changed. He was my friend first, and in many ways, my brother long before he was yours. So if you want us to figure this out, let us figure it out, and keep your nose out of it.” There was no anger as he spoke. It was all matter-of-fact.

For the first time, my hackles rose at the way he spoke to Micah, even though I knew Gilbert. Knew he meant no harm and he was just being his blunt self. That, really, he was saying how much he loved both of us in his own way. I stuffed it down. “He’s not entirely wrong, babe—” The word slipped out before I even thought. I glanced at Gilbert in time to see him flinch.

He waved me off. “Whatever. Seems like I gotta get used to it. Might as well start.”

That was a good sign.

I had to remember what I’d been about to say. It came back to me, and I couldn’t contain a little laugh. “Remember how I was always taller than everybody?” Stupid question. I was still taller than everybody.

Micah nodded, looking like he wasn’t sure if he was going to be okay with not arguing with Gilbert.

“Ever since fifth grade, Gilbert called me the Jolly Green Giant. Names have always been his way of letting me know he cared.”

Micah’s expression softened. “You know, I kinda think I remember that.”

“I called you Gumby too.” Gilbert chuckled, grinned at Micah, and motioned toward me with his thumb. “You should’ve seen him at recess. Him taller than the teacher, and skinnier than a scarecrow, running all over the playground wearing this god-awful cast-off green hoodie from his dad that hung to his knees. That thing had to have been big enough to qualify as a circus tent, considering how tall Connor was.”

I’d been called lots of names throughout my life, both at home and at school early on. But the way Gilbert had done it, it always made me feel like family, way before I’d moved into the Bryant house. The fact he was doing it again…. We were going to be okay.

Gilbert motioned for me to follow him. “Let’s go talk. Get the shitshow over with.” He sniffed the air, then looked at Micah. “Smells like you’re burning the chow, little bro. Better fix it by the time I get back. I’m staying for dinner, and I’m starving.” Then he turned and headed toward the porch.

I grinned over at Micah and gave him a quick kiss. “You were right.”

He kissed me back, and then glared out of the kitchen. “Maybe so, but I’m not ruling out poisoning his food.”